Saturday night I got together with friends for a little “girls night out”. Courtney, Lisa and I headed over to Chanika’s, picked her up and made our way to the newly opened Niko’s in Tecumseh where we ate some fantastic sushi. After dinner, we drove back to Chanika’s to sit, chat and have a drink.
For the last, oh I don’t know how many years, I’ve been wanting to try Martha Stewart’s Perfect Margarita recipe. Not that you need a reason to make margaritas, but the opportunity just never came up (or maybe I just kept forgetting that I wanted to make them…which sounds more like the truth).
The recipe called for tequila, (which Courtney brought), Grand Marnier (which we did not have) and Cointreau (which was substituted with the Triple Sec Lisa brought). Now that is a heck of alot of alcohol in one drink!
While Courtney kept busy scaring Chanika’s cat, I zested and squeezed a few limes and Chanika filled the blender with ice. Because of my inability to follow directions, we also did not allow the lime simple syrup to cool for 3 days as the recipe suggested.
In the end, despite all our modifications, it turned out to be a yummy drink, one that I would probably make again.
Just a note here…I thought the drink was strong. Actually we all did. You could probably do with a little less tequila and a little more lime juice.
Perfect Margarita courtesy of Martha Stewart
1 lime, cut into 6 wedges
Course salt
Ice cubes
1 3/4 cup tequila
1/4 cup Cointreau
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 to 4 tablespoons of Lime Simple Syrup
Fill blender three quarters full of ice cubes. Pour in tequila, cointreau, grand marnier, lime juice and simple syrup over ice. Blend on low, then increase speed to high until ice is very finely chopped and mixture is frothy. Taste for sweetness, adding more simple syrup if needed. Pour into salt rimmed glasses. Serve immediately.
Lime Simple Syrup
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lime
Combine sugar with 1/4 cup water and lime zest in small saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature. Store in covered container in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Strain out zest before using.
