Karen’s Dirty Martini

recipes

Sep 29

There’s nothing like a great dirty martini after a great, yet long, work week. When Ronnie and I lived in the city, on Fridays before putting on “our night sweats” and settling down on the couch for a movie or Netflix standup, we would go by Sociale, in the South Loop for the sumac-crusted scallops and dirty martinis.

One day, we got it in our heads that we should learn how to make great dirty martinis ourselves. We went to Binny’s, got all the things we thought we needed, came home, mixed up, and instantly spit them out — gross.

As it turns out, they are harder to make than you would think. Which is why we turned to our friends, The Dawsons, who have perfected the art of the at-home dirty martini to teach us the ways of the Jedi. This is their recipe, Thank you Karen and Jim!

Prep time: 5 mins

Serves: 1

Downloadable recipe: here

What you’ll need

The Dirty

3 oz Vodka
Splash of Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz olive brine (Filthy brand is the best!)

Garnish

Blue cheese
Manzanilla Olives

How to Make

First, get your glass ready
- Pour a splash of vermouth into a martini glass and tip and twirl the glass to coat sides with vermouth and then discard extra liquid so just what clung to glass remains.

Now, let’s make your cocktail
- Put a few ice cubes in a shaker (l love a glass shaker with a strainer top and screw lid). Add vodka and brine. Shake vigorously — When you want to be done shaking, shake some more for that extra, extra icy cold martini. Pour/strain into martini glass.

Next, time to stuffed your blue cheese olives
- Don’t skip this part! Use small manzanilla olives in brine stuffed with pimientos. Drain the olives (discard the brine) and put them on some paper towels to dry a bit. Use a chop stick to poke the bottom of each olive to pop out the red pimiento and discard. Use a small block of good blue cheese and pinch off bits of cheese and push into each olive. (Pro tip: I worked with a bartender who put the blue cheese into a Ziplock bag and then mashed it between her hands to warm it and make it shapeless, then she cut off the corner of the Ziplock bag, and used that cut corner as her piping corner, she’d then “pipe” the blue cheese into the olives! Brilliant!)