Karen’s Dirty Martini
About this recipe
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!
What you’ll need
2 1/2 to 3 oz Vodka (the Dawson’s swear by Belvedere Vodka, I swear by Grey Goose)
1/2 ounce or less, Filthy brand brine for martinis (Don’t use brine from an olive jar!!!)
Glass Shaker (this glass one by Godinger gets ‘em ice-fn-cold)
Blue cheese (I like Point Reyes, Karen says for best results, “use a small block of good blue cheese and pinch off bits of cheese and push into each olive… I don’t recommend the crumbled type of blue cheese, as it’s less moist, so it’s not as good, it’s also harder to stuff in the olives”)
Manzanilla Olives (yes, you’re going to hand-stuff these!)
A chopstick, just any old chopstick will do, you use this to poke out the “red thing” in the center of the olives
Mix it up, baby!
The cocktail
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.
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
Add a stick with 4 or 6 hand stuffed blue cheese olives
Hand Stuffed blue cheese olives
Use small manzanilla olives in brine stuffed with pimientos
Don’t skip this part, friends: They are small and tedious to stuff, but are the best, in my opinion and Karen’s, for a martini, and hand stuffed is the only way to go with blue cheese — if you’ve tried store bought blue cheese stuffed olives, you like me, may have dumped out a few homemade dirty’s in the past.
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!
Feeling ambitious? Stuff the whole jar and store your pre-stuffed olives in the empty jar so you have them ready for several martinis! Make sure you have fully drained the brine from the jar if you do this. Do not, I repeat, do not, put them in with the brine.
Drink up, hunny!
I hope this recipe is exactly what you need to take a load off after a great work week! I can’t wait to hear!
