Cantaloupe Martinis – Ooh La La!

It was a lovely weekend here at The Bunkycooks! We had glorious weather, saw friends and had lots of great food and wine. It doesn’t get much better than that! I hope you all had a delightful weekend as well.

Mr. Bunkycooks and I wandered through some of the little nearby towns in the mountains yesterday trying to find a few knick knacks for the heck of it and just get out and enjoy the glorious day. I think we stopped in every antique store and flea market within a one hundred mile radius. I thought for sure that I would find some nifty items, nothing expensive, but just interesting. Mr. Bunkycooks was looking for photographic props and I had something else in mind, but we would have been more than happy to find anything intriguing.  Well, that jaunt was a bust and all I saw, unfortunately, was a bunch of old junk Grandma’s attic sort of stuff. Of course, we have all of our Grandma’s attics in our attic, so we didn’t need any of that.

We also dropped in to say hello to Karen at The Lick Log Mill Store yesterday and gave her a printed color edition of my blog post about her store. (If you are not familiar with The Lick Log Mill Store post, you should click on the link and check it out. It is an incredible little find in Highlands, North Carolina). She was really thrilled, so that was a very nice visit. She will never see the original online version since she does not have or want internet access. Maybe she knows something that we don’t!

I went to the farmers market and our regular local market on Saturday. I did have success in that venture. I got quite a stash of lovely fruits and vegetables. Some of them will be making an appearance or two in the coming weeks. I suppose this made up for the not such great luck with the antiquing on Sunday.

One of the really nice things that I found at the market was a perfectly ripe cantaloupe. I have not been happy with the last few cantaloupes that I have had. They have been mealy and tasteless. This one smelled sweet and ripe, so I was excited to get home and cut right into it!

Well, Mr. Bunkycooks someone did not secure that melon in the back of the SUV, so that little buggar rolled around and around all the way home up the winding mountain road! Well, you can guess what that might have done to that already ripe melon. Squish!

Now, it was not that bad, but it was definitely a little soft on the outside, so I am thinking soup at this point. Or better yet, how about a martini! Fruity and boozy drinks work for me. Not that I have ever had a cantaloupe martini, but that was about to change!

This little cocktail is to die for! I am making more for guests tonight. It is refreshing and not too sweet. I add just a pinch of salt (just like I do when I eat cantaloupe) to bring out the sweetness. I added a few of my favorite alcoholic ingredients and Voila! Cantaloupe Martini!

Be sure to shake it well (shaken, not stirred, just as James Bond prefers it). If you like a more pronounced flavor of Cointreau, add the whole amount. Otherwise, cut it back to just one ounce.

This is really pretty (gotta love the orange color) and would be lots of fun to serve to guests at a cocktail party (as I will be doing later today). I had two and I had fun! Bottoms up!

By the way, if you have more than two, this is how things start to look! 🙂

Print Recipe

Cantaloupe Martinis

Serves 2 -3

Ingredients:

1 cup pureed cantaloupe (about 1/2 of a very ripe cantaloupe, scooped out and seeds removed)
2 standard size jiggers good vodka (3 ounces)
1 standard size jigger Cointreau (1 1/2 ounces)
Generous squeeze of fresh lime juice
Pinch of salt
Ice
Fresh limes slices for garnish

Directions:

Puree the cantaloupe in a blender until smooth. Be sure that there are no chunks of cantaloupe left. Fill a cocktail shaker about half way with ice. Mix the cantaloupe puree, vodka, Cointreau, lime juice and salt together in the cocktail shaker. Shake well. Pour into chilled martini glasses. Garnish with lime slices.

Make another round!!