So I'll admit, I was never traditionally the biggest gin drinker. Give me rum, wine, even whisky, but G&Ts never really held much appeal. I know right, I should be disowned as British... Buuut, everything changed when I discovered what would become my signature cocktail (because to this day it's the only one I can make), the Gin Spritz. Light, fruity, not too bitter, and topped by my fave, Prosecco, it has all the requirements for the perfect drink.
I'm all about sharing the love, so I thought I'd jot down my gin cocktail recipe. It's a riff on this Bon Appetit recipe, but Anglicised and hopefully made a bit easier to follow. I also threw a cheeky twist by adding strawberries to the mix. This was actually my first time including them, but it worked quite nicely!
Let me know in the comments if you make this, and tag me in any Insta posts or Stories so I can repost! Most importantly though, eennjoy!
Ingredients
1 cucumber
6 large strawberries (optional, also works with just cucumber)
150ml gin (I use Martin Miller's or Portobello Road, but any decent gin will do)
granulated (white) sugar
300ml prosecco
ice
soda / tonic water (I'll admit I have no idea what the difference is, I've made this with both in the past)
Summer Spritz Gin Cocktail Recipe
- Start by preparing the simple syrup. Mix equal parts water and sugar (70ml water, and I usually eyeball roughly the same amount of sugar in a measuring jug) over low heat in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Leave aside to cool.
- Cut a cucumber in just under one half - you'll only be using the smaller half. Use a mandolin (or knife if you're super skilled!) to shave four thin cucumber ribbons lengthways.
- Cut four strawberries from the bottom just over halfway up.
- Slide the strawberries down on the rim of your glass, one per glass. Garnish the sides of each glass with a cucumber ribbon.
- Roughly chop the remaining cucumber into small pieces.
- Roughly chop the remaining two large strawberries into small pieces.
- Put the chopped strawberries and cucumber into your shaker, and give it a good shake to muddle.
- Top up with your gin and simple syrup, and fill the shaker with ice. Shake until the outside of the shaker is frosty, roughly 30-45 seconds.
- Fill the gin or wine glasses with ice.
- Strain (an ordinary kitchen sieve will suffice!) the mixture into the glasses. It should fill roughly 1/3-1/2 of the glass.
- Pour in 75ml of prosecco per glass.
- Top with a liberal splash of soda or tonic water.
