Smells Like Green Spirits

I've recently become enamored with the weekend cocktail. The past few weeks, I come home from work on Friday, gather together ingredients, perhaps prep up some herbs and garnishes, shake shots of liquor over ice and tinker up a tasty cocktail. I may tinker with it, but this little recipe becomes my go-to again on Saturday or Sunday, maybe a pre-funk drink before going out, maybe a cocktail with company after dinner or hell, after brunch.

I had bought a huge bag of pea shoots at my new favorite grocer - the super-cheap Hau Hau market in the international district. I came home with a $5 bag full of fruit and salad fixings and still-attached chicken breasts and I' think "how the hell does one person eat all these pea shoots?"

I found you can drink them.

Searching the internet, I realized I had all the ingredients for a cocktail called the Pea Shoot Gin Flower. The only odd part was combining equal parts pea shoots and cold filtered water in the blender to make a sludgy, vegetal puree. It tasted sweet and healthy and fresh, not very different from freshly squeezed wheatgrass juice. But let me tell you, this cocktail was bright green.

Green like absinthe in Moulin Rouge technicolor (though it totally lacked this ingredient). Green, appropriately, like new growth in a rainy spring. It even tasted like the color green. I made it, of course, on a damn grey day. In all the cocktail was very refreshing, and my only warning is that the delicate flavors can easily be overwhelmed by the ginger ale.

2 shots gin (or 1 if you're feeling wussy)

2 shots pea shoot puree

splash St. Germain Elderflower Liquer

giner ale

1 stick seeded cucumber and 1 sprig mint for garnish

Shake the gin, pea shoot puree and St. Germain over ice. The puree needs to be strained, and I had some trouble with it clogging my shaker - hopefully yours is better. Pour into a tall glass with more ice, garnish and top with ginger ale. Sip and feel refreshed.