The festive spirit of New Orleans is often ablaze, but especially on New Year's Eve, when neighbors build bonfires on the river's edge, chefs prepare elaborate dishes ornamented with ingredients bearing good fortune, and mixologists turn out cocktails as good as the city's signature Sazerac.
At Gianna, a Southern Italian restaurant and 2020 James Beard Award finalist, Beverage Director Benjamin Hatch shared a recipe for a popular aperitivo toast on New Year's Eve: a Martini with a touch of citrus and salt.
Drawing from New Orleans' blend of French, Italian and Spanish cultural influences, he prefers Mattei Cap Corse Blanc, a Corsican vermouth made from Vermentinu and Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains grapes.
“It's very bright and has a fantastic minerality that reminds me of the Mediterranean,” he said.
Instead of using olive juice, create a brine from sea salt and water. (The extra salt helps to preserve the aromatics of the gin or vodka. ) Let the peel of an entire Meyer lemon (sans pith) age the mixture of vermouth, gin and brine, ideally for 24 hours or more. Serve the cocktail with a plump caper berry, a hearty castelvetrano olive or a slender lemon curl, and salute!
Martini alla Gianna
1 Liter Gin or Vodka (Either Hayman's London Dry Gin or Wheatley Vodka)
2.75 oz Mattei Cap Corse Blanc Vermouth
1 whole lemon peel, without any pith
.75 oz Saline solution (10:1 water and sea salt)
Pour gin/vodka, vermouth and saline into mixer. Express the oil of lemon peel into the batch, and store in an airtight container (ideally, overnight.) When ready for toast, quickly stir over ice, serve up or on the rocks with caper, castelvetrano or lemon twist.
(Produces a Martini batch of 4.5 oz.)