Margarita

Sure, we can go out for margaritas, to Harry’s or The Shed, and have them carried to me as a sit somewhere in my beautiful hometown of Santa Fe.. But sometimes, I want to have my margarita on my own comfortable couch and look out my own windows at the sunset. No one else will necessarily bring it to me, or put my glass in the freezer, but if I’m prepared this could be easy and I can choose what sweetening is included to cut the acidity of the lime juice.

One option:
Heat 1/2 cup of orange juice, and squeeze in about 2 T of  local honey, with a left-over vanilla bean.  (This one was sitting in a bowl of sugar. Let honey melt and mixture reduce to about 1/3 cup, then let cool. This concentrates the orange flavor and can be saved separately from the lime juice, if you want to play with proportions.

Roll 4-5 limes on the counter and cut in half. If larger than our lime juicer, cut off a slice or two for decoration until the diameter of the lime juicer . Juice the limes into a pitcher, to which add 4 oz of good tequila, an ounce of sweet vermouth, a dash of good bitters and the orange juice. Add plenty of ice, let chill while you mix smoked paprika and salt in a wide bowl.  I saved the lime rinds in the measuring device for the tequila, and poured some soda water over them and drank this later.

Get the martini glasses from the freezer, dip the rims in the salt+paprika. Then strain some of the pitcher’s contents into each glass – not too full. Add a slice you saved out from the larger limes  to the rim and serve. The following pours will be slightly more diluted by the melting ice, but just as delicious.