French For Cocktail [Lychee Martini]

Every year my most important job on Christmas Day (and Christmas Eve and Boxing Day) is being chief cocktail and pudding provider.

FYI I do Nigella's Prodigious Pavlova every single year. Clue’s in the name - it's so damn good!

Last year I discovered the lovely Ed Bains' (of Randall & Aubin fame) Rhubarb Bread & Butter pudding - it’s incredible and definitely on the menu again this year. Edie is going to make Banoffee Pie, and I’ll probably do a trifle too.

And no, we don’t have twenty-five people coming for Christmas, but it’s the law to have at least four puddings available over the Christmas feasting days. Well, it is in our house anyway.

Anyway, I’ve decided to go with a Lychee Martini as my cocktail of the month as it's what I'll be serving at home this Christmas (although I do have Advocaat in the house for a classic Snowball too!) and I'd forgotten how good they are so I might actually start consuming them as of this evening.

This is the Lychee Martini recipe from Lure Fish Bar in SoHo, New York - a restaurant that holds a special place in my heart, and although it’s been *quite* a long time between drinks there (like, errr, ten years!), I’ve been holding on to this bit of paper - the recipe extracted from the bar tender many moons ago, and I’m rather sentimentally attached to it! 

The recipe is for a single drink, but if you're planning on making them en masse, you could make some cucumber juice by peeling and blending a couple of cucumbers and straining it through muslin into a small jug, then use about a tablespoon per drink.

For the lychee puree, I use tinned lychees blended with some of the syrup from the can. Sweeten to taste with sugar syrup if necessary - this is the only sweetness you'll be adding, but the syrup they're canned in is usually sweet enough - depends on the brand.

You will need:

45mls vodka (or gin)

3 thick slices of skinned cucumber 

Splash of lemon juice
30mls lychee syrup (I make mine from tinned lychees with a bit of the syrup. Add sugar syrup to taste if necessary)
One whole lychee for a garnish

Method: 

Add cucumber to cocktail shaker and muddle (skip this step if you've pre-prepared cucumber juice and just add everything together)
Add ice and all other ingredients into cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.
Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a whole lychee and a strip of cucumber peel if you fancy.

Tip: You can top with a dash of soda water to make these go a little further, and to stop yourself getting too drunk, too early on Christmas day. Or not.

Featuring 'Amber' cocktail glasses, 'Todd' and 'Tilly' oak chopping boards, 'Gracie' linen napkin, 'Atla' candle plate and 'Rhomb' candle all from Broste Copenhagen. I really REALLY love these Amber glasses that look like they have toffee dripping down the stems - they're so beautiful, and these chopping boards are gorgeous (and practical too, obvs!) and will definitely be put into use for a cheeseboard on Christmas day.

This post is in collaboration with Broste Copenhagen, available from Heals and Selfridges.