Peartini

After trying pointlessly to find an appletini recipe that tastes nice, I came across this Peartini which I really enjoy. Despite being a martini it is much sweeter and longer than most and so will suit many tastes. The key is obviously pear-flavoured vodka. The recipe called for Grey Goose, but I'm too poor so I use Absolut, which works perfectly.

• 2 shots Absolut Pears vodka
• 0.25 shot Disaronno Originale amaretto
• o.75 shot simple syrup
• 0.75 lemon juice

Photo: Phil

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a pear slice.

For the simple syrup, many bartenders call for 2:1 sugar to water, though this requires heating on the stove and results in caramel for me. Thus I use a 1:1 ratio which hasn't let me down yet and can be achieved without heating - just shake the bottle a few times and leave it for half an hour.

This martini is delightful and is a tasty way to get down two shots of vodka! The amaretto is more for appearance as it and the lemon juice combine to make the drink resemble pear juice, although it doesn't detract from the flavour at all. It really is like drinking cold, gourmet pear juice. With extras.