Do you ever read a recipe, fall in love with the idea that makes that recipe unique and then forget to clip it?
The other day we were barbecuing a whole salmon to have with our selection from a Naramata Bench winemaker, Bradley Cooper’s Black Cloud 2008 Altostratus – a delicious pairing I might add – and thought while we had the grill fired up, we should try out a Smoky Margarita that required grilled lemons or limes. Do you think either of us could recall where we’d read about it? Not likely.
We halved a few limes and lemons and threw them on the grill anyhow, figuring we’d find the article later or do a google search. I did remember that once grilled, the citrus needed to cool down to juice it so I figured tossing them in a bag and storing them until the next day would be fine.
We never did track down the original article that captured our attention. Maybe it was a newspaper that had already found its way into our blue bag recycling. In any case, I did do an Internet search and came up with two possibilities and have provided those links here:
Australian Women’s Weekly Grilled Lemon Margarita at http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/food/freshtv/785414/grilled-lemon-margarita
or
Grill grrrl Smoky Margarita at http://grillgrrrl.com/2011/06/food-trend-grilled-cocktails-and-a-smoky-margarita-recipe/
In checking out these references, I learned that we probably should have dipped the citrus halves in sugar before grilling them. Oops, we thought we should adjust for that error and did so with the addition of agave syrup.
We tossed the following into a blender:
• 1 cup tequila (We used some Cazadores Reposado we had on hand)
• ¼ cup triple sec (Meaghers)
• ¼ cup agave syrup (Madhava Agave Nectar Light)
• 1 cup, approximately, of the roughly 50/50 mix lemons & limes, squeezed
• 1 ½ cup ice
After blending just long enough to mix it all and crush the ice to a slushie consistency, we poured the blend into salt rimmed margarita glasses that we had chilling in the freezer. Refreshing and more complex than your average margarita! Next time we’ll dip the citrus into sugar before grilling to see if that helps caramelize it. No worries though – we were quite happy with our results by adding the agave syrup!
The smoky depth the grilled citrus imparts to the margarita makes a great drink even tastier. Give it try and you might find it’s a keeper for you, too!
Now I’m thinking grapefruit. Could a Smoky Salty Dog be next?
