Martha Stewart’s Mighty Martini

April 22, 2020 – As social distancing continues, we were delighted to come across the favorite martini recipe of the lifestyle maven herself, the Martha Martini.  If we’re forced to drink alone, then it may as well be special.

Martha’s recipe uses Belvedere Vodka, no doubt in a nod to her Polish roots.  At Belvedere, they’ve been practicing the art of making ultra-premium vodka for about 600 years.  But we gulped when we realized the recipe calls for four cups of vodka, which is 32 ounces. That’s one 750 ml bottle plus seven ounces! Aren’t we supposed to be in sort of solitary confinement?  Was Martha drinking the whole thing, all by herself, we wondered?  Hmmm.  She doesn’t look like a lush but there was that Instagram post recently that was, well, gibberish (and she admitted to being smacked).

However, today we read in The Wall Street Journal that she is sheltering in place at her luxury digs in Bedford, N.Y., with her driver, housekeeper and gardener.  As quoted in The WSJ, she told the Seth Meyer’s talk show,  “We make a nice dinner every night.  We have a cocktail.  We play cards after dinner.”  That sounds cozy and if they make their way through that huge jug of martinis, the card game is sure to be a lot of fun.

We’re glad Martha and her staff are enjoying convivial evenings together but maybe her recipe, which is below, should be kept on ice until we’re partying again.  For right now, we’ll settle on the Belvedere Classic Martini which is a manageable two ounces of vodka and we like Martha’s special tip “wait until the whole shaker becomes cloudy with cold, like, film” which will work well for any vodka martini.

MARTHA MARTINI

• 1/4 cup of Vermouth
• 4 cups of Belvedere Vodka
• Lemon twist garnish

Method:  Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice, then shake until very cold.  Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

BELVEDERE CLASSIC MARTINI

• 2 oz Belvedere Vodka
• 0.25 oz French Fortified Wine*
• Pink grapefruit twist garnish

Method:  Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and stir over ice until very cold. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a pink grapefruit twist.

* Noilly Prat and Lillet are two popular brands. 

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