My Favorite Martini

I discovered my favorite martini at The Capital Grille in Houston, it is a vodka infused with pineapple. My dad was the one who asked for the recipe and began making this concoction at home. This quickly became a family favorite and often requested at our parties and gatherings.

I use one handle of Tito's vodka and two dole pineapples. Let me show you how to cut and dice a pineapple.

One of the most important things about this recipe is to choose a good pineapple. When shopping, choose a pineapple that has firm, gold to brown skin with green, loose leaves (not brown or wilted).

I was once told that fruit should smell like what it is. Duh. So a ripe pineapple will have a strong, fresh pineapple smell.

Tools: To peel the pineapple you will need a long knife. I use a long, serrated bread knife because it is slightly flexible making it easier to follow the contour of the pineapple.

With your knife, lop off the 1/2 inch of the top and bottom of the pineapple.

Turn the pineapple upright onto its base. Notice the dark brown "eyes" around the edge of the pineapple. Place your knife on top of the fruit just behind one of the eyes. The eyes run down the side of the pineapple in a column. Slice down to the bottom of the fruit slightly turning your knife at the top and bottom to follow the curved shape of the pineapple.

Cut off the rest of the pineapple skin by slicing down from top to bottom along each row of eyes (as revealed by your first cut). Your knife should be behind the eyes at approximately a 45 degree angle. Don't try to cut off too much of the peel at once or you will take a lot of good fruit with it.

I'm not too concerned with the little eyes on this pineapple because we are not eating or displaying the fruit. Now if you were going to display the infusion, then I would check the fruit over for any skin or eyes you may have missed. Remove any remaining eyes with a paring knife.

From here I slice the fruit in half, lay each half down on the flat side and slice it into wedges. Then turn 90 degrees and slice into chunks.

You will need a large AIRTIGHT container. Wash this really well with hot soapy water. Then start adding chunks of pineapple to the glass jar. I purchased this at the Container store for less than $20.

Woo Hoo, here is the fun part! Choose your favorite vodka, for me it is Tito's Handmade Vodka. It is produced right here in Austin at Texas' first and oldest legal distillery. Tito's is 100% corn and is made in small batches, distilled 6 times, is wheat free and gluten free.

Pour the entire handle of Tito's over the pineapple chunks, then lock down the air tight lid. Your vodka should cover all the fruit. If there is pineapple sticking out above the liquid, either add more vodka or remove some fruit.

The hard part is walking away. Just put this in the back of your fridge and try to forget about it. Let this infuse for as long as you can stand it...and I'm not talking about days. I'm talking MONTHS. I put this batch together in February, and then processed the pineapple for July 4th. TRUST me, it's worth it!

When you can no longer stand it, pull the Tito's Pineapple Infusion from the back of your fridge and strain all the liquid out. If you kept your Tito's handle, funnel the liquid back into the glass vodka container.

If you are dedicated like I am, then don your cute pink gloves (because the pineapples will eat up your hands). Either squeeze each piece of pineapple by hand or use a citrus juicer. I do this over a strainer and pitcher to catch the juice and separate any pulp.

This is tedious, but there is so much juice in these chunks, you shouldn't let it go to waste. I got another two cups of Tito's Pineapple liquid from squeezing these. This lovely concoction will keep in the fridge for a long time, although I don't think you need to worry about that too much - it will go fast!

Here is how you make my favorite martini. Fill a shaker with ice.

Pour the Tito's Pineapple Infusion over the ice in the shaker.

Shake it like a salt shaker! ...Or a Polaroid picture!

Strain into a martini glass.

This my friends is my favorite martini! You are literally drinking straight, chilled, Titos, but it is so smooth and sweetened with the pineapple...they go down SO EASY!

Cheers!