Cardinale

April 15, 2011 (Day 19) — Cardinale

Tonight Jenn and I are making some veal scallopini in a mushroom cream sauce with some chocolate gelato for dessert. It only seems to make sense that we’d have a matching cocktail to go with the delicious meal. Tonight we’re featuring the Cardinale, a classic Italian cocktail using gin and Campari bitters.

This is traditionally meant for an after-dinner drink. Personally, I like to think of it a sex bomb-themed cocktail. Specifically, Claudia Cardinale.

Cardinale

• 2.5 oz New Amsterdam Gin

• 1.5 oz dry vermouth

• 1 oz Campari

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and stir well until chilled. Strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with crushed ice.

The light, herbal flavors of the New Amsterdam are the most distinct feature of this drink. The Campari adds a pleasant bitterness on the end that you don’t usually find the New Amsterdam martini.

Cheers!

— Mark