Recipe of the Week: Shrimp Antipasto Martini
Impress your guests by serving them this delicious and colorful appetizer that is pleasing not only to the eye, but to the palate as well. Easy to prepare and delicious, it will leave you wanting to make it again after only the first bite. I like to serve it in fancy martini glasses to all my family and friends, especially during the holiday season. Serves eight. (Chef tip: To cook shrimp, heat one cup of water in a small saucepan, add 1/4 cup of vinegar, one teaspoon each of salt and sugar, and one teaspoon of horseradish. Cook the shrimp for five minutes or until the turn pink. Remove and chill.)
1 can (36 ounces) chopped tomatoes
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon of horseradish
1 cup tomato juice
1/4 cup gin
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves chopped
GARNISH:
8 small skewers
16 large shrimp, peeled, deveined with tails left intact, cooked and chilled
16 cherry tomatoes
16 very small fresh mozzarella cigliegine
Heat the oil in a heavy, large soup pot over high heat. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots and garlic and saute until the vegetable are soft, about five minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute five more minutes. Add the tomato sauce, Tabasco, tomato juice, salt and basil. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Taste and season the martini soup to taste. Remove from the heat; allow the martini soup to cool slightly. Working in batches, if necessary, pour the martini soup into the bowl of a food processor or the jar of a blender fitted with a metal blade (or puree it directly in the pot with an immersion blender) until it is smooth. Strain the soup through a medium-mesh sieve set over a clean pot. Stir in gin and dry vermouth.
For each martini soup cocktail, fill a martini glass with ice. Add prepared soup. Skewer one shrimp, one mozzarella and one tomato on a skewer or large toothpick and repeat it one more time for each skewer then add it to the drink. Repeat to make seven more drinks. Season the martini soup with additional salt to taste; sprinkle with basil and serve.