Christiaan Röllich’s Green Goddess Cocktail Recipe
Green tea vodka and cucumber with arugula, jalapeño, and absinthe
Celebrated Los Angeles bartender Christiaan Röllich approaches a drink the way a master chef approaches a dish: he draws on high-quality seasonal ingredients to create cocktails for every occasion. In Bar Chef, Röllich shares 100 original recipes for drinks that are as beautiful as they are delicious, including his signature drink, the Green Goddess, which has become a part of the language of LA. Featuring easy-to-follow recipes, Bar Chef guides you through his creative process, demystifying the craft of cocktail making.
The Green Goddess is the cocktail version of the green juices that Angelenos are obsessed with, and it took Los Angeles by storm. It originated as a nonalcoholic green drink that I created for a celebrity fundraiser, but it became so popular with our catering clients that when we opened A.O.C. Suzanne and Caroline asked me to put it on the cocktail list. “Just add some vodka to it,” they said. But you cannot just add vodka to a nonalcoholic cocktail and expect it to taste the same; vodka is virtually flavorless, so adding it dilutes the flavor profile of your drink by half. To counter this, I knew I had to infuse the vodka. I got the idea to infuse it with green tea, which turned out to be delicious. I also coat the inside of the glass with absinthe to give the cocktail another layer of flavor. We serve a nonalcoholic version, too, and we call it a Mock Goddess. To make a mock goddess, eliminate the vodka and absinthe from this recipe and replace it with chilled green tea.
Makes 1 cocktail
Glass
Tom Collins
Prep
1 Persian cucumber
1 jalapeño, seeds removed
Cocktail
2 ounces Green Tea Vodka (page 50)
1 ounce fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
¾ ounce Arugula Simple Syrup (page 50)
½ ounce fresh cucumber juice
1 drop jalapeño juice, plus more to taste
Garnish
Absinthe rinse
3 thin cucumber slices
A fresh mint sprig
To prep the cocktail, thinly slice half of the cucumber and set aside for garnish. Cut the remaining cucumber into chunks that will fit in your juicer. Pass the chopped cucumber through the juicer and set the cucumber juice aside. No need to clean the juicer. Pass the jalapeño through the juicer and put that aside. You will have enough of each juice to make 4 cocktails.
Combine the cocktail ingredients in a shaker. Fill the shaker with ice cubes, cover, and shake hard for 7 seconds. Pour 1 bar spoon of absinthe into a Tom Collins glass and swish it around to coat the inside of the glass. (This is called “rinsing.”) Discard the extra absinthe; fill it up with fresh ice. Use a Hawthorne strainer to strain the cocktail into the glass. Add more jalapeño juice to taste. To garnish, skewer the cucumbers on a bamboo pick and lay it on top of the drink or lay the cucumber slices on top of the drink. Stick the mint sprig into the cocktail, leaving only the leaves visible.
Green Tea Vodka
I use a Chinese green tea called Dragonwell to make this, but any loose-leaf green tea will work.
Makes about 12 ounces (1½ cups)
½ teaspoon loose-leaf green tea leaves
12 ounces grain vodka
Put the tea and vodka in a blender and puree. Pass the vodka through a chinois or fine-mesh strainer and discard the contents of the strainer. Transfer the vodka to a labeled bottle or jar; it will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 months.
Arugula Simple Syrup
This is simple syrup — sugar and water — but with fresh arugula blended in, which adds a grassy, peppery flavor to the Green Goddess. It lasts for a week in the refrigerator, but after that it loses its bright flavor and color.
Makes about 8 ounces (1 cup)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
¾ cup water
1 cup loosely packed arugula
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is slightly syrupy. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Combine the syrup and arugula in a blender and blend until the arugula is broken down to tiny flecks. Strain the syrup through a chinois or cheesecloth and discard the solids. Pour the syrup into a labeled bottle or jar and close. The syrup will keep, refrigerated, for up to 1 week.
Reprinted from Bar Chef. Copyright © 2019 by Christiaan Röllich. Photography copyright © by Ed Anderson. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
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