Let's talk for a second about that classic brunch cocktail that helps chase away hangovers and in some cases comes with a full meal in the glass, the Bloody Mary! A favorite of weekend breakfasts, fancy brunch spots, and dive bars alike, there is no definitive recipe for the Bloody Mary, but a couple of basic ingredients are always there, tomato, Worcestershire, vodka and lemon. Beyond that, the variations in the recipes are nearly endless! So today, we share our take on a Bloody Mary, The Tomato Water Bloody Mary.

We love a good Bloody Mary, but sometimes Bloody Marys can be hard to drink because the tomato juice or puree can be super thick. We wanted to find a way to get that great tomato flavor that gives the distinctive flavor of tomato to a Bloody Mary but in a lighter, more refreshing form. We ran across a dish that used tomato water as part of a vinaigrette to add an intense tomato flavor to the dish and just like that an idea was born!

Tomato water is different from tomato juice or tomato puree as it uses very little of the pulp that gives tomato juice or puree its thickness, and often times can be clear or slightly reddish pink. We started out by roughly chopping a bunch of fresh ripe tomatoes from our garden along with a few cucumber slices and placing them into a cheese cloth lined colander with some salt.

Now comes the really easy part, which is just waiting! The salt helps to draw the moisture out of the tomatoes and down into the bowl. After a couple of hours, we had a nice bowlful of tomato water which smells just like a fresh cut tomato and pours just like water! The mix of the cucumber and tomato water is a great combination, the cucumber giving a cool refreshing smoothness to the tart slightly acidic tomato.

The Tomato Water Bloody Mary uses the fresh tomato water, fresh lemon juice, and vodka to make a light and refreshing drink that had a wonderfully bold and aromatic tomato flavor. We added a layer of bold spiciness to the drink by adding Worcestershire sauce and some splashes of a fantastic chipotle hot sauce. The resulting drink was smooth and fresh, with hints of sweetness from the tomato water that played well with the spicy smokiness of from the chipotle hot sauce.

The Tomato Water Bloody Mary is a great take on a Bloody Mary, just the right combination of fresh tomato, cool cucumber and spice, all of which adds up to one smooth sipper! Cheers!

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