Cucumber Rhubarb Cooler

Today, a friend told me that I’m going through a “rhubarb phase”, which she likened to my infamous “beet phase”. (If you don’t remember my beet phase, let me refresh your memory: there were the boozy beet popsicles. There was that delicious champagne & beet cocktail. Lest we forget, there was a beet and feta salad, a beet grilled cheese, and beet and quinoa pancakes. I even made beet pesto.)

However, I hardly think that two rhubarb posts in a row constitutes a rhubarb phase.

Granted, my friend knew that I had a bunch of rhubarb puree. She also knew that I’ve been putting that puree on/in everything. I’ll give her that.

You see, when I made my vanilla bean rhubarb bars last week, I was a little overzealous with the rhubarb and I ended up with a lot of extra rhubarb puree. Thankfully, the puree is phenomenal and I was eager to find other ways to use it. Naturally, my first inclination was to make cocktails.

It’s been sunny and perfect in Portland all week, and thus this particular cocktail was born: it’s summery, crisp, refreshing, and lovely. I’m going to enjoy this fake summer as long as I can, and enjoy a couple of cucumber rhubarb cocktails along the way. (Because, let’s face it, Portland: it’s probably going to start raining next week.)

Photo: I enjoyed this cocktail in the backyard with a big bowl of spicy Korean noodle salad. I’ll post that recipe next week. :)

CUCUMBER RHUBARB COOLER
Makes 2 cocktails
(Note: I had the hardest time figuring out what to call this drink. I’m unabashedly against anything that adds “tini” to the end of a drink title – unless, of course, it’s an actual martini. Cucumber Rhubarb-tini? Thank you, no.)

Ingredients:
4 oz gin
2 tbs rhubarb puree
2 tabs fresh squeezed lime juice
Dash of Angostura bitters
3 – 4 pieces of cucumber, peeled (about 1/5 of a cucumber), plus thin slices of cucumber to garnish.

Method:
Place the cucumber pieces in the bottom of a martini shaker. Pour just a dash of gin over the cucumber. Muddle the cucumber and gin, until cucumber is mushy. Pour in the rest of the gin, the lime juice, and rhubarb puree. Top off the shaker with a handful of ice. Place the cap on the shaker and shake for a few seconds, or until the mixture is chilled. Strain into 2 martini (or other cocktail) glasses. Top off with a dash of bitters and a slice of cucumber.

8 Responses

  1. Cucina49 says:

    I go through similar phases–and rhubarb is such a fun ingredient to play with–this looks delicious and refreshing!

    • lindsay says:

      Rhubarb is so fun! I’ve been buying bunches of it, so there may be more recipes in the weeks to come. :)

  2. Tiffany says:

    This looks so refreshing!

  3. Brilliant. I can’t at all see a downside to having a rhubarb phase, if indeed this turns out to be the beginning of such a phase. :) Bring it on.

  4. Yum! This is so darn pretty, and the addition of cucumber just has me over the moon! Looks completely refreshing. And don’t shrink from your “rhubarb phase”– embrace it! Rhubarb is so freakin’ delicious, I’m glad you’re going through a phase.

    PS Thanks for being as annoyed with the “tini” trend as I am. As a lover of dirty gin martinis, seeing someone drink an appletini or whatever is a little soul crushing, am I right?

  5. Kirsten says:

    I totally support this rhubarb phase, just saying.

    I also think we need to come up with some sort of sparkling rhubarb cocktail. Just because.

  6. sarah says:

    I’m in a rhubarb phase too… every spring it happens. Gorgeous cocktail!

  7. I’ll have to admit I never envisioned putting rhubarb into a cocktail before but you’re recipe has piqued my interested a bit… haha. I was actually just looking for some rhubarb recipes since we had a bumper crop of rhubarb over at my house this year. I still have so much frozen rhubarb in the freezer I have no idea what to do with it all!

    Its not summer anymore, but perhaps its not too late to enjoy your cucumber-rhubarb cocktail?!

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