Lemon Basil

A long time ago (now I'm dating myself) I went to a restaurant in Washington DC called Jean Louis.  I only went once but I had a party of 8.  We were all restaurant people, so were really stoked to be there.  The menu was amazing, and the chef, Jean Louis Palladin wrote it by hand.  And, it changed every night.  Even then, the price was something like 100.00 per person and this was back in the '90s!  I often would recollect that special night when I was in my own fine dining restaurant and often used Palladin as inspiration.

While my chefs weren't on the same salary level, we did get to work once with Jean Louis.  It was a wine dinner where, get this:  Todd English cooked a course, Eric Ripert did a fish course, Palladin's old friend Jimmy Sneed (actually they had a restaurant together in Richmond, VA called the Frog and the Redneck!) did a course and Jean Louis was the guest of honor!  CRAZY night!  Anyways, instead of reminiscing about the fantastic food and the wine cellar at the Watergate that lined the corridor as you were escorted into the restaurant, the crazy decor, etc. or even the special dinner held in honor of Palladin shortly before his death,  I want to talk about one course that was served.  It was a lemon basil sorbet, now a classic in any restaurant, with a fried opal basil leaf as garnish.

Taking that as the impetus for the next kickin' margarita, here goes.....

Ingredients

1 whole lemon

4 large basil leafs - lemon basil if you got it! or even the opal basil for some crazy color in the drink

1 oz of Blue Agave Nectar

1/2 oz of Grand Manier

2oz of decent gold tequila

Preparation

Cut the lemon into 8ths and muddle witth basil and nectar.

Add the Grand Marnier, tequila and 6oz of ice

Shake like crazy!  Pour and server dude!

Call it the Under a Tuscan Sun Margarita if you're a movie buff

or Lemon Basil if you're normal!

or if you're like me, call it the Jean Louis and share my tale!