Yesterday we met Carol Skolnick, the Chicago transplant who mixes classic cocktails at the Duce (525 S. Central Ave., 602-866-3823). Today she shares with us the recipe for the Duce's Screwdriver. It's not an original recipe, to be sure, but with fresh-squeezed juices, organic vodka and a grocery store's worth of garnish, the Duce does it right.
"All of our drinks come in 16-ounce jars or Duce jars (32 ounces)," Skolnick says. "We don't really use measures here. We go by counts." What does she mean by counts? "Hold the bottle upside down and count it out as it pours: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7."
Each sip of this elixir is filled with orange pulp, cherry juice and lots of vodka. It tastes so fresh and boozy you feel like you're slamming shots while walking through an orange grove.
The ingredients:
2 oranges
2 maraschino cherries
7 counts (3-4 ounces) organic vodka
1 strawberry
3 blueberries
How to make it:
Halve the oranges and squeeze the juice from 3 of the halves into a 16-ounce jar. Slice a thin half moon off the remaining half orange and save for later. Cut up the remaining orange and muddle inside a separate jar with one maraschino cherry. Fill orange- and cherry-filled glass with ice, then add seven counts of vodka and the orange juice. Pour mixture back and forth between the two jars to mix. Garnish with remaining orange slice, cherry and blueberries.
