The Lush Chef

Looking for a reason to justify having a drink?  Then add veggies to it. Your mom can't argue with that!  Liquor.com recently posted a few cocktails featuring spring peas, and since I had been picking up tons of snap peas at the market recently, I couldn't want to try one.  I opted for the Green Giant, because not only has this cocktail now replaced my bad memories of icky frozen Green Giant peas, but it has satisfied my spring and summer gin kick.  I used the earthy and spicy St. George Terroir Gin with Dolin's dry vermouth (one of my favorites).  As I sat enjoying this beautifully green and spring-inflected cocktail before dinner, my friend Louis suggested I used some of his Miracle Mile yuzu bitters.  I unfortunately didn't have any on me, so I opted for celery instead — why not add more vegetables to the mix?  It's a fun way to bring out a little more of the vegetal, grassy, and herbal flavor in the drink.  And also, everything is better with bitters.
Green Giant
Ingredients:

• 4 sugar snap pea pods, broken in half
• 8-10 tarragon leaves
• 3/4 oz simple syrup
• 2 oz gin (I used St. George Terroir Gin)
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth (I used Dolin's)
• 3/4 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 dashes celery or yuzu bitters (I used Miracle Mile), optional

- In a shaker, add the snap peas, tarragon, and simple syrup, and muddle.
- Add ice, gin, dry vermouth, lemon juice, and bitters, and shake.
- Fine-strain into a chilled glass filled with crushed ice.
- Garnish with a couple of snap peas and tarragon leaves.