Cajun Bloody Mary With Pickled Vegetables

Total Time: 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 4 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes in puree, chilled (in thick tomato puree)
• 6 cups tomato juice, chilled
• 2 tablespoons celery salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne
• 1 1/2 teaspoons tabasco sauce
• 1 1/2 cups vodka, chilled
• kosher salt, to taste
• assortment pickled vegetables

Recipe

• 1 working in batches, puree the canned tomatoes and their thick puree in a food processor until smooth. you should have a rich liquid with no lumps.
• 2 combine the puree with the tomato juice in a large bowl, blending well.
• 3 add the celery salt, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, cayenne, tabasco, and vodka. season with salt; you may need more than you expect to bring up the flavor of the mix (canned tomatoes have less salt than tomato juice). keep the mixture cold.
• 4 for each serving, fill an 8-ounce tumbler with ice cubes. pour about 4 ounces of the bloody mary mixture over the ice, which should almost fill the glass. garnish with pickled vegetables, at least three pieces per drink.
• 5 vegetable garnishes
• 6 here are a few specific ideas:
• 7 pickled okra. this, of course, is the perfect garnish for a cajun bloody mary. strive to find it! luckily, a company called talk 0' texas makes pickled okra in two varieties (i prefer the "hot"), and distributes the product to supermarkets across the country.
• 8 pickled string beans. this is another pickled vegetable you often see in louisiana bloodies. a washington state company called hogue farms makes a pickled string bean that is widely distributed.
• 9 pickled asparagus spears. hogue farms makes this as well.
• 10 pepperoncini. also called "tuscan peppers," and available in most supermarkets across the u.s.
• 11 pickled cocktail onions. available everywhere. i like to thread three of them on a fancy toothpick, then assemble dozens of these picks on a plate.
• 12 pimiento-stuffed olives. choose smaller olives, and arrange on toothpicks like the cocktail onions.