I'm a devout admirer of the traditional Margarita made with fresh squeezed lime juice, quality tequila, and Grand Marnier. But at this time of year, with all the lovely fresh locally grown strawberries that are available just about everywhere, it's time to think about a hand-made strawberry Margarita. If you're going to do this right, it means getting the highest quality ingredients that are possible. To begin with, that means fresh, ripe, sweet strawberries that taste fabulous on their own. If you wouldn't eat them, don't use them in a Margarita. The tequila needs to be something along the lines of Cuervo 1800, if possible. If not, make sure it's 100% agave. There are some very good imported tequilas from tiny labels, and they're worth trying, but always check to make sure it's 100% agave.

You'll see a lot of recipes, and a lot of restaurants, using Triple Sec, or Cointreau; either work, though I prefer Grand Marnier. That said, Triple Sec is much more affordable than either of the other two orange liquers and the slight bitter edge it has can play especially well with ripe, sweet strawberries. The lime juice really needs to be fresh-squeezed, and if you spot them, genuine key limes can be a lovely treat. This is a margarita that needs to be served with thoroughly crushed ice, and a blender can be awfully handy for crushing the ice and pureeing the strawberries. Traditionally, Margaritas should be served in a coupette or Margarita glass, but I rather like using a chilled rocks glass.

Strawberry Margarita (Serves 2)

Ingredients

2 rocks glasses
• 1 cup ice
• 1 cup strawberries
• 2 oz lime juice
• 2 oz tequila
• 2 tablespoons orange liqueur
• 2 whole strawberries (for garnish)

Procedure

1. Chill two rocks glasses
2. Wash and remove the stems from the strawberries, reserving two fine specimens to use as garnish.
3. Cut the strawberries in two, and puree in a blender.
4. Add the ice, tequila, lime juice and orange liqueur to the puree in the blender, and blend until smooth.
5. Pour into the chilled rocks glasses, and garnish each glass with a whole strawberry.

There are of course several other methods. You should experiment with the ingredients and the proportions until you've found the combination for your perfect strawberry Margarita. If the strawberries are a little less sweet, you might want to balance the sourness of the lime juice with a tablespoon of simple syrup. Here's a recipe for making a pitcher of quite strong strawberry margaritas. It's also possible, and sometimes far more practical, to use canned frozen strawberry puree, or even to puree frozen strawberries—especially if you're entertaining company and serving Margaritas by the pitcher. If you use a mix, or one of the bags that you freeze and then add tequila to the contents, I don't want to know about it.