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Serves 6 as a starter salad

This is a fun and super simple salad for an adult dinner party. Using the gin gives the dressing a lovely juniper berry taste. Get yourself some honkin' big Martini glasses to serve it in. Any number of spirits can easily be substituted for vinegar in your salad dressing. Go crazy and experiment with dark Jamaican rum or tequila or Frangelico. Just remember that you only want to lightly coat the greens with the dressing and that the rule of thumb is 1 part spirits to 2 parts oil. Put away the olive oil and try hazelnut or walnut for an amazing new taste. Mesclun is not a hallucinogenic drug but rather an assorted mix of baby greens that usually includes arugula, frisée, radicchio, spinach and sorrel. Mesclun is now available in most supermarkets across the country. If none is available, grab a couple of heads of different leafy lettuces and tear into bite size pieces.

Mesclun salad greens, enough for six small servings
125 ml gin
250 ml walnut oil
Splash of dry vermouth
3 shallots, diced

12 large pimento stuffed olives

• Whisk the gin, oil and vermouth together and toss with the mixed greens and shallots in a large bowl.
  
  
• Place one sixth of the mixed greens in each martini glass.
  
  
• Skewer two olives on a toothpick and place on top of the salad. Repeat with the other glasses.

Recipe courtesy of The Great Canadian Food Show, as shown on the CBC television network.