This is a special collaboration I have been working on with the assistance of the friendly farmers at Waltham Fields Community Farm. It’s a new signature cocktail for our Food Day Benefit dinner Wednesday, October 24th. We’re using two of their fresh farm ingredients: their incredibly fragrant Asian basil and a chili that I had previously never heard of, but am very happy they introduced me to, the fatalii pepper.
I infused Edinburgh Gin, which is extremely aromatic and has great citrus and juniper notes, with the fatalii pepper for a very short time (just under an hour). The gin took on the heat from the fatalii, which you’ll experience as a surprising tingling on the back of your palate while sipping the drink, as well as the unique fragrance of the fatalii, which stands apart from the gin’s own aromatics.
Next I made a “simple syrup” with the Asian basil. While reducing on the stove the basil released into the syrup its beautiful aroma and pigment. The result is a sweet, savory and rich green syrup that contrasts wonderfully with the heat from the fatalii. The last step was to add some acidity to bring the cocktail into balance; for this I simply added some freshly-squeezed lemon juice.
In the process of this collaboration I reached out to Claire Kozower, the Farm’s Executive Director with whom I have been planning this dinner, for help naming the cocktail. We both laughed that we had arrived at nearly the exact same name. She had “farm fatalii,” which I had simply translated into French. Prediction: People are going to love the Ferme Fatalii.
As I write this, there are still seats available for this special benefit dinner. So, please join us as we celebrate National Food Day with our friends from the farm. We will be serving several of our classic Elephant Walk dishes, each prepared with fresh produce from the farm. So come by, have a great meal and a cocktail, and – here is the best part – know that half of the proceeds from the dinner will go directly to the farm in support of their food access and educational programs, and that we continue to have great local produce again next year!
To reserve your seat at the dinner, please click here. I hope to see you there.
The Elephant Walk in Waltham 
Thanks for an awesome evening, and that cocktail was incredible. Really. Hope it stays on the menu a while!
Thank you Marla, I am very happy you had a great time last night, we did as well. I am amazed at how well received the cocktail was, it will stay on the menu for at least a few weeks (I have to use that spicy gin for something), I hope you will come back for another.