Replace Some Tomato Juice In A Bloody Mary With Earthy Beets

Mimosas. Bellinis. There's nothing quite like a breakfast cocktail — and the Bloody Mary is one of the greatest of all. This is a vodka-based cocktail that is defined by tomato juice and rounded out with zesty ingredients like Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. But if you're looking for a way to expand upon this already great cocktail, consider rounding out the flavor with fresh, roasted beets.

Beets are root vegetables that complement tomato juice nicely, deepening the sweetness and adding an earthy tone. Beets become soft and smooth when you cook them, and if you put in the extra preparation time to roast your own beets for a batch of Bloody Marys, you'll achieve an incomparable silky texture in the final mix after you blend them. And if that isn't enough to sell you on beets in your breakfast cocktail, these garnet-hued roots give a Bloody Mary an eye-catching color.

In a pinch, you can make beet Bloody Marys by adding store-bought beet juice to your tomato juice. But for added flavor and texture, roast some beets at home. For a batch of about eight Bloody Marys, you'll need three beets. Wash them and wrap them in tin foil with a little oil and salt, and roast them in a baking dish for about an hour in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After they cool, the skins should peel off easily. From there, chop them and put them in a blender, pureeing until smooth and silky.  

Add your other ingredients to the blender as well and mix it until it has the consistency that you want. Then add to a glass with vodka and garnish it with whatever you'd like. Beet Bloody Marys are an excellent, earthy breakfast cocktail that your brunch companions will thank you for.