Watermelon Mojitos

Necessity is so often the mother of invention. For obvious reasons I have been ordering my groceries online this year and using curbside pick-up. For the most part this has worked out well. But there are always hiccups, like the time I received 5 individual fiddleheads instead of 500 grams (enough for 2 bites), the time I accidently ordered a 5 year supply of dried shitake mushrooms, and more recently when I received 2 gigantic watermelons when I only ordered 1. Enter watermelon beverages, which turned out to be a delicious and soon to be repeated summer drink. If only it were so easy to repurpose dried mushrooms.

This is one of the most refreshing summer cocktails! The combination of watermelon and mint scream summer. You can omit the rum and make this a mocktail. I expect that tequila would also be a welcome substitute. You can make the pitcher of drinks a few hours before company arrives and top the glasses with club soda when serving.

Note: If (like me) you find yourself with too much watermelon, you can cube it, flash freeze it on a tray and store in the freezer in a Ziplock bag. You can then make this drink all summer long using frozen watermelon. No need to defrost first, although you will likely need to add more club soda as it will be thicker.

Watermelon Mojito

Slightly adapted from Barefoot Contessa
Makes 6 drinks

30 large fresh mint leaves, coarsely torn by hand
3 to 4 thick slices of fresh watermelon
12 ounces light rum
1/2 cup simple syrup
6 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (from 3 limes)
1 can of club soda
sprig of mint and/or spears of watermelon, for serving

Using a mortar and pestle, mash the mint leaves. Remove and discard the rind and seeds of the watermelon. Put the fruit in a blender and puree. Put the mashed mint into a large pitcher with 2 cups of pureed watermelon, the rum, simple syrup, and lime juice and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a pitcher for serving.

Place ice cubes in 6 glasses and pour the mojito mixture into the glasses. Top each glass with a few splashes of the soda water. Stir and garnish with sprigs of fresh mint and/or spears of watermelon. Serve ice cold.