For mid-summer I like to gather friends in the evening for seafood and drinks as the sun slowly sets. Akvavit normally features strongly in the blueprints for the night but before I served the food I wanted at least one martini as an aperitif.

For a seafood theme I made a slight alteration to a classic gin martini, adding a dash of olive brine for a sea salty hint. Real salty sea dogs might want to make it a full blown dirty martini for that briny flavour. I also garnished the glass with some octopus tentacles I boiled and chilled earlier.

Once that was consumed it was on to the food: seared scallops, grilled langoustine, prawn cocktail, baby crayfish tails, salad and brown bread.

And then there was akvavit. Lots of akvavit. And Icelandic Brennivin. I found some of that in the freezer too.