argento's dream

1 Egg White
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Amaro (Averna)
3/4 oz Absinthe Verte (La Muse Verte)
3 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake egg white, lemon, and simple syrup without ice. Add amaro and absinthe to the mix, and shake well -- still with no ice. Pour into a Collins glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with the Peychaud's Bitters.

For our second drink on Friday night, I found the Argento's Dream in A Taste for Absinthe. The drink was created by Hari Nathan Kalyan of the Randolph on Broome in Manhattan. While the book did not elaborate on the name, I supposed it could be named after the Italian horror film direct Dario Argento whose work is often referred to as being "dark dreams." With Randolph on Broome located in Little Italy, perhaps this supports the connection. Alternatively, it could be about Dario's daughter, Asia, who was deeply affected when her dad would read her his scripts before she went to bed. Asia later became a successful actress including performing in some of her father's horror movies. If either of these are the case, the blood red Peychaud's on the egg white froth would be rather fitting.
The recipe in the book was vague as to the amaro type, so I ended up choosing the rather richly flavored liqueur Averna. I later located a recipe online that stated that they use Ramazzotti at the Randolph, and this liqueur was actually my second choice. The drink started with anise notes from the Peychaud's garnish and the absinthe in the drink. The sip was rather caramel flavored from the Averna and this paired well with the lemon notes; moreover, the swallow was absinthe's botanicals coupled with the Averna's darker notes. It really was the amaro's richness that made this drink and provided a good backbone for the rest of the ingredients. The amaro and simple syrup both donated enough sweetness to make the drink enjoyable, and the egg white served to smooth out any rough edges.