the friday feed: limoncello {may 26, 2023}

Well, alrighty then!

Limoncello is a classic Italian liqueur with an unmistakable lemon taste. It’s made by infusing lemon peel in pure alcohol and then combining it with a simple syrup. The result is a yellow liqueur with a delicious balance of tartness and sweetness.

A friend recently returned from a trip to Italy and one of her favorite take aways from the trip was the limoncello that was served at the end of almost every meal.

My very memorable limoncello story was from T's and my 30th anniversary trip to Italy. We were at a restaurant in Trastevere, had placed our order, and it was taking forever to get to the table. People who had ordered after us had their food served before ours. T finally got the maitre d's attention and very nicely explained the situation. Our food arrived very quickly and when dinner was finished the complimentary limoncello came to the table and they kept coming and coming and coming. My nose was numb when we left the restaurant.

When life gave us lemons (in this case, poor service at a restaurant), we got limoncello!

The temperature is starting to warm, which means dinner on the patio. Limoncello would be a nice end to al fresco dining so I decided to make some. My very favorite grocery store had organic lemons the size of baseballs on sale for $1.00 a piece. I bought 6. Other recipes called for 10 regular sized lemons.

Lemons are zested and vodka poured over. Now we wait for a month. Patience...

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

LIMONCELLO (recipe from the kitchn)

INGREDIENTS

10 organic lemons, washed and dried

750-ml bottle vodka (100-proof preferred, or 80-proof)

1 to 4 cups sugar, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Peel the lemons: Use a vegetable peeler to remove the peels from all the lemons. Try to remove only the outer yellow skin and as little of the pith as possible. Trim away any large pieces of pith with a paring knife, but don't worry about trimming every last scrap.

Cover the peels with vodka: Transfer the lemon peels to a 1-quart jar and cover with vodka. Screw on the lid.

Infuse the vodka: Let the vodka and lemon peels infuse somewhere out of the way and out of direct sunlight for at least 4 days or as long as a month. The longer you let the vodka infuse, the more lemony your limoncello.

Strain the vodka: Line a strainer with a large coffee filter and set it over a 4-cup measuring cup. Strain the infused vodka through the filter. You may need to stir the vodka in the strainer if the flow stops.

Prepare sugar syrup: Prepare a sugar syrup of at least 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar — bring the water to a simmer and stir in the sugar to dissolve; allow to cool.→ You can play with the ratios of water to sugar. Start with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar, taste the limoncello, and add additional sugar syrup gradually until you reach a flavor you like — up to 4 cups of water with 4 cups of sugar. More water will dilute the alcohol base, making a less alcoholic, milder, and smoother-sipping liqueur. More sugar will make a sweeter limoncello.

Mix the sugar syrup with the infused vodka: Pour the sugar syrup into the infused vodka. Stir gently to mix. Taste and add additional sugar syrup if desired (see above).

Bottle the limoncello: Insert the funnel in the neck of one of the bottles and fill with limoncello. Repeat with remaining bottles.

Chill and store: Chill the limoncello in the fridge or freezer for at least 4 hours before drinking. Limoncello can be kept in the fridge for up to a month or the freezer for up to a year (and often much longer!).