Hello Yellow Limoncello

Today's post is the result of a request for our house lemonade recipe - you know the one that I've been bragging about for a while. It evolved almost by accident when I was looking for something cool and refreshing to drink after the mountains turned pink on a Friday night.

The lemonade is a standard recipe made from fresh lemons Download J'Bug's Lemonade - I warn you, don't even go here unless you've got the real thing. Imitation juice just doesn't cut it. To complete the cocktail, fill a large glass with ice, then add 1-1/2 ounces of vodka and 1/2 ounce of limoncello, top with lemonade, stir and enjoy! Simple, smooth, tart, refreshing - a perfect summer drink, with the kick of a mule, if you're not careful.

So what's this limoncello stuff, you ask? It's an Italian liqueur made from lemon rinds, alcohol, sugar, water and time...lots of time. It is rather labor intensive to make because you have to remove every bit of white pith from the rinds, bright yellow to orange in color depending on the type of lemons used and a great way to make use of the lemons that grow in our yard. We've made a couple of batches of limoncello, and every time we do we wish we'd doubled the recipe. When made with meyer lemons it is sweeter and a bright yellow/orange color while regular lemons yield a liqueur with a crisp tart finish. They're equally good - just different. Remember, if you're using store bought lemons, be sure to scrub them well with soap to remove any pesticides. Download Limoncello 

What do you do with the left over pulp after you've removed the rinds? Just extract the juice and freeze it in one cup containers or in ice cube trays - you can use it to make lemonade, lemon curd or put the cubes into iced tea. 

Limoncello's also great drizzled on top of vanilla ice cream, as an addition to lemon curd, a sauce over pound cake, in a lemondrop martini or just straight up in a shot glass right from the freezer. Just be sure to enjoy it COLD, really cold! 

I'm a little slow on the draw today and definitely un-funny, so I've got to apologize - and no, it's not because I had too much of the aforementioned. The Maxer dawg had us up at 2:30 again this morning. He's a sick puppy but he's sleeping it off right now, and I'm so all for joining him. Catch ya later.

Comments

[Mags]

Aww..so sorry to hear about your dog. I hope he's going to be OK.

Thanks for posting this recipe. You know how badly I've wanted it. I've had limoncello only one time in my life. My brother brought a bottle back from Italy for my dad and he kept it in his freezer. On the night Dad died we toasted him up in Heaven with shots of limoncello.

[JBug]

Limoncello is certainly toast worthy. Bet your Dad was looking down & grinning, watching his kids get "pifflecated".
Thanks Mags, the Maxer dawg's doing better this afternoon. He just had a shower & he's lookin' for dinner. The little bandit.

[Mags]

Glad to hear that Max is doing better. I was worried for you. We had to put our sick doggie down a few years ago (he was only four years old) and it was one of the worst things I've ever had to live through. Shows what a cushy life I've lived I suppose, eh?

LOL @ pifflecated!

[JBug]

We love our animals don't we - doesn't matter what they do, or what we do, they still worship the ground we walk on. Incredible how much love you can feel from those 4 legged creatures. It must have been really difficult putting down your little one, but the right decision and most unselfish. I know we'll be faced with the same thing some day with Max, makes me howl to think of it, but until then we just take it a day at a time.