Sunday, February 21, 2010

Lemoncello Tutorial and Gas Tank Martini's




Well I've been threatening to for about a year and finally bought a bottle of Lemoncello.
An Italian liquor...Lemon.

I love anything lemon.
I first heard of this on Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals show.
She drizzled it over a store bought sponge cake, added lemon curd then covered it in fruit.

I like liquors. I use Triple Sec in drinks and I also add a tablespoon to my cheesecake batter, really smooths the taste out.
So I had to try this.

And when we returned home from our trip to the big city (it's not that big, I just call it that because there is a Lowe's and a Wal-Mart there) I just had to Google Lemoncello to see what I could make with it.
And I found this over at Hope Studiosa tutorial for making your own Lemoncello.
I also found via Google, a bunch of recipes for drinks and desserts using Lemoncello.

We already brew beer and make wine. And I did make cranberry liquor about 20 years ago to give as Christmas gifts. It was awesome. Pretty much the same as they did in the linked tutorial.

Well it's almost 5 PM here and since you're immune from being labeled a "problem drinker" as long as you wait until after 5 for your first drink (this is an old family joke),

I shall gather my implements to partake of a "Lemoncello Martini". Yes, even those of us who choose to live out where "turn left at the pigs" is part of the directions to our place, drink martini's.
Even though this is my first lemoncello one, and all the martini's I have had up to this point have tasted like something I want to pour into the tank of the riding lawnmower.

Well there was the time I got creative and added cranberry juice to a batch and it made them better. Larry laughs at this.
He says "it's pretty bad when you add cranberry juice to something to make it taste better (he does not like cranberry juice, and also said "it's like adding a dog turd to something and it actually improves the flavor")

Ahhh Lemoncello, your lemony color attracts me like no other liquor can. Just this side of neon.

I have my stainless steel shaker and my martini glass. And look, just to be on the safe side, I have sugared the rim of the glass.


Well my camera's battery needs to go to the charger for the rest of the evening, so no pics of the actual martini, but suffice to say....the grass shall be cut at least one more time.
(Wonder what a set of Martini glasses are going for on Ebay....)

Larry is a huge fan of Baileys Irish Cream. So I am looking up a recipe for that. A little drink of that, late evening, for a nightcap. Sitting by the fire. A little Sade or Chris Botti playing. Oh I'm in the moooood for loooove.......

Anyone else out there ever brew beer or make a liquor?

5 comments:

  1. Lemoncello!
    That brought back memories. My friend was suffering with a bad back on hols and the proprietors of the cafe gave her some homemade lemoncello, gratis. Quite a large glass. She never noticed her backache for the rest of the day! :lol:

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  2. I've never tasted the real thing but I grow lots of lemon verbena each year to use for various things and here is a recipe for limoncello using it that I found on the internet somewhere:
    Chop just half a cup of fresh lemon verbena leaves and put in a jar. Add 4 cups of vodka and let sit covered for two weeks, shaking every once in a while. After two weeks, add 2 cups of sugar and shake to dissolve. Let THAT sit for two weeks. Strain out the leaves, bottle the gloriously fragrant, delicious liqueur and either add it to desserts, or seltzer. If you REALLY want to drink it straight, I suggest doing that by the THIMBLEFUL!!!! It honestly tastes JUST the way fresh Lemon Verbena leaves smell.
    This is like the other recipe but simpler LOL I didn't make any because I had already dried all of my verbena to give as Christmas gifts. But I'll be making some this summer!

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  3. Lemoncello makes me so happy. I love it!

    I sent you an email.... I hope you got it. :D

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  4. Thanks for the giggles! We LOVE lemoncello here - simply wonderful at the end of a hot summer day, or a spring day, or a .... :)

    Don't get rid of your martini glasses - use them to serve ice cream drizzled with... LEMONCELLO!

    Have *hic* fun.

    Kate

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