The Cluttered Pantry

Ok, in this case I went out and bought the lemons, but it made for a good title anyway.

It’s finally getting warm here in Chicago…the longest spring ever (not that I mean to complain, I prefer the cool air to the humid and hot.) So now it’s time to break out a drink that we can sip over ice or straight from the bottle we keep in the freezer.

We’re watching our pennies these days (who isn’t?) so rather than hitting the liquor store I broke out our handy dandy Juice-O-Matt and turned those lemons into limoncello.

Some of you are going to read this and say that unless I used pure alcohol then I didn’t get all the flavor from the lemon peel, but the thing is that I use more peels than most recipes call for and muddle them after the first day to help squeeze out all the lemon oil. Besides, with vodka you can pour a tall glass instead of an apertif, without pulling a Danny Devito the next day.

At 40% alcohol Vodka is cheap (super super cheap) so for the price of some lemons, sugar and the vodka we get a tasty drink.

There are also recipes that call for 40 days of steeping…I’m sure that these make an amazing drink, but this short 4 day version works nicely and Geez! 40 days is a stupidly long time to wait for something to drink (summer will be over before then!)

• 15 lemons (try to find some without the beeswax on them, and rinse them first)
• 1 (750-ml) bottle vodka (go cheap, you’re mixing it with lemon for goodness sake)
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 2 1/2 cups sugar

I use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the lemons in long strips, it makes it easier to avoid getting any of the bitter pith (the white part) The lemon peels go into a large pitcher with the vodka, after a quick stir, I cover it with plastic wrap and let it all steep for 4 days at room temperature. (on day two or three I muddle the peels a bit.)

Then it’s just about making some simple syrup : Pour the water and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Let it Cool completely, then pour the sugar syrup into the same container as the vodka mixture. Re-cover and let stand at room temperature one more day. Discard the peels and transfer the limoncello to bottles (i just use masson jars) and refrigerate or freeze.

The Juice-O-Matt? That’s for squeezing all those lemons once you have the peels off to make lemonade, ginger beer, and lemon bars (recipes and photod to be posted later this week). It’s seriously the best tool for the job. The double batch of limoncello (30 lemons) juiced a full size mason jar worth of juice (4 cups)

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