The first time I ever heard of limoncello was from Danny DeVito's now famous visit to The View still hungover from the night before when he and George Clooney got drunk all from limoncello. Shortly after that, I was in Italy on a J-term trip and had my first taste of the dreamy elixir. Even though it wasn't chilled, it still tasted delightful. I always think it tastes how a alcoholic liquefied version of Lemon Head candy would be.
For Joan's birthday, a group of us went to Bluephies, a local restaurant that also calls themselves a "vodkatorium." As I was scanning their list of flavored vodkas and various vodka cocktails, I noticed "homemade limoncello" as an ingredient on one of their signature drinks. Surprisingly, it wasn't listed as an option by itself. When I asked the waitress she said I could have just it, but surprisingly she said no one had ever asked before. She seemed just as surprised as I was with all of it.
Once having their homemade limoncello, I decided I need to make some of my own. I thought if Danny DeVito can now have his own brand of it and Bluephies can make their own, that I could make my own too. I found a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network's website and went to work.
Now, let me just say that if you want to make limoncello you need a reason to actually use lemons as you only need the lemon peel. Joan and I decided to make homemade lemonade, which really is probably the best usage. I also found that you need great patience to make limoncello as it does take time to steep. I found some recipes that said you needed to steep the lemon peels and vodka for eight months. Giada's recipe was for a total of five days. That alone made it an easy decision to go with her recipe. The process was quite easy. Peel 10 lemons (making sure not to get any of the white pith), put the peels in a jar, pour in a 750 ml bottle of vodka, and let it sit for four days. After four days, pour in a simply sugar syrup solution and let it sit overnight. The next day you strain the solution and put into bottles and chill. Joan and I found some nice flippy-stopper topped bottles at World Market that work very well. A couple people have asked to try it, but its so good I want to selfishly keep it for myself. Having just written that sentence, I realized Joan hasn't really had any more than just a taste and I'm almost done with the first of two bottles.
Mmm...all this talk about limoncello makes me think that it makes a good drink on a Sunday evening...
