Meyer Lemon Limoncello

I can't remember the exact time and place I first has Limoncello, but I'm pretty sure it was within the first month of the year that I spent living in Florence. I remember one evening I had gone out with a group of friends to celebrate someone's birthday. It was a nice restaurant, though nothing over the top. What stood in my mind, however, was how after the dinner the restaurant sent down complimentary glasses of limoncello and grappa. (This by the way, is a custom I think should be adopted in America!) It's an extrememly strong and fragant drink that left a lasting impression while also the lesson that one does not "shoot" limoncello (though it does come in shot glass). Limoncello is a digestivo that is to be sipped after dinner as to aid in digestion.


If any of you reading this are unfamiliar with the drink, limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur mainly produced in Southern Italy, predominately in the region around the Gulf of Naples, the Sorrentine Peninsula and the coast of Amalfi, though served throughout the country. It is bright yellow in color, sweet and lemony, but not sour since it contains no lemon juice. As I mentioned above, it is traditionally served chilled as an after dinner digestivo.

But what really makes this drink great is that unlike many other liqueurs, limoncello is easy and inexpensive to produce, requiring only sugar, water, lemon zest, alcohol, and time to mature.

Ingredients:

• 20 lemons - clean, unwaxed with nice plump skins. Try to get organic fresh lemons when you can so it doesn't have an added wax layer to the lemons. Remember you'll be drinking this! Luckily, I'm in California where it's common to find lemon trees. My coworker was kind enough to donate her Meyer Lemons. If you can find someone with a tree, this is your best (and most affordable) option.
  
• 2 (750-ml) bottles Everclear or pure grain alcohol. Everclear is good for two reasons - it's pure alcohol meaning it's got a high proof and it has no other underlying flavor or added sugar. If you can't find Everclear, try a clear alcohol with as high of a proof as you can find. 80-proof isn't quite enough as the solution will be come diluted with simple syrup.
• 2 to 3 cups of water
• 2 to 4 cups sugar (a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water makes a classic simple syrup, but use more sugar if you want yours a little thicker or sweeter)

For this recipe you also need a large (2-3 liter) glass jar with a sealed lid. The jar should be washed and rinsed very well or sterilized. You don't want anything in your limoncello but what you put there. I use an old-fashioned sun tea jar. Because it isn't quite air tight I covered it with plastic wrap.

You will also need the bottles you want to put the final brew in. I bought some French lemonade to drink and saved the bottles for this purpose.

Step 1: lemon in alcohol

1. Wash and dry the lemons. Only use the ones without blemished peels or pare off any spots and the stems, ends.
2. Remove the peel from the lemons with a sharp peeling knife, carefully avoiding the bitter white pith. If you choose to peel your lemons, please note that if any white pith remains on the back of a strip of peel, scrape it off. If you get any of the white part in the batch, the limoncello will be bitter and you don't want that! This is the time consuming part, but avoid the temptation to rush.
3. Put the peels in a glass jar and add the Everclear, leaving at least two inches below the top rim. Seal tightly.
4. Leave the lemons to steep in the jar in a cool, dark place until the peels lose their color, at least 4 weeks. I left mine for roughly 3-4 months. Every couple of weeks I swirl the peels around in the jar to mix up the oils in the alcohol.

Step 2: make the simple syrup and add it.

1. Put the water and sugar in a saucepan, stir and slowly heat until it turns clear and all the sugar is dissolved completely. Let the syrup cool.
2. Put the cooled syrup in the jar with the lemons (you might have to divide the batch into two jars at this point, depending on the size of your jar).
3. Put the jars back in the closet for at least two weeks. Longer is fine too.

Step 3: strain and bottle


1. Strain out the lemon peels through a colander, coffee filter or cheesecloth and pour the limoncello into another container. Press down to remove all the vodka and oils that you can from the peels before tossing them in the trash. As you will notices, just like the picture above, the rinds will have become a very pale yellow.
2. Stir the liquid with a clean plastic or wooden spoon.
3. Put the liqueur in clean bottles and seal tightly.

For best flavor and drinking it straight, store the limoncello in your freezer. It shouldn't freeze (unless you used 80-proof vodka) because of how much alcohol is in it. It'll become thick and syrupy. A perfect end to a hot summer day.


Delicious Uses for Limoncello:

* straight up frozen in limoncello shot glasses
* spiking a tall glass of cold lemonade or iced tea
* splashed in glasses of champagne
* over ice cream or angel food cake
* splashed on a fresh fruit mixture
* in sparkling water, tonic or soda.


Cin cin!
– Lindsay

Grilled Watermelon Salad

My new favorite thing to eat!! I had no idea this would be so amazing... but something about the flavor the watermelon takes on once it hits that grill.... It satisfies every taste bud - yes that's cheesy to say, but honestly - you have the sweetness from the watermelon, the tangy-ness from the goat cheese, the bitterness/spicy-ness from the arugula, and the sweet and tangy balsamic to top it off... Oooh its so good.
You don't need to own a grill to make this, either - but you do need a grill pan. I have one of those cast iron grill pans from Lodge that does the trick perfectly - although the first time was done over a regular grill, and it might add a hint of smokiness to the melon that you can't get from a grill pan.
It's quickly become my new favorite summertime meal - and its really simple and really affordable (especially since entire watermelons sell for $4 at the store this time of year!)

Grilled Watermelon Salad
serves 4

• 4 slices of seedless watermelon, about 1/2" thick or so, rind removed
• 4oz log of goat cheese, crumbled
• baby arugula, enough for 4 people - not sure how much that is
• balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper

1. Heat your grill pan over medium - medium/high heat. Or if you're using an outdoor grill, I would suppose it would be because you're grilling something else, so just leave some room on the side for some watermelon.
2. Brush some vegetable or safflower oil on both sides of the watermelon and place on your preheated grill, about 1-2 minutes per side. You want the watermelon to start getting grill marks on them and picking up a slight caramel color. Flip and cook another 1-2 minutes. If you're using an outdoor meal, you'll want to grill this over indirect heat.. just off to the side of whatever you're cooking.
3. Remove from grill, place on plates, and crumble goat cheese over the top of the warm watermelon. Dress the arugula with some balsamic vinegar, salt, & pepper and set on top of the goat cheese and serve!

Really, I know it sounds weird - but its sooooo good. AND it's relatively healthy! Even better.

Posted by Lauren

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Roasted Garlic, Mushrooms & Caramelized Onions

and toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, in a lemon butter sauce.......

Figured the name of the pasta was too long to be a title, because all ingredients are important in this pasta, not just the 4 main ones.

Well I was trying to come up with a pasta to make with Orecchiette and Broccoli - something light and vegetarian.. I was having dreams of the orecchiette and broccoli rabe dish I'd had from Savarino's Cucina (a little italian place in Nashville) and wanted to take the concept but make it something different. So after a little internet research, I came across a few ideas and ended up with this dish. It's a tad time consuming due to the nature of the ingredients, but it's super easy and very tasty and I've already made it twice this week!

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Mushrooms, & Light Lemon Butter Sauce
serves 4

• 1lb orecchiette pasta
• 2T veg. oil - or olive oil
• 1-2c broccoli, cut into bite size florets (depends on how much broccoli you like)
• 1/2lb cremini mushrooms
• 1 small vidalia onion (or sweet onion if you're not a southerner)
• 1 head of garlic, roasted*
• 1/4c pine nuts
• 1 lemon
• 2-3T butter
• a small chunk of parmigiano cheese
• fresh basil
• salt & pepper

1. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast pine nuts, about 5 minutes. WATCH THESE CAREFULLY. If you walk away and forget - you've ruined your pine nuts. You want them to turn a nice golden brown.
2. Chop up your onion into medium size pieces. Using the same skillet you toasted the pine nuts in, let the pan cool down a little and then add about 1T of oil to the skillet and throw in the onions. Season with some salt & pepper (I actually add about a 1/2t of sugar to help with the caramelization). Cook the onions until they start to get nice and soft and a nice golden color. While these are cooking, wash and slice your mushrooms.. Once the onions have started to turn a golden color, add a little more oil and add in the mushrooms. Season again with salt & pepper. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, so mushrooms have caramelized with the onions.
   
3. While you're cooking the onions & mushrooms, heat up your pot of water for the pasta and in a smaller saucepan, steam the broccoli florets until tender. Once the water for the pasta has come to a boil, salt the water generously and add in the pasta. Cook until al dente (about 13 minutes). Drain pasta and return the pasta back into the hot pot. Zest the lemon over the pot, throw in the butter, and squeeze half the lemon over the pot - you may use more if your lemon is small, but I found I didn't want the lemon to over power the dish, so I only used half a lemon.. Stir together until butter has melted. If you want, you can save 1/4c pasta water and add it in, it will help make the sauce a little "thicker". At this point, grate some fresh parmigiano cheese over the pasta - about 2 tablespoons should suffice. Stir to melt the cheese. Chop up the roasted garlic and add it to the pasta - also add in your broccoli, caramelized onions/mushrooms, and toasted pine nuts. Chop up some fresh basil and add it in as well.

*to make your own roasted garlic, you can take a whole head of garlic, slice off the top of it to expose all the cloves within.. drizzle olive oil over it, wrap it in aluminum foil and put it in a 400 degree oven for roughly 30 minutes - may take more time depending on the size. The cloves should be soft when you press it. Let cool until you can safely handle it and then ease the cloves out of their skin... you can usually squeeze them out.
OR can you cheat (like we did) and buy whole cloves of roasted garlic in the prepared foods section at whole foods.


So yeah - its just kind of a cook a bunch of things then throw it all together into a pot and there's your pasta. Its pretty tasty! Well worth the effort.
Oh and don't forget to enjoy it with a nice glass of refreshing wine. mmmmmmmmmmm pinot grigio.....

Enjoy!
Posted by Lauren

Buttermilk Biscuits - homemade style!

I have tried to make biscuits once before, and they did not turn out! Because I failed the first time, I felt like I just didn't have the right touch and therefore wasn't meant to make biscuits. After watching a coworker throw together some biscuit batter in a matter of minutes and then throw it in the oven... only to watch her fail, made me feel like I needed to step up and find a recipe and bring it in and show my new employer that I will make their biscuits because I know how to! Everything with me is a competition, in case you didn't know. I mean I was ashamed of this woman's biscuits and I hope she never tries to feed them to anyone again!

So I went home and researched and found a recipe to try. I have a cookbook from America's Test Kitchen and I figured - how could a test kitchen get it wrong? Surely they have the perfect biscuit recipe... and sure enough, they do. I also learned a few tricks and added in a few things of my own so I could call them "my own" even though I totally stole the basic recipe.

So a few side notes to start you off..

If you don't have buttermilk on hand, shame on you.. but I used to not have that as a staple in my fridge, either... So to make your own soured milk, mix 1 1/4c milk with 1 T lemon juice or vinegar and let stand for 10 minutes.

And when cutting out biscuit rounds, stamp the round into the dough, DO NOT TWIST. If you twist the biscuit cutter, it pinches the dough and your biscuit will not rise properly. So just press the cutter down firmly and lift up.

When laying your biscuits out on a sheet pan, I tend to line them up so they're all touching, not leaving a space between them. I find that this helps the biscuits rise higher instead of falling out to the sides. I also take some melted butter or cream and brush the tops of the biscuits before baking... Just for some flavor and color.

Buttermilk Biscuits
adapted from America's Test Kitchens
yields 8 - 10

• 3 c unbleached all purpose flour, plus extra for the work surface and cutter
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces and chilled
• 4 T vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2" pieces and chilled
• 1 1/4 c buttermilk

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse the flour, sugar, salt, soda, baking powder, butter and shortening in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal. (If you do not have a food processor, you can combine these in a bowl and use a pastry blender to blend them together... or go really old school and use 2 knives.. anything that blends it together but you don't want to warm it up so that the butter gets softened) Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the buttermilk until combined (I used a fork).
2. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth. 8 to 10 kneads. (Dough will be very sticky, but will become easier to work with as you knead it). Pat the dough into a 9" circle, about 3/4" thick. Using a 3" biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds of dough and arrange on the prepared baking sheet. (I don't own a biscuit cutter, so i just found something round in my kitchen and used it to cut the dough. I honestly used the cap to my baking spray can! But it made like 2" biscuits because it was small. You could use an empty soup can or something of that nature). Gather remaining dough and pat into a 3/4" thick circle and cut out remaining biscuits. I still had enough dough after this to pat it out for a 3rd time.. but usually that last biscuit won't be as soft as the first ones since it's been overworked.. but hey - why throw it out? You should have roughly 8-10 biscuits.. or if you're like me and used the cap to a spray can, I had more like 14 biscuits!
3. Bake until the biscuits begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then rotate the pan and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Or serve warm with some fresh strawberry jam or butter and local honey! Oh so good.
I threw the rest of mine in the freezer to pull out for later enjoyment.

Enjoy!
Posted by Lauren

Fish Tacos

Alright - I didn't have any possible way to make this picture pretty, because it was a messy meal! But oh soo good. Plus - its a really fun meal to make because you can have all kinds of options for toppings... and it makes a great meal for a large group because you just set up a little taco bar and let people make their own! (I recently had fish tacos at a friend's house, so it inspired me to come up with my own to make for Brandon and me to enjoy). Also - it helps having a new taco place in town, the Local Taco, to inspire me to want to eat them as well.

Fish Tacos

feeds 2-3 people

• 3 Tilapia filets
• 2 limes
• 3 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• fresh cilantro
• flour tortillas - I recommend Trader Joe's handmade tortillas
• salsa - I recommend the pineapple salsa from trader joe's
• sour cream
• 1 can of black beans
  
• 1 small red onion, or half of a larger one
• a handful of cherry tomatoes (I used an heirloom tomato mix)
• 1 serrano chili, or any chili depending on the heat you like
  
• cumin
• cayenne pepper
• chili powder
• salt & pepper

1. First you'll want to mix the juice from one lime, a few tablespoons of olive oil, & 3 cloves of crushed/minced garlic in a small bowl... whisking until its well combined. Pour this mixture over the fish filets in a ziploc bag and let sit for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
2. In the mean time, heat up a can of black beans on the stovetop, drained, with finely minced red onion. Cook until thickened. Toward the end, throw in some fresh cilantro and lime juice for flavor.
3. Chop the cherry tomatoes into smaller pieces along with the chopped chili pepper and some chopped red onion. Mix together in a bowl with some salt, pepper, fresh chopped cilantro and a little bit of olive oil. Set aside.
   
4. Once the fish has marinated, heat a skillet over medium heat with a little bit of olive oil. Season the fish filets with salt, pepper, a little cumin, a little cayenne, and a little chili powder... you know what you can handle.. Cook the fish until it starts to fall apart - do not over cook!! It will become dry and not very tasty at all. Discard the marinade.
5. Once the fish is done, let it rest on a cutting board for about 5 minutes... then using a fork, flake the fish apart into bite size pieces. Time to set up the taco bar! Make sure to steam the tortillas so they're nice and soft (in the microwave with paper towels for about 20 seconds should do the trick). Open up some salsa, sour cream, set out the cherry tomato mixture, some fresh chopped cilantro, a few lime wedges, and the black beans.
   
6. Assemble your tacos and enjoy! You can either throw some black beans in with the taco or leave it on the side..either way its good. You could probably even cook up some rice to add in... or mash up some fresh avocadoes.. have some fresh mango or bell peppers... tons of options.

So I hope I managed to get everything in there.. I made this 2 weeks ago off the top of my head, so its hard to remember everything I did.. But they were really really really reallly good. I want some now!

Enjoy!
Posted by LAUREN!

Cucumber Cooooooler

So I came across this drink while flipping through a recent issue of SAVEUR magazine - which was all about Texas. (ah hem - hint to kyle) It's getting quite hot and sticky out here in Tennessee, so it was time for a nice, cool, refreshing beverage that would be a nice cocktail for warm nights on the porch.
I tend to go for the drinks heavy on the mint, but cucumbers - what fun! Especially now that prohibition drinks seem to be the hot item - I think its about time I explore some old drinks! though not sure if this is exactly anything old... but its fun to think so.







Cucumber Cooler

makes 1 cocktail

• 1 2" piece of cucumber, thinly sliced crosswise, plus one additional slice for garnish
• 1/8 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup*

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine the cucumber slices, thyme, and 1⁄4 cup crushed ice. Using a muddler, crush ingredients until slushy. Add more ice, vodka, and simple syrup. Cover, shake vigorously to combine, and pour contents into a glass garnished with a slice of cucumber.

*to make simple syrup, heat 1 c water with 1 c sugar over medium heat. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved, do not boil. Remove from heat, cool completely. This will last in your fridge for months.

(Almost) Flourless Chocolate Cake with Port & Balsamic Glazed Cherries

I have been DYING to make this recipe for a long time ever since I saw the pictures the blog, designspongeonline.com (which I will post here and cannot, by any means, take credit for). I mean, look at them. If you're mouth isn't salivating then you must be crazy.

Well, my good friend and dance buddy, Lauren, from Cal Poly came in town last Saturday to visit. She traveled all the way from the warm farm town of Yuba City to enter the June Gloom of San Francisco. Besides her inappropriate summer clothes, she brought with her a HUGE basket of bing cherries - picked from a tree in her very own back yard! My am I jealous! Then again, I'd have to live in Yuba City... Since we were hanging out for the day we decided it'd be fun to bake something with them. We both decided that chocolate would have to be the vessel (naturally). Finally, I found my excuse to make this lovely and delicious cake.

This cake is nuts. It is beyond good. I'm not sure about the readers here but sometimes I swoon when I eat certain foods (truffles, chocolate, balsamic vinegar, to name a few). I was swooning. This is super dense but still moist. I've made flourless chocolate cake before that was very dry and disappointing. This was not! The addition of cinnamon and espresso powder to this dish is what really makes it stand out. The bonus? Well, you have to use port for the reduction sauce which means you'll have leftovers to drink with your cake!

The Cake:

• 12 - 14 oz chocolate ( I prefer 56% or higher cacao)
• 2 Tblsp Cocoa powder (dark, dutch process is best!)
• 1 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 1/4 tsp espresso powder
• 5 Tblsp Flour
• 5 eggs
  
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup)
  

Cherries:

• 1 pound cherries, stemmed, pitted (I recommend buying a pitter for this, Lauren saved me!)
  
• 3/4 cup ruby Port ( I used Justin 'Obtuse' Port)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Butter and Flour a 10" springform pan (or you can use a fluted torte pan so long as it has a removable bottom)

2. Set oven to 375º

3. Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside

4. Melt and stir butter and chocolate together over double boiler until everything is melted and smooth.

5. Beat eggs and sugar in mixer until starting to thicken.

6. Add remaining dry ingredients to mixer, and fold in slowly.

7. Slowly fold in melted chocolate to dry mixture so eggs do not curdle. You can temper it by adding a little of the warm chocolate mixture to the egg mixture first to raise the temperature.

8. Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

9. While cake is baking, prepare cherry mixture

10. Stir cherries, port, sugar, and vinegar in heavy large skillet over high heat until sugar dissolves.

11. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer until cherries are soft and wooden spoon leaves path in sauce when drawn across bottom of skillet, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

12. Pull cake out of oven to cool.

13. Serve cake with cherry compote.

Buon Appetito!
- Lindsay