posted by bme 12-16-101 4:19 PM
From: http://italianfood.about.com
Limoncello recipe from the food section of the San Francisco Chronicle of several months ago.
15 thick-skinned lemons (Eureka, Lisbon or Citron)
2 bottles (750 ml each) of the best 100 proof Vodka
4 1/2 cups sugar
5 cups water
Wash the lemons in hot water before you start. Remove the peel with a vegetable peeler, removing all white pith on the back of the peel by scraping with a knife, and put the peels in a 4-quart Mason jar.
Add 1 bottle of Vodka and stir. Cover the jar, date it, and put it to rest in a dark cabinet at room temperature.
After 40 days, take out the lemon-Vodka mixture. Ina sauce pan set over high heat, stir the sugar and water together and boil for 5 minutes. Let the sugar syrup cool completely in the pan, about 10 minutes. Add the sugar syrup to the lemon-Vodka mixture along with the second bottle of Vodka.
Stir well to combine. Replace the cover on the jar and note the finish date. Return it to the dark cabinet and store for 40 more days.
At day 80, remove the limoncello from the cabinet. Strain the mixture and discard the lemon peel.
Pour into clean, unused bottles with caps or decorative corked bottles. Store the bottles in the pantry, but put one bottle at a time in the freezer until ready to use.
Makes approximately 3 quarts.
Crema di Limoncello
4 organically grown lemons
1 quart grain alcohol
1 quart milk
1 pound sugar
1 pint water
Using a paring knife, trim the zest from the lemons, leaving the white part behind, and steep the zest in the alcohol for several days, shaking the jar daily. Combine the water, milk, and sugar and bring it to a boil 4-5 times, removing it from the burner each time it boils up. This serves to keep it from curdling subsequently.
Once the milk has boiled up for the last time, remove it from the fire and let it cool a bit. Stir in the alcohol, at which point the mixture should become thick and creamy. Let the mixture cool a little more and bottle it, pouring it through a fine wire mesh strainer into a funnel to filter out lemon zest and any large curds that might have formed. Let it sit for 3-4 days, and it's ready to serve."