I’m not really sure what possessed me to buy limoncello (lemon liqueur) except that a drink that I had and greatly enjoyed was composed of limoncello and tequila, and I was already buying tequila to make Tequila Sunrises, so, hey, why not throw some in there? So I’ve mixed the limoncello and tequila and floated a little cointreau on top; quite yummy. My limoncello is stored in the freezer, and last night, I sipped at a liqueur glass-full of it as I fixed dinner, also quite good.
The only time I’ve had Lemoncello is as a digestif, and that was in Italy. We were staying at a small, very friendly family owned/operated hotel in Livorno, and over our (U.S.) Memorial Day, we did up a big U.S.-style BBQ and invited them to partake. In return, they invited us to Sunday dinner. Good Lord, it made a typical U.S. Thanksgiving feast look like a can of beanie-weenies! And they topped off the meal with Limoncello.
So have yourself a huge Italian meal, with aperitif, anitpasta, primi piata, secondi piata, lots of pane e burro, contorno, dolce, formaggio e frutta, and cafe. And when you’re about to burst, and have loosened your belt just so you can breathe, top it all off with some Limoncello!
Use it for cooking anything that you’d add lemon to. It’s basically sweetened lemon extract. You can make it yourself easily. Use a micro-grater to take off the zest of any lemons, limes, or oranges. Just the very outer colored part, the white stuff will be bitter. Steep the zest in grain alchohol if you can get it, or 100 proof or higher vodka in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks. Add water to reduce the proof to what you like, I go down to about 60 (30% alchohol), and sugar to sweeten to taste.
You’re already there – keep it in the freezer, sip it from a liqueur glass. Bonus points if the glass is icy cold, too. Marvelous on a warm night after a delightful meal.
It’s usually best chilled. Either serve it over ice, in a chilled glass, or both. I like it neat; I’m not sure what mixed drinks it’s used in. It might be good to add a shot or half-shot to a beer; I commonly add lime cordial to Hefeweizen.
The Whipped cream vodkas are great! I mix mine with Sunny Delight Smooth, or with diet root beer…but now I want limoncello to mix with it! My son drank the last bottle on the homemade limoncello I had…I want to buy a bottle to see if I even came close to what it should taste like.
Whoa. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse… I have never heard of these whipped cream vodkas. (And, yes, I do understand the Orange Julius/root beer float thing you’re going for…just ain’t my bag.)
Get drunk and use the bottle as Chasers to to a 12 of Tequiza? Maybe dump out three push ups ups into a blender, some ice, some mint, and at least an ounce and a half of limoncello, a pony of cointreu, maybe a touch of milk (or coconut milk)- a lemon, orange and maraschino side ride poured into a pina colada bubble and flute glass. A Mojito Push up.