Limoncello Vinaigrette Food

LIMONCELLO

Steps:

• Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from the lemons in long strips (reserve the lemons for another use). Using a small sharp knife, trim away the white pith from the lemon peels; discard the pith. Place the lemon peels in a 2-quart pitcher. Pour the vodka over the peels and cover with plastic wrap. Steep the lemon peels in the vodka for 4 days at room temperature.
• Stir the water and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Pour the sugar syrup over the vodka mixture. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. Strain the limoncello through a mesh strainer. Discard the peels. Transfer the limoncello to bottles. Seal the bottles and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 month.

LIMONCELLO VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• Whisk Limoncello, lemon juice, zest, mustard and red-pepper in a small bowl.
• Whisk in oil and season to taste with salt.
• Pour into decorated bottle if giving as gift or can be used immediately.

LEMON VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

ITALIAN LIMONCELLO

Steps:

• Combine alcohol and lemon zest in a 1-gallon jug with a tight-fitting lid. Place in a cool, dark place to rest for 1 month. Swirl contents of the jug every few days.
• Combine water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat; stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Set simple syrup aside to cool completely, 15 to 30 minutes.
• While simple syrup is cooling, place a sieve over a large bowl and line with coffee filters. Strain alcohol mixture through coffee filters to remove all sediment. Replace the filters as needed until all the mixture has been filtered. Filter one more time to ensure all sediment has been removed. Discard coffee filters and zest.
• Add enough simple syrup to the alcohol mixture to reach the desired alcohol-by-volume percentage; refer to an alcohol content calculator.
• Divide limoncello among 6 wine bottles. Seal with corks. Allow to rest in a cool, dark place for 1 month, swirling every few days. Strain one more time to remove any leftover sediment if desired.
• Place 1 bottle of limoncello in the freezer and serve icy-cold. Store remaining bottles at room temperature.

LIMONCELLO ONCE REMOVED

Steps:

• Pour the spirit into the well-cleaned urn. Drape the cheesecloth in crossing swaths, making sure to gauge the length so that once the weight of the lemons is pending, they cannot reach the spirit. Bind the cheesecloth tightly in place on the outside edge of the urn with the butcher's twine, wrapping it under a lip to make certain it is well held. Place the lemons into their hammock and cap the whole with the lid. If the lid has a plastic or rubber gasket, you may wish to remove it, lest it leach any off-flavors into the mix. Store in a stable environment out of sunlight for nine weeks. Given variables like temperature and humidity, your limoncello may be ready before then. Warmer climates will speed up the process. Avoid opening the jar, as it will set the curing process back, but do pay attention to the color of the mix; you want it rich with a kind of varnished yellow, but it can actually go too far, overextracting into a brown color with an intensity that can be too much for some people's taste.
• At the end of the aging period you should have roughly 1 4/10 liters of unsweetened lemon spirit at roughly 60 percent alcohol by volume, or 120 proof. Make a simple syrup of ½ liter water and the same of sugar. When dissolved fully, add to the lemon spirit and mix well. Taste for strength, balance and sweetness and adjust water for dilution and/or sugar if necessary. Be cautious not to drown the lemon's bite and aromatics with too much sugar, but also bear in mind that if you're serving your limoncello from the freezer, you will perceive slightly less sweetness in the frozen mixture.