Recipes to Rival - A Taste of Italy

This month's Recipes to Rival challenge came from Lauren of Fried Pickles and Ice Cream. She wanted us to have a taste of Italy by making Brucshetta and Lemoncello.

Bruschetta is a really simple yet flavorful appetizer, especially when you use fresh seasonal ingredients. I waited until we got the first tomatoes of the season from both our CSA & garden before making it which meant I used cherry tomatoes instead of the called for romas. I cut a petite baguette into slices, brushed them with olive oil & then browned both sides under the broiler (the recipe called for grilling the bread). Then I rubbed each slice of bread with raw garlic. The bread is them topped with chopped tomatoes. Matt mixed our tomatoes with a little of the 10 year old balsamic vinegar we picked up at Zingerman's this spring. Finally, the bruschetta was sprinkled with a chiffonade of fresh basil from our garden. A perfect afternoon snack.

Limoncello is a sweet lemony liqueur from Southern Italy. It doesn't take a ton of ingredients to make just a little patience to let it sit. The recipe called for grain alcohol but my liquor store was sold out. Surprisingly one of the employees there knew a lot about making limoncello & suggest using vodka instead letting it sit a little longer. Mine is still at the sitting stage, yes I started it too late. When its done I plan on using it to make a sorbet.

Limoncello

1 liter grain alcohol
5 1/2 cups water
5 large lemons (or 10 small lemons)
2 1/2 cups sugar

-Gently wash lemons in cool water to remove any dirt
-Peel away zest from lemon leaving as little pith (the white stiff) as possible.
-Put peels in a large sealed jar or container (I reused the alcohol bottle)
-Pour alcohol over peels and place container in a cool place.
-Leave the mixture for 7 days.
-Every day give the container a little swirl. You will see the alcohol become darker and darker every day.

-After 7 days, strain the alcohol by using a coffee filter. (The person I spoke to about making lemoncello said it should actually sit for 1 month with grain alcohol & 4 months with vodka. I may let mine sit a month & see what happens.)

-Prepare the simple syrup. Bring the water to a boil and add the sugar to dissolve.

-Mix the syrup with the alcohol. BE CAREFUL... DO NOT DO THIS NEAR A FLAME!!!

-Pour the limoncello into bottles or containers. Let cool completely. Store in the freezer until ready to serve!

*Date your limoncello. After a year it will no longer be delicious.

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