lemoncello follow-up

outcome is great! we filled 6 bottles full and a 7th about 3/4's (this one is ours to keep).

i have some photos to share of the process. chris did most of the grunt work as i'm just not able to stand for too long at the moment... and especially after 9 pm at night.

the lemon peel and vodka mingled since oct 24th until today, dec 7th in a cool dark place. this evening we made a simple syrup mixture with a 1 to 1 ratio. we did 9 cups of water to 9 cups of sugar, heated it until it was just about to boil. then we let it cool. meanwhile we strained the lemon peel from the vodka, using cheese cloth and a large funnel.


it came out of the mingling jug a beautiful yellow color and it smelled like the cleanest thing on the planet :) lemons make me think of cleaning. they have such a fresh scent. once they were separated from the peel and the simple syrup was cooled, we mixed the two and then started to fill our bottles.


see the color of the filled bottles in the background? that's what they look like in person :) such a beautiful yellow that is just alive looking.

overall, it was pretty darn easy to make. i can't wait to give a few bottles as gifts, i hope they are appreciated :)

after bottling the pretty yellow liquid we did a taste test. it's supposed to be served very very chilled and ours was NOT chilled yet so there was quite a bit of bite in my opinion but i could tell that if it would have been chilled, then consumed, it would have been PERFECTO!

i leave you with this one final photo

sometimes i'm a chef

i had some asparagus and i wanted them to be lemony, the rest is history. i concocted this myself and it turned out exactly how i wanted it to.

Lemony Asparagus and Chicken over Rotini

6 chicken breasts cut to bite size pieces
1 bunch of asparagus, cut to bite size
1 lb of rotini
4 cloves of garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
3/4 stick of butter
1 hand full of dried onion flakes
flour
red pepper flakes to taste
crushed pepper to taste
1 cup (total) lemon juice

1. Cook pasta to desired doneness and toss with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
2. Place bite sized asparagus pieces into a bowl and toss with a few tablespoons of lemon juice let this hang out for a bit in the lemon juice.
3. Saute chicken in olive oil with red pepper flakes, pepper, and dehydrated onion in a large saute pan.
4. Once chicken is almost done cooking add asparagus and the lemon juice in to the sauteing chicken and cook until asparagus is just slightly crunchy.
5. In a separate sauce pan, melt 3/4th of a stick of butter on medium heat, once melted add in garlic and a little crushed pepper and let it mingle for 2-3 minutes, turn down heat and start adding flour one tablespoon at a time, you will probably need about 5 tablespoons, keep whisking and keep heat on low. This will get fairly thick and will continue to do so. at this time add lemon juice keep heat on low and keep whisking, you'll want to slowly add about 3/4 of a cup of lemon juice maybe a bit more and keep whisking as you add a little at a time. Your finished product will be quite thick and you'll be able to move this sauce to one side of the pan and it will stay there (just for a consistency check). Turn off heat.
6. Once the chicken and asparagus are finished cooking add the sauce to the chicken and asparagus and toss, then toss this with the cooked pasta and top with Parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!