HOMEMADE ITALIAN ICE (LEMON)

ith Summer right around the corner, this is an easy recipe to make your own LEMON ICE.

HOMEMADE ITALIAN ICE (LEMON)
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Chilling time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6-8 cups depending on serving size

This is a real easy recipe ... All you need are ice cubes, sugar and lemons. Use regular size cubes (approximately 2” x 1” or so), do not use ice that you buy at a store. Too tart, too sweet? It’s just like mom’s sugo, you taste until you like… add sugar a little at a time until you get to the perfect desire. Too sweet and it's all over with, not good.

Once you have the right combination of how you like it, write it down, now you have your very own recipe.

4 cups water
1-1/2 cups sugar (remember you can always add more)
5-6 large lemons (you can use less lemons with just a spurt of lemon juice)

50 ice cubes

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and you’re off to the races, this is where it gets fun!

Now you’re ready for the blender… forgot to tell you, you need a blender… Juice all but 1 lemon, dump the juice in “the blender.” Now you take that extra lemon I was telling you about and cut it into quarters, leave the reign on this one and add it to your blender. Now add the syrup you just made, dump it in the blender. As you can see, the blender plays a big role in this whole process.

Don’t do anything with the ice… not just yet, we are saving this til the end.

Ok, almost done… blend all the ingredients in blender on medium until you achieve a smooth consistency, but don’t over blend or you will end up liquefying the ingredients… too much blending and you’re back to having sweet lemon juice… you don’t want this, I did this and it sucked.

Now this is the final and easiest part… put what you just created in the freezer for 35-40 minutes or until thoroughly chilled. Once chilled take those ice cubes I was telling you about, and now you can add them to the blender and blend everything together until thick and smooth, kind of like a smoothie. Taste and add a trickle of lemon juice and/or sugar to taste if needed.

There is no right or wrong way to do this, make it your own… it’s all in the trial and error, taste and add, taste and add… but remember at one point you need to stop. Sometimes I get carried away and end up having two blenders full, and I don’t need that much!

Now you are ready to serve.