Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade

Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations blog is hosting a picnic, inviting bloggers to celebrate by bringing a full alphabet of picnic treats.  Louise assigned me the letter E for which I'm contributing Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade, an easy, refreshing, and delicious summer beverage.

I'm going on this virtual fantasy picnic, and I'm bringing:

A -
Apricot Cobbler from Mae 
B - Banana Cream Pie from Marjie
C - Cherry Bars in a Jar from Barbara
 D- Diva Doggie Bites from Channon
 E - Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade

Other bloggers will be bringing foods from F through Z. Hope you'll stop by and join in the fun.
I love this time of the year when the strawberries are plentiful, and driving up to the farm stand is fragrant with the ripe scent of the newly-picked berries.  Of course, as it's also in the upper nineties with heat indices around 100, I've found one of the best ways to consume the strawberries is in liquid form.  Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade is nectar for the Gods during weather like this; I seriously wanted to dive right in!  Knowing I had a tall glass (okay three glasses, if you must know) waiting for me after spending so much time working in the yard, was incentive alone to keep on going.  This was so delicious that I'm going to serve it at my Ladies' Luncheon later in the month - they will LOVE it!  I'm also going to experiment with raspberries and blackberries, in place of the strawberries. I'll let you know how that works out.  In the meantime, whip up a batch of this.  You can't go wrong, I promise you.
Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
2 cups cold sparkling water or club soda
Ice
Mint sprigs, garnish
Whole strawberries, garnish


In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice, stir, and remove from the heat. Let cool completely, then strain into a clean pitcher.
In a blender, puree the pint of strawberries and add to the pitcher with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and refrigerate until well chilled.  Add the sparkling water and stir well. Pour over glasses filled with ice and serve, garnished with mint and strawberries.



12 comments:

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

Mmmm, another great recipe to use with my SodaStream. thanks.

Haden News said...

Sounds perfect for a hot summer day, it'll be 94 here today!

Diane said...

Yum, this sounds wonderful. I will be trying it. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for visiting over at Pittypat Paperie. Hope you will come back soon Ü

Vanessa Coppa said...

Sounds delightfully refreshing after a long day of yardwork!

Anonymous said...

Oh mercy!!! This one is definitely a keeper, Patti! Thanks so much! In Nova Scotia, our strawberries are ready in July, so I'm all prepared!!

~~louise~~ said...

It's so refreshing to see an Emeril recipe. Oh wait, the Strawberry Lemonade looks absolutely refreshing. I too could dive right in!!!

Thanks for sharing, Pattie. Yard word deserves at least three glasses!!!

The Fajdich Times said...

Very refreshing!! Enjoy your weekend:)

PERMANENT POSIES said...

That looks so refreshing!

~~louise~~ said...

Just perfect, Pattie. We couldn't possibly have a picnic without Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade!!!

Thank you so much for playing the Picnic Game, Pattie. You will be absolutely amazed with the goodies we have going in our picnic basket!!!

Gloria Baker said...

Look delicious! gloria

Barbara said...

Not only pretty, but delicious! What would a picnic be without lemonade??

Tiffany said...

This look so good! Sounds perfect for a hot summer day!