This morning in the Catskills it was 30° but it’s headed to 86° in two days. Time to believe in summer and the need for cool refreshment instead of cool temperature. And just in time the strawberries are arriving. Not local, but they’ll do.
Here’s rif on my earlier blog for the best, and simplest lemonade. It’s a blender drink where you use whole lemons, sparing you the effort of juicing a bunch of lemons. This strawberry version is quite delicious. You have the liberty to vary the amount of strawberries and sugar depending on your personal taste preferences and the sweetness and intensity of the berries. Don’t worry. You can’t make a mistake and this is a beverage you will treasure all berry season.
Brian’s Perfect Strawberry Lemonade 1-2-3
Yield: just under 1 quart
Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar, plus more as needed
1 pint of strawberries, hulled and halved
2 lemons, ends cut off, quartered, seeds removed
3 cups cold water
Preparation:
Wash the lemons, cut off the ends, then quarter the lemons vertically. To a reasonable degree, remove the seeds. Don’t obsess, but try to get out the easy ones.
Put the lemons, strawberries, sugar, and water in a blender. Put the blender on low to break up the lemons then shift to high for 3 minutes. Taste test for sweetness and add more sugar, particularly for spring berries which are not fully sweet.
Pour into a pitcher. Chill. Serve in glasses filled with ice.
Source: Brian O’Rourke