Cottage industries at the Grove House

We can never seem to leave "well enough alone" (whatever that means)......both of us enjoy making and creating things, so here are some of our recent projects.....

Making limoncello: I first read about this Italian "digestivo" a while back and thought it sounded tasty. And, while I had never tried it, my instincts told me it would be good. And, furthermore, I had found a recipe that looked easy, although it took some time to get through the process.

First, you start with a whole bunch of lemons.....this is a photo of my sister, Kristi, who came to help zest about 40 lemons. You then take the zest and mix it with vodka (we also add everclear to this concoction), and the whole mess steeps for 40 days. (why 40 days? 40 is just a good Biblical number -- 40 lemons, 40 days. 40 nights....you can see a pattern here). Anyway, after that time, you strain out the zest, make a sugar syrup, and add it to the potent, lemon-infused vodka. Bottle it, and freeze it for the best flavor.




And, here are some of the finished bottles of lemony goodness. Limoncello is typically quaffed (yes, that is what I said) at the end of a meal in SMALL quantities because it is so potent. But, you can also mix it (club soda, sparkling wine, ice tea) to get some of the same great taste without all of the alcohol blast.

It is especially yummy on a warm summer evening! We made it for the first time last year and it looks like it will be an annual event.


Our next project has been to construct an outdoor wood-fired oven. I heard about "how easy" (.....easy when I am not the one doing it) it is to build your own oven that bakes up quickly wonderful pizzas and flavorful breads. So, I bought a book on it, and Vince has started this project. (you will see that on this project I am the research assistant and cheerleader).

So, here is the frame that will soon be holding a concrete slab. Vince (being the artiste that he is) decided that he wanted an octagonal shape to the oven, hence the eight-sided frame.

It's about 48 inches in diameter to give you some idea of the scale.

Then, he mixed up about 8 bags of cement and poured all of the gloppy stuff in the frame, while I kept a watchful eye on the whole process.



Here is a photo of Vince "screeding" (had to look that one up) the cement to make it smooth. We had to keep our dog out of the back yard for a while so that he wouldn't put his initials in the foundation.

Behind and to the right of Vince are the bricks that he will use for the foundation of the oven. We were lucky enough to get the bricks free of charge since one of our criteria for this project is also frugality.

Once the brick base gets constructed, (and I am making this sound "very easy"), a beehive-type shape gets constructed on top for the actual oven. Wood-fired ovens can reach temps of 700 degrees which make them perfect for cooking pizza in about 3 minutes. After the fire has died down and you rake out the embers, the oven stays hot for quite a while making it the time to bake bread or even roast meats and vegetables. Primarily we are doing this for bread and pizza, but I am sure we will experiment, especially to make the most of the oven heat.

And, now, here is a recipe for you -- it is (really, it is!) easy and GOOD. It's an appetizer called "Frico's" (not Fritos), and consists of three ingredients. Take one cup shredded Parmegiano reggiano cheese, 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil, and one half tablespoon of grated lemon zest. Mix in a bowl, use a tablespoon and spoon on a cookie sheet that has been covered with parchment or silpat (to avoid a mess, which I am all about). Just make little piles of the cheesy stuff, keeping each pile about an inch apart. I think I ended up with about 12 or 13.

Then, after heating up an oven to 400 degrees (should have mentioned that first), place the cookie sheet in the oven for about 4 minutes -- watch carefully because it doesn't take the cheese very long to melt, spread out, and start turning a little golden brown at the edges, which is your cue to take the cookie sheet OUT of the oven and onto a cooling rack.

Let the wafers cool for about 10 minutes (if you can wait that long) and then using a thin spatula, remove them, put them on a plate and enjoy! They would be great with olives before dinner, or, you can put this on really good bread, or even break them up and put them on a salad. I would have had a photo of them, but I didn't think of it until we only had one left last night, and I didn't think a photo of one Frico would be very artistic.

Vince doesn't like the name "Frico" and wants to call them something like "menage a trois" -- I told him that was French and these are Italian, so I will have to look up "menage" in Italian.

Okay, enough from us....it's really time for someone else to check in so I don't take up all of this e-space.....please, someone else tell us all what you have going on this summer!