Odds are, when you’re planning a Sunday supper menu, homemade pizza with Lime Honey Beet Salad would not appear in the same sentence. Just not palate-pleasing, huh? Let’s follow that with dessert, homemade-homemade Limoncello Sorbet. The first homemade is for the limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur, which two neighbors and I produced during the last two months. The second homemade is the sorbet we made using Little Darlin’, our ice cream maker.
Scrubbed, roasted, peeled, sliced and mixed with cider vinegar, lime zest and juice, honey, olive oil and spices, result in a very tasty colorful beet salad.
Probably this is a meal to serve only blood relatives, those family members who already love you unconditionally. That’s why my neighbors, Michelle and Adriana, and I invited only our families to supper. For safety’s sake, Michelle suggested we throw a green, leafy salad into the mix. Why not?
Adriana’s husband, Bob, served as grill master, sommelier and Bob-of-all-Trades
Agreed, it was a mishmash of flavors and tastes but everything seemed to work. If you recall, we have 50 pounds of pizza flour to use this Summer so we got busy and made six different kinds of Sicilian-crust pizzas. What was especially delightful was the long and lazy supper, taking our time to evaluate a pair of pizzas before grilling more. Enjoying the beets, the greens and the conversation.
We sprinkled our paddles with corn meal so the pizzas could be easily transferred to the stones. This time, a classic margherita and a Provencal pizza.
Those little pesky grape tomatoes, on the roll……..Adriana to the rescue.
After tasting that limoncello sorbet, it’s going to be hard to keep me down on the farm. I just may have closed the barn door on my perennial favorites, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Sunday supper with family? What could be better than that? If you want to make this beet salad, go here for the recipe. If you wish to see the improvisations of other Doristas this week, beet a path to this site.
Limoncello Sorbet
Recipe by Adriana Scrima
Preparation:
10 minutes + cooling time, 25 – 30 minutes chilling time; 2 hours to ripen in freeze minimum. Makes eight 1/2 – cup servings.
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 – 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon zest from one of the lemons used (use a vegetable peeler to remove the colored part of the citrus rind)
1 – shot glass of Limoncello
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer without stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 3 – 5 minutes. Cool completely. This is called a simple syrup, and may be made ahead in larger quantities to have on hand for making fresh lemon sorbet. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
When cool, add the lemon juice and zest; stir to combine. Turn the machine ON, pour the lemon mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and mix until thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes and maybe longer if you are going to add Limoncello because it is alcohol and it does impede the freezing process.
When adding Limoncello the alcohol needs to be added during the last two minutes of the freezing process.
Since the holidays are just six months away, I’m starting to put together and create note cards, gift enclosures, and a food label collection for my personal holiday giving. This year I’m doing a set and playing with culinary words (the beet/beat idea) and wanted to share them with you. Thank you for indulging me and being guinea pigs.
I absolutely know about what you mean re: “for family” dinners. Sometimes, I may have three or four totally non-related items that compose dinner. Since they are “experimental”, I would feel very self-conscious about feeding the masses. On the flip side, if I serve you one of those meals, you know you’re “in” 🙂
I love that you used different colored beets. And, I would have loved to try that Pizza!
Thanks for introducing me to a great blog – by way of your recipe link that I hi-jacked!
I really like your gift cards – very creative.
I don’t know I find the beets appetizing…
You have no idea how much I want to visit the Batali-initiated market too! The produce looks gorgeous but it was your pizza-making photos that really spoke to me. Casual outdoor dinner shared among good friends and family over great food. That’s hard to beet (teeheehee).
Mary…I love your card concept. You defintely don’t have any brakes on lady.
See you in Aspen.
Donna
The pizzas look amazing!!!
Love the party photos and the creative dinner menu!
Everything looks fantastic. Those pizzas look so nice, thin and crispy, just the way I like them. Such a wonderful way to enjoy a dinner, good food, good friends, etc. Times like that are great and the food is just a small part of the enjoyment, even though I’m sure you all knocked yourselves out. Have a happy weekend.
Sounds like a fun evening. Those pizzas look delicious. After working your way though all of that pizza flour I think you’ll be an expert!
And your cards are both beautiful and very creative. I seriously think you could market those.
I love how the salad looks with both colors of beets, Mary. Your food for your Sunday Supper looks wonderful. It all sounds pretty perfect to me. I love your note card, labels concept!
I came here for the beets but I’m definitely leaving with that frozen treat! Yum! I am going to LOVE that!
I think it sounds like a perfect meal with friends. Everyone loves a casual evening outside! You should open an etsy shop for your cards!
I love beets ! Your party food looks good and I am sure your beet salad taste good along your party food 🙂
Mary, Love this post…the pizza looks scrumptious! The beet salad looks lovely with the two colors of beets. And you made your own Limoncello and Limoncello Sorbet….wow! I wish I could have enjoyed this meal with you! I just bought a bottle of Limoncello…I see that sorbet in my future!
I’m really feeling your pizzas!
Oh, Mary, you and your friends have such a great time cooking and eating together! What a blessing. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Your multi-colored beets added an extra spark to this tasty salad. And I’m inspired by your Limoncello Sorbet. Now that I freed our ice cream maker from the bowels of the basement, this looks like the perfect “next attempt”.
Great looking salad – and the sorbet sounds great.
You really tried with all those colored beets. But alongside homemade pizza and the sorbet it´s a no win situation for the poor beets! About that lemoncello sorbet, perfect idea for the summer, or for any other time really! I just love it!
Mary, I am sorry for my late comments these past few days…life somehow got in the way of things…but things are almost back on track now…I had seen your post before and, of course, was jealous of the different colored beets, no such luck around here…and I walked past some bottles of limoncello in the store yesterday afternoon and I immediately thought about your recipe for the limoncello recipe…I know that sounds a bit strange but that made me smile while shopping and it just felt good!
…and, of course, that should have read “your recipe for the limoncello sorbet”…I should get some sleep!
My hubby always likes to try new pizza recipes! These pizzas look fabulous!