Watermelon Limeade
This morning as I was perusing through USA Today, I came across an article featuring Emeril Lagasse and his newest cooking show, Fresh Food Fast, that will debut on the Cooking Channel on July 10th. Before I get to the point of this blog posting, I must say, Emeril has covered some serious ground in his career. He has 70 grocery items, 12 restaurants, 15 cookbooks, 1800 employees, and more than 2,000 hours of time logged on camera; talk about creating a name brand for yourself!
In Emeril's newest cookbook, Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh, he has a fabulous recipe for Watermelon Limeade. The best part about this refreshing and easy-to-make beverage is that you can add some vodka and suddenly, you've got yourself an adult-friendly martini. If you aren't a vodka person, add your favorite tequila and BAM! (sorry, I couldn't help myself)...you've got yourself a margarita. Serve it to kids. Serve to the grownups. Everyone wins.
Watermelon Limeade
Yield: 5 cups [4-6 servings]
Ingredients:
- 8 cups cubed watermelon (seeds removed) or 1 qt watermelon juice
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 cup sugar, or more to taste
- lime slices for garnish
- Place half of the watermelon cubes in a blender and process until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl; discard the solids. Repeat with the remaining watermelon cubes; you should end up with about 1 qt of juice.
- Add the lime juice and sugar to the watermelon juice, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Taste, and add more sugar if necessary. Transfer the limeade to a non-reactive (glass, plastic, etc) pitcher and refrigerate until chilled.
- Serve over ice with lime slices for garnish.
*For Margaritas: shake 4 oz of watermelon limeade with 2 oz of your favorite tequila, an extra squeeze of lime, shake well, and serve over the rocks with salt (optional). If you are like me, and you like your margaritas fancy, add a float of Grand Marnier.
Cheers!
Photo Credit: Maren Caruso
Sarah Simms