When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But only if they are organic, unwaxed, beautiful lemony lemons. Otherwise it's not really worth it.
And when life gives you rum, add that to your lemonade and pretend you're on a Caribbean beach somewhere but maybe that's just me...
Somehow, when I have a jug of this in the fridge, bursting with colour and freshness, it feels like summer no matter what else is going on in my life.
This recipe is from Nigel Slater and I found it in the Observer Magazine last week. I had to read it a couple of times to make sure that I had grasped its simplicity correctly and that I didn't need any posh ingredients or some fancy equipment. But no; all it requires is some lemons (the best available), some boiling water and a jug. And some sugar to taste. When I was making this, I realised how important the sugar is. As a rule, I like sour and so added the bare minimum suggested in the recipe but found that I needed to double it. Sour is one thing but bitter? Quite another.
The recipe advised adding gin to the final product but I was sadly lacking in this department which is why I ended up with the rum. I would happily drink rum mixed with almost anything though so you may not want to follow my example. Gin would have worked perfectly too and would have made a perfect summer cocktail. Lemonade (makes 2 jugs)Recipe from Nigel Slater
4 unwaxed organic lemons1.5l boiling waterCaster sugar
1. Wash the lemons and slice thinly (no more than half a cm). 2. Place the lemons in a large heatproof bowl.3. Boil the water in a kettle and pour it over the lemons.4. Add sugar to taste, starting with 2 tbsps (I ended up with 4).5. Pour into your jugs and leave to chill. Serve over plenty of ice.
