Strawberry & Pineapple Shake with Limoncello (Frullato di Fragole e Ananas con Limoncello)


I can't help recalling how amused I was when I first made this frullato (shake).  It was the day before I left for France and I had been trying to empty the fridge the whole week.   My husband reminded me to make him the Pizza with Ricotta, Strawberries & Nutella/Chocolate right on the day I thought I was done with my work.  I bought 2 baskets of strawberries, which I already thought was too much but the vendor gave me the third and last basket for a fraction of a price or rather, just gave it to me as a gift because I paid almost nothing for it. 


On normal circumstances, I would accept it graciously.  I love it when I receive these tokens from sellers.  A kind of seller who has the sense of generosity to give something from the array of food he is selling assures him of my continued patronage.  What can I say?  That kind of advertising pegs my loyalty.


At early evening, the pizza was done, the contents of the fridge were under control, our bags were packed and I still had a big load of strawberries staring at me. As much as I pushed the kids to eat their favorite strawberry salad, they wouldn't budge. They didn't want anything to do with strawberries.  It was a classic case of "Mommy overdosing kids with strawberries" and the season was not even over yet.

The hulled strawberries went inside the blender with some fresh pineapple I was keeping for dinner. Adding mint leaves gave it a better twist.  But there was something lacking.  Something alcoholic was calling out. After all, I was going away for a week with my daughter while my husband goes somewhere with our son. I called my husband for a late afternoon cocktail with me which he happily agreed to. But not until he saw the big pitcher I plopped down in front of him. 

"All that?," he asked, with bewildered eyes. 

"Yes!"

I had another case of strawberry overdose in front of me.  



Strawberry & Pineapple Shake with Limoncello

Ingredients:
Makes about 1 liter
  • 3/4 cup pineapple
  • 2 cups cold water
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 1/4 cup limoncello
  • 1/4 cup sugar (or less, depending on how sweet the fruits are)
  • 5 - 6 mint leaves
  • ice  
Directions:
  1. Put all in the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  
  2. Serve chilled.