Lemon-lime-basil popsickles

New York gets hot in the summer. And I mean HOT.

And not having an a/c in a directly-under-the-roof apartment with a skylight makes said apartment a charming freaking furnace. Moreover, it being a studio means that I only have one (huge) set of windows, thus no real option to create any sort of draft exists. 

So I have been trying to cool down.

One of the strategies I picked is to freeze some homemade popsicles and indulge in them from time to time. Here's one of the recipes I've been toying with. 

For 6 cca. 120 mL popsicles (that's the approx volume of liquid my popsickle moulds hold - adjust accordingly)

2 lemons, juiced

2 limes, juiced

a fistful of fresh basil

a generus pinch of good sea salt; I like to use fleur de sel from my "home" saltpans in Piran

2 spoonfuls of brown sugar

2-3 spoons of water

First, wash and dry the basil, cut off the stems and coarsely chop the leaves. Make sure you indulge in the aroma while chopping. It is plain awesome. 

But of course, don't go dreamingly breathe in the goodness with your eyes closed if you are holding a huge sharp chopping knife! 

Transfer the basil leaves into a sturdy bowl, add the salt and the sugar and squash thoroughly to release the nice smelling goodness from the basil. Kind of like the good barmen do with mint leaves when mixing a mojito. 

Juice the limes and lemons and add to the basil leaves. Mix well, add a bit of water to adjust the taste and the volume. Taste. It should be tangy and sweet&sour. Remember that enjoying things frozen sort of numbs the taste a little, so do not dilute it with too much water, as it would result in rather watery popsicles. The tastes should be pretty strong at this point. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes, so the basil can infuse the mixture. 

Distribute into moulds and freeze for at least 4 hours.

And make sure you use some awesome popsickle moulds. Mine are rocket-shaped. They do look cool!

There's really no need to follow the recipe exactly. You basically mix the ingredients, check the volume and taste it. If you love it, you freeze it. If you don't, you correct the taste and freeze it once you come to love it. Simple as that. And you should really not worry about leaving the basil leaves in the finished product. They will float to the surface, so once the popsicles are frozen, all the greenery will be at the very bottom. But if they do bother you, just filter them out before distributing the mixture into the moulds. 

Don't give the side eye to the basil and salt. They add a certain something to the not really original lemon-lime taste. Call it sophistication or call it added freshness, whatever. It's just plain good.

This is a nice, goody-two-shoes sober recipe. But actually, to make those a real summer party treat, you could spike the mixture with rum or tequila (if you go a tad heavier on the salt). Hmmm… Housewarming idea, anyone? :)

Oh, two final pieces of advice:

1. Watery stuff expands while freezing. Since not all moulds have holes on their lids, do not fill the mould all the way to the top to avoid unpleasant results. Most moulds are plastic, so they won't break, but respect water physics regardless ;)

2. Sugar and salt lower freezing temperatures, but alcohol does so even more significantly. So do not spike the mixture too generously. You still want nicely frozen, compact popsicles, not fragile half-frozen drunken monsters. 

A few captured moments from yesterday's fireworks on the Hudson. They were cool. And it was crowded. 

Enjoy!
Jules