Wednesday, February 29, 2012

I mad, crazy, stupid love meyer lemons so why not preserve them? Genius!


This is why not!

I am a lemon lover to the core, it's in my DNA.  My Dad loves everything lemony too, we are two lemon heads!

It is sheer torture staring at a glass jar of what were once the most beautiful, bright, juicy, sweet, heavenly meyer lemons and watch them gradually turn into limp little water-balloons!  I keep having to remind myself that it will pay off in the end.

Here's what you do...

 Grab a bag of lemons, I prefer meyer for everything.
Find a good sized jar with a tight seal.
Scrub your lemons well. I use a new toothbrush that my kind dentist regularly supplies me with.
{Thanks Doctor Martin!}























Quarter each lemon ALMOST all the way through and pack with salt.  I used up what was left of my pretty pink Himalayan Sea Salt then switched over to  regular Sea Salt. 











Pack in as much as you can.  Just use your fingers and kinda squeeze it together.  Try not to lose any juice, every drop counts!



Smoosh in as many lemons as you can fit in the jar.  My CSA box only had 4 so eventually it left a lot of extra space that needed to be filled with more salt and oil.  In hindsight I should have gone to the market and picked up a couple more.



One recipe I saw included whole star anise, a chili pepper, peppercorns etc.  I just went basic for my first go-round but I think next time I will get a bit more creative.






Now you take a wooden spoon and smash the juice out of the lemons.  Close the lid and set it aside.




The next day....more mashing.




When you have juiced them as much as possible (takes a few days) you then fill the extra space all the way to the top with more lemon juice (from the extra lemons you were smart enough to have on hand), sea salt and oil.  I used meyer lemon oil, not sure that it was necessary.  I read that sometimes the top lemon will get moldy if it is not covered all the way so take it to the top.



Once you have filled the jar all the way you do not open it anymore.  Put it in a dark cool place in your kitchen but one that you won't forget about it.  When you walk by it give it a shake to mix up the juices, salt and oil.


This is the stage in which I realized the seal on my my cute little jar sucked.  Apparently it is for fun stuff like buttons or M&M's NOT preserving lemons. I transferred everything over to a not so cute pickle jar. 

You wake and shake every day for 30 days.

{They start to look yucky, but keep the faith.}



On the 30th day you move the jar into your fridge and they are ready to use.

Pull a lemon out, rinse the salt and seeds from it and throw in in what ever you may be slow cooking that would improve with a citrusy zing.  I am so excited to try this out!  You can use the whole lemon, just the pulp, juice or strips of rind depending on what you are doing with it.  A little should go a long way.


Is it wrong to plan my next several meals based on one ingredient?  My mind is reeling!  I can put one in the next chicken I roast!  It's about time I slow cooked a bolognese or ragu sauce.  Mmmm, a nice parchment wrapped halibut. Tikka Masala! Lemongrass soup! Little rind strips in a beautiful risotto!  The pulp and juice would go great in a bloody mary!

Okay, apparently I'm playing a funky round of food jeopardy with myself.  There are a ton of recipes out there since preserved lemons are used in many Indian & Moroccan dishes but you could put it in pretty much anything.  I cannot wait to get home!

. . .
. .
.

Good Goddess! Apparently my fridge is set way too high!  I went to pull them out and this is what I found...


FROZEN preserved lemons?! Grrr....


Here's a flashy link to distract you from the above.




32 days later....




Isn't she beautiful?!

I was ravenous and exhausted when I got home so I decided to forgo the slow roasting of anything.  Of course I still had to try these out so I laid a half of lemon cut into thin slices over a couple of chicken breasts with some salt, pepper and a little chicken stock.  Afterwards I drizzled on a little white wine, capers and butter sauce.  I put the other half of sliced lemon in a frying pan with some french green beans and shallots. 


I wanted to see if the citrus would infuse my light dishes.  It wasn't much, merely a hint of lemon but it was enough of a tease that I just have to see what a whole lemon cooked long enough to break it down can do!  I'll be sure to update. :)

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