I had three new to me, recipes given to me this week. The first, marmalade with a friend, this i have never made before, mum made it often and indeed dad in latter years, so i was keen to give it a try. The one below was to do after my marmalade experiment and the other to try in a months time in early May. All completely different for our larder.
This one was unlike any i had read before, for preserved lemons. Great in all kind of dishes, great with fish and tajines. I can eat them straight from the jar i love them so much but we are talking about shop bought ones, as that is all i have had access to, so far. So i thought I would give this recipe a go....you will sadly have to wait a month to hear if it was a success, but i think it's an all win situation if you want to try and when you reach the end of the blog you will realise why.
I bought a kilo of small lemons, but you do not need to many if you are just hoping to fill a couple of large Kilner jars. Sterilise your jar or jars, a good wash and 7 minutes on a lowish heat in the oven. Slit the tops of your lemons in a cross until halfway down then pack each one with natural sea salt. Push into the jar and squeeze the juice of a couple of lemons on top. For a week you must agitate the jar during the day, put it somewhere in the house or kitchen that you will pass, and see often, and therefore turn.
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| natural salt from the guerande, recolte a la main - harvested by hand |
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| lemons packed with salt and some lemon juice |
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| ...agitated daily! |
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| final photo call before the cellar |
Top with Spanish olive oil to go with my Spanish lemons, seemed like a perfect marriage, a branch of rosemary some chili flakes and a clove of garlic. Another good shake and down to a cool place to store for at least a month. If the lemons work out that will be brilliant, if not we are left with a very flavoursome oil for dressing. If they are not soft enough as our shop bought ones, I will stick them into a blender for a lovely lemony sauce for fish or stuffed under the skin of a roasting chicken and use the fragrant oil for salad.
