Wednesday 29 March 2017

preserved lemons

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.




natural salt from the guerande, recolte a la main -
harvested by hand

lemons packed with salt and some lemon juice

...agitated daily!

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.

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