Lemons!

We have a big bag of lemons from mum and dads garden. I dont know who is more excited about it, Chloe, Ben or me. So far we have made Lemon butter, Lemon cordial, Lemon Impossible Pie and Lemon Pudding.

Some recipes:

Lemon Honey

Ingredients:

125g butter
1 cup of sugar
2 large lemons
1tbsp cornflour or custard powder

Method:

Melt butter and sugar in the juice from the lemons. Add grated rind. Remove from heat. Moisten the cornflour with water so it can be mixed smooth. Stir this into the mixture and return to heat. Stir while cooking until the mixture is lovely and smooth. Remove from heat and cool a little before bottling in small jars and labelling. This lemon honey can be stored in or out of the fridge.

This is one from Destitute Gourmet:-

Lemon Curd Krummeltorte

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
100g butter, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup lemon curd
1 tbsp icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180C. Place SR Flour, sugar and butter in a food processor. Run machine until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. add the eggs and pulse to combine.

Press two-thirds of the dough into a greased 23-25cm cake tin
lined with baking paper. Spread the lemon curd over this and crumble the rest of the mixture over the top.

Bake for 35-40 mins.

Dust with icing sugar before serving

Lemon Cordial

6 lemons ( I use a mix of citrus fruits)
5 cups sugar
30g citric acid
1 litre boiling water.
1/2 tsp lemon essence (optional preservative)

Take the juice of six lemons, finely grated rind of two of them, add sugar and acid, then pour over boiling water and bring to the boil. Remove from heat as soon as boiling and add essence. Bottle and use as cordial.

Lemon Cordial

6 cups white sugar
3 cups lemon juice
6 cups water
2 level teaspoons tartaric acid
2 level teaspoons citric acid
Bung the lot in a saucepan. Boil five minutes. Boil 5 minutes. Strain. Bottle . Throw out if it bubbles or grows mould

Salted Preserved Lemons

Cut lemons in quarters, but not right down to the end (should open up like a flower).

Next, put as much salt as you can into the open lemon then re-form it back into its original shape. Fill jars with salted lemons. Squish them right in, they don't mind being forced in.

Cover lemons with lemon juice in filled jars.

Put on lids and leave for at least a week before using. Can last for up to about a year in a cupboard or pantry.

MOROCCAN PRESERVED LEMON QUARTERS
Categories: Foreign, Fruits
Yield: 4 servings

Eureka/Meyer lemons, rinsed
Kosher salt

Quarter lemons lengthwise and put in a noncorrosive airtight container.
Freeze for 8 hours. Add 1 tablespoon salt per lemon (4 quarters).
Store airtight at room temperature for 6 days; shake occasionally.
Use as suggested.
To store, chill up to 6 months (colour darkens).
Each lemon makes 4 pieces.
RecipeSource

Preserved Lemons
Categories: Condiments, Fruits, Harned 1994, Moroccan, Preserving
Yield: 1 batch

5 Lemons
1/4 c Salt; more if desired
1 Cinnamon stick
3 Cloves
5 To 6 coriander seeds
3 To 4 black peppercorns
1 Bay leaf
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
-- if necessary

The author writes: “Preserved lemons, sold loose in the souks, are one of the indispensable ingredients of Moroccan cooking, used in fragrant lamb and vegetables Tagines, recipes for chicken with lemons and olives, and salads. Their unique pickled taste and special silken texture cannot be duplicated with fresh lemon or lime juice, despite what some food writers have said. In Morocco they are made with a mixture of fragrant-skinned doqq and tart boussera lemons, but I have had excellent luck with American lemons from Florida and California.

”Moroccan Jews have a slightly different procedure for pickling, which involves the use of olive oil, but this recipe, which includes optional herbs (in the manner of Safi), will produce a true Moroccan preserved-lemon taste.

“The important thing in preserving lemons is to be certain they are completely covered with salted lemon juice. With my recipe you can use the lemon juice over and over again. (As a matter of fact, I keep a jar of used pickling juice in the kitchen, and when I make Bloody Marys or salad dressings and have a half lemon left over, I toss it into the jar and let it marinate with the rest.) Use wooden utensils to remove lemons as needed.”

“Sometimes you will see a sort of lacy, white substance clinging to preserved lemons in their jar; it is perfectly harmless, but should be rinsed off for aesthetic reasons just before the lemons are used. Preserved lemons are rinsed, in any case, to rid them of their salty taste. Cook with both pulps and rinds, if desired.”

To make preserved lemons: If you wish to soften the peel, soak the lemons in lukewarm water for 3 days, changing the water daily.

Quarter the lemons from the top to within 1/2″ of the bottom, sprinkle salt on the exposed flesh, and then reshape the fruit.

Place 1 tb. salt on the bottom of a sterilized one-pint mason jar. Pack in the lemons and push them down, adding more salt, and the optional spices, between layers. Press the lemons down to release their juices and to make room for the remaining lemons. (If the juice released from the squashed fruit does not cover them, add freshly squeezed lemon juice - not chemically produced lemon juice and not water.*) Leave some air space before sealing the jar.

Let the lemons ripen in a warm place, shaking the jar each day to distribute the salt and juice. Let ripen for 30 days.

To use, rinse the lemons, as needed, under running water, removing and discarding the pulp, if desired - and there is no need to refrigerate after opening. Preserved lemons will keep up to a year, and the pickling juice can be used two or three times over the course of a year.

*According to the late Michael Field, the way to extract the maximum amount of juice from a lemon is to boil it in water for 2 or 3 minutes and allow it to cool before squeezing.

Cathy's note: I thought that the Safi spice combination sounded so good that I included it all as part of Wolfert's recipe although, when she wrote it, she only called for the lemons and salt as the main ingredients and made the rest of the ingredients optional.

From _Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco_ by Paula Wolfert.
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1987. Pp. 30-32. ISBN 0-06-091396-7.
RecipeSource


Lemon Butter
1/4 lb butter - 125grms
1 lb sugar 450 grms
4 eggs
rind and juice of 4 lemons

Mix altogether, stir over low heat till thickened - not to boil

I found all these recipes on the Simple Savings Forum