Preserved Lemons-find someone with trees NOW

On Sunday I helped to celebrate the anniversary of the Hollywood Farmers Market by doing a series of demos on the multi-purpose and fantastic lemon.

So my demos had to do with preserving lemons 3 ways: preserved lemons, limoncello and lemon curd. in a few day i will post on curd, next week limoncello, but for now= PRESERVED LEMONS

PRESERVED LEMONS

*info* preserved lemons are a North African lemon condiment, like a pickle/ like a seasoning...they are not to snack on alone but more for enhancing heartier dishes or ingredients...

•  3-4 lemons
• 3-4 t salt
• *additions: cinnamon sticks, bay leaf, peppercorns, chili flakes, paprika (all not necessary)

 the traditional way of making this is to cut a whole lemon almost down to the core, but leave it whole. this is traditional, BUT hard to fit in a jar and you wont use the whole thing so i like to...
wash and cut the lemon into segments, think 6...you dont want it too thin but not a whole lemon-experiment with cuts.  see here:

for every lemon, you want about 1tsp of salt, sprinkled around the lemon so that there is salt (PLEASE USE SALT w/out iodine-NASTY). and get a clean jar (canning not necessary) and mush the crap out of it.  you will notice, especially after a few hours that there is a ton of juice.  the salt really helps to pull the liquid out of the lemons and hopefully you will have enough to have the brine cover the lemon bits.

 Wait till the end of the day, smashing down what you have, if you don't have enough liquid, add some from a spare lemon. Let this lit (with the lid ON, you dont want bugs or dust) on the counter for a month, mixing to make sure the salt and lemons get nice and friendly with each other.  after a month-put it in the fridge.

(this is a batch made with chili flakes and is about 9 months old-perfect!)

so at this point you notice that you have a jar of soft lemon peels-the "fruit" part has fallen off...seems at a loss but this it GOOD.  but dont go eating it like popcorn...here are a few basic ways to use it
*note* use preserved lemons like you would a condiment that you want lemonly-salt added to.

(new batch on right, 9-month old on left)

OLIVES DEVINE: mix with a number of cured olives, just a wedge will do, just mix well
QUINOA: add to cooking water of quinoa
FISH: rub a wedge on fish while cooking

farmers' market contest: May 2011

oh boy do I feel like a loser...here i am quack-quack about, "i'm a gonna blog everyday for New's Years resolution-BS" and what do i do?  take a month off here and there...depressing! (cute soundtrack-PLEASE play while continuing to read)


But I will promise this because this past week i turned 35 (on Cinco-DeLilah of course!)...which to me is like a real-time number-that's for some reason a real adult age...I don't feel a day over 28, but who knows, i can't even keep a regular blog schedule.
Back to the promise AND the contest- i need to post a few things this week b/c i told people today @ the Hollywood FM that i would (and other people) so this is what I promise to do this week:

1. post a recipe on how to make preserved lemons
2. post on how to make lemon curd-yes you CAN (but you should eat it fresh)
3. a CSA recipe
4. what the funk i have been up to and why i haven't been posting...

as for the contest: be the first to post on this blog and win (i will ship if you are not in the area) 1 VEDA salt (organic celery salt) and one Citron Pepper package (great on good ole bagels and cream cheese).

CONTEST MAY 2011

This actress, was once on a BIG TV (in the past 5 years) show and pretty hilarious movie. Known as a B-, but i could not tell, she was super sweet as she came up to me probably enjoying Mother's Day in peace (not really, i guess there where like 3 people taking pictures). Despite all of this, she asked me about trying the lemon curd-it had been sitting out for hours, so i said, "hells no!"...after offering a recipe she said she had one at home-she was making it later that day (laughing sweetly)...pretty nice if you ask me!