Sour lemon summer

Buy a jar, use them like this

This week I want to spotlight one of the hardest working things in my kitchen. Specifically, this jar of preserved lemons:

We have two shelves in the fridge that are full of sauces, condiments, jars and bottles, and most of them fall under what I’d class as occasionals, ie something you pick up to use in a recipe and then never know what to do with them afterwards. That’s how I started on preserved lemons; we’d always need a single lemon, we’d buy a jar, and then we’d glare at it every time we looked in the fridge.

This week I’m sharing some ways you can use them, because once you start incorporating these puckerish, tart slivers into your cooking you’ll have no idea what took you so long.

The best way to use preserved lemons is literally in place of regular lemons

I like scooping the flesh out (it’s quite bitter), finely shredding the skin and pith, and mixing it, as well as a dash of the brine, with olive oil and a bit of mustard to form the base of a really good salad dressing. You can pour this over steamed greens or a tray of roasted carrots and serve it alongside fish or chicken.

The above is actually a sort of French-ish dish I made by marinading chicken breasts in with finely sliced (un)preserved lemons, garlic, white wine, and olive oil. I can’t remember the origin and it’s one of those things I’ve changed and tweaked over the years. But a dribble of lemon brine and some mashed up preserved ones brought out the tart notes even more so.

This was a piece of roast cod with hassleback potatoes and some spring greens. I had some Leon aioli that I dribbled over the potatoes, but I mixed in a little bit of lemon brine, too, to try and cut through the fattiness.

One thing I’d maybe avoid is using it in marinades, as you have to be a little bit careful with strong acidic notes and meat (if you use too much grapefruit juice marinading pork, for example, the extremely sour acids can sort of break down the tissue of the meat. Not saying that would happen here but I’d rather avoid a lawsuit, ta).

Preserved lemons really cut through stews

This is a really lovely recipe from the Guardian — a chicken and chorizo stew with thick, simmered tomatoes and briney olives. This was actually the Preserved Lemon Patient Zero recipe for me, the reason I bought some in the first place. It’s not really stew SZN at the moment but we did have this a month or so ago and ate it with thick chunks of crusty bread, and the lemons really bring a tartness to all the meat and umami.

The other thing they’re really good for is kind of tastefully crowbarring through that weird tinny taste you get in chickpeas, butter beans, etc. It’s like an innate savoury thickness that’s probably caused by their starchiness, but if like me the intensity of it sometimes makes you gag a bit, I’d recommend rinsing the offending haricot and squeezing some lemon juice through it and maybe a pinch of chilli flakes.

Lastly, they make a pretty great drink

I made these lemon drops one Friday night last summer. The basic recipe is vodka, lemon juice, and triple sec, but if you’re out of the latter, you can make a really easy simple syrup instead (equal parts white sugar and water, simmered in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved).

In the pursuit of Scraps, I used some preserved lemon brine instead of lemon juice. It lost a bit of freshness, I’ll admit, but had a deeper and richer sour note. They were really good, and kind of reminded me of a dirty martini, so next time we had martinis I experimented with a dash of lemon brine in lieu of olive brine. It worked!

Now, as I type this, I’m wondering about using leftover sour lemons (and their brine) to make a sour lemon simple syrup. I think you’d need to play with the ratios: instead of a cup of water, I’d do a half cup of water and a half cup of lemons, which go through a blender first to puree them. To this I’d add a whole cup of sugar, and follow the same process as above. Once the sugar has dissolved, and the syrup has the requisite gummy texture, I’d strain it, leaving you with a fruity, tart, sour base you could add to cocktails.

It would be perfect in margaritas, I think. Isn’t that a nice note to leave things on?

C x