Hi Betty, I’m about to jump on the preserved lemons wagon and would appreciate your recipe please! Whilst I’ve been seeking a recipe I note most recipes that use the lemons discard the flesh and use the peel, looks from your pics like you might use the flesh rather than chucking it away as others suggest? 🥰
here you go - just copied from old website so excuse the waffle, but some of it might be useful!
Most pickled (also known as fermented or preserved) lemons come either quartered or whole, and for some reason I had always dismissed them as only for use in tagines, which to be honest I rarely make, even though I really like tagines and they are really easy to make. Go figure. Anyway, after I had been to Kimchi College with the effervescent Caroline Gilmartin I bought a jar of her pickled lemons, which had been sliced very thinly pips and all, and took them, and my newly minted kimchi and sauerkraut, home.
Curious to try this novelty food item (always late the the party) I added some into a tuna salad I was making that evening, and frankly nothing has been the same since. I have added them to pasta dishes (with feta and coriander or basil), rice dishes, hot or cold, tagines (natch), smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise.... on and on. I will continue to chuck them into anything that you might normally squeeze a bit of lemon on and carry on my love affair with them forever.
Ingredients
A quantity of lemons - let’s say 500g
10% of the weight of the lemons in sea salt - 50g salt for 500g lemons
A sterilised jar with a good seal that will fit all the lemons in.
Method
Using a mandolin if you have one (be careful of finger ends, always use the guard!!), or a very sharp knife slice all your lemons into thin slices.
You can remove some of the pips if the lemons are very pippy, but sliced this thin and then pickled you barely notice them.
Keeping the ends separate, put them into a bowl with the salt and mix thoroughly.
Press this mix into the jar and and push it down with as many of the lemon ends as required to keep everything submerged beneath the briny juice.
Seal the jar and leave in a coolish, dark place for 10-14 days.
Use with abandon.
Keep in the fridge after opening. They will last as long as you will probably, but I doubt you will let them. The longer you keep the mushier they get, but that doesn’t matter.
I chop them or not depending on what I am putting them in - do it to your taste. It’s like a burst of sunshine, all the lemon, a total revelation.
I have, in fact, used them in a tagine, since being turned onto them in this way - chicken, preserved lemon and black olives (Arabesque by Claudia Roden). It’s meant to have artichoke bottoms in too and I have used them once (you can get them from middle eastern food shops) and it’s delicious with or without.
I have also done this method of preserving with limes - another revelation. Tastes just like the lime pickle you get in Indian restaurants, only without the spices. I’ll leave that way to the professionals but I think adding a bit of red chilli would make a pretty fantastic addition, which I am keen to try next. I use these in all sorts of things too, but primarily in Mexican type dishes, especially guacamole and salsas by the resident Tex-Mex aficionado, where is adds an incredibly flavoursome zing.
For anyone wanting a mandolin I use and OXO one - it’s pretty basic and cheap (about £16), but good and sturdy too. If you go into mass production you might need to upgrade (I am planning on doing just that soon as I get my new kitchen!).
FYI - this is totally cribbed/adapted from Caroline’s marvellous book - Fermented Foods, please do buy it, so many great fermenting recipes, plus interesting and useful information on the why’s, how’s and wherefores.
Hi Betty, I’m about to jump on the preserved lemons wagon and would appreciate your recipe please! Whilst I’ve been seeking a recipe I note most recipes that use the lemons discard the flesh and use the peel, looks from your pics like you might use the flesh rather than chucking it away as others suggest? 🥰
here you go - just copied from old website so excuse the waffle, but some of it might be useful!
Most pickled (also known as fermented or preserved) lemons come either quartered or whole, and for some reason I had always dismissed them as only for use in tagines, which to be honest I rarely make, even though I really like tagines and they are really easy to make. Go figure. Anyway, after I had been to Kimchi College with the effervescent Caroline Gilmartin I bought a jar of her pickled lemons, which had been sliced very thinly pips and all, and took them, and my newly minted kimchi and sauerkraut, home.
Curious to try this novelty food item (always late the the party) I added some into a tuna salad I was making that evening, and frankly nothing has been the same since. I have added them to pasta dishes (with feta and coriander or basil), rice dishes, hot or cold, tagines (natch), smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise.... on and on. I will continue to chuck them into anything that you might normally squeeze a bit of lemon on and carry on my love affair with them forever.
Ingredients
A quantity of lemons - let’s say 500g
10% of the weight of the lemons in sea salt - 50g salt for 500g lemons
A sterilised jar with a good seal that will fit all the lemons in.
Method
Using a mandolin if you have one (be careful of finger ends, always use the guard!!), or a very sharp knife slice all your lemons into thin slices.
You can remove some of the pips if the lemons are very pippy, but sliced this thin and then pickled you barely notice them.
Keeping the ends separate, put them into a bowl with the salt and mix thoroughly.
Press this mix into the jar and and push it down with as many of the lemon ends as required to keep everything submerged beneath the briny juice.
Seal the jar and leave in a coolish, dark place for 10-14 days.
Use with abandon.
Keep in the fridge after opening. They will last as long as you will probably, but I doubt you will let them. The longer you keep the mushier they get, but that doesn’t matter.
I chop them or not depending on what I am putting them in - do it to your taste. It’s like a burst of sunshine, all the lemon, a total revelation.
I have, in fact, used them in a tagine, since being turned onto them in this way - chicken, preserved lemon and black olives (Arabesque by Claudia Roden). It’s meant to have artichoke bottoms in too and I have used them once (you can get them from middle eastern food shops) and it’s delicious with or without.
I have also done this method of preserving with limes - another revelation. Tastes just like the lime pickle you get in Indian restaurants, only without the spices. I’ll leave that way to the professionals but I think adding a bit of red chilli would make a pretty fantastic addition, which I am keen to try next. I use these in all sorts of things too, but primarily in Mexican type dishes, especially guacamole and salsas by the resident Tex-Mex aficionado, where is adds an incredibly flavoursome zing.
For anyone wanting a mandolin I use and OXO one - it’s pretty basic and cheap (about £16), but good and sturdy too. If you go into mass production you might need to upgrade (I am planning on doing just that soon as I get my new kitchen!).
FYI - this is totally cribbed/adapted from Caroline’s marvellous book - Fermented Foods, please do buy it, so many great fermenting recipes, plus interesting and useful information on the why’s, how’s and wherefores.
NOTE - I use the ends of the lemons to push the mix down into the jar.
Fab! Thank you xx
Just ordered Caroline’s book! She’s been setting me straight on my kefir journey 🙌
That’s fantastic! It’s a great book - easy to follow recipes and tons of information.
I will send it to you here asap.
Do post the recipes 🙌 xx
I will then! X
Was as superb to eat as to read about. And everything is helped by preserved lemon. Yum!
A lovely amble of this and that. Thank you Betty xx