The winter issue is off to the printer Monday. We ended up having to cut a few stories down to fit, and this recipe was one that didn’t make that cut. That doesn’t mean we don’t love it. So, just in time for the holidays, start making your preserved lemons now to give as host or hostess gifts. – Editors
Food lovers on my shopping list will receive a homemade gift from my kitchen. Moroccan-style preserved lemons are easy to make, take only three weeks to “pickle” and infuse so many dishes with a salty, intensely lemony edge. I like to pack my lemons into pretty jars and attach recipes cards of my favorite preserved lemon-enhanced recipes, like morel-smothered chicken, pasta with Brussels sprouts and lemony Caesar salad.
Time to Make: 15 minutes. Cost: Priceless.
Ingredients
- Moroccan-style Preserved Lemons
- This recipe makes about two quarts of preserved lemons, divided any way you like into airtight jars.The jars should be impeccably clean. Wash them in hot, soapy water and let them dry completely before using, or sterilize the jars in the dishwasher.
- 12 organic lemons
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups kosher salt
Instructions
- Scrub the lemons well, and dry with a kitchen towel.
- Cut lemons in half through the equator, and juice four to six lemons to get 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice, strained of seeds. Cut the rest of the lemons into halves or quarters, depending on the size of your jars. Remove as many seeds as you can with a knife.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the lemon halves to the stem end without going through the stem. Cut between the flesh and the rind, without going all the way down to the stem. The stem end should remain intact to hold the lemon half together.
- Rub kosher salt between the lemon rind and the flesh.
- Stuff as many salted lemons as you can into a jar, then fill with lemon juice. If you run out of lemon juice, add water so that the lemon pieces are completely covered. Leave a little room at the top, so that when you turn the jar over it mixes a bit. Cover tightly.
- Every day or so for the next three days, turn the jar over to mix and mingle the salt and the lemons. This is a good job for a kid to do while he or she waits for breakfast. After three days, put them in the refrigerator. They will be ready in three weeks.
- When ready to use, take out a piece of lemon, rinse under cold water to remove the salty brine and pull off the pulp.