Preserved Lemons

For many days, I’ve been thinking about re-organizing my blog and to make it bran new so it can better illustrate all my culinary ‘activities’ (which cannot be resumed to recipes)…I have so many ideas and picture wishes but I have to stop and concentrate ! Here’s a recipe you could easily do but you’ll have to wait for many weeks before tasting the preserved lemons with herbs and olive oil. It will give me time to give you another recipe with those same preserved lemons. Be brave dear followers, this wait is really worth it. You have to use organic lemons for this recipe. Ingredients:

  • 1 large sealable jar which can contain 6 small size lemons, sterilized with boiling water (fill it with boiling water, leave it for a minute, then empty it, leaving it to dry out naturally)
  • 6 small size organic yellow lemons, washed + the juice of one lemon if needed
  • 6 tbsp coarse salt
  • 1 fresh bay leaf
  • 1 fresh rosemary sprig
  • olive oil

Recipe:

  1. Cut a deep cross all the way from the top to half of the lemon
  2. With a tbsp, stuff each lemon with a tbsp coarse salt
  3. Place the lemons in the jar. Push the lemons in tightly so they are squeezed together. Press them as hard as you can so they release the largest juice quantity possible. Add the juice of one lemon if you lack juice in the jar
  4. Add the bay leaf and the rosemary sprig
  5. Add a thin layer of olive oil to cover the lemons in juice
  6. Seal the car and place it in the bridge for at least few weeks (I would say at least a month, the longer you leave them, the better the flavour)
  7. One technique is to wash under clear water the lemons before using them and cutting them into you dishes. The other one is to puree the whole jar (without the herbs) and to use this mix in various dishes