Preserved Lemons

Lately I have noticed everyone's lemon trees are loaded with beautiful yellow fruit right now. So it's the perfect time to post about preserved lemons.

They so simple and so fun to use in sauces, marinades and salad dressings.
Here is my version.

You will need a clean wide mouth jar with a lid, preferably non-metallic, a dozen or so lemons and salt.

Wash the lemons and remove the stem end, slice into quarters long ways.You can remove the seeds or leave them in.

Begin to layer them into your jar, liberally adding salt between each layer( a tablespoon or so). Press them down to pack more in, more salt. When you have the jar full of lemon quarters and salt, juice the rest of the lemons and pour in the jar. Run a knife along the side of the jar to make more room for juice, fill to the top.

Set the jar on your counter and shake everyday. In 7 to 10 days the lemons will be ready to use, place them in your fridge. You can use just the rinds in sauces or dressings or use the whole lemon in marinades.

 You can see in the above photo the different between the fresh lemon slice on the left and the preserved one on the right.

For a tasty marinade for fish, chicken or grilled veggies, use one or two slices of preserved lemons, chopped, 1/2 cup olive oil, the juice of a fresh lemon, a tablespoon of preserved lemon salty juice and whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.

I just made some for the fresh salmon I plan to grill tonight.

To make my favorite sauce to serve on the fish or veggies, chicken, rice... take 1/2 cup plain yogurt, add one quarter preserved lemon rind finely minced and 1/2 teaspoon of the salty lemon juice.

If you want to pop it up a notch add fresh chopped herbs and a clove of minced garlic, mix all that together, yum !!