Re-posted from December 2012. If you are faced with an abundance of lemons or oranges from the recent freezes, here are a few ideas to use and preserve that citrus yumminess.
If you live in any zone 8 or warmer, you probably know that citrus season is in full swing. Where I live is zone 8b, and the citrus from here and down south include: oranges, grapefruit, lemons, satsumas, and soon, kumquats.
Today at the Farmer’s Market I scored some very large Meyer lemons from the Egg Lady. All she sells is eggs. Very good eggs, too. Yet today, there in front of all her egg cartons was a large bushel of gorgeous Meyer Lemons, available 3 for $1.00. Considering that Meyer Lemons are 2 to 3 times the size of regular lemons, that’s a steal. It’s like getting 6 to 9 lemons for a dollar.
Meyer Lemons are a cross between a regular lemon and I believe a mandarin, which results in a delicious lemon juice that’s a little less tart than regular lemons. The peel is shiny smooth, and there is very little white pith, much like a mandarin orange.
What to do with these beauties?
Here’s a few things I like to do:
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Freeze the lemon juice in ice cube trays, transfer to a freezer bag and enjoy throughout the year!
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Make Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
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Make Lemon Curd (short shelf life if you’re canning it, only good for about 3 months)
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Make Preserved Lemons (aka Lemon Pickles)
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Make Lemon Yogurt Cheese with those Preserved Lemons
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Lemon Chimichurri Tmatoes & Herbed Yogurt Cheese
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Make a batch of Tabouli
Tabouli
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Make Lemon Meringue Pie
And, a few other things I have done in the past, or would like to do. The Lemon Cookies are especially delicious – a crispy, buttery lemon jewel of a cookie!
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Make a Lemon Roasted Chicken- place thin slices of lemon underneath the skin of the chicken; salt and pepper, roast as usual; fabulous!
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The first mousse I made was a Lemon Mousse…I wonder if I still have that recipe somewhere?
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I for hear that Lemon Pasta has been on my list of things to make for a long time! One day….
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Make Lemonade
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Make Lemon Cookies
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Make an awesome batch of Hollandaise
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Make a Lemon/Herb/Garlic Butter and freeze in pats, or ice cube tray, to add to fish, shrimp, chicken or steaks
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Make Lemon Pound Cake
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Make Lemon Sugar
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Make Candied Lemon Peel
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Make Limoncello (it will be great for the summertime!)
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Make Lemon Drop Martinis, use a vegetable peeler to make beautiful lemon peel curls to both garnish and flavor the martinis
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Make a lemon body scrub (1 cup jojoba, coconut or olive oil to 1 or 2 cups sugar (your choice) to juice and zest of one large Meyer lemon; good for 3 to 4 weeks)
icookforleftovers 