Lady M

It's been a long month, and we are keeping our spirits bright with lots of home cooking. We've been spending weekends canning, preserving, and confit-ing everything left and right. Enter, In The Charcuterie, a book by The Fatted Calf. The book is all about meat, good meat. Duck and lamb and all the wonderful savory treats. It's part cookbook, part guide to meat (if you ever wanted to learn how to cook with all the different parts of say, beef or chicken, this is a book you'll love).

Funny enough, we were most drawn to the first few recipes in the cookbook. Recipes that had nothing to do with meat, and everything to do with stocking your pantry (which is what we all seem to be doing these days). There are recipes for creating your own five spice mix at home, another for preserving dried fruit in brandy (we would like this over BIG scoop of vanilla ice cream, oh yes please), and pickled mushrooms preserved in olive oil. We will make our way through all these recipes.

We started first with the Preserved Meyer Lemons. If you're lucky enough to have a friend or neighbor with a meyer lemon tree, take advantage. We sure did, and that's how we ended up with dozens of these fragrant lemons. There's no way we could have used them all quickly enough, so we did the next natural thing, preserve them. We adapted the book's recipe to make it slightly easier and no fuss. Here's how:

Ingredients:

First thing to note is that all the spices (coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and peppercorns) are purely optional. We left them all out because we had none at home.

Here's how you make it: cut each lemon into quarters, pausing 1 inch before the stem end (you want the bottom to remain attached. Open the lemon like a flower and fill the interior with a thick coating of sea salt. Gently press the quarters back together.

Fill the bottom of a glass jar with a layer of salt. Layer in each lemon one by one as you go. If you are using the spices, add them between each layer. Keep layering till the jar is nearly full. Cover the jar and let it sit at room temperature for a week. Then move the jar to the refrigerator and store another two weeks. You can tell they're ready when the rinds become soft. Then the lemons are now ready for use!

How do you use them exactly? The book suggests, "the tender skin of the preserved lemons can be chopped and used in sauces, braises, stuffings, and as a garnish for crepinettes. The pulp is an excellent addition to marinades." The options are endless, so fill all the jars you can and store them in the fridge. 

These lemons often come in handy. A nice general rule is that you can use preserved lemons in any recipe that calls for regular/fresh lemons. These preserved lemons are simply a more deep and intense version of regular lemons. If you're worried about them being too salty, you can give them a light rinse, or wipe down before using (to remove excess salty). They give extra punch, extra brightness, and extra lift! Goodness knows we could all use that right about now. Enjoy, enjoy.

P.S. Cooking Easter brunch/dinner? Our sunny and bright Mimosa cakes are back in select boutiques (Los Angeles, Irvine, and Los Altos) just for Easter weekend, April 10-12.