In the Kitchen - Preserved Lemons

I felt so guilty for not posting anything on the blog yesterday.  It was another pretty nice day and there was so much to do around the home.  So, while I spent time in the kitchen making these Preserved Lemons and taking pictures for you, I did not get time in the end to post until today. 

I got excited about Preserved Lemons for the first time this week when I ran across this recipe that I just have to try!  It looked so good, but I am a sucker for lemon and mint so maybe it is just me. 

Israeli Couscous with Feta/Lemon

Israeli couscous mixed with feta, preserved lemon and fresh mint has bright, bold and unique flavors. Preserved lemon is a key ingredient in this Israeli couscous recipe and can be found at many speciality food stores, or you can make preserved lemons at home.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups dry Israeli couscous
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup minced preserved lemon
• 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta

Preparation:

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pot. Add couscous and saute 2-3 minutes until lightly toasted. Add water, broth, bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil then turn heat to low and simmer with a lid for 10-12 minutes until water is absorbed and couscous is soft but still slightly chewy. Let cool.
Add lemon, almonds, mint, feta and remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the couscous. Add salt to taste. Serve at room temperature.

This recipe looked so good with the Feta cheese, lemony taste, mint and couscous, that I had to go a step further and click the link about Preserved Lemons.  Then they looked so good that I had to try the recipe.  It came at a great time because my friend had just mentioned that lemons were 10 cents a piece at Walmart this week.  I generally do not shop Walmart grocery, as most of what they offer is highly processed BUT the lemons are not on the "Dirty Dozen" (have to buy organic) list so I was excited.  While I was there I also found they sell a brand of unprocessed cane sugar (good choice) and even better, they had a 25 pound bag of white wheat berries for just a little over $13.00.  I will be back to Walmart at some point in my grocery travels.

So, Preserved Lemons?  What are those?  I did not know either until I read the recipe so here is how you make Preserved Lemons, and no, that is not the same as lemon preserves.  Haha

Wash the lemons well.. I used my Norwex Microfiber cloth so I was sure they were good and clean on the outside since I was going to eat the WHOLE LEMON!

Once washed, assemble supplies needed for preserving them.

Any large grain salt will work.  I use canning and pickling salt.

Next, cut the stem ends off of the lemons and cut each lemon into quarters, leaving them attached at the bottom like this.  (if you cut them all the way through, the quarters will still work fine).  Do this over your bowl to save the lemon juices.

I let the seeds fall into the juice and strained it later when adding it to the jar.

Take your thumb and squish out all the lemon juice, smashing each quarter as much as you can, letting the juice and seeds fall into the bowl.  The kitchen SMELLED SO GOOD!
Next step is to take 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and rub it into the lemon, a little on each quarter.  I did this over the bowl too, so the extra salt would join the juice.

 

Once you rub the salt into the lemon, drop it into your canning jar and do the next one. 

When you have pushed and squished as many lemons as you can get into the jar, you are done.  Make sure they do not come up too far, for they have to be covered in juice in the end.  When you have done this, strain the juice you have leftover (so you capture the seeds) into the jar to cover the lemons.  I did not have enough juice so I squeezed one additional lemon for juice and then added some organic lemon juice I had in the cupboard until all the lemons were covered.

Put a lid on the jar and leave it on your counter for 30 days, shaking every day to make sure the lemons and salt get all mixed up.  When 30 days are up, you can open your jar and check out your preserved lemons or use them in recipes, chopped up.  They can be refrigerated up to 6 months and still be good. 

So in 30 days I will be trying that couscous dish and let you know how Preserved Lemons taste!  I have to say, they sure are pretty!