2513 Lemons

try slicing some and putting them in the freezer - they then become iced lemons for gin and tonic.
Not exciting but delicious - lemon curd.
I always roast them - Jamie has a recipe in one of his earlier books for salmon and roast lemons.
lemon meringue pie
Lemon oil for salads - thats zest of 4 lemons to 500ml olive oil - sterilised/airtight containers will keep up to 6 months in fridge.
Pamela

QUOTE=elainecraig]I've brought back loads of lemons from my Italian garden and wondered if anyone had any interesting ways of cooking with them?

I'm doing Jamies lemons stuffed with Buffallo Mozerella tonight, and I know an Umbrian lemon, lemon zest, cream and brandy spaghetti recipe. I love lemons so if you have any unusual or fav recipes I definately give them a go.

Wish I hadnt bought the Lemoncello now though, keep tucking into it late in the evening, it tastes so innocent and is 30° proof, today my head hurts[/QUOTE]

To prepare:- 1 hr 50 mins
To cook:- 50 mins
Ingredients:-
Pastry:-
150g/5 and a half oz. plain flour
25g/1 oz.caster sugar
125g/4 and a half oz.butter, cut into small pieces
1tbsp.water
Filling:-
150ml/5 fl.oz.double cream
100g/3 and a half oz.caster sugar
4 eggs
grated rind of 3 lemons
175ml/6 fl.oz lemon juice
icing sugar, for dusting
To make the pastry, place the flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix until a soft dough has formed. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and line a 24cm/9 and a half inch loose-bottomed quiche/flan tin. Prick the pastry with a fork and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Line the pastry case with foil and baking beans and bake in a preheated oven 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5, for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and baking beans and cook the pastry case for a further 15 minutes.
To make the filling, whisk the cream, sugar, eggs, lemon rind and juice together until thoroughly combined. Place the pastry case, still in its tin, on a baking tray and pour in the filling.
Bake the tart for about 20 minutes or until the filling is just set. Leave to cool, then remove the tart from the tin and dust lightly with icing sugar just before serving.
Buon appetito!
Francesca

Hi Elaine, lucky you to have some fresh lemons from Italy to play with!!! :)

This is an easy and delicious recipe and I've posted a Ligurian Lemon cake on an earlier thread ( it's my favorite cake).

Enjoy!

[B]Italian Lemon Chicken[/B]

Ingredients:

2 Lemons

1 cup (240 milliliters) dry white Wine

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (about 80 milliliters) extra-virgin Olive Oil

5 T (small handful) of chopped fresh Herbs (Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Basil, any or all, adjust for your taste)

2 cloves Garlic, minced

3 to 4 pounds (1 to 1 1/2 kilograms) Chicken, cut into serving pieces

Salt and freshly ground Pepper to taste

Directions:

Grate the zest of the lemons into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken pieces, then squeeze in all the lemon juice, holding back the seeds.

Whisk in Wine, about 60 milliliters of Olive Oil, Herbes and Garlic. Add Chicken pieces, turning them to coat well in the Marinade. Refrigerate for several hours, or better overnight.

Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Heat remaining Olive oil in a frying pan. Drain chicken pieces, reserving the marinade, and saute over medium heat until they are golden crisp on all sides (about 5 to 7 minutes.)

Transfer Chicken to a Baking Dish large enough to hold all of the Chicken pieces in one layer.

Pour reserved Marinade into frying Pan and Bring to a Boil, scraping up any remaining bits in the pan. Pour the hot Marinade over the Chicken in the baking dish. Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Place baking dish in Oven, and Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until chicken pieces are done (juices will run clear.) Serve in baking dish, or transfer to a serving plate and pour pan Juices over Chicken.

You can also just use the lemons when cooking pork or hamburgers, etc - squeeze the juice over these - tastes really good.

One of my staple pasta dishes is Tagliolini with chickpeas, parsley and lemon. It is really simple - you warm about a cup of extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add a handful or two of chopped parsley, a cup of cooked chickpeas, and the zest of one lemon and juice of about half a lemon (or to taste). Warm through then toss in the cooked pasta. Serve with shavings of parmesan cheese over the top.

you could make limoncello , or preserved lemons (it is a moroccan recipe) and then use them for cooking at a later stage...

Paola

Wow thanks everyone, I'll have a go at that lemon salty thing maybe I should get a preservating jar from Robert Dyers at lunchtime.

being the greedy pig I am...errr nummmm I mean... waste not want not, I have so many I will also try some of the other recipes too.

Alien send me your address and I'll pop a few in the post. Some are the special thick skinned lemons that you can eat raw since they are so sweet and obvioulsy picked with my own fair hand ripe!

I went to Morrocco to Casablanca, Fez, Merrakesh, Meknes, Agado, Esquira, and the Atlas mountains (pony treking) about 8 years ago loved it, might go back to Marrakesh door shopping with a bohemian lass I bought our ethnic mirror for the bathroom from.

italian roast chicken from Marcella Hazan.-3-4lb chicken,2lemons,salt and pepper.oven at gas 4-180 degrees.season the bird inside and out after washing and drying it well.roll each lemon firmly on your worktop to soften then puncture each one at least 20 times with a sturdy cocktail stick or large needle.place lemons in bird and secure cavity with skewers or by stitching-leave room for air to escape.tie legs together.roast in pan BREAST SIDE DOWN-DO NOT ADD FAT .after half an hour turn it over.cook for another 30 minutes.turn up to gas 6 -200 degrees for 20minutes.check it is cooked rest for 10 minutes and serve with juices spooned over.

I thought I'd add a good vegetable recipe using lemons.

[B]Lemon Cauliflower [/B]

Cauliflower with a lemon-garlic-butter sauce topped with Fontina cheese and parsley.

Ingredients:

A small handful of chopped fresh parsley
1/2 t (2.46 ml) lemon Zest
6 cups (1,419.54 ml) cauliflower florets (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 T (29.58 ml) butter
3 cloves minced garlic
2 T (29.58 ml) fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup (59.15 ml) shredded Fontina cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large sauce pan, add a large pinch of parsley, lemon peel and 1 inch of water.
2. Place cauliflower in a steamer basket and put basket in saucepan.
3. Bring water to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium and steam 15 minutes or until cauliflower is crisp tender.
4. With a slotted spoon, remove to a serving bowl, keep warm.
5. Reserve 1/2 cup (118.30 ml) of cooking liquid.
6. Melt butter in a small saucepan, add garlic and cook over low heat 3 minutes.
7. Increase heat to medium, add lemon juice and cooking liquid and stir to combine.
8. Pour over cauliflower, top with shredded Fontina cheese, salt and white pepper to taste, and sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Hello Greatscott,
that recipes sounds great. Never thought of trying lemon with cauliflower cheese! However, I am not sure if I can get "Fontina" cheese here in the U.K.
I will scour the supermarket deli counter next time I go, but if I cannot get the above-mentioned cheese, can you kindly recommend an alternative? Thanks.
Francesca

Hi Francesca,

If the deli doesn't have Fontina, see if they have an Asiago. If not, an aged Swiss or just a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano should be good too!

Hope you enjoy it :)
Dee

Hello Dee,
thanks for replying so quick, I shall try this sometime next week.

Francesca.

Hello Aliena,
thanks for the info. I shall be hot-footing it to my local "Sainsburys" asap.

The Italian Deli in Compton St. sounds quite intriguing, must have a nose around next time I am up town.

Francesca

Just back from Calabria with bags and bags of lemons and oranges- so very lucky!- but also slightly over awed as to what to do with them. Thankfully the calabrian mother in law told me that if you have too many then while they are still fresh, juice them, then put them in those funny icecube bags and freeze them for later in the year when you don't have fresh lemons.
They are great squeezed over most green veggies with a pour of olive oil (broccoli, spinach) and my fav recipe is a lemon risotto which i serve with prawns fried in chilli and garlic (and a liberal sprinkling of parsley at the end) and some green veg.
tired now (just done the calabria florence drive again), but will give you full recipe for risotto tomorrow if you want.
Lisa
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[QUOTE=LisaJ]Just back from Calabria with bags and bags of lemons and oranges- so very lucky!- but also slightly over awed as to what to do with them. Thankfully the calabrian mother in law told me that if you have too many then while they are still fresh, juice them, then put them in those funny icecube bags and freeze them for later in the year when you don't have fresh lemons.
They are great squeezed over most green veggies with a pour of olive oil (broccoli, spinach) and my fav recipe is a lemon risotto which i serve with prawns fried in chilli and garlic (and a liberal sprinkling of parsley at the end) and some green veg.
tired now (just done the calabria florence drive again), but will give you full recipe for risotto tomorrow if you want.
Lisa
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz[/QUOTE]

Would really like the recipe for lemon risotto with chili and garlic if it's not too much trouble please :)

Citrus risotto with garlic chilli prawns

This is from a bill granger cook book – I have fed it to many Italians to many compliments so it must be ok! It serves 4 and the trick (apologies if you are a seasoned cook) is to prepare the prawns, garlic, chilli and parsley before starting on the risotto, otherwise, I find the risotto gets cold.,…but I could just be very slow!

1.5 litres of chicken stock (I use veggie stock cubes and they do fine)
1 tablespoon olive oil
50grammes of butter
1 small brown onion chopped
330g Arborio rice
1 teaspoon sea salt (I leave this out as I am using the stock cubes)
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
2 small red chillies
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil, extra
20 green prawns (shrimp) shelled with tails intact and deveined (I have used all sorts of prawns here and they taste good, although I would stay away from those little cooked pink ones!)

to serve
bunch of Italian parsley chopped
lemon wedges

Place the stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat and keep at simmering point. Place a large heavy based saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil, onion, salt and half the butter. Stir until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until the rice is well coated.
Gradually add all the simmering stock, a cupful (a big ladle?) at a time, stirring constantly and making sure the stock is absorbed before you add more. This should take about 20mins and the rice should be al dente and creamy (I find that there is always a bit of stock left over by the 20min mark, which I throw away rather than overcook the rice). Remove the saucepan from the heat, then stir in the remaining butter, the lemon zest, lemon juice and pepper to taste. Cover the saucepan and leave to sit for 3 mins “to allow the flavours to develop”!

Meanwhile pound the chilli and garlic in a mortar and pestle (I find chopping them works just as well). Place the extra olive oil in a frying pan over a high heat until hot. Season the prawns with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 mins, shaking the pan, until the prawns are just opaque and then add the chilli and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

Stir the risotto and divide between 4 bowls. Toss the prawns with the parsley and then place on top of the risotto. Serve with lemon wedges (and a green veggie – pak choi is lovely but I have yet to find it in Italy!?).

Enjoy
Lisa:)

Thanks very much Lisa.

[QUOTE=greatscott]Hi Francesca,

If the deli doesn't have Fontina, see if they have an Asiago. If not, an aged Swiss or just a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano should be good too!

Hope you enjoy it :)
Dee[/QUOTE]

Hello Dee,
just to let you know that I had the Cauliflower with lemon tonight for my dinner and it was very tasty. The combination of the lemon/garlic and I used Parmigiano-Reggiano, was very subtle indeed.

Thanks.
Francesca

Another good idea to use lemons is in Marmalade!

But then you need to go to Spain to get the oranges!

Unless.................you can get Seville oranges in Italy?

This months edition of Italy Mag has just landed and there are some lovely recipe's in incorporating lemons:

Fusilli with lemon
Lemon filled cuttlefish
Fresh anchovies with lemon juice

and one I might just have a go at

Lemon Liqueur

and there is also a very nice piece from Felix Petrelli entitled 'The north and south divide' for my fellow Puglianites :D

Fantastic more more, theres something about lemons that is so summery, which is why lemoncello is so fabulous. :D

Here's a recipe that you might like Elaine.

It's made with lemons and Limoncello :)

Limoncello Tira Mi Su

Ingredients:

*180 milliliters (3/4 cup) egg yolks
*360 milliliters (1 1/2 cups) egg whites
*225 grams (1 cup) sugar
*zest of three large or 4 small lemons
*5 to 10 milliliters (1 to 2 tsp) lemon oil
*40 ladyfingers
*900 grams (2 lbs) Marscapone
*950 milliliters (4 cups) Limoncello liquor
*480 milliliters (2 cups) simple syrup
*some candied lemon peel for garnish
*some fresh mint for garnish

Directions:

1) Beat egg whites and 115 grams (1/2 cup) sugar until stiff peaks form.

2) Mix yolks with remaining sugar, add marscapone cheese, lemon oil and lemon zest. Make sure to mix well so there are no lumps.

3) Fold in egg whites.

4) In a new large bowl, combine 950 milliliters (4 cups) Limoncello with 480 milliliters (2 cups) of simple syrup. This is the dipping mixture for the ladyfingers

5) Get large baking dish (like you would use for Lasagne, something that will hold a single layer of 20 ladyfingers on the bottom, and sides high enough for all the volume of the lemon marscapone mixture, and the remaining 20 ladyfingers too) to build the Limoncello Tira Mi Su in. Start dipping the lady fingers in the mixture and form one layer of 20 lady fingers at the bottom.

6) Spread half of the lemon marscapone mixture on top of the dipped ladyfingers. Repeat with another layer of dipped ladyfingers and another layer of the lemon marscapone mixture. Reserve leftover Limoncello mixture.

7) Let the Limoncello tira mi su set up overnight.

8) Before serving, heat up reserved leftover Limoncello mixture with a little cornstarch for thickening.

9) For serving pour some of the thickened limoncello mixture on the serving plates, add some candied lemon peel on the top. A small sprig of fresh mint makes a pretty presentation.

What about Lemon Marmalade, since that way you should be able to use a lot of the lemons up all at once
Ian