Making Preserved Lemons
Preserved lemons are a great gift for the holidays, made in pint jars. I love to use them to make my lemon vinaigrette salad dressing, and they are delicious to use making sauces to pour over fish, chicken and veggies!
Ingredients:
1 pint jar
4 small lemons, quartered but held together (like a flower) the last 1/2 "
sea salt, approximately 8 Tablespoons
approximately 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
black peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaves (optional)
Here's How:
Clean your jar.
Place 1 T salt in bottom of jar and if using extras, sprinkle about 4-5 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf and 1 garlic clove.
Sprinkle salt on flesh of cut lemon generously and place flesh side down in jar, open like a flower petal and press down to release juice.
Place another T of salt on rind of lemon in jar and repeat process until you can not fit any more lemons (a pint jar will hold about 4 small lemons).
Be sure to end with salt on rind, and squish lemon juice out of lemon to cover top lemon. If needed, squeeze additional juice on top.
Store jars on counter for 30 days before using.
When using preserved lemons, you can rinse, remove any seeds that have remained, and follow recipes of your choosing.
Preserved lemons make excellent salad dressings, sauces, dips and go very well with fish, poultry and vegetables. They can be used in desserts as well. A pint jar of preserved lemons makes an excellent gift, especially during the holiday season.