Citrus Season (pt. DEUX)

let’s put those preserved lemons to use

Last month we showed y’all how to preserve lemons in salt so that you can make those fuckers last AND add a delicious new item to your kitchen arsenal. This week we’re putting them to use. Need to get caught up? HERE’s how to make your own jar of preserved lemons. They’re worth the minimal effort, we swear.

perfect for a fresh papercut

Now that your jar of lemons has been tucked away in the back of your fridge soaking in their own deliciousness, it’s time to make the most of your past work. Open the jar up and pull off a little bit of lemon rind to taste. Yup, it’s gonna be salty but also have a deep, almost funkiness right alongside the bright lemon taste. It’s important to try them on their own, particularly if you’ve never had anything with preserved lemon in it before so you can see exactly the kind of magic they bring to the table. By now the rind of the lemon has changed textures, getting soft and nearly silky in its long salt bath. The acidic taste of the lemon has mellowed with time and developed an umami-quality that wasn’t there before. So yeah, give them a taste and you’ll see why there is nothing else like them. Welcome to your new obsession.

These lemons are great to have on hand because you can pull out exactly what you want from the jar. To put these to use: pull out a piece of preserved lemon, rinse off the extra salty juice hanging on it, discard the flesh, and chop up the rind. That’s it! If you’re blending them into things you can toss the whole preserved lemon in, flesh and all. You can throw these flavor boosters into pasta sauces, sauté them along with onions, carrots, and celery to form a soup base, fold them into mashed potatoes, toss them with roasted asparagus or sauteed green beans, basically anywhere you might use lemon juice. You’ll  find a bazillion uses for these but you know we never leave y’all hanging, so to get you going we got our favorite preserved lemon cream sauce and a vinaigrette.

easy but elevated

This cream sauce is fucking perfect tossed over your favorite noodles in a hot pan. You throw the whole lemon in, flesh and all, into the food processor with garlic and all the usual suspects and create a sauce so craveable that everyone will be begging you for the recipe. Your choice if you wanna share your Broiler Room secret.

We kept this dish simple and tossed in some spinach, but these noodles would go great with broccoli, kale, or even roasted or grilled cabbage. The sauce is also a great dip for grilled or steamed artichokes, so don’t sleep on THAT suggestion when everyone’s favorite thistle starts filling up produce departments come March. The vinaigrette is a great new take on your house dressing, ideal for everyday salads and elevated slaws. You can even toss it over cooked pasta for a fresh take on the classic pasta salad with Italian dressing that we’re all a lil tired of eating. Basically, there’s a shitload that you can do with just these two recipes and we can’t wait to hear all your favorite ways of using them. Let us know in the comments. 👇

Preserved Lemon Cream Sauce

Makes 2 cups

2 whole preserved lemons, rinsed with seeds removed

4 cloves of garlic

1 cup unsweetened nondairy milk like almond

2 tablespoons tahini or cashew butter*

3 tablespoons olive oil

Throw the lemons, garlic, milk, tahini, and olive oil in your food processor and let it run until everything looks smooth.

*this makes the sauce extra creamy but if you have a nut or seed allergy you can leave it out and add another 2 tablespoons of olive oil

To use as a pasta sauce: Cook 16 ounces of dry pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. In a large sauté pan over a medium heat, toss together the cooked pasta with 1 cup of the preserved lemon cream sauce and ½ cup of the pasta water. Toss in any veggies and herbs you want to use. Pepper to taste. Taste the dish and add more cream sauce if you want your noodles more coated. Serve warm or at room temperature, topped with fresh herbs, and more pepper or sumac.

Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette

Makes about 1 ¼ cup

1 shallot or ¼ a white or red onion, minced

1 tablespoon minced preserved lemon rind

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

½ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

In a small jar with a lid throw everything together and shake the shit out of it until it looks all incorporated. Have a busy week but want salads? Triple this batch and store it in the jar you use to shake it all up. The ingredients will separate as it sits but don’t freak out, just shake the hell out of it before you pour again. This should keep for at least 10 days in the fridge.

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Thanks again for joining us here in The Broiler Room. If you enjoy cooking along with us, consider joining our recipe club where we do this shit EVERY.SINGLE.SUNDAY.

This week for the recipe club we’ve got a magic white bean and vegetable soup that has a special secret ingredient: preserved lemons. How’d you guess? If you want the recipe, ya know what to do.

Same time next week, k?

Michelle (and Matt)