Preserved lemons.
Halved, salted, packed tight, and forgotten for a month. The fruit softens, the rind turns silky, and what you end up with is a quiet powerhouse of flavour for the next year of cooking.
ingredients.
1 serving
- 8 unwaxed lemons small, thin-skinned (up to 10)
- 200 g fine sea salt
- 2 bay leaves optional
- extra lemon juice to cover
method.
- 01
Sterilise a 1-litre jar with a tight lid. Lay a thick bed of salt across the base.
- 02
Quarter each lemon almost to the stem, keeping it joined. Pack salt into every cut surface.
- 03
Press the lemons into the jar one by one, salting between layers and crushing them down so their juice rises. Slip the bay in along the way.
- 04
Top up with extra lemon juice until everything is submerged; seal. Leave in a cool, dark place for a month, turning the jar weekly.
- 05
Once soft and translucent, refrigerate. Rinse before using; the rind is the prize.