Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

Recipes to freshen the tail end of winter, featuring lemon as the main character

by Mary Bailey

Lemons are the work horse of the kitchen. They live happily with other ingredients, bringing freshness and liveliness to any dish. The flavour and acidity shines in pasta, risotto, with chicken and on a chickpea flatbread, and of course, in baking.

Best to use organic lemons and scrub well to remove the wax before zesting. I did find beautiful Mexican lemons and also some from South Africa, big and heavy and bursting with juice. A few lemon tips: The best way to get the most juice from a lemon is to cut it lengthwise in three, not four wedges. Room temp lemons yield more juice; if you forgot to take a lemon out of the fridge, try microwaving it for about 15-20 seconds, then roll on the counter.

–Mary Bailey

Avgolemono Greek Lemon Soup

Make this soup at the first sign of the sniffles. You could make it with a soffritto (celery, carrot and onions) and you could add cooked chicken. But, at its heart, it’s just good chicken stock, lemon and eggs. Don’t miss the step to temper the egg mixture with some hot stock before adding the eggs into the soup.

Bring the stock to a boil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the orzo (if using) and seasoning. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, until the orzo is al dente. Pastina will take less time. Reserve 2 cups of the stock and let it cool slightly—you want warm, not boiling.

Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks start to form, then whisk in the egg yolks, lemon juice and half the zest until combined. Slowly, very slowly, pour 2 cups of the reserved stock into the egg mixture, whisking continuously, until incorporated. Whisk this into the soup and simmer for about 20 minutes, until thickened slightly.

Ladle the soup into warm bowls and garnish with more pepper, the dill and the remaining zest.

Serves 2-4.

Bonnie Stern’s Lemon Tonic

I drink this whenever I feel a cold coming on. –Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen

Juice the lemon, set the juice aside. Place the lemon in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, simmer for ten minutes. Strain and add the lemon juice.

Farinata with Preserved Lemon

Along the French Mediterranean these delicious savoury pancakes are called socca and in Liguria, farinata. Find chickpea flour at the Italian Centre. Kaelin Whittaker (Awn Kitchen) makes this with summer squash. This time of year, make it with braised greens with crispy garlic chips. You could also crumble over some fresh chevre (about a ⅓ of a cup) instead of the feta or some grated Parm or pecorino.

In a large bowl whisk together the chickpea flour with two tablespoons of olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt, oregano and 1½ cups cold water. Cover and set aside at room temp for 1 hour or overnight.

Place a 12-inch cast iron pan in a 425ºF oven. When pan is hot, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to coat bottom. Return to the oven, allow the oil to heat for 2 minutes then pour in the batter. Cook for about 25 minutes until the dough has formed into a golden disc.

Meanwhile, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add thinly sliced garlic (3-4 cloves) and cook, stirring frequently, until light golden brown. Reserve. Add broccolini or chopped Swiss chard and cook until tender-crisp. Reserve. Re-add the garlic chips just before serving.

Remove the disc from the oven and transfer to a platter. Arrange the garlicy greens with slices of the preserved lemons over the top. Dust with cheese and drizzle with more oil, if desired.

Preserved Lemons

“Lemons, salt and time makes a preserved lemon—jam packed with lemon flavour that’s not quite as tart as a regular lemon, and less expensive than the commercial ones.” –Kaelin Whittaker

Cut 4 of the lemons at the pole (as opposed to the equator) into quarters, not cutting all the way through, fill each lemon with 20 g of salt, and place the lemons in the jar and leave to sit for 3 days. You’ll notice the juice coming out of the lemons as they rest at room temperature. After 3 days, fill the jar with fresh lemon juice to cover, you can use a small shot glass to plunge the lemons under the brine. Leave the lemons at room temperature for a month before placing them in the fridge, they are now ready to use. Keeps for several months in the fridge.

Makes 1 jar.

Danny’s Lemon Pasta

Ruth Reichl did a fun dive on La Briffe on cooking with Danny Kaye. Apparently, she is also obsessed with lemons.

Melt butter in a deep, heavy 12-inch skillet and stir in the cream and lemon juice. Remove the skillet from the heat and keep it warm and covered. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente, 2-3 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking liquid and drain the pasta into a colander. Add the pasta to the skillet along with the lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of the pasta cooking liquid. Toss well. (Add more pasta cooking liquid 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to thin the sauce.) Season the pasta with salt and pepper and serve with fresh grated Parmigiano immediately.

Serves 4.

Fusilli with Lemon, Ricotta and Spinach

Growing up, my mum used to make a version of this. It’s delicious as is, or you can add leftover chicken to the final dish. –Kaelin Whittaker

Mix the ricotta with the lemon juice and zest, season well with salt and pepper. Once the pasta is cooked, drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Toss with the spinach and allow the heat to wilt the spinach. Finally, fold in the ricotta. Taste and correct the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper or lemon, if needed.

Lemon Risotto

So radically simple and delicious to showcase the bracing freshness of lemon. You could add some fresh rosemary if you like. Serve with fish or chicken.

Heat the shallots and celery in a saucepan with half the butter and the oil to soften. Do not brown. Add the rice and stir to completely coat each grain in the fat (this process is called tostatura and is integral to making outstanding risotto). Meanwhile, heat the water/stock in another saucepan to simmer. When the rice is fully coated, add a ladle of liquid to the rice and stir until it is absorbed. Keep doing this ladle by ladle until the rice is al dente, about 20 minutes. (This is surprisingly relaxing.) When the risotto is creamy, yet with a bit of bite, at the centre of the grain, mix in the lemon zest, the rest of the butter and the grated cheese.

Serve with more lemon zest and more cheese grated over if desired.

Serves 4-6.

Parmesan Stock

How to make something delicious out of something you could just throw away.

Scrape away the name stamp and any moldy bits from Parmigiano rinds and stash in the freezer.

When you have 6-8 rinds: sauté onion, carrots and celery in olive oil until soft. Add 6 or so cups water, whole peppercorns, bay leaves and the rinds. Simmer for about 4 hours, then strain to remove all the solids. Use right away or keep in the freezer.

Makes 4-6 cups.

Spinaci all’olio e Limone (Spinach with Oil and Lemon)

This simple yet vibrant side dish is adapted from a River Café recipe. Washed spinach is sautéed in hot olive oil for about one minute, then seasoned with sea salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice, which keeps the greens bright and tender. It is delicious with an omelette or as a side dish for chicken, fish or roast pork.

Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large saucepan or skillet. Add the wet spinach directly to the hot oil. Season with salt and pepper, stir once, and cover immediately with a tight-fitting lid. Cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat, squeeze over fresh lemon juice, and serve immediately.

Serves 2-4 depending on the amount of spinach.

Puréed Potatoes with Lemon

Fans of Joël Robuchon’s decadent pommes purée will love this. Adapted from a recipe by the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1½- to 2-inch chunks. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Add 2 tablespoons salt cover and bring to a boil over high. Uncover, lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are very tender when pierced with a small paring knife, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, cut the butter in ½-inch dice and put it back in the refrigerator. After the potatoes are drained, pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat over low just until it simmers. Turn off the heat.

Place a food mill fitted with the finest blade on top of the large saucepan. Process the potatoes into the pan. (Alternatively, use a ricer or potato masher, making sure the potatoes are very smooth before proceeding.) With the heat on low, vigorously whisk the cold butter into the potatoes several bits at a time, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding more butter. Once all the butter has been integrated, slowly whisk in enough of the hot milk to make the potatoes the desired consistency, creamy but still thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Whisk in the lemon zest, reserving some for garnish, if desired. Season to taste and serve hot. Sprinkle with the reserved lemon zest just before serving.

Serves 4-6.

Roast Chicken with Lemon Wine, Potatoes and Parsley Oil

Chef Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen.

Marinade

Blitz all the ingredients for the marinade together, taste and correct the seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Cover the chicken with the marinade. Lay the potatoes and shallots on a baking tray, season with salt and olive oil. Place the chicken on top and pour the white wine all over it.

Roast for 15 minutes before reducing the oven temperature to 375ºF; depending on the size of chicken, it will take a further 45-60 minutes. Remove from the oven, if you want the spuds a bit more crispy, take the chicken off and roast for another 10 minutes on their own (convection will help at this stage too). Tear the chicken apart, place on a platter with the potatoes, shallots and all the gravy. (Taste the gravy first to adjust seasoning if necessary.) Finally, drizzle with the parsley oil.

Parsley Oil

Blitz all the ingredients together, taste and correct the seasoning.

Lemon Almond Cake

Adapted from Ruth Roger’s (River Café) new cookbook Squeeze Me.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175C)

Butter and line a standard-sized loaf pan.

In large saucepan, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and egg yolks. Cook gently, stirring, over very low heat until thick. Remove from heat, stir in butter, pass through sieve and cool. Add ground almonds and flour to lemon mixture. Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Fold in the baking powder and combine with lemon/almond mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and bake 50 minutes. Leave to cool in tin.

Serves 6-8.

Lemon Pudding

This humble dessert—cake on top, pudding on the bottom, is a classic Ballymaloe House recipe (where I went to culinary school). I always tell people when I teach it; ‘it seems wrong, but it’s right.’ –Kaelin Whitaker, Awn Kitchen

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Cream the butter well. Add the sugar and beat again. Add the egg yolks, one by one, then stir in the flour. Add the zest, the juice and finally the milk. Whisk the egg whites stiffly and fold gently into the mixture. Pour into a pie dish and bake for 35-40 minutes. Serve while warm, dusted with icing sugar and with softly whipped cream.

Serves 4-6.

Nigella’s Lemon Polenta Cake

For the Syrup

Preheat the oven 350°F

Line the base of 9-inch springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter. Beat the olive oil and sugar until pale and whipped. Mix together the almonds, cornmeal and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.

Beat in the lemon zest and scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

It may seem wobbly, but if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the tin. remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack but leave in its tin.

Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and icing sugar in a smallish saucepan.

Once the icing sugar is dissolved into the juice, you’re done. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.

Serve 10-12.