Lemons

We really do have the most preposterously bounteous lemon tree in our garden.  It is very old and sits in a north and east facing corner of the house, gets absolutely no attention and is laden with lemons all year.  Its roots must sit in a leaky old pipe as I have never watered it, nor fed it.  I feel so privileged to have it, I know lemons can cause problems for some...they get sick, they die.  One thing I do know is that  they need to be in a sheltered spot.  This is what it looks like underneath:

I use lemons all the time so would hate to have to buy them.  A gin & tonic is not a gin & tonic without lemon, and life is too short not to have the occasional lemon tart or lemon delicious pudding.  I use them for sauces, vinaigrettes, on seafood, stuffing in a chook, marinating lamb and most of all to make lemon cordial.  Luckily my lemons are very juicy and sweeter than the average so I use much less sugar than most recipes for cordial.  Ten seconds in the microwave will soften them to help get the juice out too.

With this abundance  of lemons I decided to make Preserved Lemons last week.  I just cut them up, tossed them in coarse salt and shoved them in jars with a bay leaf, half a cinnamon stick, and a few cloves.  I added a bit more salt then squashed them down with the bottom of a glass to release all the juice and topped the jars up with juice. You need to leave them for a month or so before using.  I think they would make a nice present too.

More lemon recipes to follow....