Lemon time

When the snowflakes are out, I know it's really winter, and gosh haven't we been dealt some wintry weather lately?  It's been very hard to prise myself out of the warm doona in the dark to take the dogs for a run in the mornings (let's just say that it doesn't happen every morning) and I think they prefer to be here anyway...

The farm is looking lovely and green at the moment, although it's hardly wet 'n muddy, which it often is at this time of the year.  We have been carrying what can only be described as the United Nations of the cattle world.....

We had a lovely trip to New Zealand in the holidays, to stay with some friends near Queenstown.  It is impossibly beautiful.....

and enormous fun. 

When we got home I was faced with the urgent need to prune the roses.  It's a big job, but I'm always so glad when it's done:

The Albertine is always the worst

After very busy holidays with the kids home and two lovely English vet students staying with us it is all very quiet on the kitchen front.  Tim is off carbs, dairy and sugar which is somewhat limiting but I must do all I can to support him.  As you can see the lemon tree is fully laden so I have putting them to work and not just in the gin and tonics.

In this jar is the peel of 3-4 lemons and vinegar.  I leave the lemon and vinegar to infuse for 2-3 weeks then dilute it 50/50 with water and use it as a multi purpose spray.

Cheap, effective and environmentally friendly...got to love that.  I also made a lemon syrup yoghurt cake, which has to go into the category of an oldie but a goodie:

LEMON SYRUP YOGHURT CAKE - with a whisper of rosemary:

185g butter, softened

1/2 cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 teasp bicarb soda

1/2 cup natural yoghurt (I use greek)

2 lemons

Syrup:

2 lemons

1/4 cup castor sugar

1 sprig rosemary

Preheat the oven to 180c.  Grease and line a 20-22cm round cake tin.

Cream butter and sugar for a few minutes until pale then beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as you go.

Sift flour and bicarb soda and fold in with the almonds.

Gently mix in the yoghurt and the grated juice and rind of two lemons.

Turn into tin and bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven. 

While the cake is in the oven make the syrup so the rosemary can infuse.

Heat the juice and zest of two lemons with sugar and the rosemary in a saucepan stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Set aside.

The cake will be ready when it is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Using the skewer, poke holes all over the cake and pour the syrup over so that it can soak in.  Allow to cool in the tin then using a plate over the top, flip it over then flip onto your serving plate.  You can make some more syrup for when you serve it up if you like.  This is one of my all time favourite cakes, on a par with Nigella Lawson's Damp Lemon and Almond Cake from How to be a Domestic Goddess, which uses rather more butter and eggs.

Another use for the mighty lemon is this herby lemon salt from The Kitchn, I am definitely going to make a jar of that this afternoon.  I also whipped up a lemony salsa verde, which would go so well with lamb, beef or chicken...

Of course it is also time for Seville oranges, so I always make my year's supply of marmalade in the middle of winter:

PS:  If anyone would like some lemons let me know.  I also have lots of purple iris if anyone needs to fill a dry sunny patch in the garden.  This is what they looked like in the spring:

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....