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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 15:44:55 GMT
Moroccan Preserved Lemons
6-8 lemons Kosher (coarse salt) Paprika 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed Olive oil (note: when I am preparing several jars, I cut the olive oil with safflower,sunflower or canola oil to defer cost). 3 bay leaves 1 cinnamon stick vegetable oil (as noted previously, you will half and half it)
Cut the lemons in half lengthwise and cut each half into quarters. Remove the visible pits and generously coat the lemon pieces with the salt. Set aside on a rack to drain for 24 hours to drain so that they become soft and limp.
Pat the lemon pieces with a clean kitchen towel and arrange in layers in a sterilized glass jar. Lightly sprinkle each layer with a little paprika, crushed black pepper, and olive oil. Add the bay leaf at every third layer and the cinnamon stick in the middle. Cover the lemons with a combination of olive oil and vegetable oil. Seal and refrigerate. Allow 2-3 weeks for the lemons to pickle, become soft and mellow and read to eat. The oil may be used to baste and or marinate other dishes such as fish and most pleasantly in curry dishes.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 16:40:38 GMT
Thanks, casi!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 17:56:49 GMT
That recipe is very interesting but most of the preserved lemon recipes here just use salt and water, and sometimes olive oil, but they are always preserved whole. It is only when you use them that you cut them up. I buy them in plastic tubs at my Dia superette. There are usually 4 or 5 lemons in the container, for something like 1.80€.
However, when I looked for "citrons confits" in Google images, I got a very wide variety of styles, including several that look like casimira's recipe.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 18:22:21 GMT
And, indeed so did I as well Kerouac I even deterred from adding the garlic addition that I use, because, with those who do not use the lemons in a certain period of time are subject to them becoming rancid. And so, I have over a period of years, graced those who know what they are dealing with. There is so much ignorance around truly edible gifts that entail common sense and this is truly one of them. Years ago, I put up with great aplomb, umpteen jars of these gems,which also included garlic cloves, which, I have intentionally not included in the recipe posted, because of the rapidity of rancidness to those unaware.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 18:26:41 GMT
It is great that you have had the wisdom to adjust your recipe over time. And I'm sure you tell people how they should be used, because even in France, the majority of people would be clueless.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 22:00:04 GMT
When I was in Istanbul, and in NYC, one sees giant jars of the lemons in water of which you speak. People buy them on a as needed basis for their tagine or whatever dish they are going to use them in on a seemingly immediate basis.
The ones I do, are of an even more preserved basis, in that they are sealed, in oil and will last, refrigerated for a further length of time and not as an immediate needed basis, therefore, a more literal culinary preserve. It took me a while, and a lot of research to discern the difference. Most especially when I would go into a Middle Eastern Deli in NYC and see these giant jars atop the counter and watching people order what they wanted for that particular evening meal. It enlightened me further in my research and my arrival at how I wanted to gift them to people in an authentic albeit "different" way.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 18, 2014 5:01:02 GMT
My lemon tree delivers an un-surmountable amount of lemons so I give them away by the bucket load. I like Casi's recipe a lot so will give it a try. Thanks for the tip on them going 'off' after a period of time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 16:28:36 GMT
What variety of lemons do you grow Tod?
Just to clarify, the recipe posted does not "turn" unless garlic is incorporated. One can add garlic proportionately at the time you are about to use it. Otherwise, the recipe will last indefinitely refrigerated.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 18:29:16 GMT
Two days ago, I boiled a beef tongue with all sorts of spices and added a cut up preserved lemon to the water. It was a really excellent decision.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 19, 2014 5:58:51 GMT
Oh that's good to know Casi - we seem to take ages to finish anything. My lemon tree produces oval smooth skin lemons. There is a variety that we call a 'rough skin' lemon because as the name suggests, it is all uneven and knobbly. Unfortunately with this variety the lemons always get a sort of scaly fungus coating the skin here and there. The juice is wonderful but that's about all. My tree blossoms even when there are still a few lemons hanging on! I also have a large lime tree. They are about the size of a ping-pong ball and pale green to yellow inside.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 6:20:28 GMT
You people who can grow citrus are so lucky. Eventually, I will try a lemon tree in our greenhouse/conservatory. My father used to have a miniature orange tree that he kept in the front window and every winter it would yield enough grape-sized oranges that he could make into one small jar of marmelade.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 11:33:07 GMT
Your lime tree sounds like a Key lime Tod.
When I was growing up (in NY), my father had a lemon tree in a large pot. I vividly recall when it would bloom how the smell of those blossoms would scent the whole house.
Many people don't realize that citrus can be grown indoors given the proper light. There are even miniature varieties available. They are not particularly fussy to cultivate.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 19, 2014 11:53:45 GMT
Lizzyfaire & Casimira, that variety of orange sound like a kumquat to me. They are very nice boiled in syrup and preserved. Can be used for accompaniment to cheeses or other foods.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 12:00:14 GMT
Yes, (I missed Lizzy's post). It definetely sounds to be a kumquat. They are quite prolific here. Some people use the branches laid to decorate their Christmas tables and then go ahead to use them for marmalade. They are very bitter to bite into raw. The community garden in my neighborhood has a HUGE one laden with fruit at present.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 16:06:52 GMT
Nope, not a kumquat, they were perfectly rouund and perfectly orangey. Very thin skinned and juicy. It may have been a calamondin, however, which is a cross between a mandarin and a kumquat.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 16:56:07 GMT
I was going to say or maybe a calamondin!!!!! Yes!!!! I've seen a few of them around, they are rounder and not as bitter as the kumquat. A lot of people plant them as topiary for ornamentation at the gates of their mansions here.
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Post by bjd on Dec 19, 2014 17:01:22 GMT
I love kumquats raw. I have a little bush here but they tend to fall off before they ripen, so I have to buy them at the supermarket. I also have a calamondin bush in a pot.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 17:52:09 GMT
I grew up with a kumquat tree in our yard in Mississippi, and there was another one at my parents' house when they lived in Florida, so I am incapable of paying for a kumquat. And yet they sell them for something like 16€ a kilo in Paris. I forgot to look at from where they are imported.
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Post by bjd on Dec 19, 2014 19:18:33 GMT
I pay 9.90/kilo at Intermarché when they have them. They come from Israel. But you get an awful lot of kumquats in a kilo!
I also remember buying 500g of them at a market in Buenos Aires. My son and I ate them all at once and had prickly lips for a while.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 19:39:13 GMT
I just can't imagine that.. Ah, now,I am going to have to find recipes or some such whatever to do with the hundreds growing on the community garden tree. Don't be surprised BJD if I inquire after your postal address to post some marmalade or other such delicacy lest these go to waste. We'll see... JEEZ Louise, there are thousands, just like the loquats that come in the Spring!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 21:08:35 GMT
The kumquat scandal is merely caused by ignorance and rarity. There is absolutely no demand for kumquats in France since they are unknown, so very few people are scrambling to find them. But the few people who want them have to pay through the nose.
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Post by bjd on Dec 20, 2014 9:01:56 GMT
I don't find the price of kumquats especially scandalous, given how many there are in a kilo. Much more scandalous is the price of bananas -- you throw out most of it and prices are artificially high to protect growers in the French department of Martinique or in the Ivory Coast. Anytime, Casi.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2014 15:20:11 GMT
Bananas are dirt cheap here, one of the cheapest fruits you can buy save for in-season apples. Interesting.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 20, 2014 16:16:03 GMT
I never see kumquats here. Only preserved and then only at specialty stores. I will pounce if I see them to get the price here.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2014 18:28:02 GMT
I generally pay about 1€ a kilo for bananas.
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Post by bjd on Dec 20, 2014 18:44:19 GMT
In supermarkets here they are about 1€70, today at the market I saw some for 1€20 but they usually cost more. Never see them at 1€.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 2, 2015 6:52:41 GMT
The last hand of bananas I bought was considered very expensive R12.00 or plus minus a euro. Usually they are half that price at least - well they should be as they are grown right on our doorstep!
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