{"id":229,"date":"2012-07-15T22:45:27","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T12:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/?p=229"},"modified":"2012-07-15T22:45:27","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T12:45:27","slug":"bounty-of-the-month-the-apeel-of-lemons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/?p=229","title":{"rendered":"Bounty of the month – the a’peel of lemons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Seriously\u2013when The Seekers sang “lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat” they were suffering a culinary deficit.<\/p>\n

Lemons have got to be one of the most foundational of flavors and vital ingredients. The fresh, zesty acidity can lift a dish, add an extra dimension, or be the star of a culinary masterpiece.<\/p>\n

I love lemon, although I qualify that by stating I love the Eureka or Lisbon varieties above the Meyer lemon, which I find to lack zestyness and zing.
\nSeasonally, lemons are at their most bountiful now.
\nOver the last few weeks we have made the most of the many lemons inherited or helped transform others’ excess.<\/p>\n

One afternoon a few weeks ago, one industrious boy set to (his brother eventually joined him) and made several batches of lemon cordial, which they, typically for their age, labeled “Boys’ No.1’s”\u00a0 Lemon Cordial!
\nTangy refreshment!<\/p>\n

“Boys’ No. 1’s” Lemon Cordial:<\/span>
\nIng:
\n5-6 large-ish lemons
\n1.5 kg white sugar
\n30g tartaric acid
\n60g citric acid
\n8 cups boiling water<\/p>\n

Method:
\nFinely zest the rind off the lemons. Juice lemons.
\nPut all ingredients into a large stainless steel saucepan\/bowl. Add boiling water, stirring to dissolve sugar.
\nCool, then bottle and seal.
\nServe with about 1\/2 inch or so topped with water or mineral\/soda water.<\/p>\n

Our next major lemon venture was only a few days ago. Upon visiting daughter and s-i-l’s country home for a few days, I immediately spied an overflowing fruit bowl of (Meyer \ud83d\ude41 ) lemons. Also discovered 36 uncollected chook eggs, which were duly gathered, washed and checked for freshness.<\/p>\n

Lemons…eggs…
\nWhat else does one think of but a batch of Lemon Butter?
\nAnd being the hungry types, what about a nice lemony dessert?
\nBoom Boom.<\/p>\n

Lemon Butter in the microwave<\/span>: (Thank you to Aunty Hazel, one of my prime cooking influences, for this)
\nIng:
\n8 oz white sugar
\n2 eggs
\nzest of 3 lemons
\njuice of 2 large lemons
\n4 oz fresh unsalted butter<\/p>\n

Method:
\nPlace sugar, butter, juice and zest in a glass microwave-proof jug.
\nHeat and stir until sugar is dissolved.
\nBeat eggs in a separate bowl.
\nBeat eggs into juice mixture.
\nCook in bursts of a minute, stirring between cooking, until thick. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Cool and store in fridge.
\nSpread on toast, scones, use in tarts, or as we did for our dessert, use in Stephanie Alexanders Lemon Roulade \u2013 pg 396 of “The Cooks Companion”.<\/p>\n

The list of lemony delights is long, but pretty much the winner in our family is “A Good Lemon Tart”. At the restaurant where Quality Controller and I held our wedding reception, we said that Lemon Tart was mandatory as a dessert choice. The chef had the sense to agree. On our honeymoon in Paris, we were ever on the hunt for the perfect Lemon Tart. Fauchon nailed it.
\nSad to say, many cafes now seem to use a lemon oil\/essence instead of zest and juice and it just doesn’t get there! Sorry!<\/p>\n

Be warned, making a good lemon tart can lead to marriage proposals.
\nThe following recipe is based on the Stephanie Alexander Lemon Tart<\/p>\n

“A Good Lemon Tart”<\/span>:
\nShort crust Pastry for 24 cm loose bottomed flan tin.
\nIng:
\n225 g plain flour
\n1\/2 tsp salt
\n130g cold unsalted butter
\n2 tbs icing sugar
\n2 tbs cold water.<\/p>\n

Method:
\nPlace flour, sugar, diced butter and salt into bowl of food processor. Process until mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add water and pulse on and off until mixture just comes together. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth. Wrap and rest in fridge for 20 mins.
\nLine a greased flan tin with pastry then freeze for 20 mins.
\nBlind bake pastry 15 mins in 200\u00b0C preheated oven.
\ntake out of oven, reduce heat to 160\u00b0C. Pour filling into shell and bake for 35 – 40 mins until just set. Cool in tin. Tart can then be served warm, but I prefer mine cold, with dollop cream.
\nFilling Ing:
\n6 eggs, lightly whisked
\n250g caster sugar
\nZest and juice from 3 large lemons (about 250mls juice)
\n200ml thin cream
\nMethod for filling:
\nCombine zest, juice, eggs and sugar well. Add cream and mix well. Pour into baked pastry case. Bake as above.<\/p>\n

This has been only one segment of\u00a0 the lemon bounty. There will be ‘seconds’….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seriously\u2013when The Seekers sang “lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat” they were suffering a culinary deficit. Lemons have got to be one of the most … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bounty-of-the-month","category-eating"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vc.id.au\/licktheplateclean\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}