Lemons are abundant in Alice Springs at the moment... and a lot of them end up in my fruit bowl from a number of sources: my neighbour's lemonade lemons, my friend's neighbour's lemons, a colleague's bush lemons, a bag today in Jorge's pidgeon hole at school from an anonymous parent.. and I always say yes, yes please, and I always (usually) use them. This despite having a heavily laden lime tree of my own. Am I a glutton for lemons. Perhaps. But I love having lemons because there is so much cooking you can do with them:
lemon delicious; lemon curd; lemon shortbreads; lemon meringue pie; lemon cordial; frozen lemon juice; preserved lemon slices; bearnaise sauce... these are my favourite cooking experiences with lemon. (Although I am yet to find a lemon cake recipe I want to cook twice.)
Now, I have tried Stephanie Alexander's preserved lemons. And they're still in my cupboard two years later. I like them, and for that one experience every three months when I cook a tagine or something similar, they're great. But they're not part of my repertoire.
I like recipes that combine lemon with butter, and preferably sugar. Coming soon are my favourite lemon recipes.
