Remember when, oh, a little over a week ago, I did a batch of preserved lemons? Well, a couple of days after that, I did another batch...a quick-preserved lemon recipe I'd found in Paula Wolfert's book Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco.
And then, the holiday break was done, and I went back to work and forgot I'd done a cool thing like cure freaking lemons.
However, today was a slow day...not to mention a snow day. My two still-at-home children did a great job of cleaning the house while I was at work, and when I arrived home, I decided to tackle the Purging of the Fridge.
Which is when I found both batches of lemons.
My heart skipped a beat, my breath was lost in my throat. Tonight could be the night! I'd find out what preserved lemons actually taste like!
But first, tacos.
Yes, you so read that right. Tacos for dinner at Chez Nelson. The sautéing of onions, the browning of ground beef, the chopping of various garnishes. Yes, yes, yes. All that tedium.
Until I had the idea to add some diced cured freaking lemons during the sauté onion process. Hang on.
The quick-lemons still had the rind on them (I'd scored them, whole, and boiled them in some heavily salted water before packing them away in their cooking liquid for five days), and they were the softest things I'd ever held (even moreso than my children when they were babes). It was a delicate process to cut the lemon open because the pulp was just...oh, jelly and poetry and everything happy in the world. I fine-diced the rind and pulp and threw it in with the ground beef, along with the onions, chipotle peppers, and other seasonings. Incidentally, I went LIGHT on the "other seasonings" because, cured freaking lemons needed to be the star, I felt.
We sit down to eat sometime later, and I'm anxious to see how this all turned out (Oh, did I mention that I'd of course tried the preserved lemons when I'd diced them? Salty. Citrusy. Bizarre and enchanting all at once.). And I'm here to tell you, had there been an Amtrak train to Taco Nirvana...I would have been on it.
I know this is weird, readers. I know! This goes against everything I've ever grown up believing...that citrus flavors have NO business in savory hamburger-heavy dishes. Lemons are supposed to be for bars and cakes and pies and Tom Collinses. Right?!
Wrong.
They belong in your tacos. They belong in the White House. They belong everywhere.
They added a subtle lemon-kick to the chipotle and medium-salsa heat. They provided an interesting flavor layer to counterbalance the salt (even though they are salted themselves) and savoriness of the taco meat.
I've never tasted anything like it. But I realized, that because I preserved my own lemons, I can taste stuff like this any time I want.
Cured freaking lemons.
And then, the holiday break was done, and I went back to work and forgot I'd done a cool thing like cure freaking lemons.
However, today was a slow day...not to mention a snow day. My two still-at-home children did a great job of cleaning the house while I was at work, and when I arrived home, I decided to tackle the Purging of the Fridge.
Which is when I found both batches of lemons.
My heart skipped a beat, my breath was lost in my throat. Tonight could be the night! I'd find out what preserved lemons actually taste like!
But first, tacos.
Yes, you so read that right. Tacos for dinner at Chez Nelson. The sautéing of onions, the browning of ground beef, the chopping of various garnishes. Yes, yes, yes. All that tedium.
Until I had the idea to add some diced cured freaking lemons during the sauté onion process. Hang on.
The quick-lemons still had the rind on them (I'd scored them, whole, and boiled them in some heavily salted water before packing them away in their cooking liquid for five days), and they were the softest things I'd ever held (even moreso than my children when they were babes). It was a delicate process to cut the lemon open because the pulp was just...oh, jelly and poetry and everything happy in the world. I fine-diced the rind and pulp and threw it in with the ground beef, along with the onions, chipotle peppers, and other seasonings. Incidentally, I went LIGHT on the "other seasonings" because, cured freaking lemons needed to be the star, I felt.
 |
| I'm having a hard time NOT saying it: cured freaking lemons |
I know this is weird, readers. I know! This goes against everything I've ever grown up believing...that citrus flavors have NO business in savory hamburger-heavy dishes. Lemons are supposed to be for bars and cakes and pies and Tom Collinses. Right?!
Wrong.
They belong in your tacos. They belong in the White House. They belong everywhere.
They added a subtle lemon-kick to the chipotle and medium-salsa heat. They provided an interesting flavor layer to counterbalance the salt (even though they are salted themselves) and savoriness of the taco meat.
I've never tasted anything like it. But I realized, that because I preserved my own lemons, I can taste stuff like this any time I want.
Cured freaking lemons.
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