Shelter in place April 10 - and recipe for moroccan lemons

You will find a bit of an Indian theme in this weeks shelter in place box.  Try cooking the jasmine rice and adding the chickpea curry soup and some raita.  To cook with the indian spices, heat some oil (mustard, olive, coconut or ghee) on your skillet and add 1 Tablespoon and heat until you hear mustard seed crackle.  Then add your vegetables and you can ad water and simmer.

You can use the plum jam or fig jam as a little chutney on the side.  Please enjoy your boxes and see the recipe for moroccan lemons below!  FEEL NOURISHED!!!

This week you will be getting something close to this:

Soups: vegan and gluten free and organic and from scratch and amazing!

Curried soup - with chickpeas, potatoes and cauliflower

Carrot ginger soup

Salads: vegan and organic and from scratch and amazing!

Soba noodle salad / pasta noodle salad with sesame ginger dressing

fresh salad with curried chickpeas

Baked goods:

Sourdough bread or gluten free bread

trail mix cookies - gluten free and vegan

Oatmeal with cranberry and pumpkin seeds and brown butter for the no dietary restrictions

Refrigerated:

pickled red onions

Raita - yogurt sauce for curry

Kimchi Juice

4 oz jar golden latte paste - to be mixed with any kind of milk warm for a nourishing beverage or in smoothies!

Jar of kombucha

Meyer lemons with recipe for Morrocan lemons (posted on website)

Salad mix from spade and plow farm

Pantry:

Mixed pickles

fig jam

grapefruit marmalade

Indian spice mix

Plum Jam

Dry Farmed Tomato Juice

lemon beet ginger shrub

Yellow eyed heirloom beans

Jasmine Rice

 Pickled Lemons

These preserved lemons are popularly known as Moroccan Lemons and are found in many eastern cuisines. They add a distinct freshness to your meals and are deceptively easy to prepare. They will become your little culinary secret adding an interesting and exotic flavor to the simplest preparations. I like to finely slice the preserved lemons and mix them with sauteed vegetables or marinades.

I like to use Meyer lemons as they are sweet and tender and will cure quickly, but you can also use other varieties of lemons, limes and other fruits. Rangpur limes have become just short of an obsession to my palate. I also prefer to use sea salt.

Instructions

You can make as many lemons as you like.  It takes about 1 pound of lemons for 2 ½ pint jars.  Scrub the lemons and dry them off.

Cut off the little rounded bit at the stem end if there is a hard little piece of the stem attached. Traditionally you now take the other end of the lemon and cut lengthwise into the lemon stopping about 1 inch from the bottom and then making another downward slice. You have just cut an X into the lemon. You then pack sea salt into the lemon where you made the incisions. You can use about 1 tablespoon of salt per lemon. Alternatively, you may simply slice the lemon into nice sized wedges or the limes in half if you prefer and pack in salt accordingly.  This is the method that I prefer.

Start to pack your lemons into a clean glass jar that has a tight fitting lid. While you are packing you can add a combination of spices that you like. You may choose from bay leaf, corriander, black pepper, cumin, cloves, cinnamon sticks, juniper berries, all spice or dried chili just to name a few. I like to make it a bit spicy so that I can add some heat to my meal without steaming out my dinner guest (as my children are my most consistent dinner guests and do not tolerate spice that well yet).

Press the lemons very firmly in the jar to get the juices flowing. Cover and let stand overnight. If you are using a very juicy meyer lemon then you will have enough juice to cover the lemons right away. If you do not have enough juice right away then the next day check them and press them down again. Your lemons should be submerged in juice and if they are not by the following day then you can top them off with a little lemon juice at this time.

Let them sit out on your countertop for 3-4 weeks.  During this time the lemons need to stay submerged below the surface. Likely, a white or green mold will develop on the surface of your preserves while they are fermenting. This is a normal part of the process and is to be expected.  Simply skim the mold off of the surface periodically and be sure the fruit stays submerged. 

Once the preserved lemons are soft, they are ready to use. Time varies depending on variety. A very thin skinned meyer lemon will take about 3 weeks to fully cure. They do not need to be refrigerated and it is recommended you use them up within 1 year.

Yieldsabout 2 1/2 pint jars per pound of lemons.