Preserved lemons, and fettucine with preserved lemons and roasted garlic

Lemons were on sale yesterday at Target, $5 for 5 pounds. That might seem like a lot of lemons, but it's a great deal if you're interested in making preserved lemons.

You might not think you're interested in that; I certainly hadn't contemplated it until leafing through "The Homemade Kitchen," by Alana Chernila. It's one of the latest volumes to reflect cookbooks in the social media age: lots of photography, lots of lifestyle glimpses/sharing/inspiration. But I give it props for being a more holistic approach to cooking than most superficial volumes; Chernila tells you how to cook pretty much anything, broken down into little bites.

The book is organized into sections themed by sayings she’s taped to her refrigerator to inspire her, like “do the work” and “feed yourself.” Her sayings are a lot more inspirational/aspirational than mine -- clearly, since they got me to try making my own preserved lemons when I'd never even cooked with them before.

What's on my frig? The Penzey's bumper sticker that says "Love People. Cook them tasty food." And a New Yorker cartoon that shows a couple in the aisle of the grocery store, with one saying to the other: "Into every shopping cart a little mysterious Mediterranean product must fall."

Fettucine with preserved lemon and roasted garlic

Adapted from “The Homemade Kitchen” by Alana Chernila

Ingredients

1 pound fettuccine

¼ cup olive oil

1 preserved lemon, rinsed, chopped and seeds discarded

¼ cup mashed roasted garlic

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley

Fresh ground pepper

Method

Cook fettuccine in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat. Add preserved lemon, garlic and rosemary and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often to smush the mixture into a sauce. Toss sauce with pasta in a serving bowl. Stir in a half cup of pasta cooking water. Add cheese and stir to melt. Add more pasta water if needed. Top with parsley and ground pepper. Don't add any salt before tasting it first, because there's going to be a strong salt component to those lemons.

Rating: This made my mouth really happy. It's really elemental, but very tasty. And it's a super fast fix. Well, if you cheat and buy roasted garlic at the deli, and you don't count the three weeks it takes to make the preserved lemons. Naturally, Chernila tells you how to make the fettucine and roast the garlic if you really want to indulge in the homemade kitchen.

 

Preserved lemons

From “The Homemade Kitchen.” You can find Chernila's version here.

Ingredients

10 to 14 lemons (3 pounds)

1 cup kosher salt, or more.

10 cardamom pods

6 bay leaves

2 cups lemon juice (or more)

Method

Wash lemons. Cut off the tip. Cut in half lengthwise, then again lengthwise, leaving the end intact (the world won’t end if it comes apart). You’ll need either a ½-gallon jar or two quart jars sterilized and ready to go. Place a couple of tablespoons of salt into the jar.

Put the rest of the salt in a medium bowl and rub salt over the flesh of the lemons. Add the lemons to the jar to make a layer. Add some salt on the top, a few cardamom pods and a bay leaf. Repeat layering, using all the salt, adding more if you run out as you get near the top. Cover with lemon juice, shoving down the lemons. I found I needed quite a bit more lemon juice to cover them. Cover the jar with a sterilized lid and shake well.

Let the jar stand at room temperature for three weeks, shaking well every few days or so. Then refrigerate for six months to a year.

I'm a skeptic about food left out on the counter, but the salt and acidic juice seem to have done the trick. And yes, you eat the flesh of these, but rinse them first before using them or they'll be too salty.