Just like to wish my followers a wonderful holiday season. I do hope you enjoy delicious food with family and friends. Look forward to sharing more recipes with you.

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I love it when I visit friends and they have a tree laden with fruit that they are not using.  In no time at all I have asked them if I can pick some and take them home. Seems such a pity to waste good produce. I don’t mind if it’s wild or cultivated as long as no one is using it, I will bring a bucket and fill it to the brim. On this occasion it was Lemons. Big juicy bumpy lemons. With Christmas coming up I like to try and make a few home made goodies to give to people and preserved lemons are always so handy in the pantry. I use them especially for Moroccan recipes but you can roast a chicken that has been marinated in preserved lemons and garlic, or fish of course.

Citrus always reminds me of Sicily and takes me back to last year when we visited the husba’s relatives. We went to the farm and picked bucket loads of oranges and lemons. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful life to just wander out to your farm and pick the produce you need.

Well I may not have a farm but I still manage to procure my share of free produce. I hope this will inspire you to preserve some lemons too.

I used the Women’s Weekly recipe and modified it slightly.

Preserved lemons

1. Halve lemons lengthways, carefully cut each lemon half in half again without cutting all the way through. Open lemon halves out slightly.
2. Squeeze lemons over a large non-metallic bowl to catch the juice. Add lemons to bowl with salt, bay leaves and seeds. Mix well.
3. Pack lemon mixture into 1.5-litre (6-cup) sterilised jar. Pour enough of the juice into the jar to cover lemons. Place a sealed small plastic bag filled with water on top of the lemons to keep them submerged then seal jar. Label and date jar.

Notes: Store preserved lemons in a cool, dark place for at least three weeks before using. Refrigerate after opening. To use, remove and discard pulp, squeeze juice from rind, rinse rind well, then slice according to the recipe. Cinnamon sticks or chillies can be added to the preserved lemons in step 2.

No Comments | In: Gluten Free, Other Delights | | #

I don’t know if you  noticed, but I didn’t blog a recipe last week. I was in Melbourne. My husband and I had gone down to look after his terminally ill father and then we stayed on for his funeral. Benito is mentioned in my blog already. He was one of the Italian migrants who arrived here in Australia in the fifties and I have posted his recipe up called Benito’s Polpetta. Benito was eightyfour years old and was a great cook. He often had us all over for lasagna or pasta or homemade sausages. He has a vegetable and fruit garden behind the house. There is a tree laden with figs and two lemon trees. One with a normal type lemon and the other with a lemon with extra thick rind that the family enjoyed with vinegar and salt. He grew his own vegetables and fruit long before it became “trendy” and made his own vinegar and wine back when Australians didn’t understand what these things were for.

Benito has a prickly pear tree in his garden too. I still don’t think many people know what these are. They are  a member of the cactus family and the fruit has prickles all over it. However with the right skill you can take the skin off and inside is a delicious fruit that comes in red or orange and yellow.

I learned so many things from this wonderful man. He always used fresh produce and simple flavours. This was the Italian way.

The recipe I am writing about today is not one of his but it has the same principles. It is a lovely thing to serve in Summer and on those warmer days.

Recipe

Ingredients

3 large washed potatoes cut into bite size pieces with skin on

1/2 cup of chopped parsley

5 pieces of thin prosciutto

1 punnet of baby tomatoes

2 bunches of asparagus

1 lemon cut into wedges

Lemon zest

Lemon infused olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Rock salt and fresh pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 150 degrees

Place the cut up potatoes in boiling water and boil until firm but cooked.

Cut the baby tomatoes in half and place on baking paper in a pan. Place a rack over the tomatoes and put prosciutto on the rack (see photo)

Place in oven for 10-15 minutes until the prosciutto is crispy and the tomatoes are partly roasted.

The prosciutto will flavour the tomatoes

Blanch asparagus until slightly cooked but still crunchy.

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients  and crumble the crunchy prosciutto over the top.

Add the zest of one lemon and dress with lemon infused olive oil. Grated a little Parmesan cheese over the bowl and salt and pepper to taste.

4 Comments | In: Gluten Free, Other Delights, Salads | | #