Meyer Lemon Recipe

Chef Tom Hudgens’ Preserved Meyer Lemons Salt-preserved Meyer lemons are a wonderful ingredient and condiment to have in the kitchen, and they are a breeze to make.

Their deep flavor is haunting; it somehow permeates a dish (or a martini) more than just fresh citrus zest or juice. You need:
1) A sterile jar with a tight-fitting lid. (To sterilize a jar, submerge a clean jar in boiling water for 15 minutes, lift it out with tongs, and let cool.)
2) Enough Meyer lemons to fill the jar, plus many extras for juice.
3) About a quarter cup additive-free kosher salt for each lemon. To make salt-preserved lemons:
Wash the lemons, trim the stem end and the tip off each lemon, and cut the lemon into quarters. Pour a bed of kosher salt on the bottom of the jar. Place lemon quarters snugly in a single layer over the salt.
Pour a thin layer of salt over the lemons, and squeeze in enough lemon juice to moisten the salt—you want about the same volume of juice as salt. Repeat with lemon quarters, salt, and juice until the jar is full.
The lemons should be completely submerged in salt and lemon juice. Put on the lid, and let sit in a cool, dark spot in your kitchen for about a month.

To use the preserved lemons in cooking:
Open jar, and remove a lemon quarter from the salt. Scrape out the pulp and discard, give the skin a quick rinse under cold running water, cut into small dice, and use in small amounts in relishes, braises, dressings, etc. These lemons are salty by nature, like capers, olives, or anchovies, but excessive saltiness can be remedied by another rinse or by adding fresh lemon juice.

To use the preserved lemons in martinis:
Scrape and rinse the preserved lemon quarters as described above. Cut the quarters into inch-long strips. Fold a strip in half, and stuff into a large pitted green olive. Repeat with a second olive, and drop them into your favorite gin martini (you can keep your vodka). Voila! No twist necessary. Enjoy! Note:
If you'd like to make a whole jar of lemon-stuffed olives, stuff the olives, and then replace the olive brine with a lemony brine made from the salty juice from your preserved lemons, diluted with fresh water to approximate the strength of the olive brine. Not only will this augment the overall lemon flavor, it also will enable you to make a delicious lemon-lovers' dirty martini!

Diablo would also like to recommend two other Meyer lemon recipes: Meyer lemon mousse from Chez Panisse Desserts, by Lindsey Remolif Shere, (Random House, 1985) and Meyer lemon curd from Greens Cookbook, by Deborah Madison, (Bantam, 1987).