Tag: lemon

• 

  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Gremolata

  If like me you love slow cooking cuts of meat like lamb shanks and osso bucco you will love the addition of this garnish. It brings tastes of the grassy parsley, cleansing citrus flavours and then the bite of the garlic. It counters the meatiness of the slow cooked meats’ sauce perfectly.

  I even love making it as its simple ingredients list looks and smells amazing.

  You will need:

  • Finely grated zest of one lemon
  • 1 finely sliced garlic clove (small)
  • 2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

  Steps:

  1. Dice the pants off the parsley (this bit takes the longest).
  2. Chop the garlic, add it to the diced parsley and dice some more.
  3. Grate the lemon zest and the fold it into the garlic/parsley blend.
  4. Drizzle a very tiny bit of lemon juice (optional, for consistency).

  

  

   

  Enjoy,

  PK

  PS. Thanks Hugh 🙂

   

   

   

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  August 21, 2017

• 

  PK’s Easy Lemon Citrus Cordial

  It is still winter in Perth and our citrus plants are producing loads of fruit. You know I hate to waste any precious harvest so here is another way to make citrus last.

  This cordial (I used lemons and limes) is super tasty and will last for ages in the fridge. 🙂

  I simply work on a 2 cups of sugar to 500mls of fresh juice and 500mls of water ratio.

  Steps:

  1. Take a couple of the lemons and or limes and zest them.
  2. Juice the rest.
  3. Chuck the zest into a saucepan along with the freshly squeezed juice, water and sugar.
  4. Slowly bring everything to a gentle boil, stiring often to make sure the sugar is dissolved.
  5. Take it off the heat as soon as it boils and pour into pre-sterilised jars, straining as you go.
  6. Let the jars cool before you put the lids on!

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  July 28, 2017

• 

  PK’s NoRecipe Lemon Cordial

  It is still winter in Perth and our citrus plants are still producing loads of fruit. You know I hate to waste any precious harvest so here is another method of preserving citrus.

  This cordial (I used lemons and limes) is super tasty and will last for ages in the fridge 🙂

  I simply work on a 2 cups of sugar to 500mls of fresh juice and 500mls of water ratio.

  Steps:

  1. Take a couple of the lemons and or limes and zest them.
  2. Juice the rest.
  3. Chuck the zest into a saucepan along with the freshly squeezed juice, water and sugar.
  4. Bring everything to a gentle boil but do it very slowly and stir often to make sure the sugar is dissolved.
  5. Take it off the heat as soon as it boils and pour into pre-sterilised jars, straining as you go.
  6. Let the jars cool before you put the lids on!

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Related Links:

  • See more preserving ideas here

   

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  July 28, 2017

• 

  How To Make Preserved Citrus

  It’s winter in Perth, Western Australia and this year we are having a really good lemon and orange harvest. I am always on a look for ways to preserve any surplus and a good friend of mine suggested I try making preserved lemons. She won me over with ‘they go great in Tagines’ but she didn’t mention how amazing they look in the jars.

  I used lots of salt but I am still going to chuck them in the fridge it after they sit in a cool, dry cupboard for a a few months.

  Note: Follow your nose, if it smells bad don’t eat them.

  

  Here are the steps I took:

  1. I cleaned my chosen citrus with a scourer and rinsed them off (I used the last of the limes, some fresh lemons and a mix of lemons and oranges to make three jars respectively).
  2. I then took each piece of fruit, cut the ends off and quartered them (large fruit got cut in half again).
  3. I put 1/2 Tbsp of table salt in the bottom of each of my jars (pre-sterilised with boiling water), put a layer of fruit, pushed that down with a wooden spoon and then added another 1/2 Tbsp salt.
  4. I repeated the fruit, press and salt cycle until the jar was full to the brim.
  5. I then added freshly squeezed juice to the jar, added 1 Tbsp salt and popped on a sterilised lid.
  6. A few taps on the kitchen bench to get all the air bubbles to the top and I moved onto the next type of citrus.
  7. Then all the jars went into a cupboard for a few months. I haven’t had any jars explode on me but putting them in a cupboard or box stops an entire room being coated in glass and rotten food.

   

   

   

   

  I will let you know how they go 🙂

  (update: they were amazing and I even gave a few jars away)

  (update 2: I couldn’t point you at a better website for how to use your preserved citrus then this https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshow/preserved-lemon-slideshow

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Here are more preserving food ideas and uses for citrus:

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 17, 2017

• 

  PK’s NoRecipe Preserved Citrus

  It’s winter in Perth, Western Australia and this year we are having a really good lemon and orange harvest. I am always on a look for ways to preserve surplus harvest and a good friend of mine suggested I try making preserved lemons. She won me over with ‘they go great in Tagines’ but she didn’t mention how amazing they look in the jars :).

  I used lots of salt but I am still going to chuck them in the fridge after a couple of weeks of them sitting sitting in a cool, dry cupboard for a few weeks.

  

  Here are the steps I took:

  1. I cleaned my chosen citrus with a scourer and rinsed them off (I used the last of the limes, some fresh lemons and a mix of lemons and oranges to make three jars respectively).
  2. I then took each piece of fruit, cut the ends off and quartered them (large fruit got cut in half again).
  3. I put 1/2 Tbsp of table salt in the bottom of each of my jars (pre-sterilised with boiling water), put a layer of fruit, pushed that down with a wooden spoon and then added another 1/2 Tbsp salt.
  4. I repeated the fruit, press and salt cycle until the jar was full to the brim.
  5. I then added freshly squeezed juice to the jar, added 1 Tbsp salt and popped on a sterilised lid.
  6. A few taps on the kitchen bench to get all the air bubbles to the top and I moved onto the next type of citrus.
  7. Then all the jars went into a cupboard for a few weeks.

   

  I will let you know how they go 🙂

  (update: they were amazing and I even gave a few jars away)

  PK

  Related Links:

  • See more citrus preserving ideas here

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 17, 2017

• 

  PK’s NoRecipe Dried Citrus Slices

  I love preserving food as much as I like growing it (and talking about it). So I did some googling on ways to preserve citrus after my lemon tree decided to try and bury me in fruit :).

  My lime tree is a heavy cropper too but in Perth it is not hard to find people willing to take them off your hands :).

  Dried citrus can be used for a wide range of things like:

  • flavouring jugs/cups of water.
  • flavouring your teas.
  • adding to smoothies.
  • cooking mediterranean and middle-eastern dishes.
  • cleaning your kettle of scale (wow).

  Simply cut your chosen citrus (I used lemons, limes and oranges) into thin slices.

  

  Pop them on a tray or (my preference) a rack and into an 80C fan-forced oven for 4 to 6 hours. I made sure they were very dry before I took them out and whilst the rind is brittle there is a bit of play in the flesh.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 1, 2017

• 

  PK’s Dried Citrus Slices

  I love preserving food as much as I like growing it (and talking about it). So I did some googling on ways to preserve citrus after my lemon tree decided to try and bury me in fruit :).

  My lime tree is a heavy cropper too but in Perth it is not hard to find people willing to take them off your hands :).

  Dried citrus can be used for a wide range of things like:

  • flavouring jugs/cups of water.
  • flavouring your teas.
  • adding to smoothies.
  • cooking mediterranean and middle-eastern dishes.
  • cleaning your kettle of scale (wow).

  Simply cut your chosen citrus (I used lemons, limes and oranges) into thin slices.

  

  Pop them on a tray or (my preference) a rack and into an 80C fan-forced oven for 4 to 6 hours. I made sure they were very dry before I took them out and whilst the rind is brittle there is a bit of play in the flesh.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 1, 2017

• 

  PK Makes River Cottage’s Citrus Braised Lamb Shanks

  Everyone has a dish that they feel slightly guilty about. Guilty because somehow it turns out exceptionally good every single time.  This is mine and it has magical powers :).

  It is originally from the hit Channel 4 series and books, ‘River Cottage’ and I merely adapted it to work in a slow cooker. I like dishes that are a bit different and I prefer this lighter white wine and citrus version over traditional red wine based lamb shank recipes.

  River Cottage’s Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstool can’t have known its romantic power when he added this dish to his cookbook though, surely not. It was the first meal I cooked for my wife to be and she fell madly in love with me. That’s the magical bit and might contradict her version of events :).

  You will be:

  1. Sweating the vegetables in the slow cooker.
  2. Browning the lamb shanks and deglazing the frypan.
  3. Cooking it slow.
  4. Serving.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 4 lamb shanks
    • 2 carrots
    • 1 large brown onion
    • 2 celery sticks
    • 2 bay leaves
    • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
    • a few sprigs of fresh thyme or lemon thyme
    • a small handful of parsley or celery leaves, chopped
    • 1 large orange
    • 1 large lemon
    • half a bottle of white wine (I used a Sauvignon blanc)
    • 1 cup of home made stock (I used chicken stock as that was all I had) or 1 cup water
    • several slugs of olive oil
    • a good slug of tomato paste
    • ground rock salt to taste
    • cracked black peppercorns to taste
    • 0.5 Tbsp whole black peppercorns (optional)
    • A handful of small or chopped mushrooms (optional)
  •  Equipment:
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • kitchen tongs
    • a wooden spoon
    • a citrus zester
    • a citrus juicer
    • a large frypan
    • a slow cooker

  Steps:

  Sweating the vegetables in the slow cooker

  1. Put a slug of olive oil into your slow cooker and turn it on high, lid on.
  2. Rough chop the:
     • 2 carrots.
     • 2 celery sticks.
     • handful of parsley or celery leaves.
  3. Finely slice the 1 large brown onion.
  4. Finely chop the 2 garlic cloves.
  5. Add the above to your slow cooker to start them softening up, lid on (mix everything around occasionally).
  6. Once the onions have started to soften, throw in the 2 bay leaves and the sprigs of thyme.
  7. If you like a bit of peppery kick, chuck 0.5 Tbsp of black peppercorns in too.
  8. Juice and then zest the lemon and the orange and add to the slow cooker (retain some of the mixed juice and zest for serving time).
  9. Add the 1 cup of stock or 1 cup of water and mix gently.
  10. Add a good slug of tomato paste.
  11. Add a handful of small mushrooms now if you are using them.

  I love seeing ingredients together like this:

  

  Nice and soft:

  

   

  Browning the lamb shanks and deglazing the frypan

  1. Season the 4 lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
  2. Chuck another slug of olive oil into the pan and bring to medium heat.
  3. Slightly brown every surface of the shanks. Yep, even the ends with a bit of creative meat stacking :).
  4. Then add them to the slow cooker.
  5. I now deglaze the frypan with half a bottle of white wine. When boiling I then add it to the slow cooker.
  6. If the slow cooker looks a bit full don’t panic. Everything will shrink down as it cooks :).

  

  Cooking it slow

  1. Turn your slow cooker to medium and cook for at least 2 hours using kitchen tongs to periodically move the shanks around.
  2. Now you can keep the slow cooker on medium for speed or turn it down to low for a slower cook (my preference).
  3. When the meat is literally falling of the bone, when you are giving it a gentle mix with the kitchen tongs, it is ready.

   Serving

  I generally serve the shanks on a bed of mashed potato with some steamed green vegetables alongside. This time though I cooked my PK’s NoRecipe Oven Baked Potatoes and served the shanks on the bone with some greens.

  Remember how we set aside some mixed zest and juice? Sprinkle a bit of the zest and then drizzle some juice over each serve to freshen the citrus flavours and aromas.

  On or off the bone this dish is visually appealing:

  

  

  Make this dish for someone you love,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  February 17, 2017

• 

  The Easiest Guacamole

  I like anything with avocado in it so it is no surprise that I love my home made ‘guac’. If only because I use as much stuff from my kitchen garden as possible. I love anything that works well with ‘make your own combination’ meals like taco or nacho night.

  Every avocado lover probably has their own guacamole recipe (the first being invented by the Aztecs) and here is mine. In any other dish I tend to keep the spice factor low so that people can add their own heat factor during eating. Not this time family :).

  No spice and onion = no guac.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients (serves about 3 – 4 people):
    • chives to taste
    • 1 red shallot or half a brown onion
    • 1 jalapeno chili or 1 cayenne chili
    • a few drops of Tabasco pepper sauce (or your home made version)
    • a handful of coriander leaves and stems
    • 1 avocado
    • 3 cherry tomatoes or equivalent amount of your favourite type
    • the juice of half a lemon or lime (to bring the avocado alive)
    • cracked black peppercorns (to taste)
    • table salt (an optional extra to taste but I don’t use any)
  • Equipment
    • a chopping board
    • a sharp knife
    • a wet mixer
    • a serving bowl

  Make the paste

  

  Steps:

  1. Chuck into the wet mixer:
     • the chives (amount optional)
     • 1 red shallot (skin removed)
     • 1 jalapeno chili or 1 cayenne (de-seeded if you prefer)
     • a handful of coriander leaves and stems
     • a few drops of Tabasco pepper sauce
     • 1 avocado (skin and seed removed)
     • 3 cherry tomatoes
     • the juice of half a lemon
     • cracked black pepper to taste
  2. Pulse the ingredients in the wet mixer until you get your desired texture and consistency.
  3. Pulse it a bit more because your toddler got upset he didn’t have a turn :).

  

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  July 16, 2016