Preserved lemons are a great addition to tagines, stews, soups, salads, dressings or dips.
Recipe makes one small jar of preserved lemons.
Prep 10 minutesmins
Cook 3 hourshrs
Servings 1jar
Ingredients
2largeor 4 small organic lemons
30g2 tablespoons sea salt
filtered water
sterilized canning jar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F), with a rack placed in the center. Prepare a small glass or ceramic baking dish.
Under running water, scrub the lemons with a vegetable brush. Dry each lemon with a towel and cut it into six pieces, lengthwise. Place slices in the baking dish and sprinkle with salt. Cover with water completely and cook in the oven for 3 hours.
Once cooked the lemons will be visibly softer. Transfer them to the prepared jar, cover with water they were cooking in and tightly seal the jar. Let them cool completely on the counter, then store in the fridge for up to 6 months. Whenever you take some lemon slices out, make sure the rest are still covered with water.
Notes
When using the lemons, rinse each slice to remove excess salt and also remove the seeds.Use quality ingredients: Because you will be eating these lemons whole, including the skin, it is important you buy unsprayed or organic lemons.
The best salt you can use in my opinion is quality sea salt or kosher salt. Personally, I always cook with Slovenian sea salt (produced by Piranske soline ) which has been praised by many chefs around the world. You should buy whichever salt is accessible to you.You can double this recipe without a problem. Use one tablespoon of salt per one lemon, if it's extra large you can use 1 1/2 tablespoons. Just make sure the lemons are all covered with water as you cook them and use a big enough dish that they're not lying on top of each other.The volume of the jar I used is 0.5 liter or 19.6 fl. oz.