Lemons and Birds

Over the holidays I made Preserved Meyer Lemons for a lot of people. If you happen to have been presented with one of these jars, you're probably wondering what to do with them. Some of you got a few recipes and instructions for usage from me but most of you didn't. So I thought I'd follow through and pass along a bit more info.

If you did not receive a jar of lemons, but you are interested in making some of your own (it's so easy!) check this out: http://www.foodgal.com/2009/01/meyer-lemons-the-salty/

In Arabic, preserved lemons are حامض مرقد (hamad m'rakad). It literally translates to "sleeping lemons." Preserved lemons can be all sorts of fancy, but mine are just Meyer lemons, a bit of extra juice, and sea salt (A LOT of sea salt.) To use them, fish out a quarter, half, or whole lemon, scrape away the pulp and the white part of the rind, and use only what's left of the yellow part of the rind. Most recipes call for it to be thinly sliced in long strips. You can also use the pulp if you'd like to kick things up a notch or two, but generally it's just the rind.

Preserved lemon goes well with chicken or lamb dishes, in salads, vinagrettes... it's a strong salty/sour mix, kind of like capers. So anything that you think that would go well with.
Here are some great recipes to try out:

I made this for Christmas Eve dinner and it was a hit! Made it again with dad's family for our winter gathering and it went over well!
http://rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.com/2008/05/lemony-beef-and-new-potato-tajine.html

Lamb with preserved lemon and lots of spices:
http://www.janespice.com/recipes/slow-braised-lamb-with-preserved-lemon-cumin-coriander-and-turmeric

Super excited to try this one- Moroccan style gazpacho!
http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2008/07/08/moroccan-gazpacho/

So that's the lemons. And what about the birds? It's just one, specifically. I just purchased Andrew Bird's new album, Noble Beast. I could probably have moved to Morocco without it in my life, but I probably would have felt like a lot was missing. Now I have it and my life is that much richer for it.