Lemony love
Winter salad made with Meyer lemons
Jeff Kan Lee / PDPublished: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 24, 2011 at 4:27 p.m.
Plump, succulent Meyer lemons ripen from October through April, but they are at their apex right now, during the dead of winter.
They're much loved here and are relatively easy to grow. Their thin, canary-yellow skins brighten up produce bins with their sunny colors, delicious floral aroma and distinctive flavor.
The zest can be used to perk up salads and sauces, fish and vegetables, cookies and baked goods. And the sweet lemon juice — low in acid, as they are believed to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange — can be squeezed into delicious lemon curds and all kinds of sweet concoctions.
“With the culinary explosion of the past 20 years, people have discovered them for desserts,” said Colleen McGlynn, chef and co-owner of DaVero Olive Oil in Healdsburg.
At DaVero, McGlynn and partner Ridgely Evers squeeze their own Meyer lemons and save the juice for their Meyer Lemon Curd.
“The curd is basically a lemon meringue pie filling made with butter, sugar, juice and eggs,” McGlynn said. “The classic way is to serve it on scones, but I like to mix it with berries and fruit.”
After juicing the lemons, the couple ships the Meyer lemon peel off to the olive mill to be crushed with their olives, resulting in the Dry Creek Estate Meyer Lemon Olive Oil.
“It's not a flavored oil, it's an extraction,” McGlynn said.
McGlynn likes to whisk up the Meyer Lemon Olive Oil in salad dressings or drizzle it over finished dishes.
“It's not for high-heat cooking, because the volatile flavor would evaporate,” she said. “After the high heat, drizzle it on your fish or put it over your seafood risotto.”
Imported from China more than 100 years ago by agricultural explorer Frank Meyer, Meyer lemons served as fragrant, ornamental plants here until they emerged from the backyard in the 1980s. At that point, they became a culinary star at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, where longtime pastry chef Lindsey Shere (also co-founder of the Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg) decided to put them to work as a niche citrus.
Along with other symbols of California cuisine — perfect peaches and plums, artichokes and asparagus — the Meyer lemon has garnered a cult following.
“They were always a backyard lemon in California, but they didn't ship them because of their thin skins,” McGlynn said. “With modern shipping, people began to understand what they are.”
The thin skins of the fruit make them sensitive to cold, so it's wise to keep them covered when the temperatures plunge. Last season, McGlynn said she lost all of her Meyer lemons during a deep December freeze.
“One day they were glossy yellow, the next day they got brown spots, and the next day they collapsed,” she said. “We also lost 20 percent of our trees.”
If you're one of the lucky North Bay residents with a prolific Meyer lemon tree in your yard — or you've simply fallen in love with the luscious lemons — here are 10 ideas for putting them to work in your own kitchen.
1) Make gremolata, a chopped herb condiment or garnish of minced parsley, lemon peel and garlic.
“That's a great use of the lemon zest,” McGlynn said. “You mash them up with garlic and salt and parsley, or you can play with other fresh herbs, like dill or chervil or tarragon.”
2) Make some marinated olives with the peel
“Take some olive oil and warm it a little bit with some lemon and orange peel, and maybe some cracked pepper and herbs like thyme and rosemary, to release the flavor,” she said. “Then you coat your olives with it.”
3) Make lemon zest compound butter, for a garnish
“Zest the lemons and mash it into some butter and freeze it in a log,” she said. “Then slice it off as you need it to finish a sauce, put on your potatoes or a soup.”
You could also use the compound butter for baking, or just freeze the zest alone, to bake into cookies.
4) When you've got lemons, make lemonade
“Freeze the juice in ice cube trays or yogurt containers,” she said. “That will make a jug of lemonade in the summer.”
Or use the frozen juice to make a lemon granita, sorbet or other crushed-ice dessert in the heat of the summer.
5) Make flavored vodka
“You can put some lemon peel into vodka to flavor it,” McGlynn said. “Leave it out for a week or two, until it tastes appropriately strong. Then strain it.”
6) Make the Greek soup known as Avgolemono
“The first time I ate it, I was floored because I had never had lemon so prominent in a soup, and it was really wonderful,” McGlynn said. “This time of year, it's kind of bright and lovely.”
7) Make a Meyer lemon olive oil vinaigrette and put it on a winter salad
“If you want to make a crunchy salad, take some lemon juice and Meyer lemon olive oil, some honey or dried Asian pears, and make a little salad,” she said. “Or make a fennel salad with orange segments and lemon olive oil, some peel and nice Parmesan shavings and Italian parsley.”
8) Add some lemon zest to your pasta
“You can do a little grate of lemon on your cream sauce,” she said. “Or, if you're making pasta with anchovies and garlic, add some lemon zest and lemon juice.”
McGlynn also likes to saute onion and celery, then make a pasta with a can of sardines, lemon juice and lemon zest. “It's the bottom-of-the-refrigerator pasta,” she said. “I have a stalk of celery and half an onion. What am I going to do?”
9) The Meyer lemon hot toddy
Got a cold? Make a hot tea drink with ginger and honey, then add Meyer lemon peel and lemon juice
10) Make preserved lemons
Chef Paula Wolfert of Sonoma preserves Meyer lemons and uses them in traditional Moroccan dishes.
“The lemons will keep for a year and sometimes longer,” she said. “They can be stored in the fridge, but Moroccans don't, so do as you wish.”
Her recipe calls for five Meyer lemons, but the number can be doubled or tripled: “Wash, dry and partially quarter the lemons. In a bowl, toss with ½ cup coarse salt and 5 tablespoons fresh, strained lemon juice. Pack in a glass jar with a non-metallic lid. Cover and let stand in a cool, dark place for one month. Every few days, shake the jar and turn it upside down so the salt doesn't always remain on the bottom. To use: rinse a lemon and cut away the pulp (unless the recipe calls for it). When you remove a lemon, use wooden utensils and not your fingers.
You can find the DaVero Meyer Lemon Olive Oil at DaVero Tasting Room, 766 Westside Road, or online at davero.com. The following recipes are from Colleen McGlynn of DaVero.
Fennel, Radish and Meyer Lemon Salad
Makes 2 to 4 servings
2 oranges
2 Meyer lemons
2 bulbs fennel
5-6 radishes
Handful of parsley leaves
2-3 tablespoons DaVero Meyer Lemon Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan shavings
Zest or micro-plane the lemons and oranges and put zest into a small bowl. Thinly slice the fennel crosswise and place in a separate bowl with the juice of one Meyer lemon plus some of the small fennel fronds.
Segment the oranges and set aside. Add the thinly sliced radishes and parsley leaves to the fennel. Season with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Add the Meyer Lemon Olive Oil and coat mixture.
Place the orange segments in the bowl with the fennel. Using a peeler, shave some slices of Parmesan over the top of the salad. Serve.
“Gremolata is traditionally made with just flat-leaf parsley, but one can also use mint, dill, fennel fronds, tarragon and/or lovage along with the parsley,” McGlynn said. “It's a great last-minute boost to pasta, soup, the traditional osso bucco or cooked meats.”
Gremolata
Makes 1 cup
1 bunch parsley (and other fresh herbs, as desired)
3 cloves garlic
Zest of 3 or 4 lemons
Kosher salt, to taste
Peel and mash the garlic with a good pinch of salt on a cutting board with the side of a knife or in a mortar and pestle until you have a paste.
Clean and chop the herbs.
Zest or micro-plane the citrus.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss until evenly mixed.
This recipe comes is from chef Elissa Rubin-Mahon of Artisan Preserves, who will give a class on Preserving Winter Citrus on Feb. 6 at Relish Culinary Center in Healdsburg. (relishculinary.com). The directions for the microwave method are for a 950- to 1,000-watt microwave.
Meyer Lemon Curd — Two Ways
Makes about 2 cups
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 stick sweet butter, cut into small pieces
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest, microplaned and packed (about 2 medium lemons
½ cup strained fresh Meyer lemon juice
For microwave method:
Combine sugar, lemon juice, butter and lemon zest in a 4-cup glass measuring cup. Beat eggs until thoroughly combined in a 2-cup glass measuring cup.
Cover the measuring cup containing lemon juice mixture tightly with plastic wrap and place in a microwave at full strength for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture is hot and the butter is melted.
Remove lemon juice mixture from the oven and pour a quarter of it into the eggs, whisking constantly until combined. Then, while whisking constantly, slowly pour the eggs into the remaining lemon-butter mixture. Combine thoroughly (a hand-held immersion blender works well).
Cover the mixture again with plastic wrap and microwave at 50 percent for 30 seconds. Remove and whisk. Repeat this process for up to 2 minutes, until the mixture has thickened. Whisk, and pour into sterilized jars with sterile lids. Will keep for up to two weeks under refrigeration.
For double boiler method:
Put water in bottom of double boiler. Check with insert to make sure that the water does not touch the insert. Remove insert and turn the heat on to medium.
Beat eggs thoroughly and put in the double boiler insert. Add sugar, lemon zest, salt and lemon juice and whisk again to completely combine.
Place the insert on top of the double boiler bottom when the water simmers. Lower heat if necessary at this point.
Whisking constantly, add butter pieces, a few at a time, as they melt and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens but does not ever boil.
Remove from heat and put into one or two sterilized jars.
You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com.
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