What should I do with this box of Meyer lemons?
April 25th, 2007
Speaking of San Francisco, our good friends Katherine and Duncan live in Mill Valley. They’ve got a beautiful Meyer lemon tree in front of their house. This morning, I went to pick up the mail and there with all the bills and fliers was a box from them. I assumed it was something related to babies or poetry and left it for Elizabeth to open.
In fact, it was the single coolest piece of mail we’ve ever received. Thank you, K&D.
Now that we’ve got a box of Meyer lemons, we need to use them. Please leave suggestions in the comments.
April 25th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
For lunch I dressed my cous cous salad with Meyer Lemon Vinagrette: olive oil, meyer lemon juice, minced shallot, dijon, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
The flavor of Meyers is more orangish than standard lemons, right?
April 25th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
oh, make lemon icebox pie!
April 25th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Salty meyer lemon cake. Carol Greenwood makes it at Buck’s Fishing and Camping; I had it with Amanda. She uses the Martha Stewart version then adds salt to the buttercream. It’s heavenly.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Meyer Lemon Risotto paired with something meaty and rich
April 26th, 2007 at 1:36 am
Set aside a few Meyer lemons to make Moroccan salt-preserved lemons for chicken tagine with lemons and olives… mmmm, you are so lucky.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:13 am
What to do with a box of Meyer lemons? Well, you could give them to me.
All of the suggestions above are fantastic.
I love lemon pasta with scallops. (white wine-lemon sauce).
Oh– don’t forget fresh lemonade. Ahhh– heaven.
If pressed for time zest the rind, then juice the lemons. Both the zest and juice can be frozen and will be ready anytime you need them.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Lemon rice salad with spring asparagus would be too.
Oh– please give me the lemons……. *smile*
April 26th, 2007 at 7:21 am
The last time I made a roast chicken, I put some pieces of meyer lemon in the bottom of the pan along with fennel, onion, carrot and salt. I move them around a bit whenever I basted the chicken. The vegetables and the lemon turned all caramelized and salty good by the time the chicken was done. Yum. The broth that I made with the chicken bones was one of the best ever. Double yum.
April 26th, 2007 at 8:36 am
How about a granita? Just make fresh lemonade, pour it into a casserole dish and freeze, scraping it occasionally with a fork until it’s . . . a granita.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Make sure to do something with the zest because it is the most distinctive part of the meyer lemon. I just used some to make a delicious tart with candied zest around the edge of the tart. Kate Zuckerman’s recipe from “The Sweet Life” is excellent.
April 26th, 2007 at 11:40 am
I really love Meyer Lemons in a lemon-ricotta cake that’s dusted with powdered sugar.
I also love them on fish - saute the fish to get a nice outer crust, then put a layer of thin lemon slices on top and throw it in the oven. Lucky you with the box of lemons!
April 26th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Definitely-Limoncello!!-it will keep in the fridge until Eliz can have it too!
April 26th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I second the Limoncello vote - the Washington Post had a great recipe a while back.
April 26th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Or maybe you could figure out how to make fried Meyer lemon slices like at the bar at Palena restaurant (in DC). They’re awesome.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
This is so great. It’s like an iron chef collaboration. Thanks so much for the suggestions. Keep them coming!
April 26th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Make sidecars or anything requiring sour mix.
My favorite sidecar recipe: Lemon, lime, superfine sugar, brandy and triple-sec, shaken and strained into a glass that you’ve sugared the rim by running a lemon over it and dipped in sugar.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I know this doesn’t sound as exciting, but put a few slices in hot water and a couple spoonfuls of honey — the most soothing drink. Meyer lemons have a very unique, gentle tartness that’s NOTHING like other lemons. The last time a friend offered me a bag of them I later kicked myself for not having taken more!
April 27th, 2007 at 12:15 am
mmmmmlemoncurdmmmmmmmmm
April 27th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Glad you like them! We’ve made one batch of limoncello thats turned out nicely (for a first attempt). It require lots of and lots of lemon zest, and Meyer lemons have thin skins. We’re halfway through the process on a really big batch right now. My mom and I zested more than 200 lemons and addded 3+ gallons of booze. Should be perfect by then end of the summer.
April 27th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
This risotto is delicious: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001560.html
You can also freeze them and blend them with sugar and vodka for a tasty drink.
April 27th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I would make a delicious Meyer lemon curd straight out of Dorie Greenspans’s Baking: From My Home to Yours (only she uses regular old lemons).
The method requires a blender and a lot of butter, and it’s the best damn thing I’ve ever eaten! Especially on a thick slice of pound cake.
April 28th, 2007 at 1:56 am
when i was fortunate enough to get a box of meyer lemons as well, i made meyer lemon marmalade. And limoncello, but those results were actually disappointing as it really was missing the sharp acid of regular lemons in the liqueur.
April 29th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
I know the Elizabeth part of you is pregnant. My favorite pregnancy drink was: 2-3 cups of sparkly water, 1 T grated ginger, 1-2 T honey, juice of one Meyer lemon. Shake it all up and drink. MMMM! Meyer lemon of course makes fantastic lemon bars and lemon curd.
April 29th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
pickle them, Indian relish style, and tell me how to do it properly.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:41 am
This is going to be a tough call. Based on my casual negotiations with Elizabeth so far, I’d put my money on most of them going towards a lemon curd. But these all sound really good. Thanks for the suggestions. We’ll let you know what we decide to do.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:40 am
Lemon curd! We made a batch last night and ate it by the spoonfools standing in in the kitchen. (I wish we had some pound cake or ginger snaps for dipping.) I found a recipe at Joy of Baking (http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonCurd.html), which uses a double boiler to keep the eggs from curdling. I didn’t realize that the ingredients are so simple — just eggs, lemon juice and zest, sugar and butter!
Joyce, your “cocktail” sounds soothing and celebratory. I like mixing fizzy water with peach or mango nectar. I’ll give your recipe a try.
We’ve still got plenty of meyer lemons to go. So, I think we’ll be trying a savory dish next. Thanks again for your thoughts.
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
Modified Mojito’s…..
http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink582.html
Add Lemons! It’s wonderful! A good Summer time drink..
May 16th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
freeze the juice in ice cube trays and then put them into a zip lock until you figure out what you want to do with them. Love meyers! Liquid gold!
May 16th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
CUT LEMONS IN QUARTERS, MIX IN 1 TSP SUGAR FOR EVERY 1/2 LEMON, MUDDLE. ADD 1 SHOT OF VODKA OR GIN AND 2 SHOTS WATER FOR EVERY 1 LEMON. ADD ICE AND SHAKE, ENJOY. AFTER THAT, MAKING A LEMON V&O AND MARINATING CHICKEN IN IT IS WONDERFUL
May 18th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
[…] A few weeks ago, Chip posted about his terrible dilemma of having too many Meyer lemons. He got tons of great comments about what he should do with them (with only one crude reference to his anatomy). You suggested savories and sweets and drinks. (To my knowledge, he used them almost exclusively for lemon curd — is this right, Chip?) […]
June 29th, 2007 at 8:57 am
[…] Elizabeth’s going out of town this morning and she’s leaving me with a hefty sack of kiwis. I like kiwis but I don’t really know what to do with them other than cut them up for a fruit salad. So what do I do with them? (I could look up some recipes, but my earlier request for Meyer lemon recipes resulted in so many great ideas that I thought I’d tap you again for kiwi suggestions.) Please send recipes, links, ideas. […]
December 14th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
As a kiw in New Zealand - we all go to the beach round about now.
I have found this so interesting - I have a bag of Lemons and about to make Lemoncello - with the juice all the other wonderful things listed above…. thanks to you all.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I’m jealous, Maureen. We have 9-10 inches of snow on the ground with a foot more due on Sunday. Let us know how the limoncello turns out.