Lemon Ideas

[shel]

I love lemon flavor and am always looking for some recipe or taste that has at least a hint of lemon in it. Some years ago I got a recipe from Paula Wolfert that incorporated both lemon and garlic - WOW! I loved that recipe. Over the years I looked for other recipes that included those ingredients because, like Wolfert, I too loved the combination.

I also like to keep my recipes and cooking simple. So, here's another of my favorite, simple recipes, such as it is.

Make some spaghetti. Take some garlic and chop it very fine. Chop some Italian parsley fine. Juice some lemons. Toss the pasta with the garlic and parsley, add lemon juice, and toss again. No measurements are needed - it's all to taste. If your garlic is really sharp tasting, you might consider boiling or sautéing the garlic in a little water to reduce the sharpness before chopping it. You can toss a few cloves into the pasta pot for a minute or two, just before the pasta is done.

Another little treat is to get some nice, fresh, small mozzarella balls, wrap them in lemon leaves, and put 'em on the grill for a bit.

Shel

[Mezzaluna]

Shel, your recipe sounds absolutely delicous. Shrimp would be delicious in this!

The parsley-garlic-lemon is very close to gremolata, which includes chopped flat-leaf parsley, minced/smashed garlic and lemon zest all chopped together. It's a compound ingredient (is that the correct word??) like adobo or garam masala.

You're fortunate to live where items like fresh lemon leaves are in your yard or easily obtainable. What a blessing! My mom lives in Florida, where there's a grapefruit tree next to her building; she can take the fruit if she wishes. Her former home had mango, papaya, orange and grapefruit trees in the yard as well as an avocado tree in the neighbor's yard. She was welcome to take those as well.

Nothing edible in my Wisconsin yard, at least that I know of.

[bluezebra]

omg Shel! This is the pasta I opt for when I'm looking for comfort and have no time to cook! I will sit down to a huge bowl of this and it's soooo great. The only thing I add different than yours is a bit of lemon zest. So refreshing!!!

[shel]

Originally Posted by bluezebra

omg Shel! This is the pasta I opt for when I'm looking for comfort and have no time to cook! I will sit down to a huge bowl of this and it's soooo great. The only thing I add different than yours is a bit of lemon zest. So refreshing!!!

I never made this with lemon zest as I didn't have a good zesting tool and for some reason was hesitant to grate or zest citrus. Now there are two Microplane graters en casa, and you can be sure that zest will be used in all subsequent preparations.

BTW, Meyer lemons work very nicely with this as well.

Shel