[Sca-cooks] Preserved Lemon Recipes - Modern - One

[James Prescott]

Casteau's "Ouverture de Cuisine" (published 1604 in what is now
Belgium, and based on his professional career in the second half
of the 16th century) appears to use preserved lemons in a number
of recipes.

Here is one, in which I believe that the "salted [sour] lemon"
refers to preserved lemons.  This translation and interpretation
of "limon salé" is not absolutely certain, though I believe it
to be very probably correct.



1. [A boiled capon.]

Boiled capon[:] when it is almost cooked, add rosemary, marjoram,
mace, a salted [sour] lemon cut into slices, a rummer of white
wine, or verjuice, and some butter, some beef marrowbones, and
let them stew well together, some toasts of white bread underneath.



Thorvald




At 12:52 -0700 2006-04-24, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
>  Duke Cariadoc already sent the only SCA-period 
> recipe that uses preserved lemon that has been 
> translated into English that i know of.
>
>  But in his long essay on Medieval Arab cuisine 
> and cookbooks, "Studies in Arabic Manuscripts 
> Related to Cookery" (republished in "Medieval 
> Arab Cookery"), Maxime Rodinson notes there is 
> a recipe for making preserved lemon and 3 
> recipes using it in al-Kitab al-wusla ila 
> al-habib fi wasf al-tayyibat wa al-tib, which 
> he translates as "The Book of the Bonds of 
> Friendship or a Description of Good Dishes and 
> Perfumes" (but is also sometimes called "The 
> Book of the Link to the Beloved").
>
>  While this book contains a number of recipes 
> repeated in al-Baghdadi's "al-Kitab al-Tabikh", 
> it also has even more that are not. And 
> unfortunately the preserved lemon recipes have 
> not been translated into English to the best of 
> my knowledge. In a foot note, Rodinson says 
> that in the recipe for making preserved lemons, 
> "The lemon is split lengthwise and then filled 
> with coarse salt. It is left thus for two 
> nights and then kept in lemon juice covered 
> with oil." (footnote 1, p. 144, "Medieval Arab 
> Cookery")
>
>  I'll be typing in modern preserved lemon 
> recipes a few at a time. I haven't tried these 
> recipes, but they're from books i trust, from 
> which i've cooked other recipes.
>
>  Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
>  the persona formerly known as Anahita
>
>  ---------------------
>
>  The Scent of Orange Blossoms: Sephardic Cuisine from Morocco
>  Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane
>  Ten Speed Press: Berkeley CA, 2001
>
>  -----
>
>  Preserved Lemon Relish
>  Makes about 1 cup
>
>  Serve with roasted meats or kebabs.
>  Prepare a day or two ahead of time.
>
>  3 preserved lemons, rinsed under running water
>  4 cloves garlic, finely minced
>  1 Tb. sweet Hungarian paprika
>  5 Tb. white distilled vinegar
>  1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
>  10 sprigs parsley, finely chopped
>
>  Finely dice lemon rind. Return pulp to containers of lemons for future use.
>  In a bowl, combine rind with garlic, paprika, vinegar, and oil.
>  Place mixture in a tightly sealed container and 
> refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
>  Return to room temperature and sprinkle with parsley before serving.
>  Relish will keep for up to one month in  a 
> tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
>
>  Urtatim's Notes:
>  Please use a good quality paprika, and not the 
> average stuff the supermarket sells.
>  Please use a good quality olive oil, and not that pale yellow stuff.
>  While the authors specify distilled white 
> vinegar, i suspect if you use white wine 
> vinegar it will be good.
>
>  -----
>
>  Bean Soup with Preserved Lemons
>  Serves 6
>
>  1Tb. sweet Hungarian paprika
>  2 Tb. virgin olive oil
>  2 c. dried baby lima beans, soaked and drained
>  2 bay leaves
>  5 c. chicken stock
>  12 cloves garlic, peeled
>  1 Tb. ground cumin
>  2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped
>  2 Tb. tomato paste
>  2 lamb or chicken sausages (about 4 oz)
>  1/2 to 3/4 preserved lemon rind
>  1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
>  2 tsp. salt
>
>  In a small bowl blend paprika with 2 Tb olive 
> oil and mix until it forms a paste.
>  In a large pot over medium-high heat, cook the 
> paprika paste, stirring, until it darkens 
> slightly, about 2 or 3 minutes.
>  Add the beans, bay leaves, and stock, and stir to blend.
>  Cover and bring to a boil for 2 to 3 minutes, then decrease heat to low.
>  Cook until the beans are tender, 1 to 1-1/4 hours.
>  Discard bay leaves.
>  Add garlic, cumin, tomatoes, and tomato paste, and stir to blend.
>  Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.
>
>  Slice sausages.
>  In a small skillet, heat remaining 1 Tb olive oil over medium-high heat.
>  Add the sausages and cook, turning, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes.
>
>  Dice lemon rind and add it according to taste 
> to beans, along with pepper, salt, and sausage.
>  Heat through and serve with a good crusty bread.
>
>  Note: the general instructions for soaking 
> beans include rubbing the soaked beans to 
> remove their skins before cooking.
>
>  Urtatim notes: i bet this would work with little dried fava beans.
>
>  -----
>
>  Tomato Salad with Preserved Lemons
>  Serves 4
>
>  4 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cubed
>  2 to 4 tsp. diced preserved lemon rind
>  1/8 tsp. salt
>  1 Tb. red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
>  4 to 5 green olives, sliced, or 8 whole dry-cured black olives
>  [get good olives ("fresh" or bottled), not canned olives]
>  1 small jalapeno pepper, peeled, seeded, and diced
>
>  Place tomatoes in a colendar and drain 30 minutes.
>  In a small bowl combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.
>  Serve at room temperature.
>
>  -----
>
>  Chard Salad with Preserved Lemon
>  Serves 8
>
>  3 Tb. virgin olive oil
>  5 cloves garlic, minced
>  one 12-ounce bunch red chard, stemmed and chopped
>  one 12-ounce bunch white chard, stemmed and chopped
>  rind of 1/4 preserved lemon, finely diced
>  1 Tb. freshly squeezed lemon juice
>  1/2 tsp. salt
>  1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
>  fresh lemon slices for garnish
>
>  Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat
>  Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
>  Add chard a handful at a time.
>  Using 2 wooden spoons, toss until cooked about 3 to 4 minutes.
>  Continue in this manner until all the chard is used.
>  Add preserved lemon rind, fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
>  Toss to blend.
>  Transfer to a serving bowl.
>  Garnish with fresh lemon slices and serve at room temperature.
>  --
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