Friday, January 21, 2011

Lemons, lemons, lemons....

Do you have extra lemons and no use for them at the time? 

My mom has a lemon tree, and when it blooms, it blooms!  She has so many extra lemons and I am more than happy to take them off her hands.  As a chef, I love lemon in everything! To me it is as natural to squeeze lemons into a dish than it is to add salt.  It gives food that extra edge.  That flavor that you just can't quite put your finger on.
Well, if you find yourself in a bind and have too many lemons on hand, don't stress.  When there are extra lemons in my kitchen and I know they will go bad before I can use them, I juice them.
Invest in an electric juicer, they can be found for under $20 and are well worth the investment.  Cut the lemons in half and juice them till just the skin is left.  Save the shells for later use.

Once all of the lemons are juiced, there are two options in how to save the liquid.  the first option is to store the lemon juice in Tupperware and freeze for future use.  (This would include thawing out the whole Tupperware to use a small portion.) 
Or the second option (and my preferred way) is to pour the lemon juice into ice cube trays and freeze overnight.  Once they are fully frozen, pop them out and store them into plastic baggies.  When ever you need a small portion, pull out however many cubes you will need.  It is fast and convenient!


Now, for the lemon "shells" that you put aside for later.  Cut off the bottoms, or the tips, to create a flat surface at the base.  Once they all have a flat bottom, place them on a cookie sheet and freeze them.  After completely hard, store in a large zip lock bag.  These can come in handy for on the fly ideas.  They make great cups for dessert, appetizers, intermezzo's or anything you create...


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