Yes! They are so expensive to purchase in stores but so easy and cheap to make at home. They last basically forever in the fridge, too. I know that they are shelf stable but in my experience they continue to “cure” if you leave them at room temperature, whereas putting them in the fridge once they are cured to your liking seems to halt the process.
I didn’t make my own jar, I found the jar I got a bit too salty to my taste , maybe it is because they cut the lemon in quarters. Do you know typically, how long the cure takes?
That is how we are all told to do it. When it is Meyer Lemon season, consider making a couple of quarts yourself. They are far superior to the store bought. For one thing, you can control the taste of the salt. I use kosher, but some people swear by Mediterranean sea salt. Gives a different flavor.
That’s interesting. The ones I used to buy, they were always un cut. They are some oriental brand. The good part is the inside of the fruit is more firm, and can be used too.
As I recall, I left my jar at room temperature for about 3 months, then put half of them in the fridge and left the rest to cure for another few months. The ones cured for the longer time were completely translucent by the time I used them, almost like gummy candies, whereas the others still had just a bit of firmness/opaqueness at the center of the rinds. I quartered my lemons - I think this is done to ensure the salt penetrates the center of the fruit quickly.
1 Like
Preserved lemons and limes have a long life in the fridge. Worth keeping a jar of each in the fridge
1 Like
Some more Moroccan meal last week:
Mussel tagine with tomatoes - pretty straight forward and quite nice, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, parsley, garlic, ras el hanout, pepper, salt and olive oil.
Makfoul tagine - my version is with shin of beef, sliced red onion, chopped tomatoes, saffron, raisins, cinnamon, pepper, salt, sugar and grape seed oil. Need to be generous with saffron.
Grilled chicken stuffed with couscous - This was my favourite. Especially good with the couscous and the orange salad, both were quite sweet, but it was a nice contrast with the chicken.
Chicken - sprinkled the uncooked chicken with salt, pepper and paprika, brushed butter all over the bird, stuffed the couscous, and to oven. Traditionally, this dish should be cooked either by steaming in a tagine, and finish the cooking by roasting the bird in the oven. With my recipe, I put the bird in the oven with half a glass of chicken broth. This way, the chicken remained moist, as I turned the chicken a few times during the 1.5 hours of cooking.
Couscous - cooked couscous, raisins, honey, cinnamon in powder, almond and butter. There was some remaining after stuffing the chicken, pretty good with the cooking sauce
Orange and date salade with orange blossom water, mint and almond - goes very well with the grill chicken.
I will definitely make this chicken and salad together again! Actually, this can be an interesting idea for Christmas.
3 Likes
It was last week, with the leftover of Makfoul tagine, I made this famous 7 vegetables couscous - I was actually surprised with this dish, I thought it was a vegetarian dish, but no, every recipe I came across had either beef or lamb.
5 Likes
Looks delicious!
1 Like
Probably the last Moroccan dish I made before the COTQ ends. After a few days of heavy Christmas meal, I wanted something different. We just returned from our Christmas trip, so fridge was pretty empty. But I have some artisan merguez in the freezer, a butternut lying around, 2 carrots, 2 onions and some remaining of frozen chicken and broth. I made a butternut couscous (well, the original version has called for a pumpkin instead). The recipe asked for radishes and dried raisin which I didn’t have. As for spice, I have used galangal powder, coriander essential oil, parsley, ras el hanout, white pepper grains and Safran.
Not bad for a quick meal.
5 Likes
I finally created the Harissa, Merguez sausage and that became dinner tonight. Here is a link to the post:
1 Like
Lovely Shakshuka! I agree that runny egg is the best! You mean 1 film wrap is 1 potion? That’s cooking for a village!
I’m making a lamb, date and apricot tagine.
About half the recipes call for tomatoes. Another half of the recipes call for orange juice. Some call for both, others call for neither.
What are your thoughts? TIA
Not wild about Dorie’s ground cinnamon vs the stick cinnamon in the other recipes. Hers also doesn’t call for any ground ginger, so I’d personally drop hers as an option.
I think the OJ is in there to add a bit of citrus brightness,
A recipe I have bookmarked in my phone’s Notes is one from Melissa Clark from the NYT. Not sure if this will work for you, as I can’t gift the link.
1 Like
Thank you!
I ended up using 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tbsp fresh ginger, 1 tsp ground coriander, 3 pinches of saffron threads, a shake of turmeric, 2 shakes of paprika, a generous pinch of Aleppo, 2 shakes of ground cumin, 10 dried apricots, 8 dates, half a cup of Clementine juice, 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, and 1/4 cup slivered almonds and water to cover, to around 2 lbs of lamb. I didn’t add any tomato. We liked it.
1 Like
1 Like
Making another lamb and apricot tagine today.
I’ve included 2 lbs lamb cut in cubes, fresh Mandarin segments, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground coriander, saffron, Aleppo pepper, black pepper, honey, dried apricots so far. Will add some roasted garlic. I haven’t added tomatoes to this one.
Another recipe with apricots and tomatoes. https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/rick-steins-lamb-tagine-with-apricots/
My purchased ras-el- hanout is old. Here is a recipe.
1 Like
I’ve made this a few times. I always curse when the yogurt marinade sticks to the grill, but as soon as I take a bite, I remember why I do it. Delicious!
3 Likes
