Lemons

I don't take a lot of pictures. And I have found, of the pictures that I do take, a vast majority of them are food. This is something my mother-in-law finds quite amusing. But hey, I enjoy food!

As some may know, it has been citrus season here in Cali for the past few months. It is really interesting to be able to go in the back yard and pick an orange or drive by trees just dripping with lemons. Not something you see everyday in Michigan. Well, one of my patients had a "lemon" tree in his yard so full that the branches were breaking so he brought a huge bag in for the office. I say "lemons" because they did not resemble any lemons I have seen before. They were so cleverly disguised that my boss started to eat one thinking it was a mandarin orange only to spit it out in disgust! No one at work really wanted them so I took the bag home. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with them but I was up for the challenge!

First I made a lemon poppy seed cake. Not so good. I don't think the lemon flavor was strong enough.

Next I made lots of lemonade. This was very good! I basically just made some simple syrup and mixed it with juice and water till it was right. It also had a great color because of the orange lemons. But no picture :(

Then I made lemon curd. This was interesting and very good. It took a long time. The recipe is from Peace Meals that I got from Michelle for my birthday.

Lemon Curd

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar
4 lemons, zested and juiced
1 stick butter

Heat up the base of your double boiler over med/high. In a metal bowl (mine was glass- not sure if this is a big deal) combine the egg yolks and sugar, wisk till smooth. Measure juice (should have 1/3 c) and add to egg mixture along with zest. Wisk till smooth. Reduce heat to med/low and place bowl on double boiler. Stir till thickened, approx 16 mins (or in my case, 30!). Once the mixture is lighter in color and coats the back of a spoon, remove from heat and stir in the butter one small piece at a time. Wait to add the next till the first has dissolved. Put in the fridge for 2 wks or freeze.

Then I made lemon cupcakes with lemon butter cream frosting! They were good. I think Adam ate 8. I took the rest to work. To make the cupcakes I just added zest to vanilla cake mix. The frosting recipe also came out of Peace Meals.

Lemon Butter Cream
1 cup butter at room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
2 t milk
1/4 cup curd

Cream the butter on med till light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, then add milk and blend till smooth. Add curd and mix till well blended.

With the lemons I also made lemon risotto with shrimp and asparagus. I don't remember where that recipe came from. Adam loved this!

And I made chicken. This was super good and easy. I got the inspiration from thekitchn.com and the recipe is from Jamie Oliver (I made slight changes).

Chicken in Milk

1 whole chicken (I used 5lb)

1 pt milk (I used 2%)

10 cloves garlic with skin on

1 cinnamon stick (I used ground)

handful fresh sage

zest of two lemons

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

Heat oven to 375. Put the oil and butter in the pot you will be baking the chicken and heat up over med/high. Brown all sides of chicken. Take off heat and add the rest of ingredients. Cook with or without lid for 1.5 -2 hours basting occasionally. Yum!

Jamie's webpage with recipe

To go with this I made the Pioneer Woman's roasted garlic mash potatoes. Yum!