Wintering With Preserved Lemons

As you may just be visiting for the recipe and I have not mastered the “Jump to Recipe” button, I won’t go into a long screed about wintering. If you are interested in what that means and how it’s going, hop on over to my Medium page. I hope you’ll follow me there, too. It’s a more contemplative space that I have separated from my recipe writing.

And what better way to bid winter adieu than to make preserved lemons? Salty, tart citrus softens with time and is an excellent addition to salad dressings, soup, meat, and casseroles. Stick it on your charcuterie board in thin slivers and pile it on a cracker with meat and cheese. Use them any way you would any other pickled vegetable, and be prepared to be amazed.

I had leftover lemons and five minutes this morning, so I went ahead and threw this together. They sit, gathering their thoughts for 30 days, so start now and you’ll be able to welcome spring with them.

Preserved Lemons

Ingredients

4 lemons, organic or well-scrubbed

¼ cup kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon peppercorns

1 cup of lemon juice (enough to cover lemons)

Method

Scrub your lemons well and cut off both ends. Cut an “X” into one end, almost to the other but leaving the four quarters connected. Place the lemons in a large bowl. 

Mix together salt and sugar and pour over the lemons. Pack each lemon with the mixture, then cover the bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours.

The next day, wash and sterilize a glass jar (boil in water for five minutes). Pack the lemons, salt, and any juice they released into the jar. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns, and add lemon juice to cover. Seal the jar and return it to the fridge.

Let the lemons sit for at least three weeks before tasting. They will have softened considerably; the skin will be tender and entirely edible. Consume within six months.

Homemade Almond Butter

Spoon with homemade almond butter
Creamy and delicious homemade almond butter for the win.

We’ve been lied to, friends. It’s hard to imagine, but for years we’ve been buying ultra expensive almond butter as a nice alternative to your standard peanut, paying at least double the cost. And I feel a little dumb, it’s true, for not figuring this out sooner, but it is possible to DIY almond butter. Making homemade almond butter is neither hard nor complicated, but for some reason it never crossed my mind. Which is weird, since I have made cashew butter AND I buy those huge sacks of almonds from Costco for baking.

As it is mid-January, and many people are tightening their wallets, here for you is homemade almond butter. It could not actually be any easier if it tried. It’s essentially one ingredient – two if you count salt – costs about $2, and takes 15 minutes (if you roast the almonds and/or have a tired food processor like me).

Here you go. You might never buy almond butter again.

Homemade Almond Butter

Ingredients
3 cups of almonds
Pinch of salt

Method
If you want to roast your almonds before making almond butter, preheat your oven to 400° and spread a single layer of almonds on a baking sheet. Roast for five minutes, then give the pan a shake and roast for five minutes more. Allow to cool slightly (although I did not, and it was all fine).

If the almonds you have are already roasted, pop all 3 cups in your food processor. Use the pulse function to get things started. This chops the almonds into little tiny bits, and then progressively into almond meal, and then finally into a gritty paste.

Do not despair. Turn your food processor on high and let her go. You can add a pinch or two of salt at this stage. After a while, the almonds will begin to break down completely, and turn into almond butter. It’s like magic.

This recipe makes a little under three cups. Store it in your old almond butter jar in the fridge for about three weeks.

Notes
You can also get funky and artisanal like our Canadian neighbors to the north and add all kinds of delicious things to your homemade almond butter. Maybe some cinnamon. Add some cocoa powder and a little sugar. Toss in a handful of chia seeds and coconut.

If you are making additions that need to be incorporated, but not necessarily puréed, add them after the DIY almond butter comes together and pulse to incorporate.

Chocolate Salami

Not what you’d expect, and everything you didn’t know you wanted.

Ho-ho-ho, bitches. The holidays are in full swing, and you couldn’t get off this train if you wanted to. Might as well lean in, call up a friend, and go hang out. Bring this as a snack, and all will be right with the world. It’s perfect for that liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s, when time is elastic and nobody knows what day it is.

I used this recipe, with some modifications.

  • Gluten-free animal crackers took the place of shortbread, and crispy rice was also gluten-free
  • I used unsweetened dried cherries from Chukar Cherries in Washington. I could take a bath in these things.
  • I have a kitchen scale so I utilized the weight measurements, but if you don’t they translate into about a cup each of the fruits and nuts
  • Mise en place makes the recipe come together very quickly
  • In hindsight, I would make two salamis. One was awfully big and difficult to handle.

(Insert off-color sexual innuendo here)

Serves 1-? depending on how long the conversation goes, how freely the drinks flow, and how many like white chocolate. Next variation will utilize dark chocolate and a different variety of fruit and nuts and be equally delicious.

Holiday Snacks: Toasted Cashew Hummus

From the very source.

Full disclosure: I am not a huge fan of regular hummus; it is somehow rather pushy, and I get sick of it after a few bites. But when my friend served up this incredible dip (and let me take a picture of her recipe), I was a wee bit converted. This stuff is AMAZING. Like, so creamy and delicious, with the cashews elevated by their brief sojourn in the oven. The spice is subtle and balanced, and people of all dietary stripes can dive in without reservations.

This hummus, though. THIS. it’s more of a sly wink than a gaping leer. And it was seductive as hell.

Toasted Cashew Hummus

Note: Make this hummus at least a day in advance, refrigerate, then allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Ingredients

1 cup jumbo cashews, roasted in sea salt

2 garlic cloves

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup tahini

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spread cashews in a shallow baking pan and toast for approximately seven minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool.

Pulse garlic in food processor until minced. Add all other ingredients, including cashews, and mix until smooth. Chill overnight, then bring to room temperature and serve with chopped cilantro.

I like it with anything gluten-free, but it’s hummus, for god’s sake, and should not be taken too seriously.

Off Topic: Build A Better Bond: 100+ Ways To Connect With Your Horse

Yes, this is a blog with recipes, but it was also the place where I wrote stories about life until everybody decided that they just wanted a recipe and not a diatribe about Nona’s kitchen and the terroir of my childhood. So I stopped with the storytelling mostly, and poured my writing elsewhere, namely on Medium and then for the past two years in two books: Healing Where You Are: An Introduction To Urban Foraging (Akinoga Press) and my newest, Build A Better Bond: 100+ Ways To Connect With our Horse.

If you’re here for food, scroll on by, but if horses, foraging, or non-food-related writing are in your wheelhouse, click any of the links above to learn more.