All herbed salts are easy to make -- and much cheaper than you can purchase (even more inexpensive if you grow the leafy herbs yourself!). Lemon salt is versatile to use on chicken, fish or vegetables. If Meyer lemons are in season, they are the best to use.
Ingredients:
3 large lemons (Meyer lemons if you can get them)
1 cup of sea salt
*You will also need a food processor and an air-tight container to store the salt.*
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 200. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove all the lemon peel with a grater or zester. (Fair warning -- you're working with lemon and salt here; any grating you do to your fingers or knuckles will be doubly painful. Speaking from experience.)
- Spread the lemon peel (zest) evenly on the baking sheet.
Cook & Serve:
Cook the zest in the oven for 25 minutes. Let it cool. Put your salt and zest in the food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds until blended. Store in an airtight container.
A Little Backstory:
Meyer lemons are a hybrid citrus fruit, native to China. They are a cross between a citron and a mandarin/pomelo hybrid (I know, I know, a hybrid of a hybrid is confusing). But what results is a taste of spring -- a sweeter, less acidic fruit than a regular lemon.
Since you're just using the peel for this recipe, you'll have a few naked lemons lying around. You can slice them up as garnish, use the juice to brighten asparagus, or stuff a roasted chicken with them. When I tested this lemon salt recipe, I made two important sides with the lemon: a roasted fennel, green bean and lemon dish ... and also a kick-ass lemon martini. Don't let those lovely fruits go to waste.
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