When Costco hands you lemons...
I forgot I bought a bag of lemons at Costco to use over the holidays because they were in the crisper drawer of our "mostly beverage" refrigerator in the garage. They are still good, but need to be used. I intend to make a lemon-poppy bread, and I can zest and juice some to freeze for later use, but my SO says he LOVES Lemon-Chicken.
Does anyone have a great recipe for Lemon-Chicken or perhaps some other entree using a goodly amount of lemon? I have about a dozen to dispense of in short order.
BTW, last year when I did the same stupid thing, I made preserved lemons and citrus vodka. How complicated is limoncello to make?
I appreciate any puckery suggestions!
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
32 Comments:
how about some avgolemono?
though, I'd probably just make a lemon tart.
or.... you could just juice them and then freeze the juice in convenient portions.
andshewas at 11:46AM on 02/16/09
lemon pie and a take on picatta!
ChelleyD01 at 12:33PM on 02/16/09
I second the picatta idea. I pan fry some chicken breasts which I've flattened, and then deglaze the pan with some white wine, LOTS of fresh lemon juice, and capers. Serve over top of breasts with some farfalle.
juliebugsmama at 12:46PM on 02/16/09
I made a lemond-ginger pound cake yesterday with some Meyer lemons I had. You could also make your own lemon curd.
I've always wanted to try making Limoncello. Here's a recipe I found from Epicurious.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/HOMEMADE-LIMONCELLO-1236891
suthungirl at 1:28PM on 02/16/09
Juliebugsmama--LOVE your shortcut picatta recipe! That's how I make mine and serve with lightly sauteed spinach (the lemon flavors melds wonderfully with it). I'd just never seen a picatta recipe written so downsized--perfect!
gourmetgal at 1:50PM on 02/16/09
lemon pound cake--with lemon zest in the batter and fresh squeezed lemon juice and sugar for the icing....it is sooooo good!
marinate thick chicken cutlets in lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings and grill..or chicken or veal picatta (I've used a similiar recipe as stated above @Juliebugsmama--Really good
lemon vinigrette to use for salads and veggies--goes nicely with broccoli salad...
lemon merengue pie, tarts....
Italiancupcake at 2:13PM on 02/16/09
Limoncello: not difficult at all. Lemon curd: absurdly easy. You could also just freeze the juice and zest separately and use as needed.
annatr at 3:16PM on 02/16/09
Lemon bars are always good too! Picatta is delicious and reeeeeeeeeallly easy. When I make the BF a roast chicken, I thinly slice a lemon and put it under the skin and into the cavity...or sometimes, I'll just roast it at the bottom with the other veggies (carrots and potatoes) and serve it that way.
This may sound silly, but how about juicing them and freezing it...or making a large batch of lemonade, if you like it. Save the zest too!!
I also put lemon in my water to flavor it, since plain water gets boring at times.
sweethunibabi at 5:38PM on 02/16/09
Or preserve them, then you've got a bit more time. Lamb with preserved lemons is divine.
jennywenny at 6:13PM on 02/16/09
Limoncello is ridiculously easy -- just Google it and there are hundreds of recipes; the best part is that you can endlessly tweak whatever you find to fit your budget and time frame.
As far as chicken, I haven't had great luck with savory lemon dishes. HOWEVER, this lemon tart is SO AMAZING that I'm telling you to go make it RIGHT NOW. I'm actually eating a piece as I type, haha.
kfarrel3 at 9:20PM on 02/16/09
whenever i bake chicken pieces, i cut up lemons and squeeze the juice over the chix -- bake the lemon pieces with the chicken, along with tons of garlic cloves, rosemary or the herb of your choice -- i love cilantro, too... lots of salt and pepper.... don't skimp on the s&p.
pooch at 10:56PM on 02/16/09
http://www.dairygoodness.ca/en/consumers/food/recipes/all/0200/224.htm?recipeid=224
here is the lemon chicken my wife made for me one night so I would nave a nice meal when I got home from work. It is very good. Though the ammount of lemon needed would need to be aproximated from the juice to lemons.
thepirateking at 1:25AM on 02/17/09
Listen up! This is a seriously awesome lemon chicken recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-with-Roasted-Lemon-and-Rosemary-Sauce-104857. You roast the lemons and then use their juice to make a sauce with chicken stock, pan scrapings, and rosemary. Divine!
emmab at 2:46AM on 02/17/09
I think I gave you a bad link. Here 'tis again: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-with-Roasted-Lemon-and-Rosemary-Sauce-104857
emmab at 2:48AM on 02/17/09
Thank you so much for all your suggestions! This weekend I will be making limoncello AND lemon chicken. My choice would be lemon tart or bars, but the SO doesn't care that much for sweets (even if they are sour!). He is the original savory guy, for sure. Dog gone it - I love my sweets so much.
I just happened to remember a recipe that was given to me by a guy I once worked with. One day in the kitchen of the doctor's office where I worked I found cornish game hens thawing in the sink. Paul said that he stuffs a lemon (poked with a fork in several places) in each game hen and roasts the hens on a bed of onions and potato wedges. He swore to the perfection of this recipe as worthy of serving guests or for special occasions with the spouse.
We adore piccata! I've been making the same perfect Bon Appetit recipe since about 1989! Our favorite accompaniments are just creamy mashed potatoes and baby peas or haricots vert.
@pooch - now that you mention it, I think I saw Michael Chiarello make something like that and I thought to myself - I've got to remember that trick! (roasting the lemon pieces with the chicken) Mind like a sieve, these days...
frederika at 10:45AM on 02/17/09
@suthungirl/italiancupcake - Could you share your Lemon cake recipes?
frederika at 11:20AM on 02/17/09
Sure I will..lemon pound cake with lemon glaze---
for cake:
1&1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 each milk and vegetable oil
2 tsp grated lemon peel (I use more) ..In bowl stirl all dry ingrediants...in a separate bowl beat eggs milk, oil and lemon peel....add liquid mix to dry mix and stir....pour into a flour dusted 5 by 9 loaf pan...put in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes....when done take out and cool a bit...as the cake is cooling make the Lemon glaze----5 TBS. lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar...heat until mix turns syrupy and sugar dissolved.....poke holes throughout cake with a chopstick or equivalent.....pour glaze over cake.....cool....and there you have it!! I hope you'll try it...it's simple but excellent and very lemony....
Italiancupcake at 2:02PM on 02/17/09
@italiancupcake - That's what I'm looking for! Lotsa Lemon! Have you ever added poppyseed to it? I just love those giant Lemon-Poppy muffins. (maybe because they're giant?)
Thanks!
frederika at 3:24PM on 02/17/09
Here's the recipe I used for the lemon-ginger poundcake (from Gourmet, I think). Because I used Meyer lemons, I reduced the sugar to about 1/2 cup, and I didn't have ground ginger, so I substituted chopped crystallized ginger (about 1 1/2 tbps.) It still came out great!
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Ginger-Pound-Cake-104905
For a savory dish, I ran across this one from Real Simple...
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1699462
suthungirl at 3:27PM on 02/17/09
This recipe for roasted garlic lemon vinaigrette is delicious! Thanks for reminding me to look for it.....good on poultry, seafood, salads, veg.
Cary at 3:45PM on 02/17/09
@frederika--I have never tried using poppy seeds with my recipe but why not! Make the recipe your own and see how it comes out. Me, personally, I like that particular pound cake unadorned with anything but lemon and believe me, with all the lemon cake recipes this pound cake packs quite a "lemon" punch..
@suthungirl-The lemon ginger poundcake recipe sounds yummy! I think I may just have to try that one too!!
Italiancupcake at 7:44PM on 02/17/09
olive oil, lemon juice and the leftover sliced lemons, chicken pieces, garlic, salt, rosemary, thyme, (or whichever chicken spices you like) in a ziploc bag. leave for a couple hours at least. bake or pref grill.
your co-workers recipe sounds good too.
blizcheetah at 12:45AM on 02/18/09
@suthungirl - Know what? I think I would prefer chopped crystalized ginger as opposed to ground in the cake. I just recently discovered my love for the stuff. Where I live I can get Ginger Scones several places; every version is quite good and I can never resist. And I just happen to have 4 Meyer lemons in the crisper, as well. As for the Chicken w/Olives - sounds fantastic to me, but my SO would quite literally die if I served him a dish intentionally using a cup of olives. I would probably be accused of trying to do away with him for the insurance money! He's such a great guy; he actually made a huge jar of marinated olives for me last year because he knows how much I love them. Isn't that the sweetest?
@italiancupcake - I have a recipe for a lemon "quick" bread that requires the drenching of the baked product. But my recipe says not to cut for 24 hours. Do you use yours right away? (I'm going to anyway, to have with espresso this afternoon! LOL!!! I'm the immediate gratification gal!)
It's a very dreary day here today - perfect for baking up something yummy.
frederika at 11:33AM on 02/18/09
@italiancupcake:
"1/2 each milk and vegetable oil"
I'm assuming it's 1/2 CUP?
Lemon poppy seed muffins are delicious. I must try adding candied ginger. Brooke recommended that on another thread, too. Sounds so good!
PerkyMac at 12:12PM on 02/18/09
@Perky - crystalized candied ginger is my new passion! I'm making italiancupcake's recipe right now but I'm just going to add the poppyseed to it
frederika at 12:46PM on 02/18/09
@Perky - candied ginger is my new passion! I'm making italiancupcake's recipe right now. I'm only adding the poppyseeds, because the ginger is another thing that could possibly damage the SO. :-) Another day...
frederika at 12:49PM on 02/18/09
yes--you're right--that's 1/2 CUP each --and you can eat it the same day it's made--after all this talk of lemons, I'm making my pound cake right now!!
Italiancupcake at 2:51PM on 02/18/09
@suthungirl - I was just looking more closely at the lemon-ginger poundcake recipe. Let me get this right - you subbed the crystalized ginger for the ground - but did you use the indicated amount of fresh ginger?
frederika at 2:53PM on 02/18/09
Sorry, I forgot about that part! Actually, I didn't have that much fresh ginger either, so I used crushed-ginger-in-a-tube (about a tbsp.), and added it to the wet ingredients. If you're going to use crystallized ginger in addition to fresh, I'd reduce the fresh -- but it depends on how much you like ginger. I wanted the cake to be more lemony.
suthungirl at 3:10PM on 02/18/09
How about the wonderful Moroccan staple, preserved lemons? All you do is scrub your lemons and cut off the tips. Then you make incisions from top to bottom, being sure not to cut all the way through. Stuff the slits with kosher salt, and place in a jar. Add more salt on top of the lemons, spices (like cinnamon, saffron, chile, peppercorns), and enough lemon juice to cover. Store lemons for 2-3 weeks, and shake the bottles every day to make sure the solution is saturated through. When the lemons are done, you just rinse them thoroughly, and use in everything from tagines, to couscous, to stews, to stuffings for meat and fish, and even breads and muffins. Good luck!
gouchermaxms at 9:42PM on 02/18/09
@italiancupcake - It turned out great and is half gone! I'm making another one tomorrow to take to a friend's house. Thank you!
frederika at 5:04PM on 02/19/09
I am so genuinely happy that you liked it! I thought of you yesterday as I was making one myself...All this talk of lemons, I just had to bake one! At this very moment, I am cookiing the other recipe from this thread @suthungirl's lemon chicken with olives....sounded delish & had to try it!
@frederika-How was it with poppyseeds? Really good, I bet
Happy eating :o)
Italiancupcake at 5:46PM on 02/19/09