These wonderful lemon pieces are complimenting my skordalia (garlic sauce), as well as potato salads, boiled greens (horta), steamed broccoli or cauliflower, and of course poached fish or chicken. I like to julienne the preserved lemon pieces and use in my salad dressings, and to flavor freshly cured olives , and all kinds of bean salads.
For 1 litre (quart) Jar
About 250g/8oz semi-coarse sea salt
6-8 lemons, well washed and cut into quarters, each quarter halved or cut into 3, depending on their size. Cut-off the thick center and seeds.
Extra lemon juice, to cover
Scatter a spoonful of salt into a one-quart (1 liter) jar. Place the lemons in a bowl with the rest of the salt and toss together well. Now simply pack the lemon pieces into the jar. Press down firmly on the fruit to release as much juice as possible. Spoon in the rest of the salt mixture from the bottom of the bowl and add enough extra lemon juice to cover.
Place the lid on the jar. Let the lemons stand for about a week or 10 days in a cool place –not the fridge. They are ready when their white pith starts to be translucent.
Transfer the lemons to a colander and rinse under running water, then soak in fresh water for 2-3 hours or overnight. How long you need to rinse them depends on the kind of lemons you used and the taste you are looking for. Our lemons do not need long soaking after I rinse them.
Drain and scatter on a tray lined with double paper towel to dry for a few hours, or overnight.
You can pack the dry, preserved lemon wedges in jars, filled with olive oil and store in the fridge or you can freeze the dried pieces in a zipper bag.
What the picture shows and what you don’t say is that you only keep the skins of the lemons to put in with the olive oil. Once you rinse the preserved lemons do you remove the skins? What have you done with the lemon parts? You don’t say.
You are absolutely right! the flesh part of the lemon wedges is discarded after rinsing as only the skin has the flavors we crave for…