Category: Lemon

Smoked Whole Chicken

Apple, Chicken, Lemon, Main Dishes, Onion

Perfect, flavorful and moist chickens every time.  We always do two chickens with one recipe of brine and one recipe of fruit/veg on our Weber smokey mountain smoker for 4ish hours at 250 degrees (and throw some sausages on the second shelf for last two hours).  Definitely do the overnight brine.  The trimmings and carcass make great smokey stock for soup.

http://www.extraordinarybbq.com

Ingredients

  • 1, 3-5 lb chicken
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 onion
  • 1 apple
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Paprika
  • Olive Oil

brine recipe:

  • 1 gallon water
  • 1 cup kosher/sea salt (1/2c iodized)
  • 1 cup brown sugar

brine instructions:

  1. Mix all of the ingredients together in whatever container is needed for the amount of meat you have. (PJH: two Costco chickens brined in big huge stock pot)
  2. Add your meat and don’t forget it MUST be refrigerated. You can brine for a few hours, overnight, or for several days!
  3. When you remove your meat from the brine, thoroughly rinse with cool water. Pat dry and your meat is ready for spices/rubs and off you go!

chicken instructions

1. Brine the chicken – overnight if possible.

2. Chop the lemon, onion, apple and garlic cloves. Throw them in a bowl and mix together with salt, pepper and olive oil. Set aside.

3. Take your chicken out of the brine and rinse with cool water. Set on a tray. Now take the mixture you just made and stuff it inside the chicken.

4. Rub olive oil all over your bird. This will help give it a nice golden brown color. Then sprinkle salt and pepper all over, and a light dusting of paprika for color.

5. Set up your grill for indirect cooking (or use your smoker).

6. Place your bird away from the heat, and throw a bunch of wood on your coals. Stick with fruit wood – apple is a good pairing with chicken. Assuming your grill holds its temp around 250, and depending on the weight, your chicken will cook for 3 – 5 hours. You want an internal temperature in the leg of 170. If the bird is bigger or your heat is lower, it will take longer to reach this temperature.

7. Let the chicken rest for at least 20 minutes before pulling apart or slicing.

Triple Summer Berry Buttermilk Bundt Cake

Blueberries, Desserts, Lemon, Raspberry

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This was very tasty and definitely a keeper.

Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt

www. smitten kitchen.com

Cake
2 1/2 cups (355 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (20 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup (8 ounces or 225 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups (340 grams) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (175 ml) buttermilk
3 cups (350 to 450 grams) mixed berries

Glaze
2 cups (240 grams) powdered or confections’ sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon (15 grams) unsalted butter, very, very soft

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray.* Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk or sift 2 1/2 cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and impossibly fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then, with the mixer on a low speed, add your eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in vanilla, briefly. Add 1/3 flour mixture to batter, beating until just combined, followed by half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour mixture. Scrape down from time to time and don’t mix any more than you need to. In the bowl where you’d mixed your dry ingredients, toss the berries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. With a silicon spatula, gently fold the berries into the cake batter. The batter will be very thick and this will seem impossible without squishing the berries a little, but just do your best and remember that squished berries do indeed make for a pretty batter.

Spread cake batter — you might find it easier to plop it in the pan in large spoonfuls, because it’s so thick — in the prepared baking pan and spread the top smooth. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the cake 180 degrees after 30 (to make sure it browns evenly). The cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean of batter. At 10 minutes before my baking time was up, a tester was totally wet with batter and I was certain it would never be done in the estimated time. 7 minutes later, the same tester was clean as a whistle, so fret not.

Set cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before inverting the cake onto a serving platter to cool the rest of the way. Cool completely. Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth and very, very thick. (If you’d like it thinner, add more juice, but I like the thick drippiness of it, seen above.) Spread carefully over top of cake, letting it trickle down the sides when and where it wishes. Serve at once or keep it covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.* Updated note, due to comments about cake sticking: If you have a nonstick Bundt, just a coat of butter or nonstick spray should do. However, if you have a regular Bundt, not nonstick coated, you’re really going to want to make sure every nook and cranny is well-coated with butter or even shortening (the solidity of both helps them stick to the cake walls), and then dust the inside with flour. Setting your cake pan in the fridge or freezer (to set the coating even further) while you make the cake batter will provide even more insurance. I hope this improves the release rate of the cake!

Lemon Meringue Bars

Desserts, Lemon

A bag of lemons in the refrigerator was calling my name last evening.  I love me a good lemon square but I thought I’d try something a little different on this cold blustery January eve.  This recipe is completely ridiculous…1 3/4 cups plus 2 T. flour; 2 1/4 cups plus 2 T. sugar.  Come on…seriously?  So silly.  But I must say… it came out perfectly.  Buttery crust, lots of super lemony filling and meringue is great on everything.

…and lots of butter always helps.
the crust before going into the oven. it came together really easily using a mixer which I never did before.
the filling ingredients – lots and lots of lemon juice.
Grace made the meringue topping… cracking up separating the eggs.
ripples of lovely meringue
et volia!

Lemon Meringue Bars;   Martha Stewart Living

  • 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
  • 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 6 large eggs, plus 4 large egg whites
  • 2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Make crust: Put butter, flour, confectioners sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, and the salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until well blended.

  2. Transfer mixture to a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Press batter evenly into baking sheet. Chill in freezer 10 minutes. Bake until golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

  3. Make filling: Whisk together whole eggs, 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, the lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons lemon zest. Pour over crust. Bake until filling is set, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Keep oven at 350.

  4. Make meringue topping: Put egg whites and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.

  5. Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread meringue over filling, swirling to create soft peaks. Bake until meringue begins to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely. Cut into bars. Bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 1 day.

Garlic and Lemon Pasta with Arugula

Lemon, Main Dishes, Parmesan, Parsley, Pasta
simple, fresh and tasty
the arugula is prolific in the garden now and our first crop of the year
yeay summer

Garlic and Lemon Pasta with Arugula

Bon Appetit, March 2005

1 pound spaghetti, dry
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup baby arugula   (I would use twice as much)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Accompaniments: freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, squeeze of lemon

Cook spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Meanwhile, in small saucepan, heat oil and butter over medium-low heat. Stir in garlic, lemon peel, lemon juice, broth, basil, salt and pepper and raise heat to medium-high. Bring to a gentle simmer, reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.

Drain pasta, return it to its cooking pot and immediately pour the heated sauce over it, along with the arugula and parsley. Use tongs to gently toss the pasta and sauce together. Transfer pasta to heated serving bowl. Top with grated Parmigiano-reggiano, a light sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Zucchini Crudo

Lemon, Salad, Zucchini
a tasty summer salad
we don’t have a mandolin but a vegetable peeler works nicely
lots of lemon is always a good thing

Zucchini Crudo,  Michael Symon via Mary Cavanaugh

Ingredients

  • 2 zucchini (about ¾ pound), thinly sliced
  • 2 yellow summer squash (about 1½ pounds), thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 shallot, finely sliced
  • Grated zest and juice of 3 lemons, or to taste
  • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds, toasted
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill

 

Combine the zucchini and yellow squash in a colander in the sink and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the salt over it. Toss to coat, and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes, no longer.

In a large bowl, combine the garlic and shallot, sprinkle with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream, then the almonds and dill. Taste for seasoning and acidity (it should be nicely acidic). Add the zucchini and squash to the dressing, toss, and serve immediately.

Pea, Asparagus and Fava Bean Salad

Asparagas, Bacon, Beans, Lemon, Parmesan, Peas, Salad
Spring Greens

This recipe is in the latest Bon Appetit and I thought it would be a great dish to serve for Easter dinner.  It was tasty, pretty and very easy.  A keeper.

Bon Appetit, April, 2013

  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated Pecorino or Parmesan
  • 1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 2 cups fresh fava beans (from about 2 pounds pods) or frozen fava beans, thawed (I used frozen edame as I couldn’t find any fava beans)
  • 2 bunches asparagus, trimmed, stalks peeled if thick
  • 1 cup shelled fresh peas (from about 1 pound pods) or frozen peas, thawed
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 shallot, thinly sliced
  • 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Whisk olive oil, Pecorino, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a medium bowl to blend. Season with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if desired. Set dressing aside.

If using fresh fava beans, cook in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a colander set in a bowl of ice water (do not cook frozen beans). Drain and peel; place in a large bowl.

Return water in saucepan to a boil; add asparagus and cook until just tender, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, transfer to colander in ice water.

If using fresh peas, return water in saucepan to a boil; add peas and cook until tender, about 3 minutes (do not cook frozen peas). Drain; transfer to colander in ice water. Drain vegetables. Add to bowl with fava beans.

Combine vegetable oil and shallot in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallot is golden brown and crisp, 10-12 minutes. Transfer shallot to a paper towel-lined plate.

Add dressing to bowl with vegetables, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Transfer salad to a serving platter and top with shallot and bacon.

DO AHEAD: Dressing and vegetables can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill.

 

Lemon Pound Cake

Desserts, Lemon
Everyone’s favorite

Our family has been making this cake for years and years and it is still the best , and simplest cake around.

from the Duncan Hines cake box (with my 2 cents)

  • 1 pkg Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix (any other brand simply will not do)
  • 1 (3.4 oz) pkg instant lemon pudding and pie filling (the small box)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup water (I juice 1 lemon, and then add enough water to it to make 1 cup)
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • (I also throw in the rind from aforementioned lemon in the batter)

Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup Frosting from can (we always juice 1 lemon, or more, and add enough powdered sugar to get to the consistency you want)
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan.
  2. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into pan.
  3. Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto heat resistant serving plate. Cool completely.
  4. For glaze, place frosting in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high power 10 to 15 seconds. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over cake

 

Shrimp with Red Onions, Lemon and Mayonnaise

Appetizer, Lemon, Shrimp

This is an old family recipe that only seems to get made for special occasions.  It sounds kind of gross, but it is one of the best tasting, and simple appetizers around.  Talking to my Mom, they got the recipe from a friend in California over 40 years ago.  We went to Blossom on Saturday to hear the Cleveland Orchestra and this is one of our favorite things to bring to Blossom.  We also made corn and avacado salad, and teriyaki marinated sirloin skewers with red peppers.  It was a great night.

ingredients
lot’s of onions. that’s the best part.
like most things…tastes better with wine
enjoying the shrimp at blossom
it was a beautiful evening at Blossom
our other dates for the night…Sophie and her pals
the cleveland orchestra was great as always

 

Shrimp with Red Onions, Lemon and Mayonnaise

  • Peel and boil as many shrimp as you are going to use.
  • Chill completely
  • Thinly slice LOTS of red onions.  Add to chilled shrimp
  • Squeeze a fresh lemon or more and add to shrimp and onions.
  • Add mayonnaise to get to the consistency that you want.  Creamy, but not too much.
  • Add just a bit of salt and pepper.
  • Let chill for several hours, the flavor develops as it chills.

 

Roast Chicken

Chicken, Lemon, Main Dishes

Alissa taught us this super simple way to roast a chicken that works great every time

Salt and pepper a washed chicken generously inside and out.

Roll a whole lemon around on the counter getting it good and mushy and then poke it all over with a fork.

Tie up the legs.

Roast in a preheated 350 degree oven – breast side DOWN – for 30 minutes.

Turn the oven up to 400 degrees, turn the chicken breast side UP – and continue cooking until done.

Works every time.