When Life Gives You Sliced Lemons...

About a month ago, mom came home from a church function with a huge container of leftover sliced lemons. She knew that I loved lemons and wondered if I could use them to bake anything. The problem was that they were sliced. Can't really juice them. Can't really zest them. (At least not without cutting up my fingers.) Luckily, like any good Kitchen Window reader, I remembered preserved lemons from NPR. This weekend, the lemons were ready, but I still had to figure out what to do with them.

Preserved lemons are pretty versatile and can simply be added to a number of dishes. However, I wanted to try a recipe that actually called for them. After looking for preserved lemon recipes, I very quickly learned that a Moroccan tagine was the way to go.

Many tagines are either chicken or lamb based. Although I am not vegetarian and not averse to cooking with meat, I don't really enjoy cooking meat, so I wanted something different. However, the vegetarian options I found didn't look quite like what I wanted. So despite having never tried a tagine before, I combined 3 or 4 recipes to come up with a combination that sounded good to me. This is roughly that recipe.

*Note: There may be no salt in the recipe, but it turns out quite salty because of the salt in the lemons.

Red Potato Tagine

1.75 pounds red skin potatoes
1 small onion grated and squeezed dry
1/3 cup grated tomato
1/3 large onion thinly sliced
3/4 red pepper sliced
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 gloves garlic
1 tsp ginger
1 preserved lemon (I wasn't sure what that meant. I used about the equivalent of 1/2 a whole lemon)
2 Tbsp parsley
1 Tbsp cilantro

1. Boil the potatoes for 3 minutes. Then, pour out the water. Thickly slice the potatoes into a bowl of cool water.
2. Saute the grated onion in olive oil in a 2 quart saucepan for 3 minutes.
3. Add tomato and spices, and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add potatoes, onion, and red pepper and cook for 2 more minutes. Mix everything together well.
5. Pour in 1 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil. Then, cover and bring down to a low simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Add parsley, cilantro, and preserved lemon. (To use the preserved lemon: Remove from jar. Rinse with cold water. Coarsely chop. It will be quite soft and salty.) Cover again and simmer for 25 more minutes.
7. You may uncover and boil a bit more to remove some of the excess water.

Lemony Geometric Goodness

"A triangle of pie is the best way ever discovered to round out a square meal," according to the Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook.

Ever since I received this cookbook from Nana, I've meant to try a recipe. However, with a table of contents with everything from custard pies to cake pies to a whole chapter devoted just to pie toppings, picking a place to begin is not easily done. Thankfully, my friend Brooke has raved about lemon chess pies for the past two years. She couldn't believe that I was a Southerner who had never tasted one. Well, I righted that by baking one earlier this week.

And I have to agree with Brooke. Lemon chess pies really are delicious (though fairly sweet), and Southerners and Northerners alike need to try one.

Lemon Chess Pie a la the Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook:

Unbaked 9 inch pie shell (*I made a regular shortening and butter crust rather than our family's traditional oil. I also added a bit of lemon zest to the dough)
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
4 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice

Combine sugar, flour, and cornmeal in large bowl. Toss lightly with fork to mix. Add eggs, butter, milk, lemon zest and lemon juice. (*Note: You're adding dairy and lemon juice together, so of course, it will curdle, but don't worry, it still tastes great.) Beat with rotary or electric beater until smooth and thoroughly blended. Pour into pie shell.

Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees F) 35 to 45 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cut pie while warm.

(Two last notes: It is probably best to refrigerate any extras rather than leaving on the counter indefinitely. Second, the cookbook recommends serving with unsweetened whipped cream. Mom, Dad and I thought that the pie did just fine without it.)