Check out a new recipe and lemony news from our celebrity recipe blogger Dianne Boate!
Hon-ey, every-thing?s com-ing up LEMONS
by Dianne Boate
It is very rewarding to make discoveries on your own, later to find the rest of the world exclaiming about the very same thing. That later is right now with three major magazines featuring editorials and stories about lemons – how good is that, especially with this website devoted to lemons!
First, a food industry magazine (SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE) lists the 10 top trends for 2013 and what is the first item? Lemons. ?It?s the year of the lemon,? it states. Seems that sour is the new sweet, so to speak. Second, In the new March issue of REAL SIMPLE, lemons get their own page of glory with some really good tips, including putting lemon zest in your meatballs. And last, a 2 page spread in March-April issue of COOK?S Illustrated, ?Perfecting Lemon Chiffon Pie,? this with a simple graham cracker crust but a more complex filling.
The main recipe today is for Two Crust Lemon Pie, something handed down from the Shakers, a religious sect that became famous for their simple style of making furniture and many other practical household ideas. The recipe and the furniture has endured but not the sect since by their rules men and women lived in separate housing, resulting in no future generations. At least we can have the pie! The pie is quite unusual in that you use whole lemons sliced thinly, along with eggs and sugar, baked with a bottom crust and a top crust.
SHAKER LEMON PIE
3 lemons unpeeled
2 cups sugar
2- 11 inch rounds pie crust dough (purchased unbaked pie crusts from supermarket ( or your own)
4 eggs, room temperature
1. Slice lemons very thinly, discarding seeds, over a dish or plate in order to keep all the juice, then toss with sugar in a bowl. Cover and let sit for 8 hours or overnight. ****
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees; line an 8 inch pie plate with one round of dough; beat eggs with a whisk then fold into lemon sugar mixture and transfer to pastry crust.
3. Cover with second crust, crimping edges together; cut a few slits on top crust for steam to escape. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about another 30 minutes. Cool completely, very delicious served with vanilla ice cream.
A few more words about using lemons: I am so fond of the Meyer lemon that I even cut it in small pieces for my breakfast cereal, rind and all. Any poundcake coming out of my oven these days gets a quick dash of Citrus Glaze right away. It is just so easy to take a cup of powdered confectioners sugar, add a tablespoonful or so of lemon juice, stirring well, adding lemon zest. I have been cutting the cake right on top, scoring it about 1/2 inch down, and pouring on the glaze which sinks right down into the cake.
****I made three lemon- sugar fillings, each placed in a ziplock bag, for future pies, stored in my freezer. Once thawed, the eggs will be added then placed in the pastry then baked as above.
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