Love Thy Larder: Preserved Lemon Paste
Plus a recipe for Bulgur Salad with Pickled Onions, Feta, and Herbs
Hey everyone and happy Friday!
First things first, I want to congratulate Katherine Schubert-Knapp of Covington, WA, who is the winner of the Make it Japanese cookbook giveaway. After reading all of your great comments, I wanted to give each and every one of you the book, but alas, I only had one to give. I hope that some of you will purchase the book anyway because it’s a good one to have on the shelf. I know a lot of you said you were planning on making the Chicken and Tofu Tsukune, and if you did, I hope you enjoyed it. I might have just purchased all the ingredients to make it again myself!
Now on to today’s newsletter…
Every once in a while, I focus on a pantry ingredient that I really like, and I try to convince you to try it too (if you haven’t already). Having a well stocked pantry is so important, and creates so much possibility for your cooking, sparking creativity. Think of your pantry as your palette (not palate). You need to have all the colors before you can paint your masterpieces, right? You’re only limited by how much space (and budget) you have. I devote LOTS of space in my refrigerator to condiments of all kinds that can nudge the flavors of a dish in one direction or another.
Although I have used preserved lemons in their whole form, once I discovered preserved lemon paste, it found its way into my cooking much more often, and in more diverse ways (keep reading for a list). I promise you that if you buy a jar, you will use it!
NY Shuk has helped popularize this handy condiment, along with harissa and other Middle Eastern and North African ingredients. As you may already know, preserved lemons are easy to make, requiring just 2 ingredients: lemons and salt. But they take months to ferment before they’re ready to use. Personally, I have never thought ahead quite that much and have always just bought them. If I had a lemon tree though, I imagine I’d make jars and jars of them as gifts. There is a lot more information about preserved lemons and preserved lemon paste on NY Shuk’s website, and I encourage you to read it if you’re curious.
And while you’re there, order yourself a jar of preserved lemon paste using the code SUSAN15% for a 15% discount!
I asked Leetal Arazi, the co-founder of NY Shuk, how to substitute preserved lemon paste in a recipe that calls for chopped preserved lemons — which, by the way, would entail the skins only; the pulp is discarded — and she said she usually suggests a 1:1 ratio, but to start with less and add more to taste, which I think is great advice.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today was originally in Open Kitchen, but it never got the love it deserved, partly because it didn’t get its own photo. It was only shown on the side of Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Pomegranate Molasses (page 107). BTW, these two recipes would be a great start to an Easter menu!
In the book, this salad is called Freekeh Salad with Pickled Onions, Feta, and Herbs. I suggested using bulgur as a substitute, which I decided to do when I re-made this recipe in preparation for today’s newsletter. I love freekeh, which is smoked green wheat (sometimes cracked, sometimes whole); however, it seems to be one of those things that has disappeared from my supermarket’s shelves since the pandemic. I still order it online, or pick it up at Kalustyan’s when I’m there, but the salad is really just as good with bulgur, which should be easier for you to find. The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of finely chopped preserved lemon for the dressing, but I pared it back to 1 tablespoon of paste for this iteration. You could easily add more after tasting it, but I’m watching my sodium at the moment, so I left it there!
This salad is just as good as I remembered it being. The pickled onions add a lovely sweet and sour crunch (I know it seems like a lot, but trust me on this one). Pomegranate arils (seeds) add those little pops of sweet juicy flavor, and they also look so festive and jewel-like. Fresh pomegranates are not super in season right now, but you can still find them imported from some other hemisphere. This is one of those salads that I can’t get enough of. Steve and I had it the other night with a spatchcocked chicken that I marinated in yogurt, more preserved lemon paste, garlic, and some of the vinegar left over from the pickled onions, which I had made the day before. I cooked it over indirect heat on the gas grill and it was perfect.
Click above to see a video of the salad.
