I love preserved lemons, that staple of North African cooking. They add a sweet, savory, citrusy taste to balance the complex flavors of traditional tagines and seafood dishes, with their multitude of seasonings, which usually include spices, chiles, ginger and honey. Preserved lemons, which are sold in Arab groceries, are made by scoring the lemons and burying them in jars of salt for at least a month. The flesh of the lemon is discarded — it becomes bitter and salty — and the peel is rinsed and chopped before it’s used.
I don’t have a lot of patience, so if I want that preserved lemon flavor without having to wait a month for my lemons to mature, I make this quick confit. It’s very simple: you wash the lemons, slice them as thin as possible, make a brine of salt, sugar, water and chili flakes, simmer the lemon slices in the brine, then cool them in the liquid. The whole process, beginning to end, takes no more than 45 minutes, including the cooling time.
I like to use savory lemon confit as a garnish for roast chicken or grilled fish or as a seasoning in a spicy tomato sauce with olives, cumin, ginger and honey. Because the lemon confit is not as intensely salty as traditional preserved lemon, you can use the flesh of the lemon, as well as the peel.
John Broening cooks at Duo and Olivea restaurants in Denver.
Savory Lemon Confit
Ingredients
3 lemons, rinsed
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
Pinch chile flakes
Directions
With a serrated knife, slice the lemons as thin as possible. Using the tip of a paring knife, remove any seeds from the lemon slices.
In a small saucepan, bring the water, sugar, salt and chile flakes to a boil. Add the lemon slices and simmer 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, and place the saucepan in the refrigerator. When the liquid is cool, the lemons are ready to use.
