Playing House:

The Lemon

As we move into the winter months, and closer to the peak of the cold and flu season, the lemon seems an appropriate and beneficial fruit to highlight for the first installment of “Fresh Fruit Fridays.”\

Lemons are high in citric acid, and perhaps the most beneficial fruit in the citrus family, because of their high level of antioxidants and their ability to fight off germs and bacteria.

Lemons can also relieve indigestion and stimulate the liver. Believe if or not, lemons contain a significant amount of calcium, as well as folate and potassium.  Lemons contain beta crypotothanzin, a carotenoid that fights heart disease and is believed  to help prevent cervical cancer.

The following recipes—a vinaigrette, couscous, and juice—feature a significant amount of lemon juice. Keep in mind that when juicing lemons, the Vitamin C dissipates quickly, and should be consumed within minutes of juicing. Lemon juices sold in supermarkets usually are enriched in Vitamin C to counter this depletion.

Lemon Couscous with Fresh Parsley, from Spices of Life (page 26) by Nina Simonds (full of recipes that specifically target ailments)

Ingredients:
1 ½ medium lemons
6 cups water (or amount indicated on the couscous package)
3 cups quick cooking couscous
1 tablespoon fruity virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the lemon peel in strips. Bring two cups of water to a boil. Add the lemon peel and cook for a minute to remove the bitterness. Drain, and blot dry. Mince finely. Squeeze the juice from the 1 ½ lemons and set aside.

Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot of casserole with a lid. Add the couscous and cook for a minute, stirring with a spoon or a fork. (Or follow the cooking instructions on the package.) Cover and remove from the heat. Let sit for 10 minutes. Fluff the couscous lightly with a fork to separate the grains.

Add the olive oil, lemon peel and juice, salt, and pepper, and stir with a fork to mix. Let the couscous sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then add the parsley and fluff with a fork. Taste for seasoning, add more salt if necessary, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Vinaigrette, from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (page 184) by Deborah Madison

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest
Salt and freshly milled pepper
1 shallot, finely diced
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or to taste

Combine the lemon zest, ¼ teaspoon salt, and shallot in a small bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes, then whisk in the oil and season with a little pepper to taste. Taste and correct the balance, adding more if needed.

Jay’s World Famous Lemonade from The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing (page 6 by Jay Kordich

4 apples
¼ lemon with the skin
Crushed ice

Cut the apples into narrow wedges, and slice the lemon. Process the fruit in the juicer. Serve over crushed ice.

 

 

And a poem to end on:

So Much Depends
on a lemon that is
not really a lemon

the name of which escapes me now
after the fact

the not-
lemon for the Jewish holiday
the holiday that has the
name that I can not remember either

the holiday when one hopefully
invites strangers
or friends to dinner

in their home
but not
their actual home,
but in a cabin/ shack/
lean-
to kind of structure
outside their actual home
but the purpose I recall!!

To remember the forty years in the desert.

The not-
lemon is very important to the
nameless- to me holiday
I learned about in
a film, the same film
I learned about the
nameless- to me
holiday

In the film the man
the rabbi
the holy man
buys a
very expensive not-
lemon because a
stranger slipped an
envelope full of
bills under
the door of
the actual house
that the man’s wife
the rabbi’s wife
the holy man’s wife
the holy woman discovered and
sang and
praised God and
paid the bills with.

The holy man and
the holy woman’s strangers
are old friends of the holy man
before he was a holy man

They are thieves, skinheads,
they cut up the not-
lemon and make a salad.
The man the rabbi
the holy man is devastated.

This is not just a not-
lemon,
It is a beautiful not-
lemon,
an extremely expensive not-
lemon for prayer
not salads.

(Photos by Martjusha, Delire Lucide and Piccolina)