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For this ICS, I really wanted to really put the lemons in the spotlight and feature some classic lemon dishes. The goal was to do a nice appetizer plate, a full dinner, and nice dessert. Some of these worked out better than others, but I enjoyed   Menu: Appetizers: Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings Blistered Padron Peppers with Lemon Aioli Main Course: Shrimp Piccata with Asparagus and Peppers Lemon Roasted Potatoes Dessert: Lemon Hazelnut  Appetizers: I wanted to make some snacks for a recent game night with some of my friends, so I definitely wanted to go with some classic finger foods. I've always enjoyed Lemon wings as a change from the normal style of buffalo wings. I also really like Padron peppers, since they're so easy to cook. The majority of Padron peppers are pretty mild in terms of heat, with a nice mild kick. But the fun thing is that maybe 10% of them are pretty spicy. And they look the exact same as the mild ones. So every time you grab one, you're playing a very low stakes game of Russian Roulette. Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings Ingredients: 2 Lbs of chicken wings 2 Lemons 5 Cloves of Garlic 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce 3 Tbsp Honey A shitload of ground black pepper Cayenne, to taste 1 Tbsp Salt 2 Tsp Baking Powder 1/4 Chicken Stock 1. Add the salt and baking powder to the wings, and place it in a bowl in the fridge, to help dry them out and encourage a crispier exterior.  2. Combine the zest and juice of both lemons in a container, mince the garlic and add it along with the soy sauce, honey, and peppers. Stir will to combine and then add the mixture to the chicken. Cover and place in your fridge to marinate.  3. Preheat your over to 400F. Place your chicken on a parchment paper lined baking sheet so that they don't overlap. Set your phone down to charge and forget to photograph the rest of the recipe (This step is vital). Put your chicken in the oven for 30 minutes. 4. While your chicken is cooking, add the remaining marinade to a small sauce pan with the chicken stock. Slowly reduce over medium-low heat. 5. When your chicken is done, drizzle in the reduced marinade sauce and give it a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve over a bed of sliced lemons  Blistered Padron Peppers with Lemon Aioli: Ingredients: 1lbs of Padron Peppers Salt Pepper Olive Oil 1/2 Cup Mayo 1.5 Tbsp Dijon Mustard 1 Lemon 1 Tbsp chives 1 clove garlic 1. Set a heavy cast iron pan over high heat and add oil to the pan 2. Combine mayo, zest and juice of a lemon, mustard, chopped chives, crushed garlic, and mustard. Mix with fully incorporated, set aside 3. Wash and pat the peppers dry. Once the oil is just barely starting to smoke, add the peppers to the pan. Don't stir or move. When the peppers begin to start jumping the pan (1-2) minutes, flip the peppers to cook the other side. You should have some very nice brown/gray/black blisters on the pepper. Cook for another minutes, then remove from the pan and serve immediately.  Try to eat a few of the wings before your friends eat them all. Laugh at the people who get unlucky and bite into a spicy pepper.   Main Course: Of everything that I made, these main courses turned out by far the best. I wanted to make a nice hearty meal and to use ingredients that really let the lemons do the heavy lifting. The shrimp piccata turned out great, the shrimp were flavorful and the sauce was very light and lemony. But the real star was the potatoes. Everything combined perfectly and it truly became better than the sum of the parts. Shrimp Piccata Ingredients: 1 lbs of cleaned shrimp 1 lbs of Asparagus, trimmed of the thick woody parts, cut into 1 inch bites 1 lbs sweet frying peppers, diced 2 lemons 4 cloves of garlic, minced 2 shallots, finely diced 1/2 cup of white wine 1/2 cup of chicken stock Butter, a shitload Parsley, chopped Capers Salt Pepper Red pepper flakes  (Not pictured: shrimp, still defrosting) 1. Heat a large pan over medium heat, add butter. Once hot, add the asparagus, peppers, shallots, salt, and zest of 1 lemon to the pan and cook for about 7 minutes, until the asparagus is tender and the peppers are fragrant. Remove from pan and set aside, cover to keep warm.  2. Add more butter to the pan if needed, then add the garlic. Let it cook for 30 seconds, then add the shrimp. Cook for a minute, then flip the shrimp and cook for another minute or 2, until the shrimp are colorful and done. Remove from pan and set aside.  3. Deglaze pan with wine and chicken stock. Scrape up the nice bits stuck to the pan and let the alcohol cook off. Add the juice of both lemons and zest of the second lemon, stir in, then add in more butter. Whisk aggressively until the sauce emulsifies slightly, then add the capers (plus a bit of juice), ground pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook until reduced and nicely brown  4. Put down a bed of the veggies, then place shrimp atop it, then add sauce. Lemon Roasted Potatoes Ingredients: 1 lbs of red waxy potatoes, cut into ~1 inch cubes 1 lbs yukon golds, cut into ~1 inch cubes 1 large onion, extremely thinly sliced (I used a mandolin) 2 lemons 2 cloves of garlic Olive oil Rosemary Dill Salt Pepper  1. In a bowl, combine onions and potatoes. Coat in olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, salt and pepper. Zest one lemon, then add its juice. For the other lemon, peel the skin into long strips, then chop. Add the chopped lemon peel and the juice of the lemon. Its gonna seem like there is too much liquid, but don't worry about that. Transfer to a roasting pan.  2. Preheat oven to 375, tightly cover the potatoes with foil and put into the over for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove aluminum foil and increase over temperature to 425. Stir the potatoes and put back into the oven for 25-30 minutes, until potatoes look browned and crsipy.  3. Spritz with fresh lemon juice, and serve  The shrimp were great and flavorful, and was the kind of rich dish that proves why butter is so good. But the potatoes were a revelation. The first half hour of steaming really drove the lemon flavor deep into the potatoes, and the thinly sliced onions browned and added a lot of sweetness to the dish. But the real star was the lemon peel, as they softened to nicely edible and would provide and ton of lemon flavor. It was an experiment that payed off huge dividends and provided far more impact than it probably would have if I had just zested it.  Dessert: Ok, so this is where things kind of went off the rails. I'd been thinking about making lemon-lime marmalade for a while, since I was always shocked by my inability to find it at local stores; it seems like the kind of thing that should be a staple. So I dived into that part half cocked (read: I didn't think to check out the GWS canning and jelly thread), and that kind of derailed my plans. I was originally planning to use the marmalade as filling for hazelnut lemon sandwich cookies, but I was forced to abandon the sandwich part after it just completely slipped out of the sample cookie. Still, stick around for the adventure and lack of adequate photographs. Lemon Lime Marmalade Ingredients: 1 lbs lemons 1 lbs limes 7 cups of sugar 6 cups of water 1. Wash your lemons and limes, trim off the ends of them. Carefully mandolin everything, doing your best to preserve the juice.  2. Realize the the mandolin has just been slicing right through all of the lemon and lime seeds, so careful go through all of it and remove all of the shards of the seeds. The quarter the lemons and limes 3. Add the lemons and limes to a sauce pan, and add in the water. Bring a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour, or until soft. Skim off the foam and and anything else that floats the surface that looks ugly.  4. Measure out the sugar you need, realize your way short, so take a quick trip to the store to buy more. Buy a second bag on a lark. Get home, use the entire first bag of sugar, and then a bunch of the second bag. 5. Slowly add the sugar to the pot, stirring to incorporate. Cook for another 30-45 minutes, until it reaches 230 F. Do that thing where you put it on a cold plate and think its condensed enough and ready.  6. Pour into prepped jars, then boil then in a water bath for 10 minutes.  Lemon Hazelnut Cookies Ingredients: 1/2 cup room temp butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 lemons of lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 1. Add hazelnuts to food processor, and process until they're in small pieces  2. Add flour, cinnamon, and salt. Blitz until combined.  3. In a stand mixer, combine butter, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla. Cream into incorporated  4. Add dry ingredients, and mix until properly mixed together  5. Wrap in cling wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Roll out until 1/4 inch thick then cut into desired shape depending on whether or not your cooking these at 11pm. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  6. Bake in a 325F oven for 18-20 minutes. Remove and let cool.  7. Realize that the marmalade is too thin to be used in a sandwich cookie. Try out a sample one and immediately squeeze it all out when you take your first bite. Be very sad  Well, this was overall a bit of a failed experiment. I've been using the marmalade in my morning yogurt recently and its been quite good, though I should have removed the pith before making it. Not sure how I would do that, and I think I'm starting to understand why this isn't a staple of supermarkets. The cookies were good, but I probably should have added some of the lemon juice for even more lemon flavor.  Conclusions: In writing this, I've realized that I really like the pairing of lemons and garlic, as that the combo was featured in every dish outside of the dessert. I've also become way better at zesting tons of lemons, and developed an unhealthy hatred of lemon seeds. Overall, a very sour and savory experience. Bone app the teeth 
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Sep 24, 2018 01:27
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 11:31 |
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Sep 24, 2018 01:56
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This all looks and sounds amazing, even if you were a bit miffed at your marmalade, and is making me extremely hungry (and inspired) right now. Excellent job!  Also curious to know what your code wheel thingie on the wall in the Shrimp Piccata ingredients pic is. Looks food-related but the text is just a bit too small for my crap eyes to read. "The Local(?) Foods Wheel" maybe? I'm guessing it makes good combinations of ingredients or something?
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Sep 24, 2018 08:32
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franco posted:This all looks and sounds amazing, even if you were a bit miffed at your marmalade, and is making me extremely hungry (and inspired) right now. Excellent job!
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Sep 24, 2018 10:01
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Yeah, that thing
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Sep 24, 2018 19:17
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I would put that marmalade all over some quick cheesecake. Everything looks excellent, and it's awesome that you tried so much new stuff! Gonna steal those wings too
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Sep 26, 2018 00:55
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For the marmalade next time, peel the lemons and limes with a veggie peeler so you get strips of zest without pith. You'll need more fruit, but it'll get a better result!
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Sep 26, 2018 17:05
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It's pretty early in the morning but I'd eat your main dish right now.
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Sep 27, 2018 14:12
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 11:31 |
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This all looks delicious, and since I make wings way more often than is healthy I'm for sure using your recipe for next time.
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Sep 30, 2018 00:18
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