Roasted Lemon Puree

18 Jul

How to Roast a Lamb is full of elaborate sauces and spreads that can seem daunting to the average foodie. Michael Psilakis’s recipes sometimes include flipping back and forth across the book up to three or four times to other recipes – adding a teaspoon of another time-consuming confit or dressing. To me, it is the fun of the book. Navigating around it takes some time but once you conquer a dish – it is well worth the time and energy. The same feeling came about when completing his recipe for Roasted Lemon Puree. This sauce was surprisingly simple – only a handful of ingredients that you’ll most likely already have in your kitchen. It takes a couple hours but is a perfect weekend activity. Of course, it is even more fun when you have a friend by your side (a big thank you to Debbie who worked with me on this recipe!).

I love the way this puree is the consistency of a mayonnaise but only has whipped olive oil within a rich and flavorful roasted lemon concoction. We used the puree as a sauce for grilled lamb chops and a marinade for chicken kabobs. This would be amazing on a pita sandwich (or a BLT!), any grilled meats or veggies – or spooned out of the jar straight up.

Roasted Lemon Puree, by Michael Psilakis

4 scrubbed lemons (scrubbing removes any wax on the lemons)
about 1/3 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or orange juice
1 tablespoon dijion mustard
2 crushed and pressed garlic cloves
1 cup olive oil
pinch of sugar
cracked pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Roll each lemon in aluminum foil. Place on top of a mound of salt with the seam side down. Roast until packages are soft – about 1 and a half hours. Allow to cool. Cut the lemons in half and scoop out the roasted flesh into a sieve (removing any seeds). Using a spoon, scrap the white pith off the remaining lemon peel. Discard the pith and chop the remaining lemon peel.

In a food processor, combine the chopped zest, strained flesh and juice, mustard an garlic. Process into a smooth puree. Add the olive oil through the feed tube. Taste for sweetness and seasoning. Add any salt, sugar or pepper needed.

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72 Responses to “Roasted Lemon Puree”

Mary James July 19, 2011 at 4:50 am #

This looks great but the roasting the lemons on the salt that is outside the package is puzzling. ????

Reply
- vintagejenta July 29, 2011 at 5:52 pm #
  
  I think the salt might be just to A) keep the lemons upright and not rolling around and B) keep the packages up off of the metal baking sheet. I don’t think it has much to do with flavoring, though some of the salt might work it’s way into the steam of the lemon.
  
  Baked onions in their skins also rest on salt when baking.
  
  Reply
  - bwohack July 31, 2011 at 7:31 am #
    
    To rest stuff to be baked on a layer of coarse salt is an ancient trick in the south of Italy, albeit without a wrapping around. I guess you cold bake the lemons also without a wrapper, directly on the salt.
- Liz Benitez July 31, 2011 at 9:25 am #
  
  This was my question too.
  
  Reply
- ambermartingale August 1, 2011 at 10:18 am #
  
  Maybe the salt helps the packages stay upright?
  
  Reply
jeyamaran July 29, 2011 at 11:09 am #

good post keep posting frnd thanks 4 sharing

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Mikalee Byerman July 29, 2011 at 11:18 am #

This looks amazing, but I absolutely hate the flavor of mustard … I wonder if there’s something that could be substituted for those of us with mustard aversions?

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Roasted Lemon Puree

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72 Responses to “Roasted Lemon Puree”