It all began with Sally’s post, in which she uses whole lemons in a marinade for pork; I couldn’t help thinking it would make an interesting dressing. Then up popped Mimis post: a whole lemon dressing, by which time I needed to give this a try…
So, when I say ‘whole lemon’ I really mean the WHOLE lemon. All I did was give a couple of lemons a wash, cut them into quarters, then eighths, removed any pips, then put them in the blender with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and a splash of honey. The resulting dressing is really nice, not overwhelmingly lemony because you’re not actually using a massive amount of juice from 2 small lemons. You can taste the rind flavour, which is not as sour as the actual juice, just different. And you can tone it down with some honey if necessary. I added a very very small amount of honey, more just to see what it does to the taste.
My blender left me with some texture to the dressing which I liked.
To store the remainders, on the advice of the eminent scientist Sally, the self same Sally as named above, I stored the dressing in a jar in the fridge. This then really firmed up the mixtures so that when I went to use it again, the texture had changed again, but in a nice way as far as I was concerned. Plus the flavour had developed more after a few days.
You can see that it’s a bit grainier.
Then up popped Laura’s post who had also been expirementing with whole lemons: this time making a spinach and whole lemon pesto. With this in mind, I whizzed up the remains of my whole lemon dressing with some spinach, walnuts and a tabil spice mix that I’d made (equal amounts of roasted cumin, coriander & caraway seeds) to create something new…
…which went nicely with grains, homous and roasted chickpeas.
There will no doubt be more experiments with whole lemons to come in my kitchen, but I hope you find this interesting so far. I use so much lemon juice, and I try not to waste the skins (I have jars and jars of pickled lemon skins & preserved lemon skins), so using the whole fruit is really inviting.
Fancy giving it a try?
Oh, what a wonderful surprise!!!! I LOVE your photo with the homous and roasted chickpeas… that is magazine-cover-worthy, my friend! Truly gorgeous shot… and I bet it tasted amazing
I just used that marinade on boneless chicken thighs on the barbecue last night – of course the gas tank finished half way through cooking, but we have a backup and the husband changed it for me… as you know, it was a hectic evening! (wink wink)
Thanks for the link love!
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Thank YOU for the inspiration!! And for your lovely comments 😘😘
How did it taste on the chicken?
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They look absolutely delicious!! 🙂
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I can definitely recommend trying it out! Thank you 😀
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Thank you!! 🙂
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Interesting. I’ll have to give this a try.
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I thought you might…😉
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I’ve cooked whole lemons before blending – gives them a smoother texture and some of the bitterness of the pith (the white part) is removed. This is an intriguing idea for a dressing. May give it a go!
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Let me know what you think if you do x
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Great idea! I did see Laura’s pesto recipe. I was concerned about the pith, if it’d make the pesto bitter but she confirmed it didn’t. There’s no reason I shouldn’t give it a try!
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Go for it! Let me know what you think x
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Love the addition of roasted chickpeas….
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Thank you 😄😄
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Yay Elaine – so happy to see your whole lemon creations 🍋 and thank you for the call out to my post!
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xx
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I am a lemon lover Elaine and definitely want to try this. I have made whole lemon cakes. Does the dressing get more bitter as it sits?
Johanne Lamarche
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No, I think it mellows x
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Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have strained the whole lemon liquid. It looks way more fun left alone!
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I didn’t strain anything and it worked fine!
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