For today we are going to make a Morrocan-inspired dish using preserved lemons and dried fruit to make a sweet, tart, slightly bitter Preserved Lemon Sauce. This recipe is all about the sauce, which is good on a wide variety of foods, grilled or roast; chicken, steak, pork, salmon, or fried tofu. Serve with a starch such as Israeli couscous and some vegetables, and you have a very well balanced meal.
For preserved lemons, you can either buy them or make them. They are basically lemons preserved in salt and lemon juice until the rind become soft and edible. They are really very easy to make, but it takes a few weeks. So, it is typically easier to just buy them. They are a little hard to find and you may need to go to a Middle Eastern specialty market, though my nearby Whole Foods has been stalking them lately.
On a side note, I thought it would be fun to let you the readers create a dish that I would then make up and post on the website. To that end, I have posted a poll on Facebook and will continue to do so every week. The first week is choosing what type of dish it will be: appetizer, entrée, etc. Next week will be choosing the main component of the dish, and so on until after a few weeks we have created a meal. So if you would like to participate in creating this dish, head over to our Facebook page and vote.
This Preserved Lemon Sauce recipe makes enough sauce for 4.
Ingredients:
2 small or 1 large preserved lemon
¾ c mixed dried fruit, whatever you prefer except bananas
½ small onion finely diced
¼ tsp salt
2-4 Tbsp sugar
Directions:
1) Slice the lemons into quarters and then slice the quarters into thin slices.
2) Add the lemons, fruit, onion, salt, and enough water to cover in a small pot.
3) Cover and simmer for 1 hour, until the contents begin to break down into a jam-like consistency.
4) Depending on how sweet the fruit is and how bitter the lemons are, add in 2-4 Tbsp of sugar one tablespoon at a time, tasting as you add until it is delicious.
5) Serve and Enjoy!
