GARDEN FRESH : Lemon: The Essential Seasoning

A handful of seasonings are all but universal: salt, pepper, onions, lemons. From Nebraska to Tanzania, Tasmania to Noril’sk, Nagoya to Tierra del Fuego, I can see cooks reaching for any one of these when creating a dish. You couldn’t be certain that chocolate, sugar, cinnamon and garlic would be in all those kitchens.

It’s exciting to think of so many other people in the world loving lemons. There have been times when I’ve thought lemons were part rind, part juice, part magic. One of the first lessons I learned when I began grown-up cooking was that lemons are rescuers.

Last night, for example, I was trying something kind of Chinese: cauliflower, scallops, bay shrimp and rings of red chiles in a creamy sauce over rice. I’d added garlic and sprinkled parsley on top.

My husband praised it. But I kept shaking salt and pepper over my plate. The flavors came close to being marvelous, but they weren’t, and I was frustrated.

Suddenly it came to me. I squirted half a Meyer lemon over my dinner. Now it was marvelous. Another save.

Because they are magic, I’m thrifty with lemons. My husband pops a chunk into our nightly tonic, and when the glasses are drained, I whiz the chunks to a pulp and add them to the juice jug in the refrigerator.

And I never discard what’s left of a lemon after I’ve juiced it. Into the freezer it goes, into a container with its confreres. Although the peel will curl a little, the freezing hardly affects its flavor quality. So when a recipe calls for lemon juice and I haven’t a lemon to spare, I use finely shredded zest from one of these frozen hulls.

I often toss one of these frozen lemon hulls into soups or simmering stews--lemon has an affinity for every kind of meat, poultry and fish. I add the zest to vegetables too; I can’t think of a vegetable that isn’t happy in its company. And zest is better than lemon juice when you want to flavor milk or cream, which the acid juice might curdle.

Add lemon juice to white vegetables as they cook, because it not only adds flavor, it helps them hold their colors. Green vegetables, on the other hand, want to be sprinkled with juice just before serving--cooking them with lemon will darken their green to drab.

There doesn’t seem to be any place a lemon can’t profitably be put. Many cooks tuck a lemon in the cavity of a chicken before roasting. That baby perfumes the whole bird.

To glean the most juice from a lemon, heat the fruit in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Somebody experimented and found that when a lemon was heated two minutes, it yielded two tablespoons more juice than a cold lemon. Another tried-and-true way to get more juice is to roll the fruit back and forth on the counter before squeezing it, pressing down hard.

Don’t think everything on my table tangs of lemon. Only sometimes do I add enough that it’s lemony. Most often, I use the flavor in the manner of salt and pepper--to elevate, intensify, underscore--you’ll never know it’s there.

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An ideal way to use fragrant thin-skinned lemons is to show them off in a pie out of Herman Smith’s “Stina” (published in 1946, sadly out of print). Just four ingredients: whole lemons sliced paper-thin, sugar, eggs and mace. Baked, the filling is a delicious golden marmalade custard. And although pies are usually best the day of baking, this one may be refrigerated and served the next day and be astonishing. A taste of charming Americana for Christmas dinner?

OHIO LEMON PIE

3/4 pound thin-rinded lemons, blemishes and stems removed

2 1/4 cups sugar

Perfect Flaky Pastry

1/2 tablespoon butter, melted

1 cup eggs (about 5 eggs), at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon ground mace or ground nutmeg

Slice lemons as thinly as possible, removing seeds as you go. Slice pithy end slices into thin slivers. Finely chop knobby ends. There should be 3 cups. Combine with sugar in mixing bowl and set in cool place.

Place 1/2 Perfect Flaky Pastry dough on lightly floured cloth. Cover dough with wax paper, or use rolling pin covered with stockinette. Working from center outward, roll dough into circle 12 inches in diameter, patching as needed. Lift cloth, curl dough over pin and slide 9-inch glass pie plate beneath dough. Uncurl dough into dish. Press out bubbles. Trim dough 1/2 inch beyond rim. Brush bottom with melted butter.

Roll remaining 1/2 dough into 12-inch circle and leave on cloth.

Beat eggs with mace until blended and add to lemons. Use rubber spatula to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Scrape filling into pie plate and smooth surface with spatula. Moisten rim of crust.

Use rolling pin to lift remaining round of dough as before, and center over pie plate. Trim dough 1/2 inch beyond rim. Press top and bottom pastries together to seal, pinching for decorative border. If desired, roll out dough scraps and cut into lemon leaf and stem shapes. Moisten bottoms of shapes and make lemon sprig pattern on top crust.

Slash crust in 8 or 10 places around top. Bake on middle rack of oven at 450 degrees 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake until filling no longer jiggles when moved and silver knife thrust into filling emerges with moist specks attached, about 35 more minutes. Vents may need reslashing after 15 minutes. Do not over-bake; custard will continue to cook after removed from oven. Cool on rack. Refrigerate when cold. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each of 8 servings contains about:

558 calories; 205 mg sodium; 177 mg cholesterol; 23 grams fat; 82 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 0.25 gram fiber.

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Perfect Flaky Pastry

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

3/4 cup cake flour

Slightly rounded 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (4 ounces) cold vegetable shortening or lard, cut into pieces

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup cold beaten egg (1 extra large)

2 tablespoons ice water

2 teaspoons mild vinegar

Combine all-purpose flour, cake flour and salt in processor bowl. Process 10 seconds. Add shortening and butter pieces. Process in on/off bursts just until largest pieces of fat are pea size, about 12 times.

Mix together egg, water and vinegar and pour into processor bowl. Process on/off until mixture masses in crumbles, 8 to 10 times. Turn dough onto counter and pat into ball (splotches of unincorporated fat are correct). Slice in half and pat into 5-inch rounds. Wrap and chill 2 hours before rolling out 1/8-inch thick. When patching is needed, press pieces together without water. Makes enough dough for 1 (9-inch) double pie crust.

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Daisy placemat and napkin courtesy of Bristol Farms Cook ‘N’ Things, South Pasadena.