Preserved Lemons

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I told you it will get lemony here. Try not to get too sour about it.
Let’s go down this yellow brick road and I’ll show you around what I did with those lemons other than freezing the zest and juice, and making a wonderful sorbet.

With this plethora of lemons, I couldn’t help, while zesting, but pick out the best –and the most emotionally unavailable– ones to praise and cherish and photograph. Then, believing that they would rot after a while, like everything else, I decided to fight their sourness with my saltiness, and press all of it and let it wrestle trapped inside a jar, stacked in my kitchen cabinet.

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Lemonade and Orange Sorbet

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Last month I had the chance to pass by Saida, in South Lebanon, throughout our Clown Me In tour, and see the stalls of the last few citrus varieties before the season is over.

I bought a 20kg crate of beautiful yellow lemons and another of Valencia oranges and got them home. I swear I spent a whole afternoon with a big bowl of water to wash them and the zester to zest most of those lemons and orange and freeze them for later use. I’m grateful for sitcoms and comedy shows that kept me company all day.
But I can’t complain.
It felt good. Relaxed and unwound with the zesty citrus aromas.
And I have zest for the whole year! Continue reading

Fava beans, Peas, and Freekeh Salad

It’s seasonal produce at its BEST!

A couple of weekends ago, I had the chance to hide among the tall fava bean plants and dive deep to collect the long green pods.

I also kneeled down the search for the fresh pea pods hiding underneath barricades of pea vines. I stepped on numerous ones, despite being careful, attempting to reach a handful of pods sunbathing together in the open.

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