Lemons, again...

Or lemon trees and chainsaws, plus our tweaked lemon curd and more delicious, savory and sweet recipes!

I would have cut both lemon trees down a long time ago, but quite predictably Aglaia resisted my idea to the point of almost tying herself on our dying lemon trees. For a couple of years I was rolling my eyes as I was passing by their naked misery and their torn trunks and branches.

They were two beautiful lemon trees when we arrived, and I remember discovering them in the overgrowth at the southern edge of the property when we came for the first time. Still quite small, while at the time --it was the end of my previous life-- I didn’t much care about trees and such.

When the construction of the house finished, and it did take a few years as we had to catch up with other things happening in our lives at the time, the lemon trees were both thriving, full of fruit.

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Lemon Curd with lemon marmalade

I make my lemon curd without butter because I like its intense lemony flavor. I even enhance it with a few tablespoons of my bitter-sweet lemon marmalade. Butter makes a smoother and creamier lemon curd, so it is up to your personal taste.

Also, I don’t pass the cream through a fine sieve as the classic French and old English tradition dictates. The occasional tiny lumps don’t bother me.
If you want to make more lemon curd, repeat the process, which only takes about 10-12 minutes. I have found that it is difficult to whisk and cook properly more than four eggs at a time.

For about 1 2/3 cups
Zest of 1 1/2 – 2 organic very fresh lemons (depending on the size of the lemons and on how lemony/bitter you like the curd)
1/3 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon marmalade
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4-6 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)
4 eggs (medium or large)

In a small bowl toss the zest with the sugar, stirring to mix, and set aside.

In the blender pulse the marmalade with the lemon juice, add the sugar and zest and pulse once more. With a rubber spatula transfer to a stainless steel or flameproof glass bowl, stir in the butter, if you use it, and place the bowl on top of a saucepan with simmering water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl.

In a clean bowl break the eggs and whisk them with a hand-held mixer until very frothy. Whisk the sugar-lemon mixture on top of the boiling water –I use the hand-held mixer— and add the eggs, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of cream. Remove the pan from the heat but continue to whisk the lemon curd for another minute.

Transfer to one or two small jars, cover the surface with a piece of parchment paper and let cool. Close the jars and refrigerate.
It keeps for 5 weeks, or longer.

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Our lemons, of the large kind that does not have much juice, were much sweeter than you would expect, while their peel was very thick; the kind of lemons people over here use for the rolled sweet preserves and liqueur. Aglaia was in love with them, and I was jealous but managed to contain my jealousy.

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Baked fish with lemon, potatoes and thyme

I first made it with striped bass –absolutely delicious— then with some small hake, and also with pelagisia tsipoura —wild gilt-head sea bream, called Orata in Italy, and Dorade in France– an exquisite, and most expensive Mediterranean fish. All three versions were great, especially with the thick-skinned, almost sweet lemons from the old lemon trees in our garden, which are of the vintage kind grown also in Amalfi.

You basically need no recipe if you would like to make it. Bear in mind, though, that using head-on fish is really important as it flavors the sauce and the potatoes beautifully. Read more HERE.

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After a heatwave and drought a little more than two years ago, the trees looked almost completely gone.

My renewed jealousy could no longer be tamed and I took the chainsaw; when Aglaia heard the gnashing of its metallic teeth, burst out of the house yelling, and then we had a fight —what civilized people would usually call “a heated argument.”

Lemon and thyme or mint liqueur is very easy to make, and only needs time to macerate and become wonderfully aromatic!

And guess what, we were both vindicated! One tree completely dried and died, the other one is kind of thriving again after Aglaia’s meticulous and constant care with various fertilizers, organic and all. I could not believe it…

And then came the guilt. And I petted the tree and all the other trees and bushes that were formally blacklisted and waiting in death row. And soon after that, when the big, almost centenarian almond tree in front of the house died too, I was really sad. And perhaps this was the only time the damning yell of the chainsaw sounded so heartbreaking in my ears…