Indulge in lemons

Anyone who loves lemons as much as we do will be thrilled by this book. Excellent pictures, interesting background stories and wonderful recipe suggestions that work.

We couldn’t imagine life without lemons and literally devoured this book.

It begins with art history and looks at the lemon in the classical paintings of the Dutch masters. There, the lemon was a popular motif in still lifes. Many of these can be seen in the exquisite collection of Dutch masters in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The lemon was a symbol of wealth.

On the ships of the Dutch East India Company and all other ships, lemons were important for preventing scurvy. In the greenhouses of the nobility and wealthy merchants throughout Europe, lemons were presented in the same way as Ferraris are presented today.

Examples include the Hesperides Gardens in Nuremberg, the Orangeries in Schönbrun and the Medici Gardens in Florence.

Anyone who has never enjoyed a natural lemon

From being a symbol of wealth, the lemon went downhill over the following centuries. While the homemade lemonade that children sold at street stalls in the period before the Second World War was still the symbol of the American dream, which could be realized through hard work, the lemon suddenly became a symbol of poor quality:

“Trading in lemons” became a common saying and golden lemons were awarded to those whose work had disappointed.

Anyone who has fallen for these ideas has probably never enjoyed a delicious natural lemon.

The lemon in the kitchen and at the bar

While the first part of the book Lemon is a wonderful outline of lemons in art, especially painting, with many pictures to revel in, the second part of the book offers excellent suggestions on how to use lemons in the kitchen and at the bar.

Chef Simon Hopkins, who ran the Bibendum restaurant in London for many years, is responsible for this. We have enjoyed many an excellent lunch there under his aegis, in the establishment that celebrates the Michelin Man and whose front door reads “Nunc est bibendum”, now it’s time to drink.

Bibendum House was the headquarters of Michelin from 1911 until 1985, when it was abandoned as an administrative building and became one of the most popular weekend destinations in Kensington thanks to the Bibendum restaurant and the Terrance Conran.

Simon Hopkins is the rare outstanding chef who is all about good food, well-researched recipes and not the personality show. He was once described as the best chef in England that nobody knows.

His recipes work, we have tested them many times and so we cook our way enthusiastically through the recipes in this book.

Taglioni al limone

We started with the recipe for taglioni al limone, which we have modified to enjoy with green asparagus in the current asparagus season.

Ingredients for 2 people

1 natural lemon

100 grams unsalted butter

100 g freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Taglioni

8 spears of green asparagus

Salt and pepper

Melt the butter at a low temperature and grate the zest of the natural lemon into the butter using a zester. Then squeeze the lemon and add to the butter.

If you leave the butter to stand for 1-2 hours, the flavors of the lemon will soak into the butter even better. If you need it quickly, you can also spread the butter straight away.

Lightly peel the green asparagus and cut lengthwise into pieces. Cook the taglioni according to the instructions and add the ends of the asparagus to the boiling taglioni about 5 minutes before the end of cooking and the tips of the asparagus after two minutes.

Before draining the pasta and asparagus, add some of the pasta water to the warm butter, season carefully with salt and pepper and stir in plenty of Parmesan.

Mix the taglioni and asparagus with the butter-lemon-Parmesan sauce and drape on the plate, sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan and a little fresh pepper. Done.

French 75

Lemon also cuts a fine figure in a cocktail glass. Even though we usually prefer champagne neat, we couldn’t resist this recipe from the book Lemon:

Cocktail-HZutrane

50 ml gin

The juice of half a natural lemon

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Champagne

The gin, lemon juice and sugar are mixed together and poured into the cocktail glass, which is then filled with champagne. Of course, a lemon zest is the only possible decoration for the glass.

We raise our glasses to this beautiful book Limon full of interesting art references and delicious recipes. The ideal gift for anyone who loves lemons.

#ProductPlacement #IndependentRecommendation #BecauseWeLoveIt

Photographs © GloriousMe