Love that quote.

A complaint from the priest and humorist Sidney Smith who used it to describe a parish that he was sent to in deepest Yorkshire in1809.

There is no substitute for the flavour of a lemon. They’re not something that you want to find yourself without in a working kitchen. They’ll dress your salad, ice your cake, stuff your chicken and crown a proper gin and tonic. They are simultaneously unique and indispensable.

The Glasraí crew are currently supplying us with some particularly delicious and flavourful  Italian ones. The lemons are organic, and although not all unwaxed lemons are organic,  all organic ones are unwaxed. Lemons are usually waxed to extend their shelf life, but for the recipes below, or any recipe that uses the zest, you’re better off to use the unwaxed variety. If you’d like to read some more information about lemons and waxing, here’s a great article from The Guardian.

As well as lemons, we’ve also started to sell our own lemon curd.

It’s a great addition to a sponge cake or lovely on toast.

Here’s 2 of our favourite other lemon recipes…

Lemon Drizzle Cake

2 eggs

175 g Caster Sugar

75ml Double Cream

175 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

175 g very soft butter

for the glaze

100g Icing sugar

juice of one lemon

Method

1- Set oven to 160 C. Great a 1kg /2lb loaf tin and line it with parchment paper.

2- Using a cake mixer or electric whisk, beat the caster sugar and butter until pale in colour, then add the flour and and eggs in incremental amounts and incorporate

3- Add all the other ingredients with a pinch of salt and beat until combined. Turn into the prepared tin and cook for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into middle of cake comes out clean.

4- Combine sugar and lemon juice with a fork or thick being sure to smooth out any lumps.

5- Remove cake from tin and allow to cool for 30 mins or so before pouring the fondant over the cake.Leave to set before serving

Lemon Posset.

A true example of a recipe that is so much greater than it’s sum of parts – cream, sugar and lemons. It’s the perfect end to a meal, yet has become overshadowed by it’s European relations, the Panna cotta and creme brûlée. Once it’s set, it can be accompanied by a scatter of  seasonal berries or a some rhubarb as shown in picture.

300 ml Cream

75g caster sugar

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp lemon juice.

Method

• Put the cream, sugar and lemon zest in a small saucepan and warm over a low heat, stirring ll the time to make sure the sugar dissolves , and bubbles start to form around the edge. Cook gently without stirring for 2 minutes, and try to avoid a rolling boil.
• Remove from the heated stir in the lemon juice
• Pour into 4 small glasses (80 ml each)
• Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or leave overnight.

Around this time last year, we were asked by John and Sally Mc Kenna for a recipe to include in their latest  publication , entitled “MILK” ,  which was to come out later in the summer. Since published, it’s a fantastic and eclectic collection of recipes all with the common theme of using wonderful Irish Milk and ‘uniting the farmer in the field with the cook in the kitchen’.

We chose to use our local buttermilk as the inspiration for our recipe. ‘Cuinneog’ is a family run dairy based near Balla, Co Mayo. They make the most wonderful butter and thick, gloopy , delicious buttermilk – full of goodness and perfect for this recipe.

We’ve departed from the classic Caesar Cardini recipe by replacing some of the oil with buttermilk, but we hope that you like the modification.

‘MILK’ by John and Sally is available to buy at our deli on Spencer street and here from our online shop. It can be posted nationwide.

Our Buttermilk dressing features , at time of writing, as part of of our Caesar Salad meal kit and on our sandwich of the week with slow cooked Andarl farm pork belly.

Visit our CLICK and COLLECTION site for more details

BUTTERMILK CAESAR

Cais na tire, Coolea , Parmesan or suitable hard cheese with  a nutty flavour – 50 g grated

Anchovies – 3 fillets

Egg yolks – 3

Dijon Mustard – 1 heaped dessertspoon

Worcestershire sauce – 1 teaspoon

Garlic – 2 cloves

Sunflower oil – 200 ml

Cuinneog Buttermilk – 200 ml

Lemon juice, salt and black Pepper to taste

Method

Combine all ingredients in food processor except oil, milk and lemon juice. Blend until smooth and with motor running drizzle in the oil in a thin steady stream, taking care not to add it too quickly, otherwise it could split and curdle. When th oil is incorporated, keep the motor running and add buttermilk, pouring steadily . Transfer to a bowl and season and add some lemon juice to taste.

Keep refrigerated for up to 5 days, ensuring eggs have at least this as a use by date.

If you’d rather make a mayo using raw eggs as above, you can use some of the ingredients as a base to flavour

some shop bought mayo. Blitz the anchovies, garlic, cheese, mustard and Worcestershire Sauce together and tie the motor running, add about 100 ml of buttermilk in to make a paste….empty a jar of good quality shop bought mayo into bowl and add the Caesar ingredients, seasoning and adding some lemon juice to taste….if required, thin it out a little with some more buttermilk….you’re looking for the consistency of drinking yogurt…

Dress some baby gem or romaine salad leaves and top with some crispy Gubbeen bacon lardons, and shavings of your chosen cheese.