Meyer Lemons

The Meyer lemons are coming! The Meyer lemons are coming! And if you look hard enough, you might even be able to find them now. I managed to find some, the first of the season. I went to four different markets before I found them…I just can’t help myself when a craving strikes…but I found them. The search was worth it too, these sweet and intensely aromatic lemons are a joy to cook with. Their floral fragrance is intoxicating. How I love Meyer lemons, they’re reason enough to look forward to winter.


Meyer Lemon & Blood Orange Gelée
Printable Recipe

½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated Meyer lemon zest
¾ cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon gelatin
Suprêmes from 3 blood oranges

Combine the sugar, lemon zest, and ¾ cups of water in a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in the lemon juice. Measure 1/3 cup of water into a small bowl and slowly sprinkle over the gelatin. Place the bowl of gelatin over a small pan of simmering water and heat until melted. Stir into the lemon mixture. Chill the lemon mixture over an ice bath until just beginning to thicken. This will allow the bits of lemon zest to stay suspended in the mixture. Divide the suprêmes along with their juices among 6 ramekins or individual molds and then divide the lemon mixture among them. Refrigerate for about 4 hours, or until set.

Serve as is, or to unmold, dip the bottom of each ramekin or mold into hot water for a few seconds, wipe dry, and invert onto a dessert plate.

Serves 6. This is a light and refreshing dessert. It’s also super puckery and not for the faint of tart—ideal for serious lemon lovers. I like to serve it with Candied Citrus Peel and a drizzle of Blood Orange Syrup. For a gelée with a beautiful pink color and the perfect texture, add the juices from cutting the blood orange suprêmes, but reserve the juice squeezed from the membranes for another purpose. Can be made up to a day ahead of time and kept covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. You will need about 6 large Meyer lemons for this recipe.

Dang Myun

Dang myun is the Korean noodle made of sweet potato starch. Dang myun’s a flavor chameleon, though it has no taste of its own, it takes on the flavor of whatever sauce it’s in. It turns a beautiful crystal clear once it’s cooked. And it has a wonderful texture, both chewy and slippery, it slides right down.

The closure of my very favorite Korean restaurant, which happens to be the same traumatic event that drove me to recreate their bibimbap, prompted my first experiments with dang myun. I had eaten their bulgogi, the familiar version served on a sizzle platter, countless times. But one day I ordered the bulgogi, and what arrived was entirely different, a saucy dish of tender beef stewed with plenty of onions and those clear, slippery noodles. It took some gentle prodding, the waitress insisted she didn’t know what the noodles were called in English, but she eventually divulged the Korean word. I went to the market directly and bought a bag.

Beef with Dang Myun
Printable Recipe

½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ¼ pounds thinly sliced boneless beef short ribs
8 ounces dang myun
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion, julienned
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

Combine the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, and a generous pinch of pepper in a medium bowl. Add the beef and stir to coat. Marinate for about half an hour. Meanwhile, cook the dang myun in a large pot of boiling water for 6 to 7 minutes, or until tender. Drain, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking, and drain again.

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the onion and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, or until beginning to soften. Add the beef and green onions and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the beef is just cooked through. Add the noodles and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they take on the color of the sauce and are heated through. Stir in the sesame seeds and sesame oil. Divide among individual noodle bowls and serve immediately.

Serves 4. When boiling dang myun noodles, don’t overcook them—keep in mind that they are still very chewy even when they are cooked through. Dang myun is available in Korean markets. Do not confuse dang myun with rice noodles or bean thread noodles.

Suprêmes

Have you ever heard of a suprême? No, not the members of the Motown group from the 1960s. But a segment of citrus fruit minus the membranes and seeds.

Suprêmes have a fantastic texture and look like little jewels. Orange and especially blood orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon and Meyer lemon, and lime suprêmes all make beautiful garnishes for sauces, salads, and desserts. Add a few juicy suprêmes to any dish with citrus for that special touch.

To cut suprêmes, use a very sharp chef’s knife or paring knife, whichever you’re more comfortable with. Start by cutting the stem end off the citrus fruit.


Then cut off the blossom end.


Stand the fruit on one of its cut ends and cut the rind away from the flesh in narrow strips.


Rotate the fruit as you go.


And try to remove all of the white pith but as little of the flesh as possible.


Continue until the fruit is naked.*


Then, cut each segment out from between the membranes. A citrus segment is shaped like a wedge, so to remove each one from the fruit, you will need to make two knife cuts, one on either side of the segment just to the inside of the membrane, that come together like a V.


Hold the citrus fruit in one hand and cut slowly and carefully.


Continue until all of the segments have been removed.


You can cut the segments over a bowl to catch the juices. Gently pick out any seeds from the suprêmes. Finally, squeeze the membranes into the bowl to extract the remaining juice.


* This same technique can be used for peeling melons, butternut squash, pineapples, mangoes, and kiwis.

Blood Oranges

Blood orange season has arrived! Have you ever had a blood orange before? Their flesh is a deep garnet color and juicy and luscious, with hints of berries and red wine. So intoxicating.


And so different from any other type of orange, it’s hard to believe that they’re even in the same category. For me it was love at first taste. It was in California during citrus season, and I greedily bought up way more blood oranges than we could possibly eat fresh. That’s when I was inspired to create Blood Orange Syrup.

Blood Orange Syrup*
Printable Recipe

1 ½ cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes, or until thickened and slightly syrupy.

Yields about 1/3 cup. Don’t let the simplicity of this recipe fool you, it’s a party for your taste buds. The jewel-like color, super-concentrated flavor, and balance of sweet, sour, and bitter make it wonderful drizzled on everything from duck salad rolls to crêpes to vanilla ice cream, which is luscious in a dreamsicle sort of way. Also perfect in mixed drinks and delicious blended with maple syrup for serving over pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Though this syrup is so intensely tasty I could drink it straight up, a tiny bit goes a long way. Keeps for about a week tightly sealed in the refrigerator.


*For a related Duck Breasts with Blood Orange Sauce recipe and everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores in the fall of 2010.