It’s citrus season, y’all! This issue of House Creature is a celebration of all things citrus because we certainly need a little sunshine right now. Let’s get juicy:
Give yourself a lil’ treat: This is my second year ordering Honeybells and red grapefruits as a mid-winter pick-me-up, and I’m very excited. There is certainly a lot of great fruit available in my grocery store, but the stuff from Sun Harvest will knock your socks off. The Honeybells (a hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit) require a bowl under your chin to catch all the juice while you eat them. Honeybells start shipping in mid-February, so there is still time!
Preserve a few! We went to Morocco back in 2019 and ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by preserved lemons. Here’s a photo I took of a market stall in Casa Blanca, I wanted to eat it all:
Over the past few years, I’ve learned two important things about preserved lemons: 1. a little goes a long way while cooking. 2. Don’t try to preserve regular lemons this way, just don’t do it. I’ve tried it twice and it is just… bleh. Seek out Meyer lemons for this, it is worth it.
I recently used preserved lemon in Alison Roman’s “The Stew Too,” which is a delicious white bean stew with greens. I didn’t have preserved lemon then, so I made this overnight version from America’s Test Kitchen and it worked out wonderfully.
Here’s a little Instagram Reel I made documenting a small batch (two meyer lemons). The steps are:
Wash your lemons, cut them in half, and cut off the stem ends. Cut an X in each half, make sure not to go all the way through.
Massage in 1 Tbsp of kosher salt per lemon half. Really work it in. (Wear gloves if you have any cuts on your hands! Lemon + Salt + Cut = OUCH)
Put all the salty lemons in a jar and use the end of a wooden spoon to smash them down and release juices. If your lemons aren’t covered with juice when you’re done smashing them, add a little extra juice to cover them.
Put in the fridge for AT LEAST two weeks before using. Longer than 4 weeks and less than 6 months is the ideal use period.
Click on the image below to watch the process.
Palomas have options: I love a Paloma any time of year, but they feel extra special in the winter - everything about a Paloma is just so… ZINGY.
A classic Paloma calls for fresh grapefruit juice, lime juice, simple syrup, tequila, and soda. You can even go all out and salt the rim of the glass. I like this recipe from Love & Lemons. Throwing this drink together will probably take you 7-8 minutes.
Let’s say you want a Paloma but less fuss - swap out the fresh grapefruit juice for storebought, and use agave instead of the simple syrup. These swaps will cut down your prep time to 4-5 minutes.
Now let’s say that is all still way too fussy - swap out both the grapefruit juice and sweetener for a grapefruit soda (Fever Tree is great). I still like to add a little soda water so it isn’t super sweet, squeeze in your lime, add a glug of tequila on top, stir it up a bit, and that’s a cocktail in 1-2 minutes.
This is also a lovely non-alcoholic cocktail if you skip the tequila!
Hot tip: Palomas pair super well with food that is both spicy and creamy. Think enchiladas, spicy corn dip, pasta with a spicy cream sauce… or one of the many appetizers you may be prepping for the upcoming “big game.”
Soap for winter: Shout out to my friend Madeline for this one - she got me this Nordic vitamin C soap for my birthday and it basically sucks the winter right out of your body. The citrus scent is strong and the exfoliation is stronger, so be gentle!
Heidi Swanson did my work for me. Heidi Swanson, the genius behind the 101 Cookbooks website and at least three of her own cookbooks, put together a citrus recipe round-up that you should definitely check out. She’s got citrus peel pastes, citrus salads, citrus salts, and a link to even more - 15 winter citrus recipes. (Side note: Heidi’s cookbooks end up out on my kitchen island at least once a week, if you eat a vegetarian or mostly-vegetarian diet, I highly recommend them!)
Have grapefruit, will (not) travel. Ok, so this one is not citrus-related but it was too House Creature-ie to not include. This New Yorker piece from back in June titled, “The Case Against Travel” re-emerged on my social media feeds this week and it really resonates.
Obviously, I’ve done a little traveling (I mean… I just showed you a picture from a trip to Morocco), but I wouldn’t call myself a traveler. I’m careful about not traveling just for the sake of traveling - if I go somewhere there is a very clear purpose or mission. Also, I like my house.
I’m not going to rehash this whole article, you should give it a read, but here are a few quotes that stood out for me:
“Travel gets branded as an achievement: see interesting places, have interesting experiences, become interesting people. Is that what it really is?”
“Tourists are less likely to borrow from their hosts than their hosts are from them, thus precipitating a chain of change in the host community. We go to experience a change, but end up inflicting change on others.”
“If you are going to see something you neither value nor aspire to value, you are not doing much of anything besides locomoting.”
“Travel is fun, so it is not mysterious that we like it. What is mysterious is why we imbue it with a vast significance, an aura of virtue. If a vacation is merely the pursuit of unchanging change, an embrace of nothing, why insist on its meaning?”
And finally, a very House Creature-ie video: I’ve made this lemon tart. It has a genius little layer of jam on the bottom. It is delicious and sunshiny. Claire is brilliant. Check it out:
Do you like me? Share House Creature with a friend! See you in February :)
You had me at lemon! The tart looks spectacular!