‘Who doesn’t like lemons?’ Recipes will add extra zing to your meals

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When life hands you lemons, make lemon cream cheese muffins, lemon asparagus pasta or lemon zucchini bread.

So say the members of The Garden Club of Bermuda, who recently released Lemon Recipes, a handy sized book containing recipes for all things lemon — tarts, pies, puddings, mousses, cakes, bread, muffins, pasta, chicken and fish.

Club member Joy Nash said the response to the first few printings of the book was “overwhelming”, so they decided to release it to the wider public in time for the holiday season.

She said the great thing about lemons was they could be used in both sweet and savoury dishes and could add an extra zing to meals. “I love it and put it on everything. Very often at dinnertime I will have half a lemon and spritz it on fish, it’s lovely on salmon and you can put it on avocado.

“I also love it on french fries in place of vinegar because it’s refreshing and gives you the acidic taste sometimes you crave. Who doesn’t like lemons?”

The book includes jam maker Sally Godet’s lemon and lime marmalade recipe and artist Carole Holding’s lemon dressing a combination of lemon juice, olive oil, chopped capers, parsley and other seasonings.

The idea for the recipe book came about earlier this year when the Garden Club set up a lemon stand for the Ag Show, offering residents a glass of fresh lemonade and sampling of lemon baked goods.

“One of the offshoots from that is we decided we would do a little lemon recipe book and see if that would sell,” Ms Nash explained. “I asked for recipe donations and was just inundated with them — it was great.

“So we put it together and printed out 20 copies which we sold on the first day. We [later] sold 43 in total at the Ag Show and printed 75 more and they sold as well so we decided we should go public with this book.”

To make a light, fresh pasta, the book suggests cooking penne until it’s al dente, then stirring in asparagus and topping with lemon zest, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, olive oil and salt and pepper.

Or to make a flavourful lemon lovers’ chicken, just marinate the meat in lemon juice overnight, then coat with a mix of flour, paprika, salt and pepper and fry until “well browned”.

Sweet treats are in abundance in the 48-page booklet, including baked lemon pudding, a “tried and true” lemon souffle and lemon buttermilk pound cake.

Ms Nash joined the club three years ago. She grows everything from kale, carrots, collard greens, broccoli, tomatoes, beets and peppers on her property and said she was “quite passionate” that growing one’s own food was the way forward.

“We all need to think about growing a few vegetables just considering the pricing, the availability and because it’s healthier to have food you grow yourself,” she explained.

Ms Nash said she has been “blown over” by the book’s success and is hopeful the momentum will continue.

“I have orders now for more books and I think they are going to make great little Christmas gifts because people are cutting down due to the hard economic times and this is a nice little token for $11.95.

“And even for tourists it’s got Bermuda on it and a little bit different from typical souvenirs. We are also a charity and all our profits go towards horticulture and environment scholarships and community projects, so it’s a great cause all around.”

The Garden Club of Bermuda was formed in 1921 to stimulate interest in horticulture, floral design and related subjects; it also serves to aid in the conservation of natural resources on the Island. Its approximately 300 members attend monthly meetings in the winter and break for the summer.

If popular, the club might consider doing other fresh fruit and veggie-themed recipe books in the future, Ms Nash said.

Lemon Recipes is available at The Bermuda Book Store on Queen Street, the Irish Linen Shop, AS Cooper’s, Trustworthy in the Walker Arcade, and the Bermuda Craft Market in Dockyard.

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