Zest for lemons

I don't think lemons feature prominently in Chinese cooking, its most famous lemony creation being the lemon chicken (google lemon and Chinese and you'll get what I mean).

After all, Chinese do not have a sour tooth, with the sour taste of lemon chicken and the equally famous sweet and sour pork being heavily neutralised with lots of sugar. So if you are a fertile woman who likes to indulge in sour food like preserved sour plum, the first question you're likely to encounter is: are you pregnant?

Lemons are less famous than its citrus cousins or sour friends such as the mandarins or pineapples, also for the reason that Chinese have a curious obsession with food that have auspicious names. So, since lemons do not bring 大吉 (big prosperity) or 旺来 (prosperity coming), and sour taste being synonymous with a sour life, it is best avoided on festive occasions. More money, more honey please.

And I have to admit that Rémi's first attempt to impress me with his culinary skills was Lemon Curd, and I wasn't won over. After all, I have a Chinese intolerance for sour food.

But lemon rocks, I was to discover, and a few drops of it adds much zest to the taste of food. So it was with much delight when we went lemon plucking in B&Z's garden on Sunday and came back with more than 10 lemons. Since we can't keep the fresh lemons forever, lemons feature very much in our cooking this week.

Monday: Mediterranean Salad, with lemon juice used in dressing
Tuesday: Ice Lemon Tea, Singapore coffeeshop style
Wednesday: Lemon Chicken Noodles (it was just alright, nothing to shout about or recipe to share, but it was interesting to pour the lemon sauce over the dry noodles. Also interestingly, a recipe on a Chinese website, which I didn't use, spent more time describing how to carve a rooster out of a turnip to garnish the plate of lemon chicken, even detailing the direction the cock should face)
Thursday: Lemon Tart (originally wanted to make my favourite Frozen Lemon Tart, but it requires freezing the tart in fridge overnight)

Seven more lemons to go, what next?
Ideas so far include: tabule, lemon curd, lemon and apple marmalade, tajine lemon chicken (Moroccan style), preserved lemon, lemon cake, roast lamb chops marinated with lemon and garlic (as our friend LC, who also harvested lemons from the same tree have tried), roast chicken with lemon (which we've done before and it's fabulous)...

More lemony days ahead, that's for sure.