Lemon Goop!

I wasn't looking for another lemon recipe but as I was idly scrolling through the news Friday morning, this popped up: Lemon Goop and Vinaigrette. Goop. How could I say no to that one? The goop is basically in two parts; a thick sauce that can be used as a marinade and a more liquidy syrup that can be used in dressing. Hence the additional instructions for making the vinaigrette. I just liked the name. That, and since both kids were here, it seemed like a quick, fun recipe.

Just three ingredients in today's cast! Four, if you count the water.

The sugar and salt were mixed with water. I left it on low while I tended to the lemons.

Half of the lemons needed to be zested but since the recipe called for a rough chop, I used a paring knife rather than the microplane. Make sure you don't get that bitter white pith lurking beneath the surface!

All of the lemon then needed to be peeled and the piths needed to be removed. I find the easiest thing to do is to cut off both ends of the lemon and use a paring knife to strip off the skin and pith beneath.

The lemons were cut into sections and I also removed the white membranes between the sections. The recipe did not say anything about the seeds at all. In retrospect, they should have been removed at this point.

By this time the sugar and salt had pretty much dissolved in the water. I increased the heat to bring it to a boil and then added the lemons and peels.

When the liquid came back to a boil, I reduced the heat and let it simmer for an hour.

At the end of the hour, the liquid had turned dark and thick and the fruit was almost completely broken down.

I strained the mixture and this is when it occurred to me--what about the seeds? I contemplated picking them out by hand but that would have taken awhile as the pulpy part of the mixture was rather sticky. And the kids were here. And they were having individual and collaborative moments.

The syrup was gorgeous in color and I kept thinking of lemonade...

I put the pulp into my little blender along with about 1/2 cup of the syrup and blended for about 30 seconds. I was hoping that the seeds would get pulverized.

If I had done the processing in the big Cuisinart, the seeds would have been history. This little blender couldn't quite handle that task, but it did make the pulp into a nice (mostly) smooth mixture. I tasted it and wow! It was like someone got wet lemon peel from a crack seed store and blended it up with a little more sugar and additional lemon juice! Sweet and tart lemony goodness! The seed bits did mess with the texture a bit but more importantly, as they have a tendency to be bitter, there was some astringency in the flavor as well. Not at all off-putting, especially if you already like wet lemon peel, but I would definitely remove them the next time.

I bottled the syrup separately. Just looking at it made my mouth water. After the cooled, I put them in the fridge and they sat there for a couple of days.

Tom and I went to the garden this afternoon and harvested more tomatoes and cucumbers. Beets, too, but they aren't included in tonight's festivities.

Here's the cast for the Goop Vinaigrette.

The vinaigrette is an "add all ingredients and whisk them together" recipe. Here's the syrup after a couple of days.

And here's the nicely thickened goop.

I used a local honey and shook everything up.

The dressing was perfect on Tom's cucumbers and tomatoes and some Romaine and avocado; in fact the creaminess of the avocado works really well with the tang of the dressing. It was a cool, sunshiny dish that was perfect for this hot day.

The guys enjoyed the salad dressing and I look forward to making the goop again...without seeds!

Here's the promised link:

Goooop!