Our first lemon...Yum! The most Lemon-y Lemon Bars

I think I may have mentioned (once or twice) that Inspector Climate and I bought a lemon tree together about 4 months ago. Besides being our first step into growing our own food, this lemon tree was the first thing that we bought that was ours. And of course, it symbolises the way, someday, that we'd like to live our life together. Growing our own food, sustaining our selves, and taking care of this earth in the best way that we know how. I've mentioned before that I grew up eating nearly an entirely organic and locally grown (by my mother) diet. The more I learn about sustainability and climate change, the more I've begun to realise how incredibly important what we eat features into how to how we will adapt and respond to The Problem We Face. And even more than that, how a portion of the solution could be in growing some of our own food ourselves or within our communities. It seems simple right?

So, that brings us to our lemon tree. And our one lemon (so far!). We knew before we left on holidays that the lemon was nearly ripe, but we wanted to make sure it was absolutely perfect before we picked it.



And to add to the cheese factor:

One day when I was clicking clicking clicking through different food blogs I found this recipe from David Lebovitz. It was perfect because you use every single part of the lemon to make your lemon bars - and what better way to sustainable is there than that?

I HIGHLY recommend trying these, they are incredibly simple and so absolutely lemon-y that it'll blow your mind. But, because you use the WHOLE lemon rind, pith, the works - I will have to insist that you use an organic lemon. Now of course, I adapted these to make them gluten free, if you're not hindered by gluten go ahead and use a cup of normal flour. Also, sadly you do need the juice from a second lemon.

Crust

2/3 cup plain gluten free flour (I used plain gluten free White Wings flour)

1/3 cup almond meal

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
115g melted unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Topping

1 lemon, organic
1 cup sugar
45ml freshly squeezed lemon juice - from the second lemon.
3 large eggs, room temperature
4 teaspoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C fan forced.

2. Line an 8 inch square pan with foil or baking paper. Make it as smooth as possible around corners and edges.

3. In a medium bowl, mix all the crust ingredients together. I found that in gluten free land, the batter was REALLY too wet, so I added another tablespoon or so of gluten free flour to thicken it up a bit.

4. Smooth the batter into the bottom of the pan, using your hands try to make it as smooth as possible.

5. Bake the crust for 25 minutes, or until it’s deep-golden brown.

6. While the crust is cooking, cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and cut the lemon into chunks.

7. Put the chunks of lemon in a food processor or blender. As you can see from the photo below, the food processor we have at our disposal is quite small. So I just put in the lemon juice and lemon chunks and blitzed it until mostly smooth. In a bowl, I used a wooden spoon to beat together the sugar, corn starch, eggs, salt, and melted butter.

8. When the crust comes out of the oven, reduce the heat of the oven to 150ºC - or 130ºC fan forced. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling and is barely set. It took our filling to stop jiggling at about 35 minutes. Inspector Climate's oven is not the most consistent.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars grasping the foil. Cut the bars into squares or rectangles. Sift powdered sugar over the top just before serving, if desired.

Devour and enjoy the lemon-y goodness.

And for those keeping track, this makes recipe 7/100 on my life list.