For weeks, every time I walked to and from my car I passed my dwarf Meyer lemon tree with ripe lemons just begging to be picked. Since it’s been so cold and rainy, I was really in no mood to have a load of lemons sitting around the house just waiting to be made into some chilled lemon concoction. Finally, a couple of Sundays ago I was out planting bulbs (yes, I was a few months behind in getting them planted, but I’m an optimist!) and I finally got them picked.
Dwarf Meyer lemon tree
I squeezed the juice out of all of the lemons and poured the juice into plastic ice cube trays and froze them. Once frozen, I took the lemon cubes out of the trays and put the cubes into plastic bags and stored them in the freezer. The very next day, I came down with the flu. When I have a sore throat and stuffy nose, I like to drink honey, lemon, and tea, so my timing for getting the flu couldn’t have been better! I was able to prepare my honey, lemon, and tea with very little effort.
Now that I’m up and about and cooking again, I have found having frozen lemon cubes on hand to be a huge convenience. I have used the lemon cubes in salad dressings and marinade. On Super Bowl Sunday I used a lemon cube in a marinade for Red Glazed Pork Loin Chops. Although the recipe instructed me to broil the chops in the oven, I grilled mine and they turned out great. (Grilling is a lot less work for me–If I used the oven I would have had a pan and rack to scrub—my husband cleans the grill.) The next day I made a salad with an Asian dressing and cut the left over pork into very thin strips and put the strips into the salad. This too was very tasty. With the Chinese New Year just days away, this recipe will make a nice dish for a Chinese New Year celebration.
Red Glazed Pork Loin Chops from cooks.com
Ingredients
- 4 boneless pork loin chops, cut 1″ thick
- 2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. minced green onion
- 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
Instructions
Combine hoisin sauce, brown sugar, green onion, lemon juice and soy sauce. Place pork chops in utility dish or plastic bag; add marinade, turning to coat. Cover dish or tie bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 1-2 hours. Remove chops from marinade; reserve. Place chops on rack in broiler so surface of meat is 5-7 inches from heat. Broil at low to moderate temperature 12-15 minutes, turning once. Brush with remaining marinade during broiling, if desired.
Gung hay fat choy! ~merry carter~