This zingy preserved lemon dressing adds a salty but vibrant flavour to salads or green vegetables. It’s perfect for Middle Eastern-style dressings and offers an upgrade on your basic vinaigrette.
What are Preserved Lemons?
Preserved lemons are lemons cured in salt and their juices. These pickled lemons are left to ferment over time, resulting in a bold condiment with sweet and salty flavours. When used in cooking, they offer an umami kick.
Preserved lemons are often used in North African and Middle Eastern cookery. The lemon variety often used for this pickling method is the Beldi variety. For this reason, they might be labelled beldi lemons instead of preserved lemons. However, they can often be used interchangeably.
Ingredients Used in Preserved Lemon Dressing
Lemons—This preserved lemon dressing uses fresh lemon juice and preserved lemons. Fresh lemons are high in vitamin C, which helps reduce oxidative stress and aid recovery. Preserved lemons bring an umami flavour to the table. Their saltiness means they’re high in sodium, making them an electrolyte that helps with rehydration.
Honey—Lemons are naturally quite tart, so they need a little honey to sweeten them. The honey also acts as a binding agent to help bind the olive oil and lemon juice together.
Olive Oil – Olive oil adds calories, but the trade-off is a source of healthy monounsaturated fats and a rich mouthfeel that helps bring out the flavours of the other ingredients. Also, olive oil is great for heart health and helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as Vitamins A, D, E, and K. A good olive oil is a must, but use the best to fit your budget.
Black Pepper and Oregano—While both offer health benefits, they’re used in smaller quantities. They also have a zesty lemon flavour that helps complement the overall flavour of the dressing.
How to Make Preserved Lemon Dressing?
Wash the Lemons—Beldi lemons are salty due to their preservation. To remove excess salt, it’s recommended that they be rinsed before using them in this preserved lemon dressing.
Deseed the Lemons—Once you’ve washed the lemons, remove any seeds; however, keep the pulp, as this will give the dressing a delicious lemony flavour.
Make the Dressing – Blitz the deseeded and washed Beldi lemons into a coarsely chopped pulp. Then, add the other ingredients and blend to a smooth consistency.
I prefer a smoother dressing, so I blitz the mix a little longer, and if it still isn’t smooth, I sometimes drain the finished dressing through a muslin cloth.
Three Ways to Use this Preserved Lemon Dressing?
- Drizzle over roasted carrots or steamed broccoli.
- Toos through couscous and bulgur wheat as a flavour upgrade.
- Mix with a handful of fresh herbs and spoon over grilled fish.
Preserved Lemon Dressing
Ingredients
- Juice from 2 Lemons
- 2 Preserved Lemons
- 1 Tbsp Runny Honey
- 2 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 2 Tsp Black Pepper
- 150 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the preserved lemons in cold water. Cut it in half and remove the seeds.
- In a food processor, blitz the preserved lemon until coarsely chopped.
- Add the remaining ingredients and blitz until smooth.
- Season to taste with salt.
- If you prefer a smoother dressing, strain through a muslin cloth.
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