Cooking with Limes: 2 recipes
Limes Add Zest
Lime and lemons are great to look at and add colour and texture to your kitchen table as well as being an important and healthy flavouring for cooking.
Be sure to purchase limes that are brightly-colored, smooth-skinned and firm fruits. They should feel heavy for their size. Avoid any limes that have blemishes or decayed spots and those that look shriveled and feel soft.
The small brown areas, you may see, on the skin (known as scald) will not affect the flavor or juiciness of the lime, however. a dry and shriveled skin will indicate an inferior fruit way past its prime. Persian limes are generally available year-round, with peak season from May through August. Always be certain to wash limes thoroughly before using for zest.
Storing Limes
You can keep whole limes refrigerated for up to ten days if they are placed in a plastic bag. They may, indeed, last even longer, however, the flavour will be noticeably reduced the longer they are kept. The lime’s skin will pit as it nears its life’s end.
Lime slices or wedges will keep for five days when bagged and refrigerated.
Lime juice can be frozen, but not the whole fruit. Put the juice into ice cube trays. When frozen, pop them into a plastic bag, seal, and store up to four months in the freezer. For future recipe accuracy, you may wish to measure the juice into the ice trays before freezing. Grated lime zest can be frozen in a sealed plastic bag.
The lime is:
- Low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium
- High in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron and Copper
Zest is the outer, colorful skin of citrus fruit. known botanically as the exocarp. It is often used to add strong flavor to foods, such as lemon meringue pie, sorbets and salads.
Lime salad dressing
Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tsp. honey 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar 1/8 tsp. sea salt
Preparation:
In a small bowl, with wire whisk or fork, mix all ingredients.
Makes about 1/2 cup.
You can use lemon juice instead of lime for a different but still delicious flavour.
GRILLED SALMON STEAKS WITH LIME BUTTER:
Ingredients:
4 (9 oz.) salmon steaks
Lime wedges
¼ cup butter
Black pepper to taste.
MARINADE:
Melt ¼ cup butter in a sauce pot melted
add 1/4 c. lime juice add1 tbsp. pepper
Stir marinade.
Reserve 1/4 cup of marinade aside for later.
Put salmon in a dish.
Pour some of marinade over salmon.
Let it marinade while preparing grill.
Cook salmon until opaque, brushing with lime butter, about 5 minutes per side.
Serve with the additional marinade brushed over salmon and the lime wedges.
