Lemon is a versatile supplement in any diet. The aromatic fruit goes equally well with salty, sweet and savory dishes. Sauces based on this citrus stimulate the appetite and are particularly piquant. They can be served both with desserts and meat dishes.
General principles of making lemon sauce
For the preparation of sauces, lemon zest and juice are usually used; pulp is rarely added. The seeds from the fruit must always be removed. Juice is usually squeezed by hand, since according to the recipe, 1-2 citrus is enough. If it is important that nothing superfluous gets into the sauce, the squeezed mass is filtered through a strainer.
Peel the zest from the lemon in a thin layer, without the white part, using a sharp knife or fine grater. Previously, the citrus must be well washed with a brush and rinsed with boiling water over the peel. In order for the lemon to give off juice well, it should be kept in hot water for several minutes, then rolled well on the table, after that you can cut it in half and squeeze it out.
The color of the lemon sauce is easy to change. For coloring the dressing, use carrot or beet juice, turmeric, chopped fresh herbs, soy sauce. Store the resulting product in a tightly sealed glass container for no more than 3 days in the refrigerator.
Lemon Honey Meat Sauce
This recipe is great with fatty beef, pork, lamb, rabbit and any poultry.
You will need:
- 3 parts lemon juice;
- 1 part liquid honey;
- 6 parts olive oil;
- salt, spices and herbs to taste.
Put honey in a cup, add lemon juice and mash everything well. Pour spices into the mixture, in the simplest case, you can just take salt and pepper or add any spices you want.
Pound everything well to dissolve, as it will be more difficult to do with oil. Add oil and mix again, if possible, whisk everything together with a blender. Add chopped herbs to the sauce to taste.
Lemon juice sauce for fresh salads: a step-by-step recipe
Typically, this lemon sauce is used to dress the popular Caesar salad, but it is perfect for salads with any vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and collard greens, bell peppers.
You will need:
- 1/2 lemon;
- 2 eggs;
- 1 tsp mustard;
- 1 tsp honey;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- salt;
- 40 ml of olive oil.
Boil for 40-50 seconds, remove from boiling water and place in cold water. Peel the cooled eggs and carefully place in the blender bowl. Add salt, garlic, spices, mustard and honey to these.
Whisk all ingredients until smooth. It is important that a clove of garlic is chopped, so you can first grate or chop a clove into small pieces.
Squeeze the juice out of the lemon half, add to the sauce and stir again. In the final step, add the olive oil and whisk the sauce for another 1 minute.
Lemon garlic sauce for a fish dish
Lemon garlic sauce goes well with baked, fried fish, and also adds a spicy flavor to regular boiled or steamed fish.
You will need:
- 1/2 lemon;
- 5 cloves of garlic;
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil;
- salt and black pepper to taste.
Chop the cloves of garlic in any convenient way: in a press, with a knife or grater. Add ground pepper and salt to taste, mix. Remove the zest from half the lemon, chop finely and add to the garlic, rub everything well.
Squeeze citrus juice into the mixture, add olive oil there. Chop the parsley, rub it with your hands so that it gives juice. Combine with the total mass, mix. The sauce is ready, you can serve it with the fish. The same sauce is suitable for dressing boiled rice for a side dish.
Lemon sauce for sweet salads: homemade recipe
Lemon sauces are a great addition to desserts. And thanks to the starch included in the composition, the dressing learns to be quite thick, it does not collect at the bottom of the salad bowl.
You will need:
- 1 lemon;
- 100 grams of sugar;
- 300 ml of water;
- 1 pinch of cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon of starch
Remove the zest from the lemon, cut it into wedges and remove all seeds. Put everything in a saucepan, add 300 ml of water. Let the mixture boil and boil for 2-3 minutes after boiling. Then strain, pour 50 ml of the resulting mass and cool, put the rest on fire again. Pour sugar, cinnamon into a saucepan and bring to a boil again.
Dissolve the starch in the chilled molded portion of the lemon broth and add to the boiling syrup. Bring the sauce to a boil and turn off immediately without boiling. Refrigerate and use the dressing in fruit salads and any other desserts.
Greek Olive Lemon Oregano Sauce
In Greece, olive-lemon oregano sauce is used for salads, main courses and cold appetizers, and it goes well with seafood. In the classic recipe, a special type of oregano, rigani, is used for cooking. But if you can't find it, you can make a dressing with regular oregano or even dried spice. For the thickness of the sauce, it is allowed to add any other greens to taste.
You will need:
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil;
- 2 small lemons or 1 large;
- 1 tsp oregano;
- a pinch of salt and black pepper.
Squeeze the juice from lemons, add spices and oregano to it. Pour oil there, mix. To taste, it is allowed to add any finely chopped greens to the mixture: parsley, cilantro, dill, basil.
Lemon cream sauce for dessert baking
Lemon cream sauce perfectly complements casseroles, muffins, fruit pies, biscuits, pancakes and other sweet pastries with its sourness. The amount of sugar is approximate, try it and vary it to your liking, getting interesting combinations.
You will need:
- 1/2 lemon;
- 1 raw and 1 boiled yolk;
- 70 grams of powdered sugar or regular granulated sugar;
- 100 ml of cream with a fat content of at least 33%.
Combine the boiled and raw yolks together and mash until smooth. Add the juice squeezed from half of the citrus, mix everything. If you wish, you can grate the lemon zest, the aroma of the sauce will be brighter.
Whip the cream with a mixer into a persistent foam, gradually add the icing sugar into them. If you take ordinary granulated sugar, the process will take a little longer, since the grains of sugar dissolve in the heavy cream for a long time. Gently mix the lemon mixture into the whipped cream, stir everything and beat for a few seconds. The sauce is ready.
Simple Lemon Sauce for Shrimp and Other Seafood
You will need:
- 1 lemon;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 1 chilli pod;
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 pinch coriander
- 60 ml olive oil;
- a slice of ginger.
Pour oil into a skillet and put on fire. Peel the garlic, cut into several pieces and send to the pan. After a minute, add hot chili peppers there, cut into pieces and freed from seeds. If you don't like very spicy foods, use half a pod.
After 30 seconds, put a chopped piece of ginger into the pan, keep the mixture on fire for 2-3 minutes and remove. Cool the mixture and place in a blender. Add the juice of one lemon there, you can with the zest removed. Add coriander, salt, add sugar and beat until smooth. The sauce is ready.
Delicious lemon sauce on sour cream with dill
This versatile salad dressing goes well with meat, poultry, fish, rice and pasta.
You will need:
- 1/2 lemon;
- 150 ml sour cream;
- fresh dill to taste;
- sugar, salt, pepper to taste.
Squeeze out lemon juice, mix it with sour cream. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste, mix everything. Rinse the dill greens in water, dry and chop finely, put in the dressing and mix again. The sauce is ready.
