While attending a food trade show in San Francisco last winter, I built in some extra time so I could take in other happenings in that city, such as the Saturday farm market at the Ferry Building. While there, I became mesmerized by the bounty of in-season citrus fruit on display.
Multiple vendors were offering lemons, grapefruit, limes, pomelos and other fruit, and they looked and smelled amazing. When I watched people buying bags of them, and listened as they shared ideas on how they might use them, I thought citrus would make a wonderful topic for a cookbook.
Not long after I returned home, I learned that the world’s biggest fan of tangy citrus fruit was busily writing just the book I was thinking of. Her name is Gwendolyn Richards, a food writer and blogger for the Calgary Herald. Her book is called Pucker: a Cookbook for Citrus Lovers (Whitecap Books, $29.95).
“I knew I wanted to write a cookbook and when having lunch with [best-selling cookbook authors] Julie Van Rosendaal, Elizabeth Baird and Rose Murray, Baird said if you want to write a cookbook, just write a cookbook,” Richards said.
Baird was essentially saying write about something you know and are passionate about, and deciding that was easy for Richards.
“I have always loved lemon. I drank lemonade as a child and in restaurants have always ordered the lemon dessert over the chocolate,” Richards said. “When writing the proposal for the book, I had nothing against oranges, but I realized that I love tangy citrus fruits that make you pucker the best. [That’s] how I got the title for the book.”
It’s for that reason that her smartly designed, 214-page book filled with wonderful photographs, focuses on the use of lemons, limes and grapefruit. In fact, she writes in the introduction to the book that at one point before writing it, she was so obsessed with tangy types of citrus that an editor put her on a lemon ban.
“It was a surprise, mostly because I didn’t realize every story I was pitching when I first started doing a food column was about citrus,” Richards said. “My editor said you did two lemon recipes in row, and now you want to do lemon bars for your next column. I countered and said what about ginger lemon cocktails, not even realizing that they had lemon, too.”
Luckily for Richards, her new book gave her an outlet to showcase the grove of ideas she had for using tangy citrus by featuring more than 100 recipes incorporating them.
“This book is for everyone who enjoys a little zing in their food,” Richards said, adding that these fruits are also budget-friendly and can add a whole lot of flavour for not much money.
“Some of the recipes are classics and just had to be included. For example, I couldn’t do the book without including lemon meringue pie. But I also wanted to show the versatility of citrus,” Richards said.
When you flip through the book you’ll see that Richards has successfully achieved that tasty balance. It is broken into chapters that, among others, include drinks and appetizers, soups, salads and sides, main dishes, and baking and desserts.
For example, also on the classic recipe side of things are succulent veal scallopine limono, tangy Greek-style avgolemono soup and a stellar tart au citron. Recipes that show the versatile and innovative side of citrus include lemon drop martini, grapefruit risotto with seared scallops and Meyer lemon coffee cake muffins.
Beyond recipes, Richards’ book also offers great tips on using citrus. For example, she describes how to use leftover lemons you only needed the zest from, and what tools to use for juicing. Richards also offers suggestions on using citrus once the cooking has been done.
“You can use the juice from a cut lemon to refresh your cutting board, especially when you’ve been chopping garlic or onions,” she said.
I asked Richards what she might eat as a last citrus meal, if she ever had to give it up. Not surprisingly, this citrus fanatic decided on a multi-course meal, all made with recipes found in Pucker: A cookbook for Citrus Lovers.
“[For an appetizer] I would start with goat cheese with lemon and herb olive oil, and have a Bourbon sour [cocktail],” Richards said. “I would then need some greens and have my shaved Brussels sprout salad. I would finish things off with my banh mi burger and a slice of my lemon meringue pie.”
That meal definitely sounds tart and tasty. If you would like to try those dishes and others, Richards’ book is available for sale or by order at all bookstores and from online retailers.
Grapefruit Polenta Cookies
Richards says the cornmeal gives these cookies a slight heartiness, a nuttiness and a nice texture, even though they’re still soft and chewy in the centre. To try the lemon version, see the note below.
Makes: About 20 cookies
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
• zest of 1 grapefruit
1/4 cup grapefruit juice
1 egg
Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about three to four minutes, scraping down the side as necessary. Add the grapefruit zest and beat again for a minute, then add the juice and mix until combined.
Add the egg and beat again, then scrape down the bowl. Add the flour-cornmeal mixture and mix on medium-low speed until just combined.
Scoop out the dough in one-inch balls onto the prepared cookie sheet, leaving two inches of space between them. Bake until puffed and barely golden at the edges, about 11 minutes. Let cool slightly and remove to a cooling rack.
Note: For a lemon version, use the zest of one lemon and two tablespoons of juice in place of the grapefruit.
Eric Akis is the author of the hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.