Goedemorgen! Mark and I are in Amsterdam! We’ve just returned to our friends’ place here after 10 days in France and we’ll be here a few more days before reluctantly heading back to the States (it was very difficult to leave Nice). Last night I made dinner for Brad and April to help thank them for their hospitality…and all the pancakes Brad’s been making us every morning. I’m always a bit out of my element in kitchens other than my own, but I managed to make an edible meal. It has a long name:

Lentils with Roasted Vegetables Seasoned with Various Flavored Salts Found in Provence
This made way too much food for 4 people because I can’t control myself

3 cups brown lentils
1 large or 3 small onions, sliced
1 enormous carrot, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
red wine, for deglazing
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
8 small-medium tomatoes on the vine, quartered
1 huge bay leaf
about 2-3 Tbsp of tomato paste (Holland has these tiny little cans half the size of a small can at home; I used all of one)
thyme or Italian seasoning
freshly-ground black pepper
flavored chunky salt(s): I used a large smoked variety, tomato & basil, and herbes de provence

First of all, I don’t know how common a practice this is, but the grocery store we went to in Amsterdam shrink-wrapped everything; they were worse than Trader Joe’s. So first I had to free all of the legumes – I mean vegetables; I’m still thinking in French.

Next I heated the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, or 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Or rather had Brad heat the oven because I couldn’t figure out how to work the crazy Dutch oven. And by Dutch oven here I mean an oven located in Holland, not what I usually mean by Dutch oven. Then I prepared the vegetables I wanted to roast. I quartered the tomatoes and tossed then with olive oil. Not shown, I also sliced the bell pepper and put them in this pan.

I chopped the eggplant into large-ish chunks and also tossed them with olive oil:

Both of these pans then went into the oven to roast. They were each probably in there for about half an hour.

Then I sliced the onions and diced the carrot:

I pressed some garlic:

I put some olive oil and a little regular salt in a large saute pan and heated them up, then added the onion slices:

I let them brown then added the garlic:

I added the carrots:

Deglaze with red wine as necessary and cook until the carrots begin to get soft.

I added the lentils – which in English are the real legumes of this meal – tomato sauce, and bay leaf, then covered with water. At home, I’d have used veggie broth. I let them come to a boil then lowered the heat, covered, and simmered.

Meanwhile I checked the roasting veggies. Here are the peppers and tomatoes.

I removed the tomatoes to a bowl, reserving their juices.

Then I dumped the juices and peppers into the lentils. I also seasoned them at this time with Italian seasoning (I’d probably have grabbed the thyme at home) and freshly-ground black pepper.

Here is some salt I picked up in a small store in Vieux Nice.

I sprinkled some of the tomato & basil salt on the tomatoes and set aside.

I put some of the smoked salt on the eggplant:

Meanwhile the lentils had finished cooking. (By the way, you’ll want to check them periodically and add more water or broth if necessary.) Remove the bay leaf.

I also boiled some haricots verts, which I salted with the herbes de provence sel. Not shown, I had cooked some basmati rice as well, and heated up some ciabatta I’d bought in the store.

And this was everything:

At the risk of making an over-long post, I’ll share a few other Amsterdam pictures as well. One of our first nights here, before we went on to Paris, Brad made us a delicious dinner of pasta with homemade tomato sauce, with perfectly breaded croquettes of eggplant and zucchini:

Brad and April moved to Amsterdam just before the New Year, leaving a succession of really nice houses in the States. I was jealous of them for being able to make the move (which was for a job), and even more jealous when I saw the very cool apartment they managed to get just outside the city. I especially love their kitchen:

Thanks to the kid sitting behind me, I didn’t sleep on our overnight flight here. Shortly after dropping my stuff off at their place, Brad and April whisked me to the daily Amsterdam market. One of the best stalls was the fresh hot nuts:

I also liked the spices, although I’m afraid they were later surpassed in awesomeness by the bulk spices in the Nice market.

I was shocked to find fresh tempeh in the market!

After later collecting Mark, who had stayed back to take a nap, we went to the American Book Center, an English-language bookstore I had read about earlier and which Brad and April recommended. I probably spent too much time in here and of course bought a couple of books. I highly recommend this place, and it’s quite large. This is part of the SF and fantasy sections on the second floor (or rather first floor, since we’re in Europe), while the non-genre literature section takes up the entire third (second) floor.

Just around the corner from ABC is an Indonesian restaurant Brad recommended, Kantjil & de Tijger, where I got this enormous plate of vegetarian food. The server was very friendly about making sure I got only individual dishes that didn’t have eggs.

Later we walked around the city at dusk:

The next day we did some more walking around this charming city. This shot is infrared:

If you love bikes, this is the city for you. The bridge over this canal, like all of the many bridges and all the streets, is completely lined with parked bikes. This is probably the most bike-friendly city in the world.

See?

And the first of several pictures of me and Pig I’ll undoubtedly be posting…

Up next: Paris!

I’m just going to skip having a Thanksgiving post, because my Thanksgiving was nearly identical to last year, and although Mark has been happily gorging himself on leftovers, I didn’t do anything particularly creative or unusual. I hope everyone – even you non-Americans – had a great Thanksgiving, however!

As per my usual routine, I moved two pizza doughs from the freezer to the refrigerator before the weekend. We usually end up having pizza at some point during the weekend, but what with the Thanksgiving leftovers and various social obligations, it didn’t happen this weekend. Which left me with pizza dough that I needed to use tonight. But I wanted to try a different approach from my usual, pretty traditional pizza, so tonight I made Mexican pizza:

Here’s what I did:

Mexican Pizza

up to 4 batches individual-sized pizza doughs
12-16 oz vegan ground “beef” (“mince” for you non-Americans)
1 packet taco seasoning (I found some taco seasoning for yuppies packet at Wegmans)
8 oz tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp Mexican oregano
canned or fresh jalapeno, sliced
vegan mozzarella, grated (I used Cheezley)
vegan cheddar, grated (I used Daiya)

Preheat the oven and a pizza stone to 550 Fahrenheit (or as high as it will go).

In a heavy sauce pot, heat some olive oil, then add the ground “beef”, saute the ground beef, add the taco seasoning, and saute another minute. Add the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, and oregano. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Shape the pizza dough for each pizza and place on a peel. Spread the sauce mixture evenly on each pizza, then top with jalapeno slices and mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Bake until done, about 5 minutes.

Next up is just a quick soup I threw together last week when I wasn’t feeling that great. I didn’t take pictures of the process or write it up earlier, because at the time I just wanted something soothing in my belly, but I did snap a photo of the finished product and it was very simple and really tasty, so, if I remember correctly, here’s what I did:

Lentil Orzo Soup

2-4 shallots (depending on size), or 1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
red pepper flakes, if you are so inclined (to taste)
4 cups vegan stock or broth
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup brown lentils
1/2 cup orzo (or other small pasta)
2 cups baby spinach
salt, to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon

Bring some olive oil up to temperature in a heavy soup pot, then add the onions, carrots, and celery. Saute for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and saute another couple of minutes. Add the stock or broth, tomato paste, lentils, and red pepper flakes if using. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the orzo and simmer another 15 minutes. Add the spinach and taste for salt, then simmer two or three more minutes. Add the lemon juice, then serve.

In not-at-all-food-related news, I went to see Jeff Vandermeer read in Baltimore last night. I’ve been a fan of his since I read City of Saints and Madmen, and I’m currently reading his latest, Finch (which he signed for me). In fact, I have only a few more pages left and as soon as I finish this post, I’ll finish it up.

I liked this picture because from reading his blog I feel as if he and I have a similar sense of humour, so I like that I caught him laughing:

In other book news, but more food-related, I forgot to urge you all earlier to buy Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day! I was a tester for this book (my name is in it! Mark’s so impressed!) – if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve seen photos of some of the breads – and I can assure you that even the non-vegan breads veganized beautifully. I tested all but just one or two recipes from the book; Peter was gracious enough to at least pretend he cared about my vegan input even on non-vegan-sounding breads like Crusty Cheese Bread. They were all amazing, even the Crusty (Non-Dairy) Cheese Bread and the Babka. It’s a great book for novice bread bakers as well as the more experienced. My favourite thing about it was how easy it makes it to create a bread-baking schedule that works for people who work late hours but want fresh bread during the week. Most of the recipes are scaled for two loaves of bread, so I’d mix it up and bake one loaf during the weekend, then bake the second mid-week. The recipes and techniques are clear, the bread is great, and if any of you buy it (or any of his other books) and have any questions about veganizing the recipes, I’d be happy to help you. The recipes actually call for “any kind” of milk, which he makes clear includes non-dairy milks, so mostly it’s just eggs you need to substitute. Of course, many of the recipes are vegan as written. I know I don’t do many bread recipes on this blog, although bread baking is a particular passion of mine, but the reason is I pretty much just slavishly follow Peter Reinhart’s (and Jeffrey Hamelman’s) recipes. Although I do my own thing when cooking, I’m more shy about making things up when it comes to baking, and between Reinhart and Hamelman, I figure my bases are covered. If you are at all interested in baking your own bread, Artisan Breads Every Day is a great place to start. No, I’m not making commission on the book even though I was a tester – I just think Peter Reinhart’s books are really, really good!

I had originally planned to make dolsot bibimbap tonight, but around 7 when I started thinking about dinner, I suddenly decided I was going to make a lentil loaf instead. Which was sort of a weird thing to think considering I’ve never made lentil loaf before. I’ve made a few different vegan “meat” loaves, but I don’t think any of them were predominately lentils. Which might explain why none of them stand out in my mind; if I’d used lentils I’d probably have liked them more. (If you haven’t noticed, I love lentils.) The loaf that transpired was not perfect – after an hour of baking and some time resting it was still slightly too moist – however, it tasted perfect. I’ll definitely make it again, maybe cutting back on the liquid slightly or baking it in a hotter oven, though the seasonings were spot on so there’s no need to mess with them. It went over very well with Mark as well.

Lentil Loaf

1 1/2 cups brown/green lentils
1/2 cup bulgur
4 cups vegan “beef” broth
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, small dice
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 whole wheat hot dog bun or 2-3 slices whole wheat bread
2-3 Tbsp brown sauce (like HP, or try Worcestershire sauce if you can’t find HP sauce)
2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
salt to taste
1/4 cup ketchup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the lentils, bulgur, and broth in a pot and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for half an hour or until liquid is absorbed and lentils and bulgur are cooked.

Meanwhile, saute the onions and carrots in a skillet.

When the onions are translucent, add the garlic and continue to saute another 3 minutes or so.

Place the hot dog bun (I told you the other day I had some left over!) in a food processor …

… and process until crumbs.

Place everything but the ketchup into the pot with the lentils and bulgur …

… and stir well to combine. It should become mushy.

Place in a greased loaf pan – you may need to use two. I made more than I had really intended to and my glass loaf pan wasn’t big enough. I also put too much in it: it expands a bit in the oven and even before that happened, I could barely get the lid on. Leave a little room at the top; don’t do as depicted in this picture!

My mom’ s meatloaf had a ketchup topping, so it seems essential to me. Squirt some ketchup on top …

… then smear it around to cover the loaf evenly.

Here’s the small dish I put the excess into. I should have evenly divided it into two of the larger pans (and I even have two).

Cover the pan, either with a lid or aluminum foil, and bake for an hour. Here you can see what happens when you overfill your pan. This was actually taken after only about 10 minutes, when I realized I’d better put a cookie sheet under it to catch the mess. Boy is this going to be fun to clean. (It’s soaking now.)

Remove the lid or foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes. When I removed the lid from the big pan, I took the top layer of the loaf off with it because the ketchup had cooked onto the lid. That was disheartening, however, after returning it to the oven with a fresh layer of ketchup, I tasted what was stuck on the lid and it was awesome. Mark appeared on the scene just then and as he’s notorious for grabbing bites of whatever I’m working on, regardless of its stage of completion, he immediately scraped a bite of the lid as well. Then he said it was awesome. Between the two of us, we ate everything that was stuck to the lid while waiting for the loaves to finish baking.

Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I wanted to serve it with gravy. Ordinarily I make gravy by making a roux and slowly whisking in “beef” broth and maybe some seasonings. However since I used “beef” broth in the loaf I scouted out some alternate recipes and found this one on All Recipes that is really good. I used Earth Balance for the butter, obviously, and I used a little less than it calls for, which you can get away with because you’re not making a roux: it’s thickened by the cornstarch, so the butter is mostly for flavor…and I don’t need that much butter flavor! I also added a little Kitchen Bouquet just to darken the colour. Kitchen Bouquet adds some flavor – a good one – but the gravy didn’t need it: it was good on its own. In fact, I like the gravy so much, and it was so easy, I’ll probably just use that recipe from now on.

As it turns out, however, the gravy was totally unnecessary because the loaf was very moist. A little too moist, in fact. It simply never dried out in the heat of the oven. So next time I either need to bake it longer or bake it hotter, or add more bread crumbs or do something a little different. Despite this it tasted great and the mushiness wasn’t that big a deal.

Here is the meal plated (on a new-to-me Fire King plate):

Mark, who is afraid of undercooked things, was a little afraid of it when serving himself, even though he already knew it was going to taste great. However, after eating his first serving, he disappeared into the the kitchen and returned with a sandwich containing a second serving. So even mushy this was a winner!

This post is dedicated to my Aunt Lynn, who never leaves home without her trusty container of Old Bay.

Tonight, being a native Baltimoron, having recently returned from the beach, and in a summery state of mind, I wanted a Old Bay-flavored – but not necessarily a seafood-inspired – meal. And as you may have noticed, when I don’t know what else to make, I make soup. So tonight: Old Bay Lentil Soup.

Old Bay Lentil Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 medium potato, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
6 cups vegan broth, any flavor
1 cup pardina, de Puy, or green lentils
2 small or 1 large summer squash, chopped
1 small bunch rainbow chard, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tsp fresh or 3/4 tsp dried thyme
2 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning (or to taste)
Tabasco, to taste
salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste
freshly-squeezed lemon, optional

Heat some oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven, then add the onions and carrots and cook for 10 minutes, adding the garlic after 5.

Add the potatoes and tomatoes and cook for another 3 minutes, then add the stock, bay leaves, lentils, and Old Bay. I have no idea if Old Bay is an acquired taste or not, so if you’re not already a fan of it and 2 tablespoons sounds like a lot to you, add it in small doses, tasting it as you go along until it’s to your liking. I really probably used more than 2 tablespoons. Also, Old Bay is quite salty so don’t salt the soup until the Old Bay is at the level you prefer.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for half an hour.

Meanwhile, admire my beautiful, not-quite-baby rainbow chard: smaller and more delicate than most bundles of chard and even more delicious.

Add the squash, chard, Tabasco, and thyme to the pot …

… then cover and simmer another 15 minutes or until done, adjusting the seasonings if necessary.

Serve with more Tabasco and a squeeze of lemon if desired.

As lentils are one of my most favorite foods and Old Bay one of my most favorite flavors, this was a real winner, and was quick and easy to boot. A great, simple summertime meal for a work night.

While stocking up on one of my favorite ingredients, lentils, the other day, I came across pardina lentils. I didn’t know what they were at the time, but grabbed them anyway, later learning they are Spanish lentils, somewhat smaller and greyer than your basic brown lentil, that keep their shape, similar to French lentils. In fact, after having eaten them I can say they are somewhat like a cross between brown lentils and French lentils. I’m sure I would have found something to do with them, but I decided to just make the recipe on the back of the package, and it turned out well.

Old World Spanish Lentil (Pardina) Stew
adapted from the back of the Goya package

8 ounces pardina lentils
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
4 cups vegan “chicken” broth (or veggie broth)
1 link vegan chorizo

Note: I didn’t have any soyrizo on hand, but I did have Italian-style vegan sausages. So I used those and to the spices above added: 1 pequin pepper (a very hot dried pepper), 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika.

Bring a soup pot to temperature over medium heat. Add some olive oil, then add the onions and green pepper and cook until soft.

Add the garlic and spices and cook for one minute.

Add the tomato sauce and cook for another minute.

Slice the chorizo thinly:

Add the broth, lentils, and chorizo.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until lentils are soft, then remove the bay leaf.

Serve!

An easy, quick, cheap, filling, simple meal. Good for the 106th straight evening of thunderstorms we’ve endured. Seriously, I love thunderstorms, but this is getting ridiculous. Last weekend I got on the pool, but I still haven’t gotten in the pool. I floated around on a raft last weekend, reading, but when I stuck my arm in the water, it went numb almost instantly from the cold. Fortunately, although it’s been stormy nearly every day, we did get a few warm days so the water temperature is rising, but the forecast just calls for more thunderstorms and cooler-than-normal temperatures, all of which is wreaking havoc on the pool and driving me crazy! I’m battling algae, which has never been a problem for me in the past, but it’s hard to take care of the pool when there are storms every single night and pool maintenance requires sticking a long metal pole into a large body of water, which I think is a recipe for exactly what you are NOT supposed to do during a lightening storm. Sigh. Hello, summer? Come in, summer? Where are you, summer?

Dinner preparations were a bit haphazard tonight as I got home late and encountered some issues that needed to be dealt with when I finally arrived. Likewise my photos are haphazard. Nonetheless, I worked out a theme for the meal and it turned out pretty awesome. The theme was French. That’s because yesterday I found some French beans at Wegmans and revolved the meal around them. What I did was basically throw things together and ask myself what flavors seemed French to me, which isn’t easy because I’m not well versed in French cuisine as it’s not known for being particularly vegan-friendly. I’d also bought a bag of lemons yesterday because, well, I love lemons. They’re on my list of Things About Which I Freak Out if I’m Not Well-Stocked With. Garlic’s number one and onions are a close number two, but I think lemons may be number three. Anyway, right now I have PLENTY of garlic, onions, and lemons, so I found myself wondering what sorts of things seemed French and lemony. And here’s what I came up with:

Lemon-Dijon Roasted Potatoes

2 lbs red potatoes, chopped into even but chunky pieces
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves pressed garlic
1 tsp flaked sea salt, like Maldon
freshly ground pepper to taste
fresh herbs, to taste (I used rosemary and thyme)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash and chop the potatoes. How large you chop them will determine how quickly they bake.

Place the mustard, oil, lemon juice, zest, salt, and pepper into a small bowl.

Whisk together.

Place the potatoes on a baking tray or dish on which they will fit in one layer. Pour the sauce over them.

Coat the potatoes with the sauce by tossing them around in your (clean!) hands. Place in the oven and cook for half and hour. Remove and add the fresh herbs:

Herbs from my indoor herb garden that I haven’t yet killed!

Return to oven and roast and additional 10 minutes or until done.

Serve:

Lemony Garlic French Beans

1/2 lb French beans, trimmed
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
zest of 1/2 lemon
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp shallot salt

Blanch the beans in salted, boiling water for 3 minutes.

Brush or spray a large skillet with olive oil. Add garlic and lemon zest, stir for 20 seconds. Add the beans and stir.

Pour 1/4 cup water into the skillet, as well as the lemon juice and shallot salt; stir to mix. Cover, reduce heat, and steam for 5 minutes.

Serve:

Basic Lentils

I know I was going for a vaguely French theme here and I do in fact have French lentils, but honestly, I love your plain ole, every day brown lentils more than any other and that’s what I’ve used here. I could eat them every day.

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 cups dry green or brown lentils
4 cups vegan stock
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp shallot salt

In a heavy-bottomed pot, bring some oil (you need very little) up to temperature, then add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the lentils and stock; bring to a boil. Add the thyme and shallot salt, adjusting the amounts to suit your tastes. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

To serve, dress the lentils generously with fresh-squeezed lemon (I used 1/2 a lemon on my portion alone).

To be enjoyed with red wine and followed with dark chocolate. Trés français! If only I’d managed to incorporate a grapefruit so I could throw around my favorite French word. (Though I’m also fond of bibliothèque.)

Now for an explanation of tonight’s post’s title. If you’ve read my about page, you’ll know that part of the reason for the name of this blog comes from Invader Zim. I don’t remember the episode, but in one of them, Zim shrieks, “sweet, lemony-fresh victory is mine!”, which is something I have taken to shouting when things go my way. Dinner tonight did go my way, and it was lemony fresh. I have no idea how French it actually was.

Lentils never fail to remind me of The Young Ones. I don’t think Neil, who was in charge of cooking, ever managed to make a lentil dish that didn’t end up on the floor or with washing powder in it, but he was vegetarian. So this soup is dedicated to poor downtrodden Neil. At least my lentils are edible.

No preparatory photos tonight, I’m afraid. I wasn’t planning to make a post as I was just experimenting and was also very tired from a long and arduous swim. But I quite enjoyed the results so I figured I’d write the recipe up if for no other reason than to remind myself what I did the next time I decide I want lentils, or Neil, Vyvyan, Rick, and Mike come over for dinner.

I’d been thinking I wanted to do something involving both lentils and bulgur, and searches for those ingredients led me to several recipes for Turkish wedding soup, or ezo gelin, so I guess this was inspired by that, although I didn’t use mint, which seems to be an important part of ezo gelin, and I did use a black lemon, which may or may not be used in Turkish food (I’m really not sure). It is a Middle Eastern ingredient. I mostly used the black lemon because I have them and had no idea what else I was going go do with them, so in the pot one went. It turned out to be a great touch. Black lemons are little, black, shriveled-up items that might actually be limes and not lemons. Figure that one out. You can just omit it if you don’t have them. I’m excited to experiment further with them though.

Lentil Soup for Neil

1 sweet onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
6 cups water or broth (I used 1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon vegan “chicken” flavor)
1 1/2 cups lentils, red or brown (I used brown, which Neil seems to prefer)
1/4 cup bulgur
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (if you have it)
1 Tbsp sweet paprika
1 black lemon
1/2 tsp cayenne
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, to taste
lemon wedges for garnish

In a pressure cooker if you have one (or a large pot if you don’t), heat a bit of oil then add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the water or broth, lentils, bulgur, tomato paste, and spices except the salt and pepper. If using a pressure cooker, cook at high pressure for 20 minutes, otherwise, cook until lentils and bulgur are soft (about 45 minutes). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lemon wedges. Don’t try to be all artistic like me and stick the lemon wedges IN the soup because then it’s messy when you go to squeeze them over the soup.

I quite liked this. When I took the lid off the pressure cooker and stuck my spoon in for a taste, I was surprised how good it was, which is when I decided to go ahead and post it even without photos. As far as the black lemon, I think you can grind them up and use them as a powder, but I wanted to find out what happened if I just tossed it in whole. It eventually softened and deflated, then began to disintegrate. The taste it added was tangy without being as tart as lemon juice. I’m going to think of more things to do with the remaining black lemons. If it weren’t nearing 1 a.m. and if I weren’t completely depressed from watching Control, I’d take a picture for you, but we’ll save that for tomorrow, shall we?