Portuguese sparkling wines are hard to find outside the country, but, like her father, Luis Pato (Oddbins stocks his graceful Maria Gomes Antigo Metodo; £14.50), star Portuguese winemaker Filipa Pato shows how good they can be, using the local maria gomes, bical and arinto to make a gossamer light and dry, lemon-skin tangy aperitif.
There are droll encounters with simple, cunning nut-brown persons, continent by continent, books where you can hear the jokes being harvested, cut and squeezed like dry lemons.
The Australian is greatly enhancing his reputation not only as a man who can squeeze an awful lot from seemingly dry lemons, but also as a press conference bard.
Dried lemon grass is only good for tea and aromatherapy.
1. Combine sugar, lemon grass and dried lemon in a saucepan.
Simmer 5 to 7 minutes or until dried lemon is tender.
Estrago: Scant ½ teaspoon coarsely chopped black peppercorns, scant ¾ teaspoon granulated dried lemon peel, 2 teaspoons ground dried dill, 1 tablespoon crushed basil leaves, ¾ cup ground dried tarragon leaves.
For those feeling more adventurous, perhaps the best dish is khoresht ghormeh sabzi, a stew made with fenugreek and dried lemon, leeks, coriander and parsley.
The gheimeh features cubes of beef — a bit overcooked when we tried it — simmered with split peas imported from Iran and deeply flavored by cinnamon and dried lemon.
The dark-green stew of beef, beans, dried lemon, and herbs is pungent with fenugreek, and, according to the son of an excellent Persian cook, Nadery "nails it".
