This recipe comes from the cookbook titled De Versandige Kock (ca. 1668). It has basically remained unchanged, which makes this recipe more than 300 years old.

If you are an experienced cook, you can try to preserve lemons yourself. It is more economical than buying them. The best time to do it is during winter, when lemons are plentiful and less expensive. (Please see method below)

Usually only the peel of the lemon is cut up and used in dishes, while the flesh is discarded. The oil from the preserved lemons is fantastic as a glaze over barbecued dishes and can even be used as salad dressing.

Recipe for chicken with sorrel and lemon (page 97 of the Cape Winelands Cuisine Cookbook)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, deboned and cut into 8 portions

salt and 1 tsp (5 ml) freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp (30 ml) butter

1 cup (250 ml) chopped spicy sausage (chorizo, lamb saucisson sec, pork bangers or beef sausage)

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp (5 ml) fresh picked thyme leaves

1 piece mace or 1/2 (2.5 ml) grated nutmeg

3 cups (750 ml) verjuice

1 preserved lemon, flesh scooped out, peel finely chopped

2 cups (500 ml) sorrel, chopped

1 cup (250 ml) asparagus chunks (optional)

6 egg yolks, beaten (optional)

juice of 1 lemon