Lemon Garlic Chicken & Shrimp Fettuccine

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     Let me begin by saying, that this recipe was inspired by my friend Rhonda who brought me a jar of preserved lemons.  We have a mutual friend with a lemon tree.  We were both the lucky recipients of many of those lemons this year.  Rhonda decided to try her had at preserving some in salt and lemon juice, a process that I had never heard of and I am fascinated by it!  But, now that we have the lemons, we need the recipes to use them in.  

     If you have a lemon tree, or if you have been lucky enough to have lemons gifted to you, you will know that finding ways to preserve them or use them all up before they spoil can be tricky.  I've juiced them and frozen the juice, I've frozen and dehydrated  the zest.  I've made pies and curds, jams and marmalades.  But, this method of preserving lemons seems like a great way to keep lemons for future use! 
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​Preserving Lemons

Here are a couple of websites where you can learn the process to preserve lemons.  

• Allrecipes
• Alton Brown
• The Spruce Eats

What I've learned about using preserved lemon:

     Everyone knows that most of the lemon flavor is in the zest/skin of the lemon.  It is the same with preserved lemon.  When you use preserved lemon, the inner pulp will be mushy, which is off putting to me in a completed dish.  I have found that it is best to clean out the pulp of the lemon and to slice the remaining skin into thin slivers to flavor the dish.  Some recipes using preserved lemon will tell you that and some won't.  I have found that getting rid of the pulp is definitely for the best. (insert barf emoji.)
     The first time I used preserved lemon, I made the mistake of using an entire lemon.  UM...let me just say that you only need about 1/8 to 1/4 of a lemon for a recipe that serves about 6 people and the lemony taste will be perfect.  You will see that in most of the preserving recipes, it tells you to cut up the lemon into useable sections. That way, you can just pull out a section instead of the entire lemon.  Rhonda cut the ones she gave me into sections that were still connected at the bottom because that is what her recipe told her to do.  Other recipes I've seen simply have you quarter the lemons to preserve them.

My Recipe:
     So, after my mistake trying to make lemon chicken with an entire lemon, I scaled things back a bit in this recipe.  This time I made this garlicky lemon chicken & shrimp that was a snap to put together and came out so well!  My son and my husband went back for seconds, and there are still leftovers, so it makes plenty, and who doesn't love that when shrimp are involved?  If you don't have your own preserved lemon to add to the recipe, you can actually purchase it here. 
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     If you give preserving lemons or this recipe a try, let me know how it all turned out!  
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