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Lamb with lemon

Ingredients

Serves two:

 

 

Garnish:

Arni lemonato from Greece. For Greek people the lemon is what the tomato is for Italians. But all Europeans like to eat a sour dish now and then. Sweet food easily bores.

About the origin of  the Citrus limon opinions do not differ: the fruit comes from Assam and North-Burma.

More difficult is to determine the point in time when the lemon turned up around the Mediterranean Sea. On frescos in Pompeï fruit somewhat resembling lemons is found, but it is more likely the fruit of the citron tree (C. medica). Probably Arabs have exported the lemon to the countries of the old world, as far as China. They planted lemon orchards on Sicily as early as  the 10th century. In the 17th century the fruit remained the privilege of rich English and Dutch merchants who liked to show off the exotic fruit on their costly paintings. Hence the saying from that time: ‘to sell somebody turnips for lemons’ (= pull the wool over one’s eyes) because simple folk did not yet know the fruit. It is sad that the seamen who transported the fruit had the medicine for scurvy on board without knowing it. For that was discovered by ship’s doctor James Lind only as late as the middle of the 18th century.

Wine: Sangiovese.

 

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