Letitia Ann Clark and For the Love of Lemons

Letitia Ann Clark’s latest book For the Love of Lemons, celebrates a single sunny ingredient, the lemon. Joyful and bright recipes that transport us to sunnier days.

Letitia kindly sat down to answer a few of our questions about the book and how she uses this favourite ingredient in her cooking.

Here at Halen Môn we know the joys of writing a cookbook that focuses on just one ingredient, though it was an easy choice for us as sea salt producers. So many different ingredients sing out in your cooking Letitia; olive oil, tomatoes, figs and all the wonderful ingredients of the mediterranean. How did you choose to focus on just one for this book, lemons? What is it like to write recipes around just one ingredient?

When I wrote my first book, Bitter Honey, I chose for the cover three symbolic and classic Mediterranean ingredients: pasta, anchovies, lemons. Three of my own favourite ingredients too. In doing so, I thought at the time, well I could easily write a book about each of them! So, I suppose the idea was born way back in the beginning. I’ve always loved single subject books, they’re such a fun format, infinitely collectable and giftable, too. And lemons are really my third essential ingredient, a fundamental seasoning like salt. I couldn’t cook without olive oil, salt or lemons. I’d feel lost. I don’t even use black pepper, but lemons are essential.

Writing the recipes was equally easy and difficult: easy because everything with lemon tastes good, hard because there were too many to choose from.

Did you discover anything that surprised you about the jolly lemon while you researched this book?

Many things. So much about its history which is fascinating, ways of using it outside cooking, the idea of mixing it with coffee! Also people’s personal stories about lemons they had loved. That’s always the most fun part of writing, hearing other people’s memories and stories.

Sunny and evocative, where did you write For the Love of Lemons? Is it different to where you shot the book? Can you tell us a little more about sun-drenched photography?

I wrote it at home in Sardinia, but we shot it in the most beautiful location. It’s an old shepherd’s property in the North West of Sardinia, owned by two French designers, who have the most beautiful eye. I have never seen so many beautiful ceramics. Laura, who owns the house, has things from all over, Morocco, Portugal, Sicily. She also has small kids so there was a room for my son who came on the shoot with us. It was a perfect location, and the sun shone nearly all the time. We were very lucky. Charlotte is a magician with natural light.

How does cooking fit into your life in Sardinia? Do you have lots of time to cook?

I have no option but to cook! I have two hungry people to feed every day, three meals a day. And I make everything fresh, almost every day, not because I’m particularly wholesome but because I am incredibly disorganised. Schools close for lunch here so my husband, who is a teacher, is home for lunch every day, as is my son. Then we obviously eat a meal in the evening together, too. I try to reduce time in the kitchen to make life easier for myself, so day-to-day we eat very simply; baked fish, pasta, salad, soups. One night a week we order a pizza and I have a break. Then I save the fun and more involved stuff for recipe testing, which we eat too, obviously. 

Where do you find the very best lemons? When we’re abroad but also here in the UK? Have you got any cheats for recognising a great, zesty lemon?

Here I am lucky in that everyone has a tree and so will give me theirs, and then I still buy them at the market because they may be a different variety, and I can’t resist. Natoora is a good bet, but also corner Turkish greengrocers usually have some good ones. I miss those kind of shops.

A good lemon should be big, firm and full of juice, hopefully with a thick skin with lots of pores. You should be able to smell it. Beware the smooth and the small!

Are there any welcome health benefits of a lemon a day?

There is a school of thought that claims that drinking lemon water every day is good for you (especially good for the skin) and I do do that when I remember, and feel very clean and holy all day afterwards. Lemons are also great sources of Vitamin C, though people often think they have to go and buy some orange juice or pop a vitamin pill they could just add extra spritzes of lemon to their water or their salads. 

You’ve kindly shared your Lemon Tiramisu recipe with us, which we know will be at the centre of our table often over the summer but if we were to cook one thing from the book tonight, what should it be?

Hmm, a lemon pasta, either courgette carbonara or lemon mint almond pesto pasta, that’s a winner.

Letitia’s latest book For the Love of Lemons is out now and you can order a copy here. Huge thanks to Matt Russel and Charlotte Bland for the beautiful imagery.