Lightly cooked vegetables such as beans, broccoli or carrots served at room temperature taste wonderfully fresh with a dressing of olive oil, lemon zest and juice.

Chicken loves citrus fruit, a little lemon zest and juice is great in a traditional stuffing or, for a lighter option, forget about the stuffing and just place a couple of halved lemons in the carcass with some garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme.

LLEMON TIPS

To get the best flavour from the lemon zest, just grate the bright yellow layer and not the bitter white pith underneath. I find the Microplane graters fantastic.

Non-organic lemons are coated with a thin layer of wax to give them a longer shelf-life so scrub them well before zesting.

Lemon trees grow quite happily in Ireland in a pot in a sunny spot inside (move it outside for the warm days). This may only grow enough lemons for your gin and tonics but how divine would those gin and tonics be!

If the lemon is a little under-ripe and hard, just roll it on your work surface, applying pressure with your hand. This will make it easier for juicing.

To prepare your hands and nails for a quick home manicure or pedicure, soak them in warm water with a good splash of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. The olive oil will soften your skin and the lemon juice will gently whiten your nails.

KE LLEMON & GARLIC CHICKEN
Serves 4-6

This is a wonderful classic French recipe and one of my favourite ways to eat chicken. There is a lot of garlic in the recipe but once it is cooked it loses it's pungency and turns deliciously sweet, which works so well with the fresh citrus flavours.

2 tbsp olive oil
a whole chicken, cut into pieces (breasts, thighs, drumsticks, etc)
125ml white wine
20 garlic cloves, unpeeled
Finely grated zest of two lemons and the juice of one lemon
1 large sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
300ml chicken stock
To serve 2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 baguette, cut into slices 1cm thick

Heat a large casserole pot or saucepan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and the chicken pieces skin-side down and cook on both sides until golden brown.

Season with salt and pepper. Pour off and discard any excess fat. Add the wine and garlic cloves and boil for a few minutes.

Next add the lemon zest and juice, sprigs of herbs and chicken stock. Bring it to the boil, cover with a lid and cook on the hob, or in an oven preheated to 1600C, for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, toast the slices of bread.

When cooked , serve the chicken in shallow bowls and sprinkle with the chopped parsley. Squeeze the soft garlic out of it's skin and spread onto pieces of toast on the side to mop up the delicious chicken juices.

LEMON ROAST POTATOES
Serves 4-6 These are delicious with a simple roast chicken or with fish.

6 large potatoes
2 lemons olive oil salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 2200C. Peel the potatoes and chop into 2-3cm cubes. Dry well with kitchen paper. Slice the lemons thickly and cut those slices into little chunks, about 1-2cm. Put into a bowl with the potatoes and slightly squeeze the lemon with the potatoes in your hands, to release a bit of juice. Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add salt and pepper and put in a single layer on a roasting tray. Place in the oven for about 20 minutes, until cooked, and serve.

HOMEMADE LEMONADE
Makes 2 litres

Sparkling water instead of the 1.5 litres of still water will make a refreshing sparkling drink . . . or try limes instead of oranges.

250g sugar
225ml water
4 lemons, juiced
2 oranges, juiced
1.5 litres water

First make a syrup. Put the sugar in a saucepan with 225ml water on the heat, bring slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for two minutes then let it cool.

Meanwhile, juice the fruit, top up with nearly all the cold sugar syrup, add still or sparkling water to taste . . . and more syrup if it needs it.

Pour into a jug with ice.

LEMON & BANANA ICE-CREAM
Serves 4

This is a delicious recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

6 large ripe bananas
100ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (juice from one large lemon) finely grated zest of one lemon
250ml tub creme fraiche
50g icing or caster sugar

Whizz all the ingredients together in a blender, pour into an ice-cream making machine and churn until frozen.

If you don't have a machine, transfer the mixture from the blender into a mixing bowl and place in the freezer until halffrozen. Then whisk until smooth and slushy and replace in the freezer.

Repeat this procedure at least once, ideally twice. Then leave to freeze hard.

In either case, the ice cream should be transferred from the freezer to the fridge to soften for at least half an hour before serving.

LITTLE LEMON CREAMS
Serves 8-10

These are simple sweet little lemon puddings. You could serve them with some shortbread biscuits on the side .

500ml (18 fl. oz) cream
140g (5oz) caster sugar
juice of 2 lemons

Put cream and sugar in a saucepan, bring to the boil and boil for three minutes.

Remove from the heat, whisk in the juice and place in little cups, glasses or bowls and chill for three hours to set.

To make these more zesty, grate the rind of one lemon and mix with the lemon juice to add to the boiled cream and sugar.

*TRIED & TASTED CREAM CHEESE

Cheese please! It may be a minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips but damn it's worth it! We tried out the cream of the crop for your cheesespreading pleasure . . .crackers at the ready!

Aldi Westacre medium fat soft cheese /0.69/200g A cooling cheese with nice delicate tang.

Creamy and not overly salty.

Very tasty.

****

Tesco soft and creamy cheese /0.75/250g A

creamy, tangy cheese with slight saltiness.

Ideal for crackers.

Tasty and great value.

*****

Philadelpia /2.28/225g Creamy with a distinctive graininess. Quite a rich cheese and not overly savoury.

Perfect for making cheesecake.

****

M&S soft cheese /1.39/150g
Very smooth and finely textured but overbearingly salty . . . like seawater!

Definitely couldn't be used in baking.