glut of lemon grass

[epabella]

hello all, i recently had to make room for my basil plants and trimmed down my overgrown lemon grass patch. i've made green thai curry twice already (sadly without galangal) and need new EASY ideas to use up all this lemon grass. also, i have them in a large bowl with shallow water in the fridge - how long will they keep? any better way i can store them? thanks in advance!

[ZenSojourner]

Chop it up and freeze it. Use an ice tray to freeze small quantities that you can then store in ziploc baggies. Then you can add directly to marinades, soups, or what have you without having to thaw more than you can use at once. It will store virtually forever in the freezer.

Also freezing is actually supposed to improve lemongrass as it is quite fibrous and freezing it should actually sort of "tenderize" it.

[runwestierun]

Tom Yum soup

[knusprig]

Here are Indonesian recipes

Soto Ayam (chicken soup).
Bring water, bone-in chicken legs, smashed stalks of lemon grass, turmeric, galangal & kafir lime leaves (the last 3 if available) to boil then simmer gently until chicken is well cooked. Season with salt & pepper. Strain broth, shred chicken meat. You can serve with rice or glass noodle. Sprinkle chopped celery leaves (yes the leaves not the stalk).

Nasi Kuning (yellow rice)
Cook rice with a mix of water & coconut milk, whatever amount of liquid you use, half of it is coconut milk. Include in the post smashed lemon grass stalk, turmeric, bayleaf, salt & pepper. Serve the rice with curry dish. If you like stronger coconut milk taste you can omit water and cook rice only with the milk. It might be 'too rich' though.

Hope you'll like them.

Knusprig

[alkapal]

smash it and infuse some rice vinegar.

make a lemongrass syrup to make cocktails and cold drinks.

[chefj]

You can slice and dry it or just trim and freeze, which allows you to process it later.

[bushwickgirl]

Store it, tightly wrapped in Ziploc bags, in the frig. Keeps for a few weeks. Trim and freeze stalks or thinly slice and freeze, either way. Keeps for months.

JungMann's lemongrass infused vodka sounds terrific, as does Perilagu's aioli.

Lemongrass (citronella, as in the candles, Cymbopogon nardus, probably not your cultivar) is a great mosquito repellent.

If I was overrun, I would give it to neighbors, but where you are (the OP, that is) your neighbors probably have their own.

[chefj]

I assume you meant to reply to the original post.

[bushwickgirl]

Well, I started out agreeing with and expounding on your storage suggestion, then the post turned into something more; yes, it was written with the OP in mind.

[poached]

Glad for your post- I'm in the same boat- my garden has not done terribly well this year except for the extensive supply of lemon grass. I have been making tom yum soup and throwing it in every stirfry and it has been great- but I think my husband and I would appreciate some new approaches too

[Perilagu Khan]

Lemongrass timbales. Lemongrass frappe. Lemongrass cachous. Lemongrass aoli. Lemongrass pistou. Lemongrass aspic.

Spanking good options, all of 'em.

[JungMann]

Lemongrassade or tisanes. Lemongrass pie. Roast chicken stuffed with lemongrass. Lemongrass infused vodka.

[guster4lovers]

I just posted a recipe to the other lemongrass thread. I won't repost it here, but it's a good way to use up lots of lemongrass at once. :-)