Lemon Pepper Seasoning

I'm a firm believer in not wasting anything in the kitchen. I make homemade stock from bones, the ends of carrots, celery, onions, asparagus, broccoli, etc. And since I received my Microplane Zester for my birthday, I haven't been wasting any citrus zest.

Every time I have a recipe that calls for lemon juice, I always zest the lemon first. Sometimes I'll add the zest into the recipe to heighten the lemon flavor, but one day I made a recipe that called for 6 lemons and only used the zest from one of them. Well, I of course used more than the called for amount of zest but I still had zest from 4 of the lemons!! So racking my brain I decided to make lemon pepper (because what can you really do with lemon zest when you don't have any juice to go with it??)

When doing a preliminary search on what really goes in lemon pepper, I looked at several recipes. All pretty much saying the same thing. Lemon zest, ground pepper, and salt. But they all had different quantities. I had NO idea which recipe to actually go with. So I just sorta kept it at a 3-2-1 ratio. This helps keep the pepper and salt from overpowering the lemon flavor. And until now I never realized how awesome this stuff is! Provides great flavor in salad dressing, marinades, pasta sauces, and makes a great dry rub when grilling. This has definitely become a staple in our house!

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

3 Tbsp lemon zest (approximately 3-4 lemons depending on size)
2 Tbsp freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp coarse kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix. Leave bowl out on your kitchen counter for two days, stirring occasionally. Once lemon zest has dried out, transfer to an air tight container. You can also grind the lemon pepper into a fine powder with a coffee grinder if you'd like, but I enjoy mine a little bit chunky.

Source: Adapted from Simply Scratch