The cooler months bring an abundance of delicious edibles for the dinner table – and an oversupply of lemons, writes Amy Willesee.

Before I started my own vegie garden, I never thought of winter as a time of abundance. Summer's profusion of growth, with its tomato jungle and oversized zucchinis, sat naturally with my mental image of surplus, unlike wintry bare branches and colourless skies.

But much to my delight, I have discovered over the past couple of years that the cool-weather vegie patch is indeed a trove of treasures.

There's our sprouting broccoli, performing its Magic Pudding routine and replenishing whatever we take, necessitating ever-inventive ways with 'little trees'. Stephanie Alexander's broccoli carbonara has become a regular on the menu. Similarly, our cauliflower glut sent me looking for alternatives to cheesy cauliflower. My friend Megan's recipe for cauliflower soup proved a lifesaver (see below): so quick and easy to make and the whole family loves it.

Such is the wealth of produce from the winter patch that I've found myself having to preserve. The biggest winner so far has been pickled red cabbage – kind of a cheaty sauerkraut where the chopped cabbage is heated in salt, vinegar and spices, and then bottled.

The other area of excess at this time of year is the citrus. Our two mandarin trees keep us in fruit for months, and the oranges and guava provide the most wonderful juice. But it's the lemons we can't keep up with.

We're not the only ones. After a bumper crop, one girlfriend found herself with two massive wheelbarrows full of them. Even after setting up a lemon stall on the side of the road, she was still left with half – and she couldn't give those away because the rest of us were already dealing with our own oversupply. Finally, another friend came up with the idea of Lemon Day. The idea was that we'd combine our crops and get together for a day of mass cordial and preserve making.

Come Lemon Day, we set up the juicers, chopping boards and sterilised jars, and got to work. We had a production line of stirrers, salters, slicers and supervisors, all gossiping, laughing and exchanging recipes for the best slow-cooked lamb with preserved lemons, as we slowly but surely worked our way through the barrow-load. We stopped for afternoon tea (a delicious lemon sago pudding), and at the end of the day, all went home with several bottles of sweet lemon cordial and jars of preserved lemon.

But even after all our preserving, we were left with several litres of juice. In a last stab at preservation, we froze it in ice cube trays and bagged it into zip-lock bags, ready for the time – six months down the track – when the lemon drought would hit and instead we'd be drowning in an ocean of tomato puree.

Cauliflower soup

In a pan, sauté 1 cup of diced bacon and onion in oil, add 1 chopped cauliflower. Cover with 1L chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Once the cauliflower is soft, blend until smooth and season with salt and pepper. Add a dash of cream to serve, if you like.