Lemon Curd

An old favourite that I use as the filling for lemon meringue pie or lemon tartlets. An indulgent treat by the spoonful.
Ingredients
100 gm unsalted butter, chopped
200 gm castor sugar
2 lemons (juice and rind)
4 egg yolks, beaten

Special utensils
A double boiler, or bowl that can sit over a pot of boiling water without touching the water.

Method
Put butter and sugar in a stainless steel bowl and place over a pot of boiling water. Mix with a wood spoon until butter has melted.
Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice and egg yolks.
Continue to stir until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. (Around 20 minutes).
When thick pour immediately into a clean bowl or jar.

Tips
My mother always told me that if perchance you curdle the mixture, quickly pour a tablespoon of boiling water into the mixture. I've done this heaps of times and it generally works.

Lemon Tart

So easy, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. The following is adapted from the 40th birthday issue of Gourmet Traveller.
Ingredients
5 eggs
200ml double cream (not the stuff with thickener in it)
juice and finely grated rind of 3 lemons

Icing sugar for dusting
(Short crust pastry... recipe under Rhubarb.. plus egg for pastry)


Extra special utensils
blowtorch....

Method
1. Make a shortcrust pastry as per Rhubarb upside down cake and line a buttered 22cm round tart tin with removable base (quiche tin). Bake the pastry blind in the oven for 20 minutes (ie. put baking paper inside pastry and weights inside the baking paper such as baking beans, beans or rice. Remove paper and rice or beans, brush the pastry with egg, and bake it for 5 minutes more until browned.
2. Break (5) eggs into bowl, and sugar and whisk until well combined. Add cream, strained lemon juice and lemon rind and mix well. Pour into tart shell and bake for 15 minutes at 150 degrees celsius.
3. Allow to cool to room temperature and dust heavily with icing sugar or castor sugar. Caramelise top with blowtorch.

Serve with fresh cream.

Lemon Delicious

This recipe is word-for-word lifted from the May 2004 edition of Gourmet Travellers - one of those rare editions that is full of many good recipes.. rather than the one..
"Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons self-raising flour, sifted
Finely grated rind of 2 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup milk
20gm unsalted butter
Icing sugar and thick cream, to serve

Method
Using a wooden spoon, beat egg yolks and two-thirds of the sugar until pale, then stir in the flours and combine well. Add lemon rind, juice, milk and melted butter and combine well. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add remaining sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into lemon mixture, in two batches, until just combined. Pour into a greased 1 litre ovenproof dish and place in a deep roasting pan, then pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up side of dish and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes or until puffed and golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve with thick cream passed separately."
Enjoy.

Food as love: Watermelon

I was cutting up a watermelon today to juice with Jorge. No, not in season but a good price. One can only wonder why? A juicer mind, apart from the centre of the watermelon. Jorge and I were picking only the nicest bits and enjoying them and juicing the rest. I suddenly remembered a story my mother would often tell. She was holidaying on Brampton Island off Mackay, and there was this fellow who was sweet on her (before my father). In fact, he was so sweet on her, he cut a whole watermelon and gave her the centre. The regret was palpable... kneadable. I wonder at the obviousness of this metaphor for love. I do wonder if my father, or in fact my partner, would ever do the same.
I often wondered why my mother had not married this man who offered her such a wondrous gift.

Lemons

Lemons are abundant in Alice Springs at the moment... and a lot of them end up in my fruit bowl from a number of sources: my neighbour's lemonade lemons, my friend's neighbour's lemons, a colleague's bush lemons, a bag today in Jorge's pidgeon hole at school from an anonymous parent.. and I always say yes, yes please, and I always (usually) use them. This despite having a heavily laden lime tree of my own. Am I a glutton for lemons. Perhaps. But I love having lemons because there is so much cooking you can do with them:
lemon delicious; lemon curd; lemon shortbreads; lemon meringue pie; lemon cordial; frozen lemon juice; preserved lemon slices; bearnaise sauce... these are my favourite cooking experiences with lemon. (Although I am yet to find a lemon cake recipe I want to cook twice.)
Now, I have tried Stephanie Alexander's preserved lemons. And they're still in my cupboard two years later. I like them, and for that one experience every three months when I cook a tagine or something similar, they're great. But they're not part of my repertoire.
I like recipes that combine lemon with butter, and preferably sugar. Coming soon are my favourite lemon recipes.

Lemon and Almond Nougat (Torrone)

I found this recipe in the 40th Anniversary edition of the Gourmet Traveler, and I have adapted it slightly. I have only made it once (for the Alice Springs Show where it one first prize) and it tended to have a horizontal movement over a couple of days. Didn't look so great but tasted fab. So, I have adjusted the temperature of the toffee to 140 degrees.
When I was teaching Adult Literacy in Melbourne in the mid 1990's, my classes would often revert to discussions and writing exercises about food. I had one student who told me his father had adapted an electric drill to beat the nougat (torrone) for his mother as most stand beaters do not have powerful enough motors. I have a lovely red Kitchen Aid and it does the trick and has a gutsy motor. I would not suggest making the nougat with hand beaters unless there are two of you, and they are powerful hand beaters.
Ingredients
350 gm liquid glucose
180 gm local or fragrant honey
440 gm sugar
2 egg whites
vanilla bean paste
50gm butter
400 gm whole almonds (skinned and roasted)
75 gm glace lemons
4 sheets edible rice paper (available at East Side shop for those Alice Springs residents)

Utensils
Stand beater
Baking tray (20cm X 30 cm)

Method
1. Line the base of the baking tray (you will need to oil it first with a mild oil such as rice bran oil), including the sides.
2. Put honey, glucose, sugar and vanilla bean paste in saucepan and cook on medium heat until the temperature reaches 140 degrees. (NB. Original recipe says 120 to 131 degrees, so you may need to experiment). Wipe sugar grains from the sides of the saucepan with a wet pastry brush. Once the toffee reaches the required recipe, place the saucepan immediately in a cold wet basin to stop the toffee temperature from increasing.
3. In the meantime, whisk the egg whites in the beater until light and fluffy.
4. Pour toffee into the egg whites, being careful not to pour it directly on the beaters or the side of the bowl. Continue to beat for 5 minutes until the mixture is glossy.
5. Working quickly, mix through the almonds and glace lemon. It is important that both these ingredients are at room temperature.
6. Pour mixture into rice paper lined baking tray and flatten with wooden spoon to ensure it is even. Lay over another layer of rice paper.
7. Allow to rest for 6-8 hours before cutting. Cut with knife that has been in freezer for about a half hour or electric knife.
Enjoy.