Lemon curd frozen yoghurt

I was treated to an ice-cream maker for Christmas from Binks.  Probably because he likes ice-cream...and he knows I like to cook.  So... I decided to see what I could make out of what I had in the fridge.

First up was an orange sorbet.  I'm not so pleased with it because it is too sweet, but it's otherwise nice.  Orange juice, water, sugar, orange rind, and a splash of cointrau...not too much though as I still wanted it to freeze.  If I did it again, I'd use less sugar and make it a lot sharper.

Next up...something lemony.  I scoured my books and the interweb for something good, and came across the perfect recipe in my Leith's Cookery Bible.  I had everything I needed already.

Leith's calls it icecream, but it's made from yoghurt...so it's frozen yoghurt to me. Sounds healthier too.

Ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
grated zest & juice of 2 (& a half) lemons (I like things lemony & had a half lemon in the fridge to use up)
225g caster sugar
85g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
570ml (1 pint) plain yoghurt

Method
Put the eggs, lemon juice, sugar and butter into a small saucepan. Stir over a low heat with a wooden spoon until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon - this takes a while and requires some patience, but it's worth it.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  Stir in the yoghurt and churn in the ice cream maker until it's the right consistency.  Serve immediately, or freeze until required.  It needs a wee while in the fridge before serving if you've kept it in the freezer.

This makes a wonderful sharp and refreshing lemon ice cream, and we shared it with friends after our big beef stew.  Yummo.

A beef stew with friends

I've been a bit slack on the old blogging.  So many recipes I want to share, never any time to sit and type.  I hope I can change that, maybe get Binks to do more of the cleaning etc...

I decided I wanted to make something simple for a midwinter supper with friends.  I didn't want to spend hours in the kitchen, but it was OK if the food did.  I also discovered Binks had bought a bag of frozen stewing vegetables, and I had no idea what else to do with them than make a stew...after I'd fished a bunch of the carrots out.  What is it with carrots?  They're in everything, loads of them.  I don't mind a few carrots, but carrot overload?  No thank you.

Ingredients
a good dollop of beef dripping
800g stewing steak, cut into bite size pieces
a couple of Tbsp flour (I use Doves farm gluten free)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
either a bag of frozen stewing vegetables (!) or...
200g chopped onions
150g celery, cut into chunks
150g carrots, cut into chunks
2 leeks, chopped
200g swede or turnip, or a mix
a large glass of red wine (250ml)
500 ml beef stock
4 fresh bay leaves
a handful of fresh thyme leaves
a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
a good glug of worcestershire sauce (I have a gluten free one)
a good glug of balsamic vinegar (to taste)
salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Method
Preheat the oven to about gas mark 2-3, 150-160C.
Shake the beef and flour together in a bag.
Heat the beef dripping in an oven-proof casserole dish.
Brown the meat on all sides, in batches if necessary.  Once it's all browned, tip in any remaining flour to cook for a couple of minutes.
Add all the vegetables and garlic.
Add the wine, stock, herbs, worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar.  Season with salt and pepper.
Bring the mixture to the boil, cover with the lid and then bung in the oven for about 3 hours.

Serve the scrumptious stew with mashed potatoes.  I also had steamed savoy cabbage too. We definitely got our five-a-day yesterday.

This amount of stew will easily serve six, and probably serve eight, if they're not as greedy as Binks, who ate at least two portions.

Lemon Sponge Pudding

I'm home alone for a few days, so that's a good opportunity for me to have all those things that Binks doesn't like...including my all time favourite, lemon pudding.

I've been making this recipe for years...which is fairly evident from the well-splattered recipe card that sits on the kitchen shelf.  I made it for breakfast* yesterday, and posted a pic on facebook, which prompted quite a few requests for the recipe, so here it is. It's a recipe from home, so uses cup measures rather than weights.  A cup is 250ml, 1/4c = 60ml or 4Tbsp if you don't have cup measures.

If you like lemon, you'll love this.  It's absolutely delicious, especially if you get good sharp lemons and get the lemon/sugar balance just right. It's light & flummery, and very easy to do.

Ingredients:
50g butter (I use 1/4c rice bran oil to make this dairy free)
1/4c flour
2 eggs, separated
3/4c sugar
finely grated rind of 2 lemons
generous 1/4c lemon juice
3/4c milk (I use soy milk)

Method:
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Stir in the flour so it's smooth with no lumps. Add 1/2c sugar to this & the grated lemon rind.

Put the egg whites in the dish you're going to bake the pudding in (1L capacity). Add the yolks to the butter mix.  Beat the egg whites until they form peaks, the slowly add the remaining 1/4c sugar until it's all added, the sugar has dissolved and the mix is stiff.

Add the lemon juice (I do an overflowing 1/4c, because I like the extra sharpness of the lemon - I use scant measures of sugar too for the same reason) to the butter mix & then the milk, ensuring you have a smooth mix.

Pour the lemon mixture into the egg whites and carefully fold in.

Bake at 180-190C (350-375F, 4-5 gas mark) for 35-40 minutes until it's just set.

Serves 4 ...or do what I do and eat it straight from the dish, not sharing it with anyone.

*I was going to have it for dinner on Friday night, but ended up working later than intended and not making it, so did at the next opportunity. Nowt wrong with that is there?

Shrove Tuesday: Pancakes

Being gluten free shouldn't mean missing out, and you certainly shouldn't miss out on pancake day. I find using Delia's recipe and just swapping in my usual Doves Farm Gluten Free flour works a treat. The only thing to remember is to stir the batter each time before taking your scoop for your next pancake... the gluten free flour has the tendency to settle to the bottom, so if you don't stir it, you end up with wafer thin early ones, and quite stodgy ones near the end.

My favourite filling is always the most simple: lemon juice and sugar. Nothing beats it, nothing comes close. Maya and I had quite an in depth conversation about the options today while on a lunchtime walk: ice-cream, maple syrup, nutella, fruit (all sweet things!) and much more, but we both came back to the old favourite of lemon & sugar, especially if it's a crepe and not one of those fat American pancakes...if it's one of those, then blueberry compote and vanilla ice-cream.

Delia's recipe is simple (and I'm going for 'old' measures here, because they work better):

Sift 4oz GF flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Mix 3 fl oz water with 7 fl oz milk (I use soya). Make a well in centre of your flour and break in two large eggs. Start beating the eggs (I use my good old Kenwood beaters), incorporating bits of flour as you go. As it starts to thicken, gradually add the milk & water mix, until you've incorporated all the flour and milk & water mix. Add 2 Tbsp of melted butter, and then cook... The mix will make about 10-12 pancakes. Remember to stir the mix before each pancake.

Best eaten warm straight out of the pan while the next one cooks!

Gluten Free Sponge

I've been using this recipe for years...decades probably. I remember the original, cut off the side of a cornflour box and stashed in mum's recipe index. It's odd because I am sure it came from a box of Edmonds cornflour, and the Edmonds cookbook is one that every household in New Zealand posseses at least one well-loved and food-covered copy of, yet this recipe doesn't actually appear in there. Similar versions do, but not this one, and it's this one that I use, religiously, when I want to make a sponge.

The sponge is really simple, and can be used as a cake, obviously, but is also great for a trifle base, or any other recipe that requires a simple sponge.

The reason I made this recently was for a colleague's 30th birthday at work. I didn't have much time, and recently we've consumed a LOT of cake at work, so I needed something simple and light, so I settled on this.

• Heat your oven to 190C, Gas Mark 5.

• Line the base of 2 x 20cm tins with greaseproof paper (I use washable and re-usable bake-o-glide circles...or I did, until Binks creased them to smithereens when washing them!).

• Separate 3 large eggs, putting the whites in a large, clean bowl, and reserving the yolks.

• Beat the egg whites until peaks just fold over. Slowly add 1/2 C sugar. (125mls - not sure of weight).

• Beat until the mix is stiff and the sugar has dissolved.

• Add the reserved egg yolks and beat until well blended.

• Sift in to this mix, 1/2 C cornflour, 2 tsps gluten-free flour (I use Doves farm GF white flour mix) and 1tsp baking powder.

• Fold the flour gently into the egg mix with a metal spoon.

• Pour the mix evenly into the two tins and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

A few additional sponge making hints:

• Have your eggs at room temperature.
• From the moment the dry ingredients are added until the time the sponge is in the oven, speed is essential.
• Fold dry ingredients in very gently using a metal spoon and an up, down and over movement - do not stir.
• Drop the tins from a short height onto the bench before putting them in the oven and after removing from the oven.
• Test whether the sponge is ready by pressing gently with your fingertip. If it springs back, it's cooked. The sponges will also shrink slightly from the sides when cooked.

I like to ice this sponge with a simple butter cream icing and good strawberry jam. If it's summer, it's delicious with fresh cream and strawberries. I just dust the top with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Seafood risotto...

Tonight's dinner was lush. Binks had the idea of doing risotto and then decided he wanted seafood...which was all fine by me. I'd been feeling a bit cooped up, what with being home with laryngitis, so started preparing a few bits before he got home. I diced a few tomatoes, and finely chopped the peel (no pith) of half a lemon.

Binks arrived home and emptied his bag of the shopping. He ran home from work with a 'special offer' pack from M&S of raw prawns, scallops and squid rings, along with a few other necessaries... shame one of the packs split in his bag and he had to scoop the last few bits of seafood from the bottom of his bag. I wouldn't want to be wearing that when the weather warms up!

Anyway a few diced cloves of garlic went in the saute pan with a few lugs of olive oil over a low heat. Once the garlic had softened, I added the diced tomato and lemon peel plus a finely sliced red chilli and let that cook down for a few more minutes. Whacking the heat up high, I added half a box of canarolli rice, stirring it to coat the rice in the oily sauteed veg mix, and then added a glass of vermouth.

Before long I was stirring in the prawn stock - rescued from the depths of the freezer where it had been lurking since we had a seafood splurge some time ago & I boiled up the shells. When the rice was *almost* ready, the heat was turned down and the seafood stirred in to gently cook in the warmth of the rice.

To finish off, I stirred in a handful of parsley and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Oh my word, it was delicious.