Lemon meringue tartlets

I love lemon cakes, tarte au citron, basically anything lemony. Tonight I made these lemon meringue tartlets. I had some difficulties with the pastry, and I cheated with the lemon curd (next time I'll do it properly, I promise!) but meringue at least is one thing you can't cheat on, and these ones came out beautifully. My biggest mistake was that I meant to make these for a friend who just had surgery… but I forgot she can't eat gluten. I'll be thinking of something else to cheer her up. In the mean time, someone has to eat these babies..

(Recipe below, since I couldn't find a link to one)

 

The recipe. To make short cuts, buy a good lemon curd and a good sweet pastry and skip to the last part. There is no way to skip the meringue, though. Luckily, that's easy!

Lemon curd

200ml lemon juice (4-6 lemons)

grated zest of 4 lemons

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

4 egg yolks

180g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1. Put all the ingredients in a large, heavy-based saucepan, leaving out roughly half the butter. place over a medium heat and, using a hand whisk, whisk constantly while you cook the curd. Reduce the heat if it starts sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the curd reaches boiling point, you will notice large bubbles coming to the surface. Continue whisking vigorously for another minute and then remove from the heat.

2. Off the heat, add the remaining butter and whist, until it has melted. Pass the curd through a sieve and into a plastic container. Cover the surface with cling film, allow it to come to room temperature and then chill for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, for it to firm up well. It will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Sweet pastry tartlet cases

330g plain flour

100g icing sugar

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp salt

180g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp cold water

1. Put the flour, icing sugar, lemon zest and salt in a bowl and add the butter. Rub it in with your hands, or more easily, use a mixer fitted with the beater attachment, or use a food processor. In all cases, you need to mix the ingredients until you get a coarse breadcrumb consistency, making sure there aren't any large lumps of butter left.

2. Add the egg yolk and water and mix just until the dough comes together, being careful not to mix any longer than necessary. You might need to add a tiny amount of extra water.

3. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and knead very lightly for a few seconds only, just to shape it into a smooth disc, 5-6cm thick. Wrap in cling film and chill until ready to use. The pastry will keep in the fridge for a week and at least a month in the freezer.

4. To bake, roll out the pastry 2-3mm thin, and quickly so it doesn't get warm. Cut out 6 circles using a pastry cutter and press inside small, buttered tins (a cupcake rack works fine). Rest them in the fridge for 30min so they stay firm and don't sink when you put them in the oven. Preheat oven to 150C. Line the cases with greeseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for about 25min, then remove the paper and beans. If they don't have a golden-brown colour yet, bake for another 5-10 minutes. Remove the cases from the tins when they are still slightly warm, then leave to cool completely.

Lemon meringue

1/2 quantity of lemon curd (chilled for at least 6h)

6 pre-baked tarlet cases

120g caster sugar

2 egg whites

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Spoon the cold lemon curd into the tart cases, filling them three-quarters full. Leave aside, preferably in the fridge.

2. To make the meringue, spread the sugar over an oven tray lined with baking parchment. Place in the hot oven for 5-6 minutes. The sugar should become very hot but musn't begin to dissolve. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 150C.

3. At the last minute of heating up the sugar, place the egg whites in the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer. Whisk on high speed for a few seconds, until they begin to froth up. Now carefully pour the hot sugar on to the whisking whites in a slow stream. Once finished, continue whisking for a good 15 minutes, until the meringue is firm, shiny and cold.

4. Use 2 spoons or a piping bag to dispense the meringue on top of the curd and create a pattern. at this point you can either leave the meringue totally white or you can place it in the oven for 1-3 minutes to brown the top very lightly. Serve at once or chill for up to 12 hours.

Plenty: Chard and saffron omelette

All the very in green superfoods seem to be finding their way into Finnish supermarkets. The other week I got my hands on some kale, and now I've stumbled across chard. Which doesn't come cheap, I might add. Still, Plenty has several recipes with chard on the list of ingredients, so I took a stab at one of them, the chard and saffron omelette. It was wonderful. I'm going to be putting in the extra cash for another stash of chard and making this again soon, what with the lovely summer potatoes available as well. 

 

Pasta with fennel, rocket and lemon

I'm finally back in the kitchen after two weeks of being sick and surviving on staples. I tried something quick and simple to get back in the swing: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's pasta with fennel, rocket and lemon. I don't use fennel so often, and was happy to try something where the fennel flavour becomes beautifully enmeshed with the garlic, piqued by the lemon, and tempered by the rocket. I think I just ended up finding a new staple meal.

 

Plenty: Asparagus, lentils and watercress salad

There's been a brief pause in blogging, but not cooking, not ever! I've been trying out new dishes every week as per usual, but just haven't found the time to sit down and blog. I'll do my best to catch up. 

A few of the newbies I've tried involve asparagus. This asparagus, lentils and watercress salad was a delicious one. The pecorino is a must. It gives the whole dish a proper 'sting' to counterbalance the slight acidity of the asparagus, without overpowering the fresh herbs.

 

Plenty: Jerusalem artichokes with halloumi and basil oil

I made this feast of jerusalem artichokes with manouri and basil oil over Easter but have been too busy to keep up with the blogging. Yes, another wonderful meal from Ottolenghi. I used halloumi with this instead of manouri, which I wasn't able to get a hold of anywhere. A wonderful warm salad type of meal!

 

Plenty: Puy lentil galettes

This is another of those Plenty recipes that looked delicious and easy enough but haven't gotten around to preparing until now. The spices and spinach accompanying these Puy lentil galettes do proper justice to these humble yet flavoursome green lentils. It's much lighter and healthier without the pastry, but it does look much more appetising this way, doesn't it.

 

Plenty: Sweet potato cakes

I put off making these for a while since the photo of these sweet potato cakes in Plenty has them swimming in butter on a frying pan. In the end I decided what the heck, who cares. The end result was great - very heart and wholesome sweet potato patties spiced up with spring onion and red chilli. I served it with the accompanying yogurt-soured cream, lemon juice, coriander sauce and a fresh, crispy green salad. The ultimate comfort food!

Plenty: Lemon and aubergine risotto

By now I am ready to swear that the amount one cooks is directly proportional to one's stress levels and other measures of a good life. It's been a busy month in anticipation of a big day, which is now behind me. Christmas is approaching and friends are visiting home, hence lending one opportunities for communal cooking.

This evening my dear friend Maria came over. Maria is also a recent Ottolenghi convert. Together we tried a newbie from Plenty together: Lemon and aubergine risotto. Easy, fun, delicious. The recipe was for four, but we shamelessly finished it all between the two of us! Absolutely heavenly.

Lemon tart à la Välimäki

I was going to make lemon pudding but ended up making a lemon tart for the first time. It just so happens that the day before I was browsing Finnish chef Hans Välimäki's book Välimäki and came across this super rich but delicious looking recipe (amerikkalainen sitruunapiiras). And it really is rich: 5 eggs, 2dl of cream and lots of sugar. But who cares! Treats are treats. And this certainly was one. I love lemon desserts. They are sweet, yet tangy, fresh, and a little bitter, hence the perfect way to cut off and end a meal. I'll definitely be making this again!

Plenty: Leek fritters

I've been glancing longingly at the recipe for these Turkish-inspired leek fritters for a while. Leek pancakes - how could anyone say no? This takes a while to prepare, mainly because it entails chopping and frying a few things like leeks and shallots, plus there's a host of others things to measure out for the rest of the batter, like spices including cumin, coriander and cinnamon (!). I had a couple of unnecessary casualties too owing to my carelessness: I rubbed my eye with fingers after chopping chili (eyeball was on fire) and at some point i burned the tips of my thumbs (don't know when, but now they are a little sore and red). It was well worth all the physical pain though. These shot straight to at least my top 5 Ottolenghi recipes. The cinnamon in particular threw off the cumin, coriander and tumeric in a wonderful way. I don't think I'll make the sauce (greek yogurt, parsley, coriander, garlic, lemon juice) next time though. It was nice, but I think just a drizzle of lemon juice on top is a more refreshing way of enjoying these guys and their interesting flavours.

Plenty: Roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette

To not have cooked properly for a week has been a sad deprivation. It's already November 10th and this is my first blog entry for the month. Sinful. I've been busy meeting friends, attending plays and other events lately, and diverting as they were, I've missed my glorious long evenings at home cooking, reading and listening to music. Tonight, though, I got back on track and made Roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette from Plenty. Do I need to mention what a great success this was? It was heavenly. Again the photo doesn't do any credit to the flavours of this meal. Parsnips, sweet potatoes, red onions, garlic and cherry tomatoes are roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. After about two hours when they're ready the vegetables are covered with the dressing, made with lemon juice, dijon mustard, olive oil, maple syrup (!), capers, salt, and topped with sesame seeds. It's a feast.

Plenty: The ultimate winter couscous

Ultimate suggests maximality, fundamentality, extremity, the utmost of a given something. So to claim something is the ultimate this or that is no light assertion. Ottolenghi delivers again, though. This is the ultimate winter couscous if there ever was one. Carrots, parsnips, pumpkin, chickpeas, dried apricots and shallots are roasted in the oven with lots of heavenly spices (including cinnamon sticks and star anise) and olive oil. Harissa and preserved lemon peel are added later. The couscous is perhaps the most precious yet, laced with saffron. The richness of flavours is astounding. I'll be making this again on a cold night this winter. Thanks goes out again to my darling neighbours, for the pumpkin.

Hummus

I had an earlier post on hummus with ful, but I've been making hummus so often since without the ful to stuff into my lunch sandwiches that I thought hummus deserved the honour of it's own entry too. So here it is. So easy to make, so cheap, so delicious and healthy. That's paprika sprinkled over the top as a garnish. Gonna go have some now...

Plenty project: Crusted pumpkin wedges with soured cream

A busy week coupled with a sprained ankle limiting by ability to tour food shops has kept my cooking quite tame this past week. This weekend I did however try a new recipe from Plenty. Because it's the season for them, I did a pumpkin recipe before it's too late. A pumpkin is sliced into thin wedges, then topped with olive oil and a thick coat composed of a mix of parmesan, white bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, thyme, lemon zest and salt, then tossed into the oven for a half an hour. Served with soured cream, mixed with dill, salt and pepper. I have to admit that this has been my least favourite Plenty food. I've spoiled myself rotten, to be honest, since this was very tasty, but didn't incite the same overwhelming feelings of gluttony as the others I've tried. Maybe it was the soured cream? I think it was a little unnecessary, a little too rich. I tried some of the lefovers later and the pumpkin wedges, in my opinion, tasted much better at room temperature than warm out of the oven. Anyway, thank you Yotam for a lovely autumn dinner.

NEXT DAY UPDATE: I had the leftovers for dinner tonight. Oh. my. god. They were heavenly. I take back all the doubts expressed above. I am so making these again before pumpkin season ends!

Macarons, served

The first macaron, oozing with lemon curd:

The first bite of the first macaron. Nice and full on the inside with a pleasant chewy texture moistened by the lemon curd:

Macarons: Preparations

This week I will try making macarons for the first time. Friends say that they are quite simple to make, but require patience and precision. There's also the question of whether to make it with the 'Italian' or 'French' method of meringue preparation. I have recipes for both, and am oddly attracted to the more complicated (but apparently also fool-proof) Italian method. Here's a baking blog with recipes for both and an explanation of the difference between the two methods (in Finnish).

I went supply hunting today. All I really needed was a proper decorator bag and a tip for it. I got the tip and a reusable, machine-washable (!) bag from Kokkipuoti, hands-down the most beautiful and well-equipped cooking utensil shop in Helsinki. I also got some yellow food-colouring powder. The remaining ingredients I got from the Herkku foodshop; organic sugar, organic eggs, and this 'luxurious' lemon curd. Yes, you guessed it, I'm making yellow lemon curd-filled macarons.

Blog after blog recommends letting the egg-whites sit in room temperature for 24-48h before baking. I'm not taking any chances! Tomorrow then we'll see how it all works out. Miserable failure or jubiliant success?