Lemon & Lavender Tart

This is a classic French lemon tart, made using the “custard” rather than the “curd” method and as I like lemon and lavender combos I’ve added lavender – if its too floral for you don’t bother. This method relies on a “custard” mixture being baked in the oven in a pre baked pastry shell (a kind of sweet quiche idea) and is very easy. A “curd” version involves making a lemon curd which range in richness from a slightly lean classic English lemon meringue Pie recipe adding water and cornflour to a full on “Italian Crostata al Limone” egg yolks and egg affair which I tend to use as my default.

Ingredients for a 20cm tart

6 eggs
300ml double cream (smantana dulce 30%)
230g sugar
4 lemons with the zest finely grated and juiced
1 Blind baked pastry case using all butter pastry

a few lavender flowers (approx 1 teaspoon) if using

Gadgets & Gizmos

A loose bottomed tin is what you need here. I know I’m not really pedantic about equipment and love to improvise but tarts really benefit from proper tins.

How To

Whisk the eggs and sugar to ensure the sugar dissolves – you don’t really need a sloppy mousse here as its not the aim but the sugar does need to dissolve.

Add the zest, eggs and lemon juice to the egg and sugar mix.

Fill the pre-baked pastry case with the mix and carefully (it has a tendency to slop so sometimes I place the case on the oven shelf and using a jug I pour the mix in…depends how accident prone you are! or how wobbly your oven shelves are)

Now bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes. Its a bit like a baked cheesecake idea..you want it done but a little wobbly in the middle so that when you take it out of the oven, the cooking process continues and it will be just perfect.

After you take it out it will deflate a little, but only a little. Dust with icing sugar to disguise any wrinkles and it will look and taste divine!

Italian Meringue

An alchemist moment awaits you when you make this ethereally light meringue.

The Italian variety is more stable than the classic French variety with less tendency to weep (a first?). Use it as a meringue or as a very clever base for many recipes – its truly a great technique to have up your sleeve. You just need a steady nerve and a steady hand for the hot sugar syrup. Best of all this hot syrup cooks the egg whites so the meringue is safe and that’s really important when it comes to ice creams and desserts.

This makes enough for a very generous 20cm lemon meringue topping and if its a bit too much make little meringues by blobbing the mix onto a tin and drying through at 90C for a couple of hours in the oven. Its the quantity I always make and just seems to work.

Ingredients

180ml water

200g sugar

4 egg whites

Half a tea spoon of lemon juice or vinegar

Gizmos

A sugar thermometer is good but I do it by eye now. Don’t feel like you have to have one. A food mixer whisk attachment or some kind of electrical elbow grease – really life is too short to do this by hand apart from needing three arms to be able to simultaneously pour in the hot syrup, hold the bowl and whisk like crazy.

How To

Do things in this order and you wont go wrong.

1. wipe your bowl and whisk with the vinegar/lemon juice in an anally retentive OCD manner. No grease ok?

2. Whisk the whites until they form soft peaks? what does that mean? well they kind of hold their shape a bit but definitely fall over if pushed and absolutely don’t stay attached to the whisk. If in doubt softer is better.

3. Put the water and sugar to boil fast. Don’t be tempted to multitask…its like hollandaise sauce…it will go horribly wrong if you turn your back. Do not stir – please do not stir as crystals can form and we don’t want crystals in our kitchen. Its just not that kind of place. Gently swill the water and sugar around a bit at the beginning to help the sugar dissolve.

4. the syrup needs to reach 121C ie the hard ball stage (in theory if you drop the syrup into ice cold water it will form a fairly hard glob and you can use this method). I use the eyeball stage as I am usually in a rush and I dont have time to be faffing around with thermometers in syrup. Dont get me wrong…I like the whole geeky thermometer thing but with a bit of experience you can eyeball it. So…your syrup needs to look pretty sticky and be really hot.

5. Start the mixer on medium speed and as it is mixing pour in the syrup. Now turn up the volume and whisk like crazy on max until the entire mass is glossy and voluminous – approx 5-7 minutes in my trusty Kenwood. Like any good meringue it stays in the bowl when you turn the bowl upside down!

Smoked Trout & Leek Quiche with olive oil &wine pastry

Trout is readily available from the rivers of the Carpathians or yes to be honest nowadays the fish farms that dot the valleys. Anyhow its a local fish that has not flown half way round the world to be here and I like using it. It works well with the mild flavour of leeks and the result is a sweet very savoury tart.

Ingredients – for quite a deep 20cm quiche

1 olive oil and wine pastry case [link to recipe]

2 fat fillets of smoked trout or 1 fairly large smoked trout

4 eggs

400ml 3.5% milk or a mix of cream and milk

fresh herbs, bits of rucola. Nice herbs are parsley and dill. Tarragon would be great and very Transylvanian but not with the dill as they would compete. be generous with the greenery

half a leek extremely finely chopped (so you dont need to cook it first)

some salt and pepper

How To

Chop up all your herbs and the leeks and sprinkle into the quiche case

With your fingers roughly break up the smoked trout and place on top of the greenery

Mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper gently with a fork and pour over the trout & herbs

Press down any “floating” bits of greenery because if they stick out they will burn. However some sort of haphazard, bits poking out look is nice

Cook at 160-170C gently until browned on top and the middle of the quiche no longer wobbles. It will rise up souffle like and then as it cools down setttle down.

Serve warm with a celeriac, carrot and apple salad and I fancy a nice glass of Feteasca Regala with it…