The Easiest Lemon Curd Ever

Don't fall off your chair in awe over at the styliest photo ever on my blog!

This fantasticly easy recipe is courtesy of my blog friend Tammy. The great thing about it is that it's made in the microwave with no faffing about over a double boiler. My mixture looked a tad overcooked but a few seconds in the food processor and voila - velvety, unctuous, luciousness.

Tammy's Lemon Curd

Ingredients
200 grams butter
200 grams sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
120 mls lemon Juice
6 eggs, beaten and strained through a sieve

Method
Put the butter, sugar, zest and juice in a microwave bowl
Cover with gladwrap and microwave for 4 minutes on high
Stir then whisk in strained eggs
Microwave uncovered for 2 minutes
Stir with a whisk and then whizz in a food processor for about 30 seconds
Pour into sterilised jars
Store in the fridge

I have a new favourite way to use lemon curd - mix equal quantities of Greek yoghurt and lemon curd and serve with fresh summer berries.

There are some more lemon curd combinations I really want to try including a lemony tiramisu. I stumbled on this recipe after a reader left a comment and I thought hmmm why do I know that name? And then I realised it was a published food writer who was commenting on my lil ole blog. What a proud moment. Check out Sue Story's blog here. She is a contributing writer to one of my most used magazines and her Lamb Tagine recipe in Annabel Langbein's book The Best of Annabel Langbein is fantastic.

Preserved Lemons

Around this time of year I usually start making some preserves to give away as Christmas gifts. I thought I should try and do something with those pesky lemons of mine and thought that a nice big jar of preserved lemons would make an excellent Christmas gift. My first hurdle was to find a jar big enough to hold the lemons. Then I discovered that my lemons were in fact too big to fit more than about 3 of them in a jar. There was no option but for me to go to the supermarket and buy lemons which seemed completely ridiculous since the whole reason for me wanting to make preserved lemons was to use up my own supply. The lemons I purchased were imported from the US and probably Lisbon variety.

There are lots of recipes out there for Moroccan Preserved Lemons and if you google preserved lemons you'll find plenty of other blog entries but there's not a lot of variation in what you do.

Preserved Lemons

What you need
A very large glass jar with a lid
LOTS of lemons
Salt
A bay leaf or two
A cinnamon quill

Method
Wash and dry your lemons
Cut a little off each end of the lemon
Cut your lemon almost into quarters but leaving one end intact (I really don't see why you can't cut them completely into quarters and if I'd done that I could have fit them in the jar)
Sprinkle each lemon generously with salt
Place in the jar
Fill the jar with lemon juice
Poke the bayleaf and cinnamon quill in the jar
Seal and leave for at least a month before using

To use
Rinse the lemon and discard the flesh
Slice the lemon rind finely and add to your chosen dish be it a tagine or a salad or even muffins like Barbara from Winos and Foodies did. I tried Barbara's muffin recipe and they were delicious.

When Life Gives You Lemons....

.... make Yucca!


While living in the US we we were introduced to a wonderful party drink called yucca (yucka) and despite having an abundant supply of lemons I'd never actually gotten around to making some of my own. The weekends have been sunny and the pool has been hovering around 30-31 degrees celsius/88 degrees fahrenheit - perfect conditions for a nice refreshing batch of yucca or as I like to call it "electric lemonade".

I think what had put me off making yucca until now was the fact that the original recipe calls for a 5th of vodka (750 mls) and unless you have company that's just a little too much alcohol for two people. Also, I've been unable to find a large enough glass jar. I scaled the recipe down by about a quarter and use an empty Ocean Spray Cranberry juice jar which works pretty well.

Here's the recipe:

Yucca Cocktail

Ingredients
175 mls vodka - approximately 6 fluid ounces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Ice
3-4 large lemons, deseeded and chopped small enough to fit through the mouth of your jar
A large glass jar with a wide mouth lid

Method
Mix vodka and sugar in the jar
Add lemons and ice
Wrap in a towel and shake until the sugar dissolves and the towel is starting to stick to the jar

Serve over ice in a tall glass
Enjoy

A Viola for Valentine's Day

I feel like a big old blog fraud because I haven't posted since last year or participated in any blog events. Just as well I hadn't made any new year's resolutions about posting more often. This past weekend I invited my friend Marti around for dinner because her husband was out of town and I thought she might like company on Valentine’s Day.

On the menu was Chicken Marbella which is a classic recipe that never goes out of date and is a great make ahead party dish. You can google it and find a frillion entries about it including one by my cooking hero Ruth Pretty. I served the chicken with chunky cut, pan fried potatoes seasoned with my current favourite condiment - smoked Marlborough sea salt from the Smoke and Spice Company. This spice blend reminds me a little of McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning and I highly recommend it, especially for steak or lamb on the barbeque. It is also great on fresh tomatoes on toast - Vogel's of course. For a bit of green we had some steamed green beans sprinkled with toasted flaked almonds.

Dessert was something quick and easy – my mum’s lemon mousse(previously posted under a Hey Hey It’s Donna Day entry) which I served in mini brandy snap baskets and decorated with canned boysenberries. The combination of sweet yet tangy mousse, crispy brandy snaps and juicy berries was fantastic. Marti asked for seconds which was a nice compliment.

My husband and I aren’t much into Valentine’s day and we didn’t even buy each other a card this year but look what I got……


This little pansy had self-seeded and was growing in the middle of our back lawn. My sweetie mowed around it especially for me - wasn't he thoughtful.

Lest We Forget

Today I went to a potluck lunch at work to farewell a co-worker who is going on maternity leave. She's having a boy so the theme was of course BLUE but you'd be forgiven for thinking the theme was teal. We had bluberry loaf, blueberry muffins (my contribution), a vanilla cake with blue icing and blue lamingtons as well as some savoury items; although who'd think there would be such a thing as too much sugar?

Tomorrow is ANZAC day which is a day of commemoration for those who died in the service of their country. The poppy is an international symbol of rememberance and explains the decoration on the star of the lunch - an ooey gooey citrus cake. I'm pleased to be able to share the recipe with you.


Sonya's Lemon and Orange Crumble Cake

Ingredients
Cake:
1 ¾ cups self raising flour
3/4 cups caster sugar
90g/approx. 3 ounces unsalted butter, chopped
Finely grated rind of one lemon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Filling:
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour/cornstarch
90g/approx. 3 ounces unsalted butter, chopped
Sifted icing sugar/powdered sugar for dusting

Method
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C/320 degrees C
Line the base and sides of a 20cm/8 inch round springform tin with baking paper
Put the flour, sugar, butter, rind and eggs in a food processor and pulse to combine
Press 2/3 of the mixture into the prepared tin, reserving the remainder
For the filling:
Put the juices, sugar, cornflour, eggs and butter into a medium pan and stir over a low heat until the mixture comes to the boil
Reduce heat and cook for 2-3 minutes
Remove and stand for 10 minutes to cool
When the citrus filling is cool pour it over the mixture in the tin
Crumble the remaining cake dough on top
Bake for 30-35 minutes
Stand on a wire rack before removing from the tin
Dust with icing sugar

Daring Bakers' March Challenge - Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake

When Lis reminded me that it was my turn to host and therefore choose the recipe for March's Daring Bakers Challenge I didn't have to think at all about what source the recipe would come from; the only question was what to choose. If course I am talking about Dorie Greenspan and her wonderful book Baking from my home to yours. My first choice would have been Dorie's Most Extra Ordinary French Lemon Cream Tart but we had recently had lemon meringue pie as a challenge. Instead I chose a recipe that had some room for personalisation; Dorie's Perfect Party Cake on page 250. Dorie's original has seedless raspberry preserves and lemon buttercream between the layers and the cake is finished off with more buttercream and coconut. For my version I stuck with the lemon flavourings and used lemon curd as the filling. Ideally it would have been a great use for all those leftover egg yolks but that was in the too hard basket for me this time around so I opted for store bought stuff which in this recipe actually worked really well.

A few Daring Bakers had some problems with the recipe on account of my poor proof-reading skills - it really does help when you have all the ingredients listed and the correct amounts of the aforementioned ingredients don't you?

Often with our Daring Baker's challenges the biggest part of the challenge is to follow the recipe EXACTLY as written; exceptions to this being unavailability of products or allergies. This month though I decided to let the Daring Bakers loose and allowed them freedom with shape, size, colour and filling/flavouring. The results I've seen so far have been very imaginative and some of the bakers really had fun with decorations and alternative ingredients. Two outstanding efforts were the baker who made a cake in the shape of a lamb and one very daring baker who thought bacon might be an exciting addition. Bacon? In cake? You be the judge. You can read about it on Leah's blog I Came to Eat. Check out the other Daring Bakers on the Daring Bakers'Blogroll.


So how did I get on making my cake?

Mis en place - who doesn't!


Getting ready - note my shiny new Kenwood mixer and my colour co-ordinated utensils. I'd like to say it's on purpose but apart from my measuring spoons the lime green (my favourite colour) accent on my Tupperware is a happy coincidence

Getting ready to bake


Ready for the oven


The baked cakes - do you like my lime green froggy mitt? It's silly but surprisingly useful


Making the Swiss meringue buttercream


Health and Safety lesson - do not bake without shoes. The boiling water on the bottom of my simmering meringue dripped on top of my foot as I was transferring the meringue to my Kenwood bowl and left me with a small but minor burn


The cooked meringue goes into the Kenwood bowl ready for the buttah.


The buttercream starts to come together. I really do love my new Kenwood mixer - I don't know how I got on without it


The first cake layer


Layering the lemon curd


A side view of the cake layers


Ta dah!


I suppose you want the recipe? Well you really should do yourself a big favour and go and buy Dorie's book. If you don't already own it, you NEED it.

OK so this is already a mile long but it seems that lots of Daring Bakers are linking back to my post for the recipe so I'd better put it on here. Hope you don't mind Dorie; did we tell you we love you??

PERFECT PARTY CAKE
From Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours (pages 250-252)

Words from Dorie
Stick a bright-coloured Post-it to this page, so you’ll always know where to turn for a just-right cake for any celebration. The original recipe was given to me by my great dear friend Nick Malgieri, of baking fame, and since getting it, I’ve found endless opportunities to make it – you will too. The cake is snow white, with an elegant tight crumb and an easygoing nature: it always bakes up perfectly; it is delicate on the tongue but sturdy in the kitchen – no fussing when it comes to slicing the layers in half or cutting tall, beautiful wedges for serving; and, it tastes just as you’d want a party cake to taste – special. The base recipe is for a cake flavoured with lemon, layered with a little raspberry jam and filled and frosted with a classic (and so simple) pure white lemony hot-meringue buttercream but, because the elements are so fundamental, they lend themselves to variation (see Playing Around), making the cake not just perfect, but also versatile.

For the Cake
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Whisk together the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in more lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.

Fresh Berry Party Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries – use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you’ll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator – let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Daring Bakers' Challenge - Lemon Meringue Pie

This month's challenge was hosted by Jen, The Canadian Baker and I was quite excited about it because it is one of my mother's favourite desserts and I'd been on the lookout for a reliable recipe.

As some of you already know my blog is currently a secret from my beloved. He is so NOT a foodie that he just wouldn't get it, not to mention the whole public thing about blogging. Sometimes this causes a few problems with my Daring Bakers' Challenges if I don't have an occasion to bake/cook for and I run out of time which is more often than not the reason for my non participation, not because I don't like a recipe. What's not to like about lemons? I thought I was in luck this month because we had an invitation to our neighbours' house for dinner and I was asked to bring dessert. Unfortunately I didn't find out until early afternoon on the day of the dinner which meant I had a one shot attempt for the Lemon Meringue Pie. I started with the crust and I should have known that I was doomed to failure when I smelled burning and realised that I'd not removed the price sticker from my new pie dish. With the heat it had falled off onto the bottom of the oven and was turning into something brown and crispy. Just as well I wasn't cooking my egg mixture on the stove top at the same time or I would have had to abandon it in order to put out the potential fire in my kitchen. Mmmmm - can you say burned crust with a side of burned price tag?


In disgust I threw in the towel and uttered that particularly appropriate word that Kiwis say when they are frustrated.... .bugger!. Check out the video clip and you'll see what I mean!

I was glad that I hadn't started on the filling while the pastry was baking because this recipe is a big sucker and calls for 5 eggs and I would have been really annoyed to have wasted 5 eggs. The technique for the Lemon Meringue Pie filling is slightly different from most I've seen in that you thicken the egg mixture before you add the lemon juice. I'll be curious to see whether my variety of lemons works using this method - I know it doesn't when you bung everything in together and try and thicken it up. I will definitely be making this pie soon as I'm determined to have a success. The pictures of those I've seen look mouthsmackingly delicious. Check out the Daring Bakers' Blogroll and see for yourself but make sure you have some time up your sleeves because I hear that we are up to 500 members now.

Subsequently, I cleaned my oven which is a Smeg brand and one of those ones where you dismantle the insides and pull out the liner. To do this I had to consult the manual and I discovered that because my oven is not vented it's suggested that you reduce your oven temperature by 10-20 degrees (Celsius). I've always thought that my oven was a bit fierce and now I know why.

Bring on the next challenge!

Happy Birthday To Me

Good grief - I knew I was hopeless at remembering people's birthdays but it's a bit sad when I can't even manage a post about my own!

26 September is also the birthday of a co-worker and we had a shared morning tea. Pictured above is the delicious flourless citrus cake made for me by my boss. It was moist and dense and would be a lovely dessert cake because it's not too sweet. I imagine it would be even better served with a dollop of creamy Greek yoghurt or some marscapone.

Orange, Lemon and Almond Cake
Source unknown but based on a Sephardic recipe from Claudia Roden

Ingredients
1 orange
1 lemon
400g ground almonds
150g sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
Butter and flour for preparing tin
Handful of flaked almonds for decoration

Method
Simmer the orange and lemon in water til soft (the lemonw ill probably soften first) – allow about 45 minutes
Leave to cool
Open the fruit and remove the pips
Blend with just enough of the cooking liquid to make a pulp or push through a sieve
Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the fruit pulp and dry ingredients
Put into a greased and floured tin (one with a loose base is best) and sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds
Bake at 190 degrees celcius for about 40-50 minutes or until browned and springy to touch
Allow to cool a little and then remove from the tin and put on a serving plate
Dust with icing sugar if desired

Also on the morning tea table was a lovely lemon syllabub sponge cake which was a Ruth Pretty recipe from the Saturday newspaper, a hummingbird cake, chocolate brownies (recipe to follow in another post), some cute little cupcakes (coffee and lemon - but not together), and a lemon curd cake. I was too busy eating a little slice of everything to take photos.

I had a wonderful day which even included flowers and a card from my husband. My birthday gifts from friends included the usual suspects of chocolates, quilting fabric and wine. I also received Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan and Simple Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey and I've already earmarked several recipes to try. My reading pleasure will continue with Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Hey Hey It's Donna Day #11 - Mousse

mousse
[MOOS]
A French term meaning "froth" or "foam," mousse is a rich, airy dish that can be either sweet or savory and hot or cold. Cold dessert mousses are usually made with fruit puree or a flavoring such as chocolate. Their fluffiness is due to the addition of whipped cream or beaten egg whites and they're often fortified with gelatin. Savory mousses can be made from meat, fish, shellfish

Some people,like me, are squicked out by the thought of eating raw eggs and some
people, like me, are put off at the thought of working with gelatine for fear of ending with something that feels like rubber. So when Helen of Tartlette named mousse as the theme for Hey Hey It's Donna Day #11 I had a wee challenge ahead of me - to find an eggless, gelatineless mousse recipe.

I now present to you the easiest lemon mousse you will ever make. No seriously! It is dead easy and takes just minutes to prepare. No eggs, no gelatin and only three ingredients. The recipe is courtesy of my mum and she can't remember where she first saw it but has been making it for years and receives rave reviews. It's an ideal recipe to remember if you get caught and have to make a dessert at the last minute. As long as you can run to the store for some cream, if you have lemons in the fruitbowl and a can of condensed milk in your pantry you are good to go.

The Easiest Lemon Mousse You'll Ever Make

Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk - not lite
150-300 mls cream (less will give you a thicker end result)
Juice of 4 lisbon lemons - this recipe does not work with meyers and I can't vouch for any other varieties
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons


Method
In a medium sized bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form
In another bowl mix together the condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest
Fold the cream into the lemon mixture until combined
Pour into your chosen serving dish/dishes and refrigerate until ready to serve
The mixture will thicken up on standing and will be quite stable for several days
It is particularly nice served in a brandy snap basket or as a filling for brandy snaps themselves. The brandy snaps will melt if left too long so it's best to fill them just before serving

For a recipe to make your own brandy snaps check out the Chelsea Sugar website here. Or, for a brandy snap basket recipe see here.

Limoncello

My lemon tree is still fruiting although what's left on the tree is overblown from having been on the tree too long. The fruit is huge, juicy and somewhat mutant. My photo sucks but do you know how hard it is to hold something in your palm and then try and take a photo one handed? I think perhaps my lemon tree may have had a liaison with a grapefruit tree somewhere in its history.


I have no idea what variety it is but I think it's probably a Meyer as the lemons are extremely juicy but not as acidic as a Lisbon. Food Reference tells us this...The Meyer Lemon (Citrus meyeri) is thought to be a cross between a lemon and an orange. They are thought to have originated in China about 400 years ago. The Meyer Lemon was introduced to the U.S. from China by Frank Meyer in 1908. Meyer lemons look like a large orange, with a very soft edible skin. They are sweet, juicy and fragrant, and are excellent in vinaigrettes and sauces, or sliced skin and all in salads.

I made some lemon curd but the egginess (eggyness?) of the flavour icked me out just a tad. So what else can you do with an abundance of lemons? Most cake recipes don't use enough lemon juice to make a dent in my supply and I don't have room in my freezer for juice anyway. The warm weather this summer made me dream of lolling about beside the pool with a nice cold drink and I thought Eureka! - Limoncello I guess in my case that should be Meyer! - Limoncello.

Limoncello has long been a staple in the lemon-producing region along the Italian Amalfi Coast in Capri and Sorrento. The Amalfi Coast is known for its citrus groves and narrow winding roads. There are a number of New Zealand producers of limoncello and I have a bottle of Vin Alto in my cellar. A bad limoncello tastes like rocket fuel - or at least what I imagine rocket fuel might taste like. Lemon Z make theirs from Yen Ben lemons and spring water. Bella Verde use Villa Franca lemons. Check out their recipes including one for limoncello fudge - can you say mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? There's also VinAlto and they have a few nice sounding recipes too.


Limoncello
Source of recipe forgotten - oops!

Ingredients
12 lemons
2 (750-ml) bottles of 100-proof vodka, divided (see note below)
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Makes about 9 1/4 cups limoncello
Total time: 30 minutes, plus at least 3 weeks infusing time

Method
Remove the yellow part of the lemon peel with a sharp peeler or fine grater, carefully avoiding the bitter white pith. If any pith remains on the back of a strip of peel, scrape it off
Put the yellow peels in a jar or bottle, add 1 bottle vodka and seal tightly
Leave the bottle to steep until the peels lose their color, at least two weeks (I left mine a month)
Put the water and sugar in a saucepan and boil until it turns clear
Let the syrup cool
Strain the vodka from the peels and mix it with the remaining bottle of vodka and the syrup
Put the liqueur in bottles, seal tightly and let the components marry for at least 1 week before using
For drinking straight, store the limoncello in the freezer

Note: My liquor store salesperson told me not to waste my money on high end vodka (like Absolut or NZ's 42 Below) for making limoncello and I took his advice and bought something mid range.

Cuisine magazine offers some great suggestions for using limoncello including a fabulous dessert recipe by Julie le Clerc for limoncello roll with lemon conserve.

It's Not Easy Being Green

This is one of the few recipes where I lower my "from scratch" baking standards to use a box cake mix as a base. The result is foolproof and guaranted to give you a tender, sponge-like cake. The original recipe called for a combination of orange and lime juices but since limes are ridiculously expensive in New Zealand at the moment and I have an abundance of lemons I thought I'd just use lemon juice. If you don't use extra food colouring the cake will turn out a pretty pastel shade of green rather than something that looks like it came out of the Hulk's kitchen.

St Patrick's Day Lemon Cake
Adapted from Robb Dabbs' Tropical Lime Cake

Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix (I used a white cake mix)
1 (3 ounce) package lime flavored jelly/gelatin mix
A few drops of green food colouring for extra greenness
5 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Glaze1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups icing/confectioners' sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Grease and flour or line a 9 x 13 inch pan
In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and lime flavored jelly
Combine the eggs, oil and lemon juice in a jug or bowl and mix well
Gradually add the blended ingredients to the dry mixture
Beat for 5 minutes using an electric mixer
Pour into the prepared pan
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
When the cake comes out of the oven, prick holes all over it using a toothpick
To make the glaze, combine the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small bowl
Beat until smooth and pour over the hot cake, this will soak into the cake

Lemon & Coconut Impossible Pie

Our neighbours invited us over for dinner last weekend and I was asked to bring a dessert. I love it when I get to make dessert. My lemon tree is still laden with fruit so my first inclination was of course something lemony. On Christmas day my contribution to the family table was a citrus curd tart – a recipe I’d tasted at a recent potluck lunch at work. The general consensus of my family was that they’d prefer the tart to be a little more... well... tart! That was not a surprising comment given that the recipe called for a mixture of orange and lemon juice. From memory I also used tangelo juice since I happened to have one in the fridge. Here’s the recipe which I think came from some egg promotion recipe book.

Citrus Curd Tart
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup melted butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1 cup desiccated coconut
½ cup flour, sifted
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup orange juice
1 cup milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F
Grease a 20cm (8 inch) diameter pie dish (I used a cake tin)
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until mixed
Pour into the pie dish and place in the preheated oven
Cook for 45 minutes or until firm and golden brown on top
Serve sprinkled with icing sugar

For Saturday’s dinner I figured I’d just make the same citrus curd tart but use all lemon juice and see how it turned out. Could I find the recipe? No of course not. I googled “lemon coconut impossible pie” and came up with this link

Lemon & Coconut Impossible Pie

Ingredients
60g (2 ounces) soft butter
½ cup self raising flour
¾ cup caster Sugar
¾ cup desiccated coconut
3 large eggs
grated rind of 2 lemons (or limes)
½ cup lemon juice (or lime)
1 cup of milk

Method
Put all ingredients except milk into a mixing bowl and beat with a balloon whisk until combined
Add milk and whisk for 1 minute
Pour into a greased 23 or 25 cm (10 inch) pie plate and cook in a preheated moderate oven(180C/350F) for 50 to 60 minutes until gold brown and set
Test with point of a knife inserted in centre. It should come out clean
Stand for 10 minutes before serving
Serve warm with cream or ice cream (we had ours cold and it was fine)



My version of impossible pie turned out a little less eggy and a little more cakey than the previous recipe I’d used but it was definitely more lemony. Next time I might add a tad more lemon juice and see if that alters the consistency too much. I served it with fresh strawberries and blueberries and some Kapiti Lemon Meringue Pie flavoured icecream on the side. Kapiti’s Lemon Meringue Pie icecream won the supreme award at the 2006 New Zealand Ice Cream Awards (I didn't even know there were such awards) and I can see why it won as it was the perfect balance of rich creaminess and tangy lemon flavour. I hope they keep it as a regular flavour.

Our neighbours are passionate gardeners and they have a lovely outlook over the golf course. Imagine having this view from your kitchen/dining windows – isn’t it peaceful.

Luscious Lemons

As you can see I have an abundance of lemons in my garden. The tree is very misshapen but is such a prolific fruit bearer we couldn't possibly get rid of it. I keep meaning to make preserved lemons in case I get inspired to do some Moroccan or Mediterranean influenced dishes but so far I haven't gotten around to it and there's only so many kamikaze cocktails a gal can drink so for the most part my lemons are used in baking. I make no apologies for the appearance of freesias as an artistic element in my photo. They are the last from my garden as I had it landscaped yesterday and they've been dug up. I'm not exactly thrilled with the work that has been done but apparently the landscaper is not completely finished.


Kamikaze

30ml vodka (approx. 1.5 fluid oz)
30ml cointreau
30ml fresh lemon juice
5ml lime cordial (I used Rose's brand)
Ice
Pour all into shaker, shake, strain and serve

Here's a recipe for my favourite lemon cake. It keeps well for several days although there’s not much chance of anything being left over because it is so light, luscious and well, lemony! You can make it in a food processor but recently I've been lazy and have mixed it by hand with a wooden spoon with no adverse effect.

Luscious Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients
1¾ cups white sugar
finely grated rind of 2 lemons
2 large eggs
¾ cup canola or other mild flavoured oil (I use grapeseed for cake baking)
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cups plain yoghurt*see note
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Optional Glaze
¼ cup (or more)lemon juice
¼ cup sugar

Method
Heat oven to 190 degrees C/375 degrees F, with the rack just below the middle. Spray a 7 cup capacity ring/bundt pan with baking spray

In a food processor, put the sugar and finely grated lemon rind in the bowl.
Add the eggs, oil and salt, then process until thick and smooth. Add the yoghurt and lemon juice and blend enough to mix. Add the flour and process just enough to combine.

Pour cake mixture into prepared ring pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the sides start to shrink, the centre springs back when pressed, and a skewer comes out clean. Leave for about 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. In the meantime warm the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. While the cake is still a little warm, poke holes in it with a skewer and drizzle the cake with the warm lemon syrup.

*Note: When it comes to dairy in cakes I use what ever I have on hand, and often combine different things to make up the required measurement. I have used regular yoghurt, custard style yoghurt (I do draw the line at flavoured yoghurt other than vanilla), buttermilk, sour cream, lite sour cream and at a pinch have made up the measurement with skim milk or pouring cream. So far I’ve not yet had a disaster.