Posts Tagged ‘Zest’

Seville Orange Marmalade

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

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I’d never made marmalade before, but inspired by an article and recipe written by one of my baking heroes Dan Lepard I read last week, I decided to have a stab. It is a little time consuming, but it’s very satisfying, and it also makes your kitchen smell awesome. It starts with a fresh, zingy citrus whiff, and then at some point during the process it suddenly changes, and BANG! Your kitchen smells like marmalade.

I was pretty pleased with the results. The only things I’d say were that I wish it had set a bit firmer, but as I understand it this can be a bit hit and miss, and I also prefer a bit more peel in my marmalade, so I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly.This should make around 4 big-ish jars, or a couple of bigger Kilner style preserve jars.

Ingredients

400g Seville oranges (about four)

Zest of 1 additional orange

1 lemon

1 litre water

775g white sugar

25g dark muscovado sugar

Method

One thing you’re going to need to make the sweet stuff is some muslin, and a jam / sugar thermometer. Neither are particularly expensive, and are worth having anyway, so put your hand in your pocket.

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Lemon Tart

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

Apologies for the radio silence, but yet again the day job has been getting in the way of me putting finger to key. It’s been what can only be described as an unpleasantly busy start to the year, but at least I got to head out to Stockholm earlier in the week, if only for 24 hours.

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Rewinding again to Christmas, if you can remember that far back, here’s a recipe for a classic lemon tart. It’s basically a piece of cake (or rather tart), particularly if you use shop bought pastry, which I’d recommend unless you’ve got the time to make your own.

I’ve not managed to work out how patisseries manage to get that glossy finish on their tarts, so I cheated and added a festive twist by glazing mine with a bit of raspberry jelly.

This recipe was made in a 30cm / 12″ tart case to serve around 8-10 people, if you’re making desert for less use a 20cm / 8″ case and half the quantities. Lets begin.

Ingredients

500g all butter shortcrust pastry

10 free range eggs

8 lemons, juiced

380g caster sugar

500 ml double cream

Zest of 4 lemons

4 tablespoons of raspberry jelly for the glaze, optional

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Lemon Posset & Almond and Lemon Shortbread

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

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The final course of our valentines meal was a lemon posset with heart shaped shortbread biscuits (forgive the cheese).

The Posset is pretty much as old school as it gets with roots in 12th century England where it was drunk for it’s medicinal properties. I’m not sure this recipe could ever be described as good for you, cream and sugar tend to be frowned upon these days, but it is delicious, and very easy to make.

Ingredients

For the Posset

300ml double cream

75g caster sugar

1 lemon zested and juiced

For the shortbread

45g icing sugar

90g plain flour

30g cornflour

15g ground almonds

125g butter

Lemon zest

Golden caster sugar

Method

First up, put the cream and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3 minutes, making sure it doesn’t boil over, and then take off the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature, add the lemon juice and then whisk. Divide the mixture by pouring into two glasses and then put in the fridge to set.

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