Preserved Lemons

The supermarkets and grocery stores are full of citrus fruits at this time of year. As I have mentioned many times before, lemons are, in my opinion, an essential ingredient for any cook. A couple of squeezes of fresh lemon juice will perk up any savoury dish and it also has a wide range of uses in baking and sweet dishes. As you can see, I am quite a fan of the humble lemon!

Preserved lemons are used in many Moroccan dishes, most famously tagines, where their sour pungency cuts through the richness of other ingredients used. Many recipes for preserves lemons employ a method whereby the lemons are preserved in salt and vinegar. Whilst these are delicious, the saltiness can sometimes linger, even when the lemons have been rinsed beforehand and they can skew the flavour balance of the recipes in which they are used.

 

This recipe for preserving lemons avoids that problem as no salt is used, but rather the lemons are preserved in a light sugar syrup with added spices and aromatics courtesy of the inclusion of coriander seeds, bay leaves and fresh chillies.

This is a really useful condiment to have in the kitchen cupboard and is incredibly easy to prepare.
 

Ingredients:

9 smallish sized lemons
1 litre water

300g granulated sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

4 bay leaves

1 long, thin red chilli pepper, quartered lengthways

1tsp coriander seeds
 

Method:

1. Wash the lemons and scrub them with a vegetable brush.
2. Put the whole lemons into a large saucepan with the water, sugar and lemon juice. Bring up to the boil and then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer the lemons for half an hour.

3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool.

4. When the lemons are cool enough to handle, remove from the syrup with a slotted spoon and using a sharp knife cut into quarters. Carefully remove any lemon pips that you come across and discard.

5. Pack the quartered lemons into a sterilised jar (1litre capacity) along with the chilli, coriander seeds and bay leaves.

6. Reheat the syrup and bring up to the boil. Allow to bubble away for 7-10 minutes until it has reduced by about a third. Strain into the jar containing the lemons. Seal the jars and when cool, store in a dark cupboard for at least three weeks before using. Once opened, refrigerate.

Makes 1 x 1lt jar.     

Treacle Tart

I might as well hold up my hands and declare straight away that this is a very sweet tart, but provided you get the balance right with the added lemon juice and lemon zest, it should have a slight bitter edge to it. This coupled with the moist, almost slightly chewy nature of the tart filling, makes it something which is irresistible.

Although called treacle tart, modern recipes do not actually use treacle but use golden syrup instead. Sometimes, to ring the changes I replace a tablespoon of the golden syrup with some black treacle which results in a tart that is darker in colour and with a richer almost malty flavour.
 

Some versions of this tart are shallower than the one that I present here, but I prefer a tart with a slightly deeper filling as I think that the pastry to filling ratio is more balanced. As usual I am not going to be dogmatic about this and ultimately I recommend that you bake the tart as you best like it.

I have used white breadcrumbs here, but I have also made versions using brown breadcrumbs. I find that breadcrumbs made from brown soda bread work extremely well and add a welcome nutty flavour and given that soda bread is almost the national bread of Ireland, it is something that I like to do when I have some soda bread hanging around.

Ingredients:

Pastry:
200g plain flour
1tblsp icing sugar
120g butter, chilled and diced

1 large egg yolk

1-2tblsp water

Filling:

450g golden syrup

½ tsp ground ginger

110g fresh breadcrumbs

1 large free-range egg, lightly whisked

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3tblsp lemon juice

Method:

Pastry:
1. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Rub in the diced butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and sprinkle in the water and using a fork, or your hands mix until the mixture comes together to form a dough.
2. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead briefly and shape into a ball. Wrap the dough in cling-film and place in the fridge for about half an hour to rest.
Blind-bake pastry:

3. Preheat oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Grease a 5cm deep, 20cm round fluted tart tin (with a removable base) with a little butter. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry dough in a circle large enough to fit into the prepared tart tin and to a thickness of about 4mm. Use to line the bottom and sides of the prepared tin. Cover the pastry with a sheet of crumple non-stick baking parchment and then fill with baking beans. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and baking beans and then bake for a further 5 minutes. Any pastry off-cuts can be used to cut out shapes to decorate the pie or, as would traditionally be the case to make a lattice pastry topping for the tart.

4. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down slightly while you make the filling.

Filling:

5. Reduce oven Temperature to 180C/ Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.

6. Put the golden syrup, ground ginger in a small saucepan and heat through until warmed but not bubbling. Remove from heat and add in the breadcrumbs, egg and lemon juice and mix everything together thoroughly. Pour into the blind-baked pastry case and bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 25 minutes until golden brown and slightly risen.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. I like to serve slices of this tart, still very slightly warm with some clotted cream or with a scoop of marmalade ice-cream.

 
Serves 6.

Lemon & Polenta Cookies

These are unusual little biscuits and whilst simple to make are a little different to the type of biscuit that I would normally bake.

I love anything lemon flavoured and many of the recipes that I prefer to cook and bake inevitably seem to include lemons. This recipe is based on one that I came across years ago in a magazine, but I have adapted it to include loads of lemon flavour by way of loads of finely grated lemon zest which I made using my trusted Microplane grater!

The yellow colour of the added polenta echoes the yellow of the lemons used in the recipe but also gives the finished biscuits an irresistible crunch when you bite into them. 

Although this may sound like a strange description, I would say that the polenta adds a short but almost grainy texture to the biscuits. If a smoother, almost shortbread-like texture is preferred I would suggest substituting the polenta for the same weight of semolina which gives a slightly different albeit equally delicious result.

 

I used a small fluted cookie cutter to cut out rounds of the biscuits from the rolled-out dough, but use any shaped cookie cutter that you like.

 

Initially I was going to leave the biscuits plain, but the lemon, bereft of its zest which was used to flavour the biscuit dough, was almost taunting me with the possibilities of the unused juice at its interior – so I used a little of the squeezed juice with some icing sugar to create a tart icing which I drizzled over the finished biscuits. You can of course leave them plain, but the lemon drizzle icing really does emphasize the lemon flavour of the biscuits and I would strongly recommend its use!

Other citrus fruits can be used instead of lemons and I have previously created a lovely version of this biscuit using pink grapefruit.

Ingredients:

200g butter, softened
150g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

4 egg yolks

300g plain flour, sifted

150g polenta (fine maize meal)
Icing:
50g icing sugar
2tsp lemon juice
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C/Fan Oven 180C/Gas Mark 6. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Place butter, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time making sure that each is well incorporated before adding the next.

3. Mix the flour and polenta together and then add to the creamed mixture and using a wooden spoon mix together to form a dough. Wrap the dough in cling-film and refrigerate for half an hour.

4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work-surface until ½cm thick and cut out discs using a round 6mm cookie cutter. Lace these onto the parchment-lined trays, leaving space between each one and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until a light golden colour. Allow to cool on wire racks and when cooled drizzle with a little lemon icing.
Icing:
5. Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over the biscuits with a small teaspoon.

Makes 24-30 biscuits.

      

Ginger & Almond Traybake

These biscuits are so quick to make and are incredibly delicious. If, like me, you are a fan of ginger, you will absolutely love them. The first time that I made them I was hooked and I have made them many times since. Everyone who has tasted these biscuits has begged me for the recipe, so here it is now!

Although I regularly use stem ginger preserved in syrup, here I use crystallized ginger which I chop into small little cubes. The smell of the warm, sweet spicy, ginger as these are baking is addictive. Try as I might, I find it impossible not to wolf down one as soon as they come out of the oven and before they have had a chance to cool down.

It’s hard to describe these biscuits; on one hand they have a slightly cake-like, chewy texture but they are also reminiscent of shortbread. Quite a lot of butter is used, but rather than make the biscuits greasy, it imparts the most wonderful rich buttery taste. Because of the large amount of butter, you do need to keep an eye on them whilst they are in the oven to ensure that they do not over-brown as this will only make the end product taste a little bitter. Remove them from the oven once they are golden brown.

 

The inclusion of chopped almonds is only something that I introduced fairly recently, but I think that the chopped nuts add that something extra and really make something that looks quite plain into a luxurious tasting treat.

 

There is very little more that I can say about these biscuits other than to recommend that you bake some!
 

Ingredients:

260g plain flour
220g caster sugar

125g crystallised ginger, coarsely chopped

75g blanched almonds, coarsely chopped

1 egg

185g butter, melted

To finish:

2tblsp caster sugar, to sprinkle

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C/Fan Oven 150C/Gas Mark 3. Line a 20cm x 30cm traybake tin with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Place the flour, caster sugar, chopped ginger and chopped almonds in a large bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon. Add in the beaten egg, followed by the melted butter and mix again to thoroughly combine everything. The mixture will be relatively soft.

3. Press this mixture into the parchment lined tin, smoothing it down evenly with the back of a metal spoon.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar. Allow to rest in the baking tin for 10 minutes and then remove. Cut into 16 even sized pieces and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Makes 16.
 

 

Blood Orange Cake

For a cake that uses fruits available in this part of the world during the depths of winter, this is actually a welcoming and cheerfully summery looking cake.

Blood oranges tend to be slightly tarter than other oranges but I think that this is what gives this cake an added sophistication and makes it all the more inviting.

This is the type of cake that could be served as it is ideal for serving as a dessert, still slightly warm from the oven with a dollop of crème fraiche. Alternatively, you could serve it with a scoop of ice-cream, but I think the slight acidity of the crème fraiche is exactly what is called for here, so that is what I would suggest.

As with so many sweet recipes that include citrus fruits, you can interchange the fruits used quite easily. This cake would work equally well with ordinary oranges, with lemons or even with limes. If I were to use limes, I think I would add in a couple of heaped tablespoons of desiccated coconut and would omit the orange flower water substituting the finely grated zest and juice of a couple of limes to give a slightly tropical interpretation to the basic recipe given here. Lime or lemon marmalades could also be used in place of the orange marmalade to complement the chosen fruit.

 

This cake is extremely moist with a beautiful orange taste. Upside down cakes always seem to invite gasps of appreciation when they are up-turned onto the serving plate and I have to admit that because of this, I tend to make sure I have an audience when the big unveiling happens.
 

Ingredients:

Topping:
25g butter, for greasing cake tin
1 blood orange, thinly sliced

3-4 tblsp granulated sugar

Cake:

200g butter, softened

200g caster sugar

3tblsp orange marmalade

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

200g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

½tblsp orange flower water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.

Topping:

2. Generously grease the bottom and sides of a 23cm round cake tin with butter and sprinkle in the sugar. Arrange the sliced orange slices on top of the sugar, overlapping to fit them in if necessary.

Cake:

3. Using a hand-held electric mixer, cream the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy and then beat in the marmalade. Next beat in the eggs a little at a time. Fold in the flour and ground almonds and mix in the orange flower water.

4. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and spread out the mixture evenly. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes until a inserted skewer comes out clean.

5. Leave to rest for 5 minutes and then turn out carefully onto a serving plate.

6. Serve warm with a spoonful of crème fraiche.

Serves 8-10.
  

    

Onion Tarte Tatin

It is always great to have a number of recipes in your repertoire that are easy to prepare and can be made from standard everyday ingredients.

 

At its simplest, this Tarte Tatin uses onions, puff pastry and butter – but it is one of those recipes which can be adapted and other flavours easily introduced. I used ordinary yellow skinned onions and made one large tarte tatin which I then served sliced in wedges, but you could also make individual tartes using baby onions. I added a generous splash of Pedro Ximinez sherry and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary to the onions. I particularly liked the almost astringent taste of the rosemary contrasted against the sweetness of the onions and the richness of the buttery puff pastry. You can of course vary the herbs and rather than using sherry, brandy could be used in its place.
 

This dish contains no meat so it would be ideal to serve to non-meat eaters, but I also make it as a side-dish to accompany roast beef.

 

Every now and again, I will apply myself enthusiastically to the task of making homemade puff pastry, but as I have said before, there is nothing wrong about using store-bought puff. As always, I would recommend paying the little extra and getting an all-butter version as you will be rewarded with a far tastier finished product.

 

I like to serve the cooked tarte tatin still warm from the oven. Be careful when turning it out of the pan onto the serving plate as some hot buttery juices can easily escape. I promise you that for something so simple to make, there will be many “ooohs” and “aahs” when you serve this up.

Ingredients:

250g all-butter puff pastry

35g butter

5-6 small onions cut, peeled and cut in half through the centre

75mls Pedro Ximinez or Fino sherry

Some sprigs of fresh rosemary

Salt & freshly ground black pepper to season

 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan Oven 180C/Gas Mark 6. Melt the butter in a 23-25cm diameter frying pan, over a moderate heat on the hob. Make sure to use an oven frying pan. Add the onion halves, cut side up and fry over a low heat for 8-10 minutes. Turn the onions over after about 5 minutes.

2. Add the sherry, season well and cover with some tin-foil. Place into the oven and cook for about 15 minutes until the onions are soft.

3. Roll out the puff pastry until it is about 3mm thick and cut out a circle about3cms wider all round than the frying pan. Prick all over with the prongs of a fork.

4. Take the frying-pan out of the oven and allow the onions to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Remove the foil lid. Sprinkle some small prigs of onion between the onions. Put the pastry on top of the onions, tucking the pastry in around the edges. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes until the pastry is well-risen and a deep golden colour.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes before up-turning onto a plate. Be careful – it will be hot.

6. Serve cut into wedges.

Serves 4.