Lemon Curd

(Made with our massive lemons, probably about three standard lemons worth each)

• Zest of 6
• Juice of 2 (160ml) 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 1/3 cup sugar 
• 8 egg yolks
• 2 tbs cornflour

plus 165g butter

Mucked around with double burners and thickening for ages, in the end chucked in cornflour and did it in the microwave, Bob's your uncle. Cook the main ingredients with some caution until thickish, then stir the butter into the hot stuff. Done.

Ricotta Lemon Cake

Kinda chewy but zesty. I made a quarter batch of this only,in muffin pans, and covered it in lemon and sugar syrup. A bit dry otherwise.

500g flour
250g sugar
250g Ricotta
125ml lemon juice
3 egg yolks
3 whipped egg whites
15g baking powder
125g softened butter
powdered sugar
salt

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Whip butter and sugar, add and whip egg yolks, and lemon juice. I had to add a heap more milk because it all got very stiff. Combine. 180 for about 40 mins. After that I recommend soaking in lemon syrup.

Iced Lemon Cake

An old tea-time favourite. 

For the cake mix: 

125g butter

grated rind 1 lemon

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

200g self-raising flour 

50g cornflour

0.5 teaspoons baking powder

Tin: 20cm round. Grease and line. Oven to 190c. Beat butter, sugar, lemon rind, then eggs,and milk and then dry ingredients. Bake for 40-50 mins. Turn out. 

Syrup 

2tablespoons water 

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

50g caster sugar 

1 tablespoon arak, ouzo or cointreau 

Heat into a syrup, saturate cake with it. 

When done, drizzle over thick icing and sprinkle on some lemon peel for cuteness. Nice crumbly textured cake. 

Grilled chicken with dukkah pasta

Dukkah - mixed nuts, lots of green herbs, in a blender, with olive oil and lemon juice (plenty of it). Make a large dukkah to the pasta ratio - in fact more like a paste than dukkah.

Grill the chicken, slice and serve absolutely plain apart from salt. (Breast.)

Boil pasta, with broccoli at the last moment. Mix dukkah in, season and add olive oil and lemon juice to taste.

Serve side by side.

Kids verdict: 'Fresh'

Super healthy.

Jams and Chutneys

One needs jam. And marmalade. Here are some recipes for when the time is right (ripe).

Orange Marmalade

Some make this with 2 sugar to 1 of fruit. I make it with 1 of sugar to 2 of fruit. 'Course it means you have to boil it for longer but it works just fine.

As for all citrus, peel the skin off the fruits leaving the pith behind. Slice the zested skin as fine as possible. set aside.

Cut the pith away from the remaining fruit. Discard.

Dice the pulp of the orange. I find there is no need to take the skin away - you're going to cook it for so long it won't matter.

Collect any seeds and sew them into a muslin bag. This helps set the marmalade.

Combine the shredded peel and the diced pulp. Weigh. Put in pot with half that amount of sugar. Add water. How much you add depends on how dark you want the marmalade. The darker, the more water, but then of course you have to boil it for longer. As a general rule it should be enough if you add sufficient for it to come just below the top of the fruit mix before you add the sugar.

Boil gently. Remove any scum arising. Seal in sterilized jars once it passes the set test.

Lemon Marmalade

Same as with the Orange, but more sugar is allowed. I would go as far as 1:1. Not more, though.

Apricot Jam

Stone and dice the fruit. Ratio of 1:1. Add pectin as per instructions on packet as it will be runny otherwise. No added water necessary. Zest and juice of one lemon per kilo of diced fruit gives it a nice edge. Blitz some of the jam once cooked and mix back in to give a more spreadable consistency.

Peach Jam

As above.

Strawberry Jam

Had huge trouble with this one, would not set even with twice the recommended pectin and no water. Ratio of 1:1, which might be too much. Also with one lemon per kilo of fruit. In the end had to thicken it up with arrowroot afterwards, and added a touch of red food colouring just to spic it up while I was at it (worth doing this. Real strawberries cook a little dull). Make sure not to boil this too vigorously or you'll destroy the flavor.

Mango Jam

Quite the best of all the jams. Extraordinary. 300g of sugar to every kilo of fruit, peeled stones and pureed. Boil the sugar with half the quantity of water (i.e. 150 ml per 300 grams of sugar) until it starts forming threads - this is about the soft ball stage. Add the puree, cook for 10 minutes or so, gently. That's it. Absolutely divine.

Tomato Chutney

1kg tomatoes
1/2 kg onions
250g brown sugar
150ml vinegar

5 cloves cardamom
4 cloves garlic
1 chili
4cm ginger
 Bubble bubble boil and trouble.

Enjoy!