Scorpion Cocktail

Aptly named, as it has a sting in the tail!  The relative length of the drink, with fresh orange and lemon juice and loads of ice, means it is dangerously 'gluggable'.  But refreshing on a warm, dry, sunny evening.  Per person, you need 2 parts of white rum (i.e. Bacardi), 2 parts of good, freshly-squeezed orange juice, 1 and a half parts of fresh lemon juice, 1 part brandy (preferably good Cognac), 2 teaspoons of Amaretto liqueur (or orgeat syrup, if you happen to have any lying around, as you do), 2-3 drops of Angostura Bitters, sugar syrup, to taste, and slices of orange and lemon.  Shake over ice, then strain into highball glasses filled with broken ice and garnish with the fruit slices.  ***Hic! ***

Really Easy Lemon Drizzle Cake

I have posted a rather more elaborate Lemon Drizzle Cake previously - two rounds of syrup-drenched cake sandwiched with lemon curd and mascarpone.  Gorgeous though this is, and eminently suitable as a celebration cake, sometimes you want something simpler to have with friends and a cuppa.  So this cake fits the bill.  You need two large, organic, unwaxed lemons, 150g each of softened unsalted butter, caster sugar and self-raising flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 2 eggs + 1 tablespoon milk.  You also need some granulated sugar and icing sugar for the decoration.  Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin, set the oven to 170C.  Chuck the flour and baking powder, measured sugar, eggs and milk and butter into a bowl.  Grate in the zest from both lemons, and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined and the mix is slightly paler in colour - no more than about a minute or so.  Tip into the loaf tin, level with a spoon and bake for about 45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean - cover lightly with a little foil if it browns too much towards the end.  Leave in the tin for a few minutes or so whilst you prepare the initial glaze: squeeze the juice from 1 and a half lemons and mix with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.  Remove the cake from the tin whilst still warm and put on a plate.  Spoon over the gritty lemon and sugar to let it sink in.  Now you can eat it like this (as per the photo), or you can gild the lily and add a lemon glace icing when it is fully cold.  Squeeze the remaining lemon half into a small bowl and add 2 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar and mix to a thickish icing - add more sugar as necessary to get the correct consistency.  Now, drizzle the icing over the top and let some run down the sides.  Allow to set and then consume in thick slices with green tea - delicious!  You can freeze this, in slices wrapped in cling film or parchment if there is any left.

Spatchcock Chicken with Rosemary, Lemon and Garlic

I do like to spatchcock a chicken!  Ahem.....it does look faintly rude when you take out the backbone and open it flat, with a sort of 'come hither' pose, but it cooks much more evenly and seems to get more flavour in.  I annointed our chook with olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper and then roasted it at 200C for an hour, and it emerged crisp and golden with delicious pan juices.  So much easier to carve too.

'Key' Lemon Pie

We have a surfeit of organic lemons in the house, so it made sense to use them instead of limes in this dish.  I followed Delia's recipe for Key Lime Pie, but used the zest from 3 lemons and 5floz of juice - about 2 and a half lemons.  It produced a wonderfully tart, sharp creamy rich finish to our Sunday dinner with a distinct citrus theme in keeping with the glorious sunny spring weather - Cheese and Chilli Empanadas with Margaritas; Spatchcocked Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Rosemary with a most scrumptious Californian Chardonnay; and then this little corker.  The whipped cream is optional, but does add a soothing touch to the tart pudding.

Cannellini Bean Dip with Rosemary and Lemon

I appear to be on a bit of a cannellini bean trip at the moment - perhaps because my favourite brand of tinned beans, Cirio, have just become available again through Ocado.  I will never be able to convince you that this is delicious by a photo, as it looks, well, like mushed up beans.  But it DOES taste wonderful, and is a doddle to make.  Nicer than bought hummus, and cheaper too.  Drain and rinse a 400g tin of cannellini beans and tip into a food processor bowl.  Ad a clove of garlic, crushed, the zest of a lemon, a tablespoon of lemon juice, a good grinding of pepper, a teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon or so of fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped, and 2 tablespoons of good olive oil.  Blend until smooth.  Taste and add some salt and more lemon juice or olive oil if needed.  Scrape into a bowl and serve as a dip or spread on toasted sourdough.

Linguine with Prawn, Tomato and Fennel Sauce, and Lemon Dill Pangratatta

Phew.  Long name, but an easy and delicious pasta sauce inspired by a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.  In her version, she baked the prawns and sauce with feta cheese and the breadcrumbs on top, then served with crusty bread, but I thought it would be good turned into a pasta dish - I ditched the feta as I don't think it goes well with seafood myself!  Anyway, make a good tomato sauce with a finely chopped onion and also a chopped head of bulb fennel -saute in olive oil, add a tin of good tomatoes (Cirio brand for me) and a couple of cloves of garlic and simmer until the fennel is tender and the sauce is reduced.  If you have any Pernod in the house, add a slug just before the end to highlight the fennel flavour.  Make the pangratatta by sauteeing about 4 tablespoons of fresh white breadcrumbs in a tablespoon of olive oil until crisp, season well with salt and pepper and grate in the zest of half a lemon and some chopped dill or parsley if preferred.  You can set everything aside at this point.  When ready to serve, reheat your sauce, cook the pasta and 3 minutes before it is ready, add about 100g of chopped, ready cooked prawns to the sauce and reheat.  (Or you could put raw ones in a minute earlier).  Drain pasta, toss with the sauce and serve with the pangratatta sprinkled over and the halved lemon for squeezing.  NO PARMESAN PLEASE!!!

Baked Salmon with Lemon and Parsley Crust

I have made a variation of this for years, but with a breadcrumb topping of olive oil, parsley, garlic and Parmesan.  It is delicious, but this version was altogether fresher and lighter and made a welcome change.  It is based on a recipe from Lorraine Pascale's latest book, "Home Cooking Made Easy".  For two, all you do is blitz a slice of good white bread with about 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley, a clove of crushed garlic, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, the finely-grated zest of a lemon, and 15g of melted butter.  Season well with salt and pepper.  Put 2 fillets of salmon on baking parchment or buttered foil on a baking sheet and pile the crumbs on top.  It doesn't matter if some tumbles off, you will just have some extra crisp crumbs to serve along-side.  Now bake in a hot oven (200C) for 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish and how well done you like it.  I don't mind mine a little rosy in the middle, but leave them in up to a further 5 minutes, watching so the crumbs don't burn.  Serve straight away with the zested lemon cut to squeeze over at the table.  Simple and delicious, served with stems of purple sprouting broccoli and some sauteed potatoes.

Apple and Lemon Tart

I am doing another charity cake sale at work, and I thought I'd celebrate the British apple this time, so I had to make my Apple and Lemon tart.  I don't know why I haven't put it on here before - it is so delicious and simple and doesn't require the pastry to be blind-baked.  You line a 10" loose-bottomed flan case (metal) with some good sweet shortcrust - bought is fine, but I just knocked some up in the processor with 200g plain flour 100g butter and a tablespoon of icing sugar, bound with an egg yolk and water.  Now, peel and grate two large Cox's apples (British please!) and add to the juice and zest of two lemons, 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons caster sugar and 120ml of double cream.  Mix well, pour into the pie crust and bake at 170C for 40 minutes.  It is like a Tarte au Citron but with the freshness and texture of apple .  It is very nice indeed!  One tip: it looks a bit like a quiche, so a heavy drenching with icing sugar just before serving helps.

Lemon Drizzle Cake with Lemon Curd Mascarpone

Lemon Drizzle Cake is a always a favourite, but if you bake two rounds, drizzle, then sandwich with a deep layer of cool creamy mascarpone mixed with tangy, buttery lemon curd, you are on to a real winner.  I made this for a cake sale at work today, and I think I could have made another couple of cakes and it would still have sold.  Really, REALLY good, just make it, eat it and ignore the calories!  I found this recipe on Waitrose's site.  This recommends using home-made lemon curd, which would be perfection, but I didn't have the time.  Instead, I used Wilkinson's of Tiptree's bought stuff - it is very good, made with whole egg, butter and Sicilian lemons.  Not cheap.  But worth it.  Also, forgive the picture.  I was too knackered to take photos last night, and it disappeared this morning before I thought to ask someone to take a snap, so this pic from Waitrose will have to do.

Lemon Courgette Pasta

Influenced by a recipe on the Tesco site, and refined by another online recipe, this is a little corker - filling yet light and summery.  For two - boil 200g spaghetti until al dente.  Whilst this is happening, slice two courgettes lengthwise into 3 or 4 slices and then cut each slice into long strips.  Saute in about 10g of butter until softening and lightly golden - about 7 or 8 minutes over a brisk heat, but don't allow to get too dark in colour.  Halfway through, add a crushed clove of garlic, and the zest and juice of a lemon.  Grate about 3 tablespoons of parmesan and chop some flat parsley.  Drain the pasta, holding back 3 or 4 tablespoons of cooking water.  Return the pasta to its pan with the reserved water, and stir in the cooked juicy courgettes and lemon juice, a handful of chopped parsley and 100g or so of ricotta along with 2 tablespoons of parmesan.  Stir together well, adding lots of black pepper and a little salt if it needs it.  Tip into a dish, sprinkle over the remaining parmesan, and brown under the grill until lovely and golden and bubbling.  Allow to settle for a few minutes and dig in!  Not the lowest-fat dish we've had of late, but still not too bad.

Lemon Blueberry Cake

Baking has moved to the back burner, so to speak, as a result of our lower fat regime.  But a little of what you fancy does you good, and this cake only uses 90g of unsalted butter and 80g of sugar, and it will serve 8-10.  So only around 10g fat and 200 cals per slice.  Blueberries are bang in season, and seem to be particularly plump and juicy this year, in common with British cherries.  This is an easy variation on a lemon drizzle cake, though you can leave the drizzle off to cut the sugar content even further.  Best made in a good electric mixer - I love my Kitchen Aid!  In said mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light, pale and fluffy.  Beat together 125ml of skimmed milk, two large eggs and a half teaspoon of good vanilla essence.  Weigh out 160g of plain flour and mix with 2 level teaspoons of baking powder.  Grate the zest of a large unwaxed lemon into the flour.  Now put half the flour and half the milk/egg mix in with the butter and beat briefly until combined.  Add the remaining flour and egg mix and beat again briefly until just combined - try not to overbeat it but keep it light and fluffy.  Gently stir in 100g or so of blueberries ( a small punnet) and spoon into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin.  Smooth the top and bake at 170C for about 45 to 50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.  Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then cool on a wire rack.  If you want the drizzle, mix the juice of the lemon with a heaped tablespoon of caster sugar.  When the cake comes out of the tin, spike the top with the skewer and spoon over the gritty lemony sugar.  Allow the cake to cool in the tin, when the sugar will form a delicious sharp crust.  Allegedly, this keeps for a couple of days......we shall see!

Pork Burgers with Thyme and Lemon

OK, it's not easy to make minced pork look sexy, but believe me, these little mouthfuls taste scrummy!  This was a blend of two recipes I've cooked from Nigel - the ingredients (more or less) for his Pork and Lemon Polpettine, and the cooking method for his Chicken Patties.  This recipe was made so much easier by the use of a mini chopper (pause for 'Carry On' style jokes....) which made light work of 4 spring onions and an entire head of 'wet' garlic - actually very mild.  It then minced 70g of pancetta.  All of this was added to 500g of pork mince with a good teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves and the grated zest of a lemon.  Add salt and pepper - be generous, and mix well until all combined.  Your hands are the best utensil for this.  Form into little patties or burgers - this amount will make 12 to 16 of them, enough for 4 (I froze half).  Saute them for a few minutes until browned, put into a dish and pour over about 200mls of veg stock, and bake at 180C for 15 minutes to finish cooking.  This keeps them moist and juicy.  Add a little fresh lemon juice to the baking juices, and serve with tagliatelle or new potatoes, and lots of spring greens.  Yum!

South Coast Cocktails

A recipe from the great Dale DeGroff, in his book 'The Craft of the Cocktail', this is a variation on a whisky sour but without egg white - Dale (who can be trusted in all things cocktail) insists egg whites are wrong.  I quite agree.  This consists of (for 2 people): 4 parts blended Scotch ( a good brand, please, we use Grant's Family Reserve), 1.5 parts curacao (i.e. Cointreau), 1 part fresh lemon juice, 1/2 part gomme syrup, and 2.5 parts soda water.  These should be stirred in a mixing glass over ice (not shaken) and strained into 2 chilled martini glasses.  Serve with an orange twist.  Very nice, and deceptively 'quaffable' because of the soda water.  Beware, though, it packs a punch!

Deauville Cocktails

Hubby just described these as 'Sidecars with Calvados', and I guess that is pretty much what they are - equal measures each of good Cognac, Calvados, Cointreau and freshly-squeezed lemon juice.  We sweetened it with a little gomme sugar syrup, and added a lemon twist.  Shaken over ice and served in a martini glass, this was a classic example of the alchemy of a good cocktail -all the ingredients combine to taste of something different from the individual parts.  Very delicious, and quite potent - hic!

White Lady Cocktails

Looking at previous blog entries, I can't believe I haven't mentioned this one before - perhaps because it is such a timeless classic, I just presume everyone knows it.  But if you don't, do make yourself one, it is such a perfect, delicious drink.  We use 2 parts of Gordon's Gin to 1 part each of Cointreau and freshly-squeezed lemon juice and gomme/sugar syrup to taste - we use around half a part syrup, but start with less and taste until you get the level of acidity you can bear.  Shake on ice, and serve in a martini glass with a lemon twist.  Perfect accompaniment to smoked salmon blinis.

Fitzgerald Cocktails

A delicious lemony drink, this, and one we first had at the now defunct Rainbow Room bar on the 65th floor of the Rockefeller Centre in New York nearly 20 years ago.  I shall never forget that experience - it was dark and very foggy, and we were sitting in front of a picture window, with all hopes of seeing the Empire State Building in front of us dashed - suddenly, the fog cleared, and there that wonderful building was, glittering in the dark sky.  Wonderful!  Anyway, we like to think that the now world-famous Dale de Groff might have mixed this, his own invention, for us that evening, as he was the head 'mixologist' there at the time.  It consists of 1.5 parts gin, 1 part of gomme syrup, 3/4 part fresh lemon juice and several good shakes of Angostura Bitters.  Shake together with ice and serve in an Old Fashioned glass over LOTS of ice and a slice of lemon.  Delicious with blinis, creme fraiche and smoked salmon.  A very nice alternative to G&T.

Columbo Cocktail

Not named after the detective, I don't think!  This is a long fruity Campari, made with 1.5 measures of Campari, 1.5 measure fresh orange juice, 3/4 measure fresh lemon juice and 1 measure of fresh lime juice, with about 1/2 a measure of gomme syrup.  Shake and then serve over ice in a long glass, topped up with chilled tonic and a slice of orange and lime.  Heaven.  We had little crisp squares of buttery baked bread, topped with a duxelles of mushrooms with minced Parma ham mixed in, and baked until bubbling, to accompany it before our dinner of roast lamb and pumpkin pie.

Dorset Apple Traybake

A friend mentioned last week that she had made Dorset Apple Cake, and I thought it would be a great candidate for our lunchboxes this week.  There are as many recipes for this as there are cooks in Dorset and the debate rages as to whether there should be spices and dried fruit in or not.  I decided to retain the purity of the apple and a good buttery sponge, so followed a recipe on BBC Good Food, albeit it with some tweaks - I know, I just can't help myself.  So I used this recipe, but grated the zest of the lemon in too, I replaced the caster sugar with some soft brown sugar to give a wee bit of depth of flavour, and I also used eating apples (British Cox and Gala) instead of Bramleys as I thought they would keep their shape better.  Lovely simple recipe that took about 10 minutes to whip up in the KitchenAid.  The smell in the flat as it baked was fantastic too!

Between the Sheets Cocktail

Tonight's cocktail is a classic, and we make it with equal quantities of Bacardi white rum, cognac, Cointreau and fresh lemon juice, shaken over ice and strained into a martini glass with a lemon twist.  Totally.  Delicious.   Served with crisp little Cheddar and Rosemary biscuits.  I think Sundays are my favourite day of the week!  Hic!
NB: many thanks to Helen for spotting the deliberate error in my original posting, where I listed gin instead of Bacardi white rum.  What can I say?  I was drunk at the time.

Hot Smoked Salmon and Chive Pate and Zanzibar cocktails

Well, another manic weekend of baking, for a street party on Saturday and a charity Macmillan Coffee morning on this coming Tuesday. I managed to squeeze time in to cook our dinner, which was yummy, and a neighbour has also given us some wonderful Punjabi vegetable curries and samosas, so we won't starve!

First off for dinner was this oh-so-simple fish pate, spread on crisp toast. Simply mash a pack of hot smoked salmon with a fork, and add half its weight in light cream cheese. Mash again and add chives and lemon juice to taste. Pot into little dishes and cover - will keep for several days. These toasts went down very well with today's cocktail, 'Zanzibars', which consist of 3 parts dry white vermouth to 1 part gin and fresh lemon juice, with sugar syrup to taste and a good splosh of orange bitters. Shake on ice and strain into a Martini glass - serve with a lemon twist.