Luscious lemon slice

At this time of year we always have a glut of lemons.  One thing I'll attempt for the first time is making preserved lemons - but not quite ready to yet.  This recipe from Belinda Jeffery is a voluptuously sweet way to use up some of your surplus lemons.  It is very tangy and as she herself says, it is more lemon tart than a slice.  I've varied my recipe by including coconut in the base and using less sugar in the topping.  Her photo is much prettier than mine!  Makes 20 -24 medium sized bars

base
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
180g cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp iced water

lemon topping
6 eggs
2 cups caster sugar
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
1 cup strained lemon juice
1/2 cup plain flour
icing sugar
chopped pistachio nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease and line a baking tin measuring 32x24x5 cm.
For the base, whiz flour, coconut and sugar together in food processor.  Add butter and process till it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  With processor still running add vanilla and iced water and whiz until the mixture forms a ball around the blade. Take it out and press evenly into the tin.  Gently roll a glass tumbler across the top of the dough to smooth it out.  Bake the base for about 18mins till edges begin to colour and the top is pale golden.
In the meantime, make the topping.   Beat vigorously the eggs and sugar until frothy.  Whisk in the lemon juice and zest and sift the flour over the top gently incorporating until the mixture is smooth.
When the base is ready transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Reduce oven temp to 150degrees.  Once the base has cooled, pour the filling over the base.  Return the tin to the oven and bake for another 35 - 40 mins or until the topping has set..  Place tin on wire rack to cool.
Allow the slice to cool down completely before slicing in squares or elegant diamonds.  Dust with icing sugar just before serving and sprinkle with a few chopped pistachio nuts.  Quite lovely with a dollop of thick cream....

supercilious potato gratin

My dear girl and I love concluding  our day with a story.  If she had her way it would be Andy Griffiths, but alas she is content to listen to me read from the Classics.  Lately we’ve been re-reading Oscar Wilde.  Our absolute favourite is the Remarkable Rocket.  For those of you unacquainted with this literary gem, it’s about a very proud rocket  who boasts about his noble heritage and how remarkable he is to his fellow pyrotechnic companions such as the Catherine Wheel and the Roman Candle, amongst others.  He was to be ignited on the occasion of a much –heralded Royal Wedding as part of the magnificent finale, akin to watching the aurora borealis as the King commented.

However he became damp and came to a rather unremarkable end, in a mud pit in broad daylight.  Despite this ignominy, his last gasp was “I knew I would create a sensation!”  I love how he shielded himself from the harsh reality of his existence (and his demise) with his protracted delusional state.  My daughter just loves the word ‘supercilious” which features a number of times in the story and has taken to calling a number of her peers as supercilious.  I guarantee you will feel supercilious for creating something so delicious, so comforting with minimal effort.  ….Serves 6 as a side dish.

800g potatoes (sliced to 1.5cm using a mandoline)

300ml cream

50g butter

1 leek sliced very thinly also

4 peppercorns

1 fresh bay leaf

4 garlic cloves peeled and chopped

½ cup coarsely grated parmesan

Freshly grated nutmeg

 Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Heat cream in saucepan with all the peppercorns, bay and garlic till boils then lower temp and simmer for a further 5 mins.  Cool in saucepan then strain and remove the flavourings.

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the potatoes, leeks and infused cream with your hands.  Place in a greased roasting tin and dot with bits of butter.  And bake covered with foil for about 45 mins till potatoes are tender.  Remove foil, turn up the heat to 200 degrees and scatter over the parmesan and grated nutmeg.  Return to oven and cook for  further 15 mins till golden and brown on the top.

 

 

Harira happiness

Occasionally you come across a recipe which is the culinary counterpart to Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.  Despite my penchant for hyperbole, I believe this classic Moroccan soup is it.   It’s complex, beautiful, lingers in your gustatory memory long after your last mouthful.  I’ve had this recipe since, again when Cath Claringbold was a regular food writer for Melbourne’s The Age and after all these years I finally made it!  According to the doyenne of Middle Eastern cuisine, Claudia Roden, harira is the generic term for a soup full of pulses with little meat, few vegetables and brimming with herbs and spices.  Every day during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, the smell of this soup permeates Moroccan streets as every household has it's own version to be eaten when the sound of the cannon heralds the breaking of the fast.  How torturous that would be inhaling this divinely aromatic elixir all day only to wait till darkness unfolds before you can eat it!   On a more prosaic level, this would be analogous to my school days when I often had a cold salami and tomato sandwich and watched the lucky few eat their lunch-order hot pies and sausage rolls on cold wintry days.

I have perused a few recipes from various sources and astonished to notice that one ‘high brow’ cooking periodical used  tinned chickpeas!!  Anathema if you want flavour of the highest calibre.  Have I convinced you to make this?  Go to the effort of soaking your chickpeas overnight, making a proper chicken stock and you will be rewarded ten-fold.  As my children were unlikely to partake, I took the liberty of adding harissa at the end and didn’t use the luxurious saffron as stipulated in Cath’s recipe. Serves 6 – 8

 

Olive oil
500g diced lamb (leg or shoulder)
3 brown onions, finely diced
1 capsicum, diced into 1cm pieces
4 cloves garlic
2 carrots, chopped coarsely
2 celery sticks, chopped coarsely
1 tbs ground cumin
2 bay leaves
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tbs tomato paste

1 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
10 cups chicken stock
400g tinned tomatoes
1 cup baby lentils
coriander leaves, chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
lemon juice
salt to taste

Heat some olive oil in a large stockpot and over medium to high heat, brown the diced lamb in batches and set aside.

Add some more olive oil and pan fry onions and capsicums till soften, about 5 mins then add garlic, carrots and celery.  Saute for a further 5 mins stirring through the spices and tomato paste in the last 2 mins.   Return the lamb to the pot with the chickpeas, stock and tomatoes.  Bring to the boil then reduce heat, cover and cook until both the lamb and chickpeas are tender which will take approximately another 1.5 hours.  Taste and adjust for seasoning adding salt as required.

Rinse and drain the lentils before adding to the soup pot.  Cook until tender (another 30 mins).

To serve, add a generous amount of chopped coriander, ground cinnamon, lemon juice and salt.  Serve with warm pita bread and, if you're going to eat like a Moroccan, dates.