I almost always make muffins for breakfast on Saturday morning.
For years, my go-to recipe has been these blueberry bran muffins, but in last few months lemon poppyseed muffins have been giving them a run for their money. Continue reading
Tag Archives: lemons
The twelve cocktails of Christmas
Strawberry-lemon sorbet
13 May
Eating well is important to me, and I’m happy to make time to cook our meals from scratch. But whatever I make, the final dish has to justify the investment of time and money.
Chocolate babka? Absolutely worth the (not inconsiderable) effort.
A salad I recently made that had me individually grilling a heap of mandolined courgette slices for half an hour while the shrieking smoke alarm provided a sound track that matched my ever-darkening mood? Not so much…
Strawberry-lemon sorbet scores off the charts on the effort to result ratio. Five minutes’ work for a hot-pink, ice-cold, sweet-tart sorbet you’d be happy to eat any day of the year.
And there’s something about blitzing up the whole lemon that is deeply satisfying to me. Continue reading
Spaghetti al limone
27 Apr
Simple enough to have on the table in fifteen minutes, fancy enough to serve to guests – spaghetti al limone is a great recipe to have up your sleeve.
Like most dishes with few ingredients, quality makes a difference here – use the good olive oil, and a nice piece of Parmesan.
Having made spaghetti al limone regularly for twenty years now, my version has evolved somewhat from the original River Café recipe, and uses considerably less olive oil and cheese.
Lemon meringue pie
24 Nov
Next on my belated list of Great British Bake-off signature bakes is a classic lemon meringue pie.
Where I grew up, most restaurants (at least the kind my family ate in), had at least three types of pie on offer.
Apple, cherry, blueberry, pumpkin, raisin, bumbleberry, saskatoon, rhubarb, pecan, peach… I’d happily order any of them, but if lemon meringue pie was on the menu, they wouldn’t get a look in.
After reviewing several recipes, I settled on this one from The Great British Book of Baking, which was published to accompany the first series of the Great British Bake-Off.
Sweet shortcrust pastry, a tangy lemon filling you could stand a fork in, and pillowy French meringue – it looked and tasted like the lemon meringue pie of my childhood. Works for me.
Tabbouleh
22 Oct
“I’m sorry I called you worthy, tabbouleh, I was just infatuated with kisir…”
Now that I’m working more hours at the office, tabbouleh is becoming a weekly staple around here. I’ve been putting it in packed lunches with olives, cucumber slices and maybe a piece of feta on the side.
It’s also featuring in serve-yourself, mezze-style dinners on evenings where conflicting schedules prevent us sitting down together for a family meal.
Measurements aren’t that important with tabbouleh – I like mine to have roughly equal amounts of bulghur wheat and chopped herbs, but have eaten versions that were 90% herbs – find a balance that works for you.
Avoid the possibility of worthiness by seasoning generously (and seasoning again to brighten it up before serving if made in advance.)
Lemon bread
25 Apr
What I now recognise to be a mighty close cousin of the British classic lemon drizzle cake, went by the more modest name of lemon bread round ours.
Christmas baking aside, lemon bread was my hands-down favourite out of everything mum baked. I particularly adored the way the lemon syrup crystallised on the crust before seeping down to creating that thin layer of sticky citrusy goodness. Continue reading
Lemon mint
11 Apr
We spent Easter in Bahrain visiting friends, where we were introduced to a drink called lemon mint. One glass and we were hooked, ordering it at every opportunity.
Lemon juice and fragrant mint are blended with ice to make a lovely, refreshing pick-me-up. The key is not to over-sweeten the mix – add just enough sugar to take the edge off the lemon’s sharpness. Continue reading
Seville orange marmalade
26 Jan
January can feel long and bleak and dreary. But the arrival of Seville oranges in the shops is a little spot of sunshine because it means I can make this year’s batch of marmalade.
Homemade marmalade on toast with a hot cup of tea takes some beating. Quintessentially British, both marmalade and tea are symbols of Britain’s colonial past – one through trade with Spain and the other due to colonising India. The history of the empire casts a long shadow over British cuisine – and we all eat better for it…
French 75
19 Dec
We won’t be repeating our twelve cocktails of Christmas extravaganza this year, but we did want to mark the start of the holiday season with something festive.
The French 75 (or Soixante-quinze) is apparently named after a field artillery gun, because of the punch it packs. Adam sees it as a gin and tonic for the Christmas season, a time of year when you do things like substitute champagne for tonic water…;-)
I recognise it as the inspiration for last year’s A Cocktail of Two Cities, which had the same London/Paris-gin/champagne thing going on.
A simple, elegant drink, the magic of a French 75 is in the balance of ingredients: gin, lemon juice, sugar and champagne. I went for a 2 to 1 ratio of the gin/lemon mixture to champagne.
Madeira cake
10 Sep
The Great British Bake-off has returned to our tellies, and the family is following along enthusiastically. Inspired by the contestants’ efforts in the tent each week, I’ve signed up to complete each week’s signature bake. Baking and desserts are not my forte, so this will be a stretch for me. First up, Madeira cake… Continue reading
Lemon risotto
4 Jul
A dish of lemon risotto with a heap of steamed asparagus is one of my favourite spring/summer meals. It also makes a great starter – in which case this recipe will feed four. Continue reading
Lemon-ginger flapjacks
2 Jul
In Canada a flapjack is another name for a pancake. Here in the UK, it’s a sort of baked oat square. Similar to a granola bar, a good flapjack is chewy and dense and sweet with golden syrup.
The first flapjack I tasted was not good – in fact, it was a huge disappointment. While it looked tempting enough in the sandwich shop with its generous coating of chocolate, it tasted of nothing but cheap oil and sugar, compacted itself into my molars and left a coating of grease on the roof of my mouth. I didn’t finish it – or buy another flapjack for a good ten years. Continue reading
Lemony red lentil soup
31 Jan
There are lots of recipes for red lentil soup out there. Having tried a few, I’ve pretty much settled on this lemony red lentil soup, which is adapted from a Sophie Dahl recipe I came across in Waitrose magazine.
A Cocktail of Two Cities
31 Dec
The twelve cocktails of Christmas
#11: A Cocktail of Two Cities
This Christmas, our great friends Margo and Aaron travelled from Canada to spend holidays with us. They are both cocktail lovers, and their visit was a big part of my idea to do the twelve cocktails of Christmas.
One of our gifts to Margo was a copy of Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails With a Literary Twist. She thanked us by mixing up a round of A Cocktail of Two Cities. Continue reading
Dorset apple cake
17 Nov
There are lots of recipes for Dorset apple cake around. Having tried a few, I’ve settled on this one.
This lovely cake is surprisingly light, fresh and lemony. I always make it with Bramley apples, liking their tartness and they way they become so fluffy when cooked. Plus we have a tree in the garden… Continue reading
Lemon ice cream
31 Jul
This lemon ice cream is a stunner. It’s unanimously our favourite ice cream around here – and that’s including chocolate. The salt is absolutely key to this dish – creating a perfect balance between sugary sweet and lemony sour.
I was given this recipe by a friend, after she served it at a dinner party, so have no idea who to credit for this marvellous creation. It’s delicious with fresh strawberries. Continue reading
Lime-lemon bars (barras de limón)
28 Jun
This Colombian recipe was dead simple to make – in fact, Lyra did most of it. I found it on the My Colombian Recipes website. Continue reading
Ten More Bites 