Lemon Curd

I had made meringues and then I was left with some egg yolks. Of course you can make an omelette with that, but I didn't feel like it. You can also use it for spaghetti carbonara, but we wouldn't eat that that night.

In the end it became a lemon curd. I had never made this before and miraculously I had all the ingredients at home and it turned out very tasty. Below the simple recipe.

Shopping list:

3 egg yolks
100 ml lemon juice
120 gr sugar
40 gr real butter, in cubes

How to prepare it:

In a saucepan, stir the 3 egg yolks with the sugar. Add the other ingredients bit by bit and stir well.

Place the pan on medium heat and stir with a whisk. During heating, the butter and sugar will melt, a nice, even yellow solution will form and after a few minutes the curd will set. Then lower the heat and let the curd heat up and bind for a while. Do keep stirring. Don't let it boil! Keep an eye on the curd and keep stirring with a whisk.

If you think that the curd has a nice thickness, then remove the pan from the heat, let it cool slightly while stirring and then pour into a jam jar. Once the curd has cooled, it is best to keep it in the refrigerator. The curd will stiffen even further during cooling.

But then what do you do with it?

1. It tastes very nice with meringues, if your meringues are not the sexiest looking ones (like mine) make an Eton Mess.
2. You can spread a layer on a cake.
3. Stir it through the yoghurt.
4. Use it as a topping on your cupcakes.
5. Eat it with vanilla ice-cream.

Apple cake

This is a sad period for the entire world and if I see that flour is hardly available in the shops, the whole of France is Baking! We still had some flour suitable for an apple cake and although I won't make it to the 'Great British Bake-off', it tasted good.
You know me, so I have changed the recipe a little, because I didn't have everything and then you have to be creative. I have used a sort of flattish baking tray.
So here it is and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Shopping list :

250 gr real butter

250 gr sugar

250 gr self-raising flour

4 eggs  (it's sounds a lot but you need them)

2 tbsp custard or 2 tbsp cornflour + vanilla extract*

pinch of cinnamon

2-3 apples (I had Pink Ladies and used 2 apples, so don't peel them all at once)

Ginger syrup or apricot jam to taste (I had apricot jam which need to be mixed with water)

* I used cornflour and a splash of caramel sauce and some lemon syrup (didn't have lemons) and it did the job as well.

How to prepare it: 

Preheat the oven to 170C

Grease a flat baking dish with butter and dust with flour or put a piece of baking paper in it.

Mix the butter with the sugar until creamy

Add the eggs one at a time, only add the next egg when the previous one has been completely absorbed.

Sieve the self-rising flour with the custard above the batter and mix it carefully.
Peel the apples, remove the cores and slice them.

Put the batter in the mold.

Place the apple slices in the cake batter and sprinkle with some cinnamon

Bake the apple cake for about 50 minutes and golden brown

As soon as it comes out of the oven, brush the apple cake with some ginger syrup or some apricot jam mixed in a bowl with a little water.

It had daughter's approval which is great, because she's the one who likes baking.

Fried Fresh Ravioli

Yes, fried ravioli.....I know it sounds weird but I have made it today and it's very nice and something different.  We had it as a meal, but to be honest it's better to have it as either a starter or when hosting an apero or on a buffet it would catch your eye.

To be honest....I didn't make it up.....fried fresh ravioli??? No way. But since a while I've been following Michael from the US on Inspired by Charm  and I must admit his blog is very inspiring; not only with recipes but also with interior design and he has a very good sense of style; well my style that it.

Well enough of this....So I cooked his recipe of the Fresh Fried Ravioli with home made sauces that are yummy too!

I will link you to his recipe here Fried Ravioli and I have made his suggested sauces too which are in the link as well.

Some 'remarks'  ..... just because we're not American ;-)

- In the fresh ravioli packet (we had the beef one) were 23 ravioli (yes I counted them)
- In the recipe I have used half of the ingredients (you might get away with 2 eggs)
- When you see 'half and half' in the recipe....it's meant to add milk and cream to the eggs, but I did just some milk.
-Don't worry about the different types of flour/breadcrumbs ..... I used the ones I had in the cupboard.

A must!

- Make your own pesto sauce/tapenade
- The ranche sauce is really nice; and I didn't have sour cream but I used creme fraiche in stead.

Let me know when you have made it!

In the meantime follow Michael on Inspired by Charm (link on top)

And finally....yes, we're there.... some of my photos!

Pesto sauce/tapenade