Making Heston Blumenthal's Lemon Tart

It is very good advice that, when you have guests arriving, it is never a great idea to make an untried recipe. Racking my brain for dessert ideas the other day, a fit of bravery took over and I Googled up the Lemon Tart recipe I had seen a few nights earlier on Heston Blumenthal's How to Cook Like Heston (TV One, 8pm Saturdays, if you're a New Zealand watcher). It's a safe assumption that if Heston has published it then he has probably trialled the recipe about 25 times, so I through caution to the wind, told myself I too could cook like Heston and hit the print button.

We had a lovely dinner with our friends and Little Miss nearly 5 was overjoyed to see her buddy. After rather a lot of faffing around the Lemon Tart was excellent. Having spent many years telling students to always thoroughly read the recipe before beginning, I failed to take my own advice only to discover that Heston expects the pastry chilled for an hour: good thing The Man of the House was picking Little Miss up from Preschool.

Heston Blumenthal's Lemon Tart 

Slightly tweaked by me - sorry Heston. It serves 12 people, takes ages to make, but is thoroughly worth it!

Pastry
300g (2 cups) plain flour
150g butter
120g icing sugar
3 large egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1/2 lemon, zest finely grated
1 egg white

Filling
5 lemons, zest finely grated and juiced
300ml cream
390g caster sugar
9 large eggs
1 large egg yolk

To make the pastry, using a food processor, mix the flour, butter and salt until it becomes a sand-like texture.

In a tall container blitz together the icing sugar and egg yolks with a stick blender.

Add the vanilla seeds and lemon zest to the egg yolk mixture, and then add to the bowl of the food processor and continue to mix until fully combined and a very soft dough has formed.

Mould the dough into a flat rectangle and wrap it in plastic wrap before placing in the fridge. Heston said 'at least 1 hour', my schedules gave me 20 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 190 deg. C. 

Roll the dough between a sheet of baking paper and a sheet of plastic food wrap until it is quite thin. 

The recipe asked to freeze the sheet for 30 minutes: I didn't have that time either, and the average domestic freezer wont fit a pastry sheet, so I just boxed on and removed the baking paper from the pastry, then used the plastic wrap to stabilise the pastry while I put it in the 26cm loose bottomed tart tin. 

Making sure to press it into the edges and leave the pastry hanging over the edge.

Take a sheet of baking paper and scrunch it up several times to eliminate any sharp edges. Prick the dough with a fork all over the surface. 

Place the baking paper on top and add enough coins (or baking beans) to fill the casing one-quarter of the way up. Place in the preheated oven to bake for approximately 20 minutes or until fully cooked. 

LM 4 was quite distressed about me using the contents of her money box to cook the pie.

After 20 minutes, remove the baking paper and coins and, using a pastry brush, brush the entire surface of the pastry case with the egg white. This  will ensure that the pastry is sealed. Return the pastry case to the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove the pastry case from the oven and allow to cool a little before adding the lemon filling. Turn the oven down to 120deg. C.

While the pastry shell is baking make the filling: 

Place all the filling ingredients into a heatproof bowl and mix together using a spatula. 

Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and allow to warm up until the temperature reaches 60ºC. 

At this point, strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug. 

With a spoon, remove the bubbles from the surface of the liquid.

Slide the oven rack out a bit, put the warm pastry case inside the oven. Fill the case to the top, slide the rack carefully back in, and bake the tart for approximately 25 minutes or until the temperature of the filling reaches 70ºC. 

I had some filling left over so I just popped it into a couple of ramekins and made mini desserts.

Allow to cool completely at room temperature.

Before serving, trim the overhanging pastry by running a sharp knife round the top of the tart tin and discard the left over pastry. Place the dish on top of an upturned mug and remove the sides of the tin by gently pushing them down. Place the tart, base and all on a large, flat serving plate.

All this might sound like too much trouble, but it is indeed well worth it. Make it once and it wont seem so difficult. We served ours with whipped cream and apricots roasted with brown sugar.

Apple Pan Dowdy

Granny Smith apples were on special at our local fruit and vegetable store this week. And with friends coming around for Friday dinner, they seemed like a perfect pudding inspiration. When I asked the family what they thought I should make the replies were varied: I was thinking crumble, The Chef said french apple tart, Little Miss 4 wanted "Apple Pan Dowdy, from scratch" - care of one of her current favourite story books. So since it was her Plunket buddies and their folks who were coming, we gave her the final say.

With the story book having been written in America, I had to Google what Apple Pan Dowdy actually was! As it turns out, its a rustic Apple Pie. The dowdy part comes in when the pastry on the top is broken or sliced up - hence the dowdy appearance.

With quite a variety of recipes available on-line, this is my interpretation.

Apple Pan Dowdy (from scratch!)

Pre-heat the oven to 180deg. C. Make the pastry first and refrigerate while preparing the apples.

5 granny smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced up (put them in water with a squeeze of lemon while you work so they don't brown.)

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Drain the prepared apple slices and combine with the sugar and spices. Put into a medium sized baking dish.

For the pastry:

4 oz butter

4oz caster sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons of raw sugar crystals for the top of the pie

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the egg and beat again until well combined. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold to combine. Wrap in kitchen wrap and refrigerate while preparing the apples.

Once the apples are prepared, take the pastry out and place torn and flattened pieces on top of the apples. Leave gaps in between the pastry so the apples can be seen. You will have some pastry over - it can be frozen for another occasion. Sprinkle the raw sugar crystals over the pastry.

Bake for about 25 to 35 minutes until the pastry is golden and well cooked. Don't be frightened to let the pastry get brown!

I served out Pan Dowdy with custard. Happy baking!

What's not to like about Pavlova? - Recipe tutorial



Pavlova is such a great kiwi favourite. It reminds me of hot summers, happy family times and Christmas' at the farm. As you all will be aware they are quite a tricky thing to get right, but there is usually no fault that can't be disguised with a generous slather of cream and a sprinkling of fruit. I made this one for a dinner party with friends. I have to confess that the previous one I made was rather last minute, and when the man-of-the-house needed the oven at a higher temperature it succumb to the heat and ended up rather flat! The great thing about pavlova is that, though the look may not be perfect, the taste is very forgiving.

Pavlova

6 eggs - separated and at room temperature
a pinch of salt 
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 150 deg. C. normal bake setting. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Carefully separate the eggs. A single speck of egg yolk in the white will stop them from fluffing up. Make sure the mixer bowl and whisk are spotlessly clean.

Beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until soft peaks form. If they are over beaten at this stage they will appear dry looking and wont whip to full volume with the sugar.







Combine the caster sugar and cornflour. Add this to the egg whites in 3 tablespoon lots, beating well in between each addition to incorporate the sugar.

Once all the sugar has been added beat for another 5 minutes. The sugar should be all but dissolved. Add the vinegar and vanilla and beat for a few seconds to mix.









Pile the pavlova mixture onto the lined tray and smooth into a round disk. It important to build in plenty of height, as the pavlova will settle out in the oven.

Place the pavlova on the centre rack in the oven and leave for 45 minutes before turning the oven temperature down to 100deg. C for a further 1 hour. Then turn the oven off and leave the pavlova in to cool.

It's a good idea to leave it overnight, just don't forget it's in there and turn the oven on again!

If you can remove the Pavlova from the paper onto the serving plate then that's great, but if it looks like it will break up, then just put the whole thing on the plate and trim the paper accordingly. If you have pinking shears, they make a pretty zig-zag edge.
Don't worry if the sides crack, just stick them back on and pile it with whipped sweetened cream and your choice of fruit. Raspberries are lovely in season, and kiwi fruit are a NZ classic. 




The best part of the baking is of course, licking the mixer whisk afterwards.  

I served the pavlova with a delicious raspberry puree. Little Miss 4 and her buddy loved the crunchy bits from around the outside the best!

Baked Apples for Pudding on Mother's Day

What a wonderful Mother's Day! Slept in, had breakfast in bed, then headed off to visit my family for lunch.  Then onto afternoon tea with four generations of our family: Little Miss 4, myself, my mother and Auntie and my Grandmother had a lovely afternoon tea catch-up. Never better than spending time with the family.

For lunch the Man-of-the-House cooked fresh tomato soup, followed by lamb chops served with glazed pumpkin, potato with butter and parsley, and honey-ginger swede. Pudding was my responsibility, so inspired by the Granny Smith apples on Mum's tree I decided to make baked stuffed apples.

Baked Stuffed Apples - based on my vague recollection of a Peter Gordon Recipe

9 cooking apples
1 cup rolled oats
3 tablespoons honey
75g butter + 2 tablespoons extra
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a couple of handfuls of raisins

Gather your apples and wash and dry them. Preheat the oven to 175deg. C.
Melt the first measure of butter in a frying pan and add the oats. Gently fry until they start to crisp. Add the honey and cinnamon and stir until the honey melts and is blended with the oats. Lastly stir in the raisins. 

Take from the heat and set aside to cool a bit.
Core the apples using a standard coring devise and peel the top half of the skin from each apple. 

As each apple is cored and peeled, stuff it with the oat mixture and brush the extra measure of melted butter - by doing this immediately it prevents the apples from oxidising and turning brown. 

Place the stuffed apples into a large shallow baking dish and bake for about 40 minutes until they have become soft and pulpy inside. If the raisins in the filling start to burn, then cover each apple's filling with a small cooking foil 'hat'.












Serve your baked apples with ice cream or custard.

Happy Mother's Day! 

A Baked Fruit Pudding with Friends

We had a lovely dinner with friends last night. With the working week at an end we are always in danger of a quick take out, so it was lovely to be invited out. Our contribution to dinner was the pudding. With a cold breeze blowing and bursts of rain, a lovely homely baked pudding was the perfect dinner choice. I mixed it at home and popped it into the oven at our friend's house. It's a great quick mix and the choice of fruit can be varied depending on what's in the pantry.

Baked Fruit Pudding

1 small cup plain flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 - 3 cups dried fruit - I used golden sultanas, cranberries, standard sultanas and crystallised ginger
3 tablespoons butter
1 small cup milk
1 teaspoon baking soda

Pre-heat the oven to 175deg. C.
Mix the dry ingredients and fruit. Warm the milk and melt the butter. If you do this together ensure the mixture is not too hat as you don't want to cook the flour before it goes in the oven. Add the soda to the milk and butter and stir. It will froth up a bit. Mix the milky mixture into the dry ingredients and fruit and pour into a shallow, greased oven dish.

The dish needs to be quite shallow as the pudding is quite dense and will take too long to cook in a deep dish. 

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the centre bounces back when pressed and the pudding is golden brown.







We served it with whipped cream and custard. Ice cream is also a good accompaniment.

It was great to catch up with friends and watch our daughters playing. Two little blue ballerina's having a ball! They couldn't have been happier!