Aye, aye, lemon meringue pie

I had lemons, i had eggs and i thought, Mel, it's about time you tried making a lemon meringue pie. Never made one before, ate plenty and have fond memories of sitting in tacky new jersey diners watching them in the rotating cake display case. I don't know, until now lemon meringue pies have been something that somebody else makes. I just never thought to do it myself.

This particular pie was meant to make 8 individual pielets, but i don't yet have a set of individual tart tins (see i don't really have EVERYTHING in the kitchen yet). Instead i made one big pie, and well, being the piggies we are, kels and i finished this off in 2 days -- that's 2 portions x 2 days. Yup, that good.

This recipe is courtesy of one of last year's issues of
Olive Magazine.

Lemon meringue pie

For the pastry:
125g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
75g unsalted butter,diced and chilled
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk

For the lemon curd:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
75g unsalted butter, diced
100g caster sugar
2 unwaxed lemons, zested and juiced

For the meringue:
2 egg whites
50g caster sugar

1. To make the pastry, put the flour, butter, icing sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Whisk the egg yolk and 2 tsp cold water, add to the pastry mix and pulse until it comes together. Tip onto a lightly floured work surface, lightly knead then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.


2. Dust the work surface with fiour and roll out each piece to thickness of a £1 coin. Carefully press the pastry into a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin and prick the base with a fork. Chill for 5 minutes.


3. Heat the oven to 180C/160C/gas mark 4. Line the pastry case with a square of foil and baking beans or rice. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden.


4. To make the lemon curd, beat the eggs and egg yolk together in a heatproof bowl. Add the butter, caster sugar and lemon juice. Put the bowl over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir until the mixture reaches the consistency of very thick custard. Take off the heat, strain into a clean bowl and add the lemon zest. Cover the surface of the lemon curd with clingfilm then cool. Fill each pastry case with lemon curd and chill for 20 minutes.


5. Turn up the oven to 230C/fan 210C/gas mark 8. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Gradually add the caster sugar, beating, until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe a generous swirl of meringue over the lemon curd (or just spoon it on top). Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the meringue is tinged golden brown at the edges. Cool before serving.

California sunshine in Crouchend?

We're all moved in, and the first week of the new job is history now. What better way to celebrate than an exploratory venture into the as yet undiscovered delights that our new hood offers.

Yesterday was sleety, gray, cold cold cold but still we made the three block trek to Pick more daisies. From the outside, and from the website it sounded like it could be a ray of sunshine on an otherwise bleak autumn day. What else does 'california cafe' make you think of?

When we got there at half eleven the place was packed and we resigned ourselves to an estimated 20 minute wait. Never mind, the seats were facing the open plan kitchen and I got to see the nimble chefs in action. I don't really know why, but the thing that always catches my eye is the various food containers that are used for mise in kitchens. I love to see what they prep beforehand and how it's stored. I don't know why?

Less than 20 minutes later we were seated in the front area and had a good look thru the menu. In addition to the breakfast offers there's a variety of other things on offer throughout the day. But breakfast was on the brain so we ordered.

Kelsie had freshly squeezed orange juice, and banana hotcakes. I had a cappuccino and huevos rancheros. Kelsie found the pancakes good, but (of course) not as good as mine. They were a bit dense, and she had to add lots of maple syrup to counteract the density. Remind me to post my banana pancake recipe. I swear it turns out the lightest, fluffiest pancakes i've ever had!

The huevos rancheros were a nice alternative to your traditional fry up, but, compared to other huevos rancheros i was a bit disappointed. Mostly i was disappointed by the slightly stale tortilla, which could have easily been revived by either a splash of water and zap in a microwave, or, a super quick toss in a lightly oiled frying pan. The salsa was a bit bland but that was easily counteracted with several dashes of habenero sauce.

All in all, we think we'd probably go back but not any time soon, as there's still so much to explore!

Here's our final ratings:
Atmosphere: 6/10 -- from the front room things seemed less lively than the back room and there was a mean draft from the front door which our host apologised for.
Food: 6.5/10 -- different offerings than your average caff but a bit mediocre in execution.
Service: 10/10 -- our host was really attentive and friendly and our server didn't leave us waiting.

Total score: 22.5/30

Pick More Daisies / 12 crouch end hill london n8 8aa / 020 8340 2288

moving

hey all
sorry we havnt posted much since our trip to france and spain but we have been busy getting ready for our move to london. we move next week and we found a fab spot to live in crouch end which is in north london. we already have two good friends who live there and we are looking forward to discovering the width and breadth of all crouch end has to offer.

we have already sampled one or two food places but there are so many more not only in our manor but also in muswell hill, highgate and finsbury park. YUM!! all will be posted dont worry. look out for new posts soon.
take care
mel and kel

ma langs pancit

day 4 in south west france and ive come down with a cold. i actually didn't feel like eating much today but mels ma had planned on pork pancit for dinner. i didn't know if i would feel like eating it but after a glass of sangria my apetite perked up. pancit is one of those dishes that cures what ails you.kinda like a philipinos version of chicken soup. im still sneezing but at least my belly is full!

A Day of Indulgence in San Sebastian

So we made our annual pilgrimage to the old quarter of San Sebastian for some pinxtos and wine. We've been there several times over the past few years and on each visit seem to discover yet another gastronomic delight. This visit didn't disappoint. We decided to head straight for La Cuchara de San Telmo for the first set of pinxtos. I've read about La Cuchara before and every review has been fantastic. They were right! We started with a couple of beers and order Foie Salteado and a Risotto of goats cheese and mchrooms. The foie was sublime -- just the perfect amount of caramelisation on the outside followed by a rich creamy texture inside. The sauce had a perfect balance of sharpness and sweetness to match the foie. The next set was all pork. Kelsie ordered Costillas de cerdo and I ordered Pork belly. It was called something else in Basque and to be honest I had no idea what i was going to be getting. Both were extremely tender and well flavoured, and I imagine they had been cooking slowly for hours. The pork belly had a lovely crispy skin. In the space of about 30 minutes the bar filled and emptied and filled again, which is when we decided to head to our next destination. Our second stop was at Bar Gandarias. We had been there last year and liked what we had so decided to try it again. This time I had a deep fried piquillo pepper stuffed with cod and Kelsie had a brocheta of lamb. The lamb was a lovely pink inside and had a nice tender texture. At our third stop we had a brocheta of shark and shrimp as well as gratineed scallops. By this time most of the bars had cleared out and we were starting to lose our steam. We finished with strong coffees and Basque cake to give us energy to get back to the train and home. We heart San Sebastian!

Ma's Magret

We arrived at my parents on Wednesday, after stopping off at the local Le Clerc to check out their wine fair (thanks Ian!).
Ma had dinner all prepped -- Magret with boiled potatoes and a green salad with THE BEST home-grown beef tomatoes. I'm talking real tomatoes with real sun flavour. Just like i had growing up and which these days, in Glasgow especially, is so so hard to find.

clams in france

clams in france
Originally uploaded by silamuta

2nd day in france. and we ventured out to st jean de luz to have lunch. sorry but i dont remember the name of the restaurant but we liked it!!!. we started off with razor clams and marinated anchovies wth a basque beer called eki. to follow we ordered the the belly of tuna with a bottle of the local rose. no complaints. finished off with expresso and gateau basque with cherries. yum. great to be on holidays!!!!!