Continuing on my citrus adventures for this winter, I present you with lime curd. Using the same base recipe as my Pink Grapefruit Curd in December, but obviously replacing the large pinky yellow orbs for smaller green ones. And more of them too - by a ratio of about 4. If you recall, I discussed in my pink grapefruit recipe the fact that there are recipes using both whole eggs and egg yolks for curd. In December, because of other, non-cooking related circumstances, I used whole eggs. This time though, I decided to really test the hypothesis, so I made two batches of lime curd, one using egg yolks, and the other using an equal number of whole eggs. Both worked, but because of accidents of... shall we call it life? ... I had some light issues with both. The egg yolk version was interrupted about 6 times by phone calls, so a quiet, chill time that was perfect for it suddenly was not and there was a lot of stop-and-go cooking, involving bringing things back up to temperature, then walking away again etc. The second time, I thought I had picked a good time to make it and had everything prepped along with dinner prep. But then things became rather more complicated than anticipated with Little Bit, including just after adding two of the eggs, so I ended up with little bits of egg white solidifying in the curd. Not ideal! Whisked with the rest of the eggs as they were added though, it came out better than I had hoped. Ingredients: 200 g butter 200g sugar 6 limes, juiced and zested 5 eggs / 5 egg yolks 1) Over a bain-marie, combine the butter, sugar, lime juice and zest and heat gently until the butter has melted, Whisking to combine as it all heats up so that an emulsion is formed. 2) Add the egg 8 (whole or yolks) and whisk continuously over gently heat until the mixture thickens. 3) Meanwhile, sterilise clean jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. When the curd has thickened, spoon into jars, wipe the rim and cap tightly. Place upside down on a clean cloth until cool. So first things first, both of these taste amazing! The egg yolk version thickened less than the other, despite taking a lot longer, but then, I am not sure if that was due to the interrupted nature of the cooking, or down to the yolks or something else. The other has those unfortunate tiny bits of egg white. Both taste equally rich and creamy and the zesty lime flavour comes through equally well in both. (In the centre picture above, I tried a little of each on one piece of bread, for real side by side taste testing). All in all, I stand by my statement from the introduction to my Pink Grapefruit Curd recipe saying that both work and it is up to you whether you want to use whole eggs or egg yolks. And it is especially right about now, after an experiment like this where both parts were interrupted and affected by life in general, this makes me wish even more that I were able to make use of a test kitchen...

Still on our baking kick with my sister, we were playing with more Christmas cookie ideas. We decided to play around with the flavouring of sugar cookies, adding some cocoa and some Christmas Mix spice. We tried it a first time and found that the chocolate came on too strongly and the spice not strongly enough, so we tried it a second time, tweaking the amounts a little bit. To deepen the flavour and add a festive note to it, we swapped out some of the sugar for maple sugar. On the second go, we decided we liked the balance. Here it is: Ingredients: 1/2 c butter 1/2 c sugar 1/2 c maple sugar 1 egg 1 tbsp milk 1 tsp baking powder 1 tbsp mix spice 3 tbsp cocoa 1 1/2 c flour 1) In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in egg and add milk. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix well. 2) Roll into balls 1 inch in diameter and place spaced out on a greased baking sheet. Alternatively, chill for an hour, then roll out to just shy of a cm thick and cut out with cookie cutters. (in the picture above, Little Bit tried out his Christmas profiled roller - repeatedly so the shapes are a bit unclear, but lots of fun!) Flatten with a butter knife dipped in cold water. Bake at 190°C for 8 minutes. 3) (Optional: decorate with icing and sprinkles!) These came out very tasty! We talked about brushing them with melted butter, but forgot to do so while they were hot. They are also probably rich enough as it is, but maybe I'll do so at some point. It may be nice to add nuts or maybe orange, whether dried or candied, next time... Something to think about. Definitely best had hot, but they were still good the couple of days afterwards too! Don't forget to leave some for Santa with a glass of milk.... or some grog, if you have a sea-shanty-obsessed toddler. Just beware jolly fat men flying a sleigh on too much grog! Ho ho ho and a bottle of grog, and to all a goodnight!

I know, I know. I post a lot of tarts. That is because we genuinely eat a lot of tarts though. They are quick and easy to assemble, (especially if you use store-bought crust, although I rarely do), endlessly versatile, and make a great light lunch or side for something... and I like them. This one was a case of "what do we have in the fridge?" and taking as little time out from decorating the Christmas tree with the family as possible. I also liked that, completely by accident, the colours were Christmasy. For the crust, I used some of my home-made lemon vinegar instead of water as the liquid, feeling that the flavour would go well with the courgette. Ingredients: 1 1/4 c whole wheat flour 1/2 c butter, cold 1/4 c vinegar 1 tsp zaatar 1/2 leek, cut in rounds 1 courgette, sliced 1 red pepper, sliced 1 1/2 - 2 c ricotta 2 tsp sumac 1 tsp thyme salt and pepper to taste 1) Place flour in a large mixing bowl and cut the butter into it. Rub the flour and butter together with fingertips until a crumby consistency is achieved. Add vinegar and mix, without kneading, to form a dough. Chill for about a half hour. 2) Roll out the crust and line a pie plate with it. Spread with a layer of ricotta and sprinkle with half the sumac. Lay rounds of leek over the ricotta, then arrange courgette and pepper over that. Spoon the remaining ricotta over the whole, and sprinkle the remaining sumac, thyme, salt and pepper over the tart. 3) Bake at 180°C for about a half hour. This made an excellent, easy and tasty lunch. I didn't have as long as I would have liked to drain the ricotta, and was worried that the tart would come out too wet as a result, but it didn't. It was lovely and light, with beautiful distinct flavours, all playing nice together. Definitely a keeper!

A traditional Cheese Tart, or a Tarte au Fromage, is an old favourite. My dad has made it for years, and I absolutely love it, sometimes with a little twist. This time, to cut down the richness a little, I added leek and some of our Carrot Top pesto (well, proto pesto as it doesn't yet have nuts or cheese added). The combo had some zing, and some fresh greenness, and some leeky freshness, as well as all the cheesy richness. I was in a hurry, so I'm afraid that it was a store bought crust, first one in two years, but the tart didn't suffer for it. Ingredients: Crust for 1 tart 2 - 2 1/2 c grated cheese (something mature!) 3 eggs 2/3 c cream 2 /3 c milk Nutmeg, freshly grated 2 tbsp flour 1 tbsp butter 1 leek, sliced 2-3 tbsp carrot tip pesto 1 tomato sliced Pepper 1) Melt butter in a pan and sauté leek over medium until softened but not browned. 2) Beat together eggs, cream, milk, flour and nutmeg. Line a tart pan with the crust. Spread pesto along the bottom. Layer leeks over the pesto, and spread the cheese over the leeks. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the cheese. Lay tomato slices over the whole. Liberally grind pepper over the top. 3) Bake at 180°C for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top. Eminently satisfying as a quick easy supper before a walk in the snow, but this would have worked equally well as a lunch, or alongside soup. I was very happy with how this turned out.

And we're back. Again, maybe, sort of. It's been a busy summer, with a move, visitors and Little Bit starting daycare. And the pregnancy of course. We are getting closer and closer to the Littler Bit making an entrance. I have been too busy and exhausted to post, and it's been longer than I would have liked, but Hey! I'm back now, at least for a little while. We'll see how things shape up with a newborn, but that's a bridge for another time. In preparation for the Littler One's arrival, I've been stockpiling food in the freezer, and that has included some breakfast foods for Little Bit, like pancakes, waffles and muffins that can easily be got out and reheated for him (this also allows him some variety in his breakfasts while I can have my porridge most days). It's that season again in the hedgerows and on the hillsides, and in the gardens of those who don't deadhead their roses. Rosehips are ripening, and I decided to use some rosehip purée to trial a new muffin recipe. Here it is. Ingredients: 1 1/4 c flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 c oats 1/2 tsp allspice 1 c sugar 1/2 c veg oil 1 egg 3/4 c Rosehip purée 1 1/2 c apple, coarsely grated 2 tbsp cacao nibs 1/2 c walnuts, chopped 1 -2 TBSP dried orange peel 1) Mix together dry ingredients. Gradually add in wet ingredients and mix well, then the apple, orange peel, cacao nibs and nuts. Combine. 2) Spoon into muffin cups, and bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. I am really pleased with these, and apparently so was Little Bit as he inhaled 2 and a half muffins as soon as they were cool enough to touch. I feel like the flavours were very nicely balanced, and the muffins were lovely and moist. Hurray for a new rosehip recipe! I also decided to try something new with this recipe and baked these in the air fryer. It is not something I've ever done, but I've seen a lot of chatter about using air fryers for different things on online foodie groups. In light of rising energy prices and all, these are supposed to be more efficient than traditional ovens. I baked the muffins at a slightly lower temperature, 170°C, for 14 minutes in the air fryer and they came out beautifully. I had to bake them in two batches, but that still took only 2/3 of the bake time. New method available! Yay!

These are essentially just salted egg yolks. The salt sucks all the moisture out by osmosis, and leaves the yolk hard and preserved. You then air dry it and then use it grated over food in much the same way as parmesan. It is supposed to be rich and add a depth of flavour to food, not to mention a little salt! At least, that's what I have heard. I thought I might as well try it, so a couple of weeks ago I put some yolks in salt, two in plain salt and two in spiced salt (garlic and onion powder, some thyme and Kashmiri chilli powder). I covered the dish with a cloth and left it. The intention had been to leave it for only 3-4 days, but we went away for the weekend and were gone longer than planned so they were in for 6 days in the end. When I took them out of the salt they still felt a little squidgy in the centre, but solid. I brushed the salt off and put them in the dehydrator for another couple of days. Coming out they were now hard and a little reduced. We tried them grated on a micro-plane over eggplant parmesan the other day, and although a little crumblier than I had expected, they were rich and salty and eggy and delicious. I will keep you posted on how further experiments with them go!

I had never had vegetarian lasagne before meeting my then boyfriend (now husband).

As mentioned in Day 57 of The Challenge Rotkohl, literally red cabbage, is a stewed cabbage dish traditionally eaten in Germany and German-speaking Switzerland alongside sausages or other meat. You can get them ready made in tins, or you can make it yourself, pretty easily too. This batch came out particularly well, but the key, really, is time. I got this ready early in the day, before lunch, and stashed it in my Wonderbag slow cooker for the rest of the day until dinner, thus giving it plenty of time to stew. I also added a couple of first-time innovations which worked out scrumptiously. Ingredients: 1 half of a red cabbage, chopped 2 apples, chopped 1 c raisins 2 tsp orange peel 1/4-1/2 nutmeg, freshly grated 1 c apple cider vinegar 1 c apple juice Pepper 1) Place all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a simmer and stew covered at low temperature for at least 45 minutes (the longer the better). A slow cooker works wonders, but you can do it over the stove if need be. I love this dish! It works as a side for all sorts of meals, it is dead simple, and so so satisfying! Please try this! EDIT: I tried this again recently and made it with dried grapefruit peel instead or orange. It worked well, but there was a little more bitterness. A pinch of salt sorted that out though! Certainly an alternative to bear in mind!

As I mentioned in the Tangerine Marmalade recipe, I want to take advantage of the citrus season to make a bunch of different marmalades. This is my second one, and making it so soon on the heels of the other, I decided to flavour it a little differently. It also seemed to me that spicing this marmalade would counter the bitterness of the grapefruit, which was not inconsiderable. This is maybe because I was lazy and I didn't peel the fruit, juice it, and then strip the pith and slice the peel before adding it back to the pot - which might have minimized the bitterness. Instead, I only sliced the grapefruits into halves or quarters, and then blitzed them after stewing them for a while. Either way, whatever the reason, the marmalade pre-spicing was quite bitter. The spicing, especially the cardamom pod, helped, and I am happy with the result. Ingredients: 1,5 - 2 kg pink grapefruits 4 1/2 c sugar 1.5 l water 1/2 c rum 9 cloves, crushed Nutmeg 1 Black cardamom pod, crushed 1) Slice the grapefruits into halves or quarters and place them in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Add the water and stew for an hour to an hour and a half until reduced by about a third. 2) Blitz until all the big pieces are gone, and add the remaining ingredients. Cook further until the marmalade has thickened to the desired consistency. 3) In the meantime, boil jars for at least 15 minutes. Then, when the marmalade has thickened to your desired consistency spoon it into the jars. Wipe the rim of the jars clean and seal them, placing the filled jars upside down until cool. (I still don't know why upside down, but it was how I was taught, so it is what I do.) As with all my jams and marmalades, I didn't make this very sweet, as that is how I prefer it. It does mean that it doesn't set as firmly, but I'm ok with that. Feel free to add more, though, if that's your thing. Onto a lime marmalade next! Or maybe I should make another curd instead (the Pink Grapefruit Curd just before Christmas did come out very nicely!) And maybe I'll make one of these marmalades the not lazy way one of these days... Or maybe not. With Little One going through some sleep issues now that he is in a toddler bed instead of a crib, and with another molar coming in, things are a little chaotic and we're all a bit tired around here, so the lazy way is sometimes the only possible way...

Tattie scones are an essential part of a full Scottish breakfast. Browned on the outside, soft on the inside and warm enough to melt the butter a little, I've made them myself since leaving Scotland, but it occurred to me recently, with all the sweet potatoes on sale, that a sweet potato version of these could be tasty. With my sister's recent return from the UK with a delivery of Cumberland sausages and British bacon, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out. We had a full Scottish breakfast - or as near as possible over here where black pudding isn't available. The Tattie Scones came out beautifully. The sweet potatoes needed more flour to come together than regular ones, but the texture was good and they were a little sweet without being overwhelmingly so. Ingredients: 400g sweet potatoes 2 c flour 3 tbsp butter Salt and pepper to taste 1) Boil the sweet potatoes until soft. Mash in butter (peeling or leaving the peels of the sweet potatoes as you prefer). 2) Mix in flour to form a dough- enough for it to be non-sticky but not so much as to make it dense. 3) Roll out the dough to about 1 cm thick on a clean, floured surface. Cut into large circles (I used a soup bowl) and score quarters on the surface. Melt a little butter on a gridle or frying pan and cook over medium heat on both sides until golden. I am really happy with how these came out. The taste wasn't slap-you-in-the-face different but did certainly have its own twist on the originals. Certainly an alternative which will be making it into the repertoire!