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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...

For the next challenge with my sister and my friend, Hibiscus Kook, to make a dish three different ways, and each of us trying something new, we decided on pancakes for pancake day today. Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, whatever you want to call it, is the last day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Lent, being a period of fasting, prayer and penance leading to Easter in the Catholic faith, is traditionally a leaner period culinarily. Many know it now as being the period during which people tend to try to give up chocolate, but for many centuries it was, and for many it still is, a period when richer foods are given up until Easter. Shrove Tuesday was therefore a good time to use up eggs and fats which remained, and so pancakes became traditional in the UK. I had grown up celebrating the feat of Mardi Gras, but had never heard it called Pancake Day until I moved to Scotland for University. I was completely mystified, especially as no one could explain the significance of the pancakes, they were eaten for supper rather than breakfast, and most of my friends who celebrated pancake day were in no way religious and weren't going to be observing Lent or Easter. I still don't necessarily eat Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, and certainly eat them at other times of the year, but once in a while, it is a fun tradition to embrace. My sister's suggestion, therefore, of making Pancakes our next recipe to coincide with Pancake Day suited me to a T. Here are our three different Pancake Experiments, and a bonus Whipped Cinnamon Honey Butter recipe. For my friend, HibiscucKook's recipe for vegan pancakes on her blog, click here. Sahlep Pancakes by me Piggy Pancakes (AKA Hamcakes) and Whipped Cinnamon Honey Butter by my Sister

So crackers have always been one of those go-to foods in my house, both as a kid in my parents' house, and now that I have my own home. They are great for a quick snack, good for hiking or day trips, last a while, don't go off and pack up small. Then came Little Bit, who, as it turns out, also loves crackers. The only issue is that they are loaded full of salt which he isn't supposed to have much of. A couple of months ago, therefore, I started playing around with making them for myself. I checked a few of my cookbooks, hoping to find a recipe to start me off, but there didn't seem to be anything even in cookbooks I thought might have a cracker recipe (the Tolkein cookbook, as I thought homemade crackers might do for a Lembas reference, the Food DIY book, as it seemed inline with other recipes, and a few others). So in the end, I decided to wing it (I know the internet exists, but sometimes, figuring it out for myself is so much more fun). I took a basic pie crust as the base, tweaked it a bit so it would be quite stiff and dry, and then baked it. After baking, I then baked it a second time for much longer at a lower temperature to get any moisture out. I used part barley flour (home ground in the coffee grinder) and part regular wheat flour. Barley has a lower gluten content and is a bit sweeter, so I thought it might help make the crackers crumbly. If you do grind your own barley flour, don't worry if it isn't completely smooth. The bits just add a little texture, as long as they aren't too big. I have also used whole wheat flour in addition to the barley flour, and that was tasty too. I made them a first time in the autumn, and somehow, despite us all really enjoying them, a few were forgotten in a tin. Weeks later, they were still good, unspoiled, not stale and still tasty. I've tried them again, with some added flavours. And this time, I had help from a little one in a foxy apron. Here is the result: Ingredients: Base recipe: 1 c barley flour 1 c wheat flour 1/2 c + 2 tbsp butter 1/4 c water For Carrot Crackers: 2 tsp carrot ketchup (use carrot purée as a substitute) 1 tbsp extra flour Black sesame seeds for sprinkling For Honey Thyme Crackers: 1 tsp thyme 1 1/2 tsp honey Sesame seeds for sprinkling For Tomato Crackers: 1 1/2 tbsp tomato purée a pinch of allspice 1 tsp nigella seeds 1) Mix barley and wheat flours in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix with fingertips until the mixture forms a crumbly texture. Add water and mix with a fork until it comes together to form a stiff dough. 2) Divide the dough into three equal parts and add the ingredients for each of the variants to one piece of dough, and mix well. Knead as little as possible, just combining the ingredients and bringing them to cohere. (Kneading forms gluten strands which would make the crackers chewy, not crumbly). Alternatively, make only one varients, but triple the ingredients for it! 3) Wrap the balls of dough up and place them in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. Then, on a lightly floured surface, roll out each dough to about 3-4 mm thick. I then used different cookie cutters for each flavour (for fun, especially for Little Bit, and to help keep them straight). You could just use a knife or a pizza-cutter though and cut the dough into neat squares or rectangles. 4) Place the proto-crackers on a lined baking tray and brush with a little salted water. Sprinkle with seeds and tamp down a little (alternatively, press each cracker face down in a little mound of seeds then place face up on the baking sheet.) 5) Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes, until the crackers are golden and firm. A taste test should reveal them to be cooked through and taste similar to cooked pie crust (but less flakey). Bake again at 50°C (or whatever your minimum oven setting is) for several hours until the crackers are quite dry seeming. 6) Allow to cool and store in a cool dry place. I was quite pleased with these. I am very pleased with the base flavour, but the added flavours need some tweaking as I don't feel that they come through strongly enough. That is possibly in part because I forgot my plan midway through. I had been going to divide the dough into three after the butter and flour stage, without adding any liquid. This would mean that all the liquid content would have to come from the carrot or tomato, for example. I would like to try them again like that, but it might be in a little while... Texturally, I am very happy with these. The butter created pockets as the dough baked, so the crackers have layers and crumbly flakiness to them. They are quite buttery and rich, so I suppose I could go back and try another dough without the butter base, but I quite like it. Even when dry and relatively old, the flavour held really well last time, and they make a good snack on their own, are a good base for other things. I had thought of using baking powder in them, but found that I had run out, so made do without. The first time I tried these, the dough was too sticky and I didn't manage to roll it out as thinly as I wanted. The resulting crackers were still tasty, but far too thick to really be called crackers. And having made them for Little One, I discovered that although he liked the taste, he struggled to eat the thicker ones (possibly part of the reason they hung around for so long). This time, with a much drier dough, not too elastic either, but relatively firm, I was able to roll them out very thin, and I find that works much better. Now they crack much better too, allowing them to live up to their name. And anyway, we want to dry them out afterwards, so a drier dough works in service of that too. All in all, I am pleased with these and feel I have something to work with and play around with a bit now.

Hubby used most of a chicken making pho this weekend, which naturally generated rather a lot of nice, rich chicken stock. What else to do with beautiful rich stock than risotto? (I do feel that I am mildly predictable on that score at times). We also had giant mushrooms in the fridge, which are quite a rare find in the grocery store. Maybe it is having read Babar Learns to Cook a few too many times recently to Little One, but the large mushrooms immediately told me to stuff them. Both seemed like good ideas, so I decided to couple them up and serve the mushrooms on the risotto. Unsure what to stuff the mushrooms with, Hubby pointed out that we had a very lovely, if somewhat lonely, aubergine in the fridge, so that became the stuffing. The rest, as they say, is history (well, half of it is anyway. the other half is waiting to become a very tasty leftover dinner sometime in the next couple of days, at which point it too will become history.) Ingredients: For the Risotto: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 300 g arborio rice 2 1/2 c chicken stock a pinch of saffron 1 tsp (ish) dried orange peel 1 - 1/2 c parmesan 2 tbsp butter Salt and pepper to taste For the Mushrooms: 5 large stuffable mushrooms 1 tbsp olive oil 1 red onion, chopped 1/2 head garlic, sliced 1/2 aubergine, cubed 200g chopped tinned tomatoes 1 c red wine 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 4 cloves 1 tsp rosemary 1/4 c millet Salt and pepper to taste 1) Start the risotto. Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Sauté onions and garlic for about 3 minutes, then add the rice. Stir occasionally, allowing the rice to become translucent in the oil. 2) Add the saffron and orange peel and about half of the chicken stock. Stir regularly, and keep it on medium heat. When the liquid is most of the way absorbed, add the rest of the stock and continue stirring. 3) Meanwhile, heat the oil for the mushroom filling in a small frying pan. Sauté the onions and garlic. While they are starting to sweat, cut up the aubergine and the mushroom stalks. After a couple of minutes, add these and the rosemary to the pan. Stir, cooking over medium heat. 4) Cook the mushroom filling for about 5 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, about half the wine, and the spices. 5) When the tomato mix has reduced a bit. add the millet and the rest of the wine. Cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes until the liquid is most of the way absorbed. When this has happened, fill the mushroom cups with the tomato mix. Set aside. 6) Use 1 tbsp of the butter to grease an ovenproof dish. Stir most of the parmesan, finely grated, into the risotto, and test a grain of rice. If it is almost cooked, make sure there is still a little liquid, adding a little stock or water if necessary, and pour into the prepared dish. Place the mushroom cups on top and spoon remaining filling around the cups on top of the risotto. Dot with the remaining tbsp of butter and the remaining cheese, either thinly sliced or grated. 7) Bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden, and the rice and mushrooms are fully cooked through. Serve piping hot. I wasn't sure how all the flavours would play together, but I needn't have worried. It was a big hit with all of us and I look forward to the leftovers. The mushrooms had a lovely nutty depth of flavour, while the warm spice notes of the sauce, contrasted with the acidity of the tomatoes created a nice balance. A minor problem though, that hubby assures me isn't an issue, is that the risotto was perhaps a little bland. I specifically didn't want to over flavour it and have it compete with the mushrooms, but it could have had a little more going for it. It was nice and creamy though. This could easily be made with vegetable stock, making this vegetarian, and for a fancier look, it could be cooked in individual ramequins. All in all, though, I am very happy with this one.

I know, I know, we do a lot of tarts. This one was essentially a left-overs tart. What do I have in the fridge that needs using up? A pie crust from a previous recipe, the end of a tub of herby cream cheese, a head of broccoli, half a pack of jambon cru, or local parma ham. Oh and cheese, but given where I live, I always have cheese (it is a dark day indeed if I don't have cheese in the fridge!). Super quick and easy to assemble and cook, tasty and not too heavy for a light lunch. Ingredients: 1 pie crust 1 head of broccoli, floretted 1/4 c cream cheese (preferably the garlicky, herby variety) 1/2 - 3/4 c cheese, grated 6 slices jambon cru 1/2 tsp sumac Pepper 1) Spread the pie crust in a pie plate. Spread the cream cheese on the bottom. Drape the slices of jambon cru over it. Place the broccoli florets on top and sprinkle the cheese and sumac over all the rest. Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes, until the cheese is melted, the broccoli is cooked and even beginning to char slightly, and the pie crust is golden. I loved the flavour combinations on this tart, but the bottom was a little soggy. I don't know if I should have blind baked this one first, or if the issue was that I started assembly, then went for a walk with Hubby and Little Bit, before completing assembly and baking it when we got back. I have a feeling that the extra time with the cream cheese sitting on the pie crust might have done it. So much for trying to move things along! Little Bit is in another slightly pickier phase and so only wanted the broccoli, not the ham or the crust or the cheese. That's fine though. More for me!

Sweet potatoes are still inexpensive, which will only last another little while, so I managed to buy up rather a lot of them and then needed to use them (Oh! no! Not the sweet potatoes!) How else to use potatoes than a shepherd's pie. And if a shepherd's pie with sweet potato mash on top, then what to put underneath it? Beans! And then I found some sofrito in the fridge from another recipe, so that helped colour the flavours of the bean mix. Sofrito is a mix of blended onions, garlic, red pepper, green pepper, coriander, cumin and chilli. It is a South/Central American base used in cooking, the exact components and proportions of which vary. I also added beets to the beans. These I figured would help add some depth of flavour which a red meat dish normally has. The result was a little goopy because I was impatient with the bean mixture but very tasty. Ingredients: For the mash: 1 kg sweet potatoes, chopped 2 tbsp butter 1/4 c milk (ish) For the bean mix: 1 c dried red beans (small ones, not kidney beans, although these might work too) 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 c red lentils 2 tbsp olive oil 4 onions, chopped 1 head garlic, minced 2 beets, chopped 3 tbsp sofrito 1 1/2 c passata 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp dried coriander 1 tsp dried orange peel 1 tbsp red wine vinegar Juice of 1 lemon 1 c cheese, grated 1) Soak the beans overnight. (I actually first brought them to a low simmer with the baking soda and then put them in my wonderbag, or slow cooker overnight, and then I brought them back to a boil before adding the other ingredients.) 2) Place the beans on the stove, add the lentils and bring to a simmer. In a separate pot, boil the sweet potatoes until mashable - 20 to 25 minutes (a bit longer if you chop them bigger). 3) In a frying pan, heat the oil. Brown the onions and garlic, then add the sofrito and the spices. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, then add to the beans, along with the passata, beets, vinegar and lemon juice. Simmer to reduce until thickened to a spoonable consistency (or less if you don't mind it a bit liquidy). 4) Drain and mash the sweet potatoes with milk and butter. In a large ovenproof dish, place a layer of beans and then spread the sweet potatoes over the top. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake at 180°c for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden and the two layers have married and bubbled together. This was really tasty! It needed the beets and the brightening with the lemon and vinegar, but the spicing worked well for what it was and the beans contrasted nicely with the sweet potato mash. There was about twice as much of the bean mix as I needed, so I set the excess aside and we used it subsequently in wraps which it was very well suited to. The beans were a little mushier than I would have liked. I assumed the cook times of kidney beans, which these clearly did not need. I would recommend merely soaking them overnight rather than placing them in a slow cooker, and leaving them alone until you start bringing other bits together the next day. I enthusiastically got them back on the stove too soon and they disintegrated. As a result, the beans could have done with some more texture to them. In addition to cooking the beans a bit less, I am wondering if something like cashews might not go nicely in the bean portion. That is just musing though. I have no idea. If you try it, let me know!

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!

Late last year, my sister, a friend and I agreed to start on a new project with the new year, making different recipes in 3 different ways, each putting our own spin on it. (For more on our Variations on a Theme project, check out the main page)With the new year now underway, there has been some discussion back and forth for a few weeks now as to what we should make for our first recipe, and last week we lit on brownies. No firm plans were made yet, but we each agreed to start thinking about what we wanted to do and to set a date soon to lay down the ground rules and to cook. And then this weekend I was on night shifts on a very busy surgical ward (we barely sat down all night). Around about 4 in the morning I had a craving for brownies, which obviously couldn't be satisfied then and there, but I sent out a message asking that we have a call and make our brownies Sunday evening or Monday. The other two agreed, and I am extremely grateful, as last night I was able to satisfy the previous night's craving! So here is our first Variation on a Theme! Traditional Brownies with a Twist by my Sister Experimental Peanutbutter Brownies by me Vegan Pomegranate Fudge Brownies By Hibiscus Kook All in all, this was a very fun project! Looking forward to trying Hibiscus Kook's brownies, and I really enjoyed seeing where each of us went with these. And for the next one, pancakes coming up! SO watch this space...

I suggest calling this a Coupe Raisa, because we have been watching more Star Trek, and that is the ultimate vacation spot in the Federation, it seems, and this is the ultimate unctuous, creamy, fresh dessert with just a hint of acidity. (And thus marking me out as a nerd henceforth). This is a bit of a twist on normal berries and cream. Around here that tends to involve Double Crème from Gruyèree which is so thick it stands up on the spoon. There was some on sale last week, so I picked some up. As it is the middle of winter, berries are only available for substantial amounts of ready money (or credit, but lots of it either way). What we had on hand happened to be blood oranges though, so that is what I did. The White Balsamic Syrup is one I got as a Christmas gift. I hadn't opened it yet, but when I assembled the Coupe Raisa bowls, they looked like they needed it, so I brought it out and it was a hit. So here goes. Ingredients (per person): A generous dollop of Double crème de Gruyère ( in a pinch, mascarpone might do instead) One blood orange Optional: half a banana, sliced 3 dates, pitted and quartered (prunes work, but they are not as good) A handful of roughly crushed pistachios 1/2 tsp cacao nibs A drizzle of white balsamic syrup 1) Layer ingredients in a bowl, starting at the top of the list and working your way down. Serve with a small spoon. Mix up as desired. This was super tasty and I cannot recommend it enough. I loved the bite from the balsamic syrup paired with the cream and the fruit. The cacao nibs and the pistachios added some welcome textural contrast, too. A meringue crumble dup in there could work, but the extra sugar would be simply unnecessary.

We went up to my parents' for the weekend last week, and neither Hubby nor I managed to remember to bring the bread from the bread box. As a result, when we came back five days later, we had multiple stale loaf ends. What to do with so much stale bread? With leftover tomato sauce from a pizza-making stint, I decided to make a savoury bread pudding of sorts, layering tomato sauce with the bread. Little Bit was calling this "bread pizza", which I am not sure about, either as a name or as an accurate descriptor, but it came out tasty either way. The tomato sauce can be plain, with or without meat. Ours had mushrooms in too, and some cream as it was a little too spicy for Little One. Ingredients: 6-9 slices of stale bread (depending on their size and the size of your dish) 1/2 c white cooking wine 4 ish cups tomato sauce 1 c cheese, grated (I used aged Gruyère) 1 sweet potato, sliced 1 onion, sliced 1 tbsp butter 1) Butter a shallow baking dish. Place the bread slices inside in as near as you can get to a single layer. Douse in white wine and toast int he oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes, until the bread is winey inside and beginning to toast outside. 2) Remove from the oven and place the bread on a plate. Spoon one third of the tomato sauce into the baking dish. Spread it out evenly and place half the bread slices over it in a single layer. Spoon over another third of the sauce, sprinkle on the onions and the sweet potato slices, and sprinkle over half the cheese. Add another layer of bread, the rest of the sauce and then the last of the cheese. 3) Bake at 175°C for about 45 minutes to an hour. Serve hot. This came out very tasty, but due to a slight miscommunication between Hubby and I, the temperature was turned down a bit early so the sweet potato and the onions came out a little under done. Maintaining the right temperature for a bit longer should do it though. The sweet potato and onion could be left out. It was definitely better on the first night than reheated, but it still worked reheated a day or two later. And there you have it. Pizza Bread.