The tastiest lemon tart

This is a Gordon Ramsay recipe I found on the Good Food website. I made it as a dessert when some non-chocolate loving (I know! How can you not love chocolate!) friends came for lunch and there wasn’t a scrap left. I didn’t manage to caramelise the top as suggested by the recipe as my blowtorch was out of gas but it was just as good without. 10 out of 10!

I served my tart with fresh raspberries although Gordon suggests a berry salad.. choice is yours.

• 5 unwaxed lemons
• 6 eggs
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 200ml double cream
• icing sugar , for dusting and decorating
• 375g block dessert pastries

1. Finely grate the zest of 3 of the lemons into a bowl. Halve all the lemons, then use a fork to squeeze out all the juice and pulp into the bowl with the zest – don’t worry about the seeds. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, then whisk in the caster sugar until completely combined. Whisk in the cream and lemon juice mix, then set aside.
2. Place a 23cm tart ring or loose-bottom flan tin on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. On a surface dusted with icing sugar, roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin. Lift onto a rolling pin, then drape over the tart ring or flan tin, leaving the excess hanging over the edge. Carefully press the pastry into the sides with a small ball of pastry. Put in fridge or freezer for 20 mins to allow pastry to chill.
3. While the pastry is chilling, heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Prick the base of the pastry case, line with greaseproof paper and baking beans, then bake for 15 mins. Remove the paper and beans, then bake the case for 5-10 mins more until it is biscuity brown and crisp. Lower oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2.
4. Use a ladle to push the lemon custard through a sieve into a bowl, pressing down on the pulp to extract as much juice as possible. Skim the bubbles from the surface of the custard, then pour the custard into a jug. Pull the tart out of the oven slightly, then pour in the custard so it comes to the top. You may have some left over. Push tart back in, then bake for 35-40 mins until the top forms a light crust and the custard is just set. Leave to cool, then chill.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

These cookies are just delicious! I did try cutting down the amount of butter but the result wasn’t pleasing. I forgot to take the photo until I’d got to work – that’s why you can see the paper towel!!

260g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
170g cup butter, room temperature
130g white sugar
1 large egg
zest of one large orange (about 1 tbsp)
100g cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180ºc and line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper.
Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar until light. Beat in egg and orange zest. Gradually add in the flour mixture, stirring only until just combined. Stir in the cranberries.
Put small spoons of dough on the baking tray well spaced out and bake for 9-12 minutes, until edges are very lightly browned. Cool for 3-4 minutes on the baking tray and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 24.

Hot….. melting

It’s sooo hot! Too hot to cook, too hot to eat, too hot to sleep. Bring on winter and duvets.

I did bake some orange and cranberry cookies at the weekend. I’ll post the recipe later.

Eating out in Barcelona – Famen

I often use atrapalo.com to find new places to eat as they have quite a good listing of restaurants in Barcelona. They also offer discounts of up to 50% off on meals if you book through them so you save money too.

I was looking for somewhere for a nice romantic meal for two when I spotted Famen. It had some great reviews so I thought I would try it out.

Famen serves up a kind of tapas/asian fusion at a reasonable price. We started buy sharing some of the “tapas” which included patatas bravas, terrine de foie and chicken spring rolls and then had a main course each. I had the tuna which was perfectly cooked, beautifully presented and absolutely delicious.

The service was impeccable and the waiter/owner?? very helpful at suggesting things we might like to try. In total with desserts and wine the meal came to around 60€.

We were also informed us that they would on Wednesdays they would be serving a Japanese tasting menu for 25€ per person which I can imagine would be delicious and I can’t wait to go back and try it.

Unfortunately the website for Famen doesn’t seem to be finished but you can book through atrapalo.com and get a 10-15% discount on your meal.

Famen
c/ramis 2-4
Gracia
Barcelona
93 2 105 900

Eating out in Sabadell – El Pendejo

 

I love Mexican food, just the thought of it makes my mouth watereth over. Even though Spain and Mexicospeak the same language, Mexican restaurants here are pretty mehhh, nothing special, spiciness – not so much, apart from chorizo and salsa del diablo the Spanish seem to have a pretty tame pallet.

 

El Pendejo can be found in Sabadell, a small town about 30 minutes away from Barcelona, it’s pretty big compared with other Mexican offerings, good for large groups, celebrations and birthdays and even has its own Mariachi band singing.  It can get really busy at weekends – on Friday and Saturday there are only two sittings 9pm and 11pm – so it’s best to book early.

 

It isn’t the cheapest Mexican I’ve been too here but the portions are HUGE; mountains of nachos covered with cheese, salsa, guacamole and real sour cream (I’d love to know where they procured it, sour cream, “nata agria”, is pretty unheard of here), one salad is big enough for four and the Papas Mexicanos were made from the biggest potatoes I’ve ever seen and that was all just for starters

 

For out main course, there were fajitas, burritos and enchiladas around the table. Bear in mind that nothing here is spicy so remember to request a serving of the spicy sauce and dollop generously, this will set you back another 2 euros but otherwise the food would be pretty bland. I also ordered an extra helping of guacamole but it turned out to be unnecessary as there was already so much food.

 

I glimpsed some desserts on nearby tables and they looked delicious but I was just so full I couldn’t manage another mouthful for this reason we also skipped coffee.

 

The bill came to €25 a head which was pretty good value considering the amount we ate. This has to be my favourite Mexican restaurant in the Barcelona area and I’ll definitely be paying another visit in the near future.

 

El Pendejo

www.pendejo-online.com

c/America

Sabadell

Tel: 937277172

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Icecream Day

What sounds better than that?

Today is free icecream day at Ben & Jerry’s across the world. I have already been for my free scoop of chocolate fudge brownie and it was delicious

Last year they gave away over 10,000 scoops to hungry icecream lovers. I wonder how many they’ll give away this year?

 

Baked Gilthead Seabream

I’ve always been a little afraid of cooking fish – I never really quite know what to do with it, how long to cook it, what to put on it but this, this is one of the simplest fish dishes ever.

For 2 people

2 breams

A lemon

Garlic

Bay Leaves

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Have your fishmonger prepare the fish for you, this includes gutting, cleaning and descaling it and even making some handy incisions.

Then just take a couple of slices of lemon, bay leaves, a couple peeled garlic cloves – give ‘em a whack with the back of your knife to release the flavour – and stuff it all in the middle of the fish, adding a slice of lemon in one or two of the incisions depending on the size of your fish. Drizzle over a little olive and season with salt and pepper.

To accompany you could be very lazy like me and halve a few potatoes and throw them in the tray as well – also drizzled and seasoned.

Then pop in the oven at around 180c and bake for around 45 minutes.

That’s it. Seriously, what could be easier! You could add other bits and bobs – rosemary, onions etc but why complicate life.

Eating out in Barcelona – Kathmandu

The Spanish have never been renowned for their taste in spicy food – in fact, apart from the occasional spicy chorizo and the infamous pimientos de padron, spicy does not really register anywhere in their cooking repertoire. I remember one occasion when I had some friends over for dinner, including a Spanish girl I had invited, I prepared some Mexican food, which of course features chillies but I didn’t go over the top or so I thought until I saw the poor girl crying because of the spiciness of the chicken… That’s not to say that there are no Spanish people that like spicy food, quite the contrary, once you introduce them to it (poco a poco) they’re hooked!Unlike Chinese restaurants of which all (that I know of) are bad, Indian and Pakistani restaurants can be very good in Barcelona, the food enjoyable but it never reaches the spiciness level to which the “Vindaloo” Brits have become accustomed. The waiters do ask whether you would like to have your dish spicy but even after specifying “British spicy not Spanish spicy” it never quite gets there which is why I was very happy when I found Kathmandu in Gracia.

Kathmandu is actually a Nepalese restaurant although looking at the menu there it was hardly any different to the Indian and Pakistani menus around Barcelona, the Spanish do tend to lump all of these cuisines under the title “Comida Hindu” so I guess that would explain it.

 We started with the typical poppadoms with a selection of chutneys and yogurt dip followed by some samosas. Between three of us we then shared a Chicken Saag, a Chicken Tikka Masala and a Jheenga Machha Masala which are Prawns in a Nepalese Curry Sauce plus rice and naan. We were asked if we wanted it spicy to which we replied that we did and low and behold – it actually was spicy!! Not blow your head off spicy but just the ticket.

The food we ordered was plenty to fill us all up and there was even some left over, the best thing about it, the whole meal plus beers came to 15€ per head. Bargain!

 So if you’re looking for a real spicy curry in Barcelona, now you know.

 Kathmandú

C/Corsega 421

Barcelona

Tel: 934593769

What I did

Even though I still don’t have my own kitchen (grr, Spanish builders live up to their ominous reputations) - over the Easter break I rustled up some delights in my mother-in-law’s. I even tried my hand at my very first batch of hot cross buns!

Unfortunately I didn’t take photos of everything – mainly because it was all wolfed down before I had a chance, but anyway here’s what’s coming up

• Hot cross buns (of course)
• Garlic Buttery Prawns
• Penne a la vodka
• Simple sushis
• Roasted Gilthead Bream

Kitchen Update

Well my kitchen should have long been finished by now.. but it isn’t. We’ve had some set backs but I’ve got my fingers crossed that by April it will be all done.

 Good news is that we now have our brand new super dooper electrical domestics and a whole array of kitchen gadgets but no-where to put them.

 Patience is a virtue. .