Lemon buttermilk pancakes

Yum! Pancakes! I don't normally do this thing f getting up late and having a
leisurely morning brunch but today I did and enjoyed my lie in very much. In
fact I think this is the first time I've cooked pancakes this year. I adapted the recipe from Delia by adding lemon zest and curd but for such a simple recipe you could add a number of things: blueberries, raisins, nuts or maybe even half a mashed banana mmm... And as I was promised they were easy to make yet light and fluffy, just as a god pancake should be!

 

Enough for 3 or 2 if your both starving

3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup or 120ml buttermilk
1/4 cup or 60ml water
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp of lemon curd (preferably homemade)
1 1/4 cups or 150g self-raising flour
oil for frying

1. Mix together all the wet ingredients and the lemon zest together. Pour
into a well in the flour whisking until all combined Don't worry if you have
a few lumps as you wont notice once they're cooked.

2. Put  the pan on a mid heat and coat it lightly with oil. Once heated,
ladle about 2 tbsp of the mixture or enough for small pancakes. Once the
side are starting to cook and small bubbles are forming on the top flip them
over (this is about 2 minutes) and cook for another 2 again or until golden
brown. Continue until all the mixture is used up. Serve with berries and in
my case date syrup.

Lemon Mousse Cake

Looking outside, I can see that fall is definitiely upon us. Looking at the title of this post, it's not a very seasonal recipe but when everything is getting a bit chilly it's nice to have something a bit zingy.  It's not that rich and quite airy from the meringue and quite tart as well. In Summer I like to turn it into an amazing icecream cake by freezing it then taking it out to soften for 15 min. There are quite a few steps but each one is fairly easy to do and  each step (along with the cake itslef) can be kept in the fridge for a fair few days before combining (or eating!). There is intentionaly no sugar in the curd because the meringue is very sweet but if your lemons are really tart and you need some extra sugar just add it to the cream before whipping and combining.

 


















Serves 10

For the shortbread base:
1/4 cup or 50g butter
1/3 cup & 1 tbsp or 50g flour
1/4 cup or 25g corn starch/flour
2 tbsp or 25g sugar
zest of 1 lemon

For the mousse:
2 egg whites
2 tbsp or 20g caster sugar
1/2 cup or 100g caster sugar
1/8 cup & 2 tsp or 40 ml water
1 gelatine leaf

2 eggs
juice and zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup or 50g butter

1 3/4 cups or 400ml heavy cream

For the candied lemons:
1 lemon
sugar
water

1. Rub all the ingredients for the shortbread base together until it starts forming clumps of dough then knead lightly to form a dough. Press into a 9" cake tin and bake for 15 minutes or until pale golden brown at 200C/390F.

2. Whisk the eggs then add to a saucepan along with the juice and zest. Cook until thickened and custard-like then stir in the buter until melted. Leave to cool.

3. Whisk the whites until stiff then add the 20g/4 tbsp sugar slowly until dissolved. Soften the gelatine in a bowl of water and set aside. Put the rest of the sugar in a saucepan along with the water and boil until the syrup reaches the soft ball stage on a sugar thermometer. Slowly pour the syrup into the whites, whisking constantly until combined, now add the gelatine leaf discarding the water and continue whisking until cool.

4. Now fold the lemon curd into the meringue and fold that again into the cream that has been whipped into soft peaks. Pour into the base and leave to set in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.

5. Slice the lemonand put in a saucepan with equal amounts of sugar and water to cover the slices. Simmer until the slices are tender and the liquid syrupy. Leave to cool and pour over the mousse.

Homemade Peel

I love orange or lemon peel but many others don't. They see it as the waxy, tasteless sticky gunk you get in those plastic pots from the supermarket. If this is you I must convert you to the joys of homemade peel. When homemade it's vibrant and citrusy and, even quite healthy being fat less and all. (That is if you don't smother them in chocolate!) I always make mine at Christmas but it's just as nice at any time of the year. 

It's a really easy recipe just use the ratio 1:1:1, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar for every 1 cup of peel. Just make sure when your peeling the fruit you don't get any where near the pith as it's bitter and makes your mouth go all dry which is not what we want.You can use lemons, oranges and grapefruits are good too because of their thick skin just don't try limes as the zest is to thin to make any thing with.

Makes 1 cup

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

1 cup of peel

Granulated sugar for coating

1/2 cup or 75g of chocolate (optional)

1. Take off the peel with a knife then cut it up into thin matchsticks. Put the peel into a saucepan with the sugar and water and put on a very low heat, don't even simmer, for a couple of hours when the peel is very soft and tender and can be easily inserted with a knife.

2. Shake off the excess sugar syrup and roll in the granulated sugar until even coated then place on a baking sheet. You can just leave them on the baking tray to dry overnight or if your oven can heat low temperatures then put them in the oven at 50°C or 122°F until dry.

3. If you are using the chocolate melt it then dip the  peel into it and leave to set on the baking tray.