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Food & Drink
Please send us your recipes
The following have been kindly written by Pam Cook
Microwave Lemon Curd
Ingredients
8oz white sugar
4 eggs
4 lemons, zested and juiced
4oz butter, melted
Method
In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter.
Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
Remove from the microwave and pour into small sterile jars.Store for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Notes The egg and sugar mix will go foamy – start the cooking process and cook for approx 4 – 5 minutes as above then go away and leave the mixture for the foam to have time to subside. Contrary to internet reviews, I found that the foam would not stir into the mix. However, when left for an hour or more it disappeared. The cooking process could then be completed. I cooked at 40 second intervals at this stage and it required a further 2 – 3 minutes.I’m told that the lemon curd will actually keep for up to a year in the fridge but I’ve not tested this out!!
Saucy Lemon Sponge
Ingredients
4 oz caster sugar
2 oz butter, plus extra to grease
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 -3 lemons
2 medium eggs, separated
2 oz self raising flour
½ pt semi-skimmed milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 170C (fan oven)In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, lemon zest and sugar until pale and fluffy.Beat in the egg yolks a little at a time.
Add the lemon juice and gently fold in the flour, adding the milk a little at a time.Whisk the egg whites and fold in gently.Pour the mixture into a greased deep baking dish and bake in the centre of the oven for 40 – 45 minutes.
Notes:I use an electric hand-held mixer for this mix as it saves time and effort!The baking dish can be placed onto a tray of water before placing into the oven – gives a lighter, moister finished product. I do not usually bother.
KENTISH APPLE FRUIT CAKE
6 oz margarine
6 oz moist soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1lb cooking apples
2 oz shelled walnuts, roughly chopped
2 oz crystallised ginger
(optional)grated rind ½ lemon
4 oz currants
4 oz sultanas
4 oz raisins
2 oz cut mixed peel 1½lb S.R. flour
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tsp mixed spice
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp ground ginger caster sugar
8 oz – 1lb chopped dried dates (optional)
Method
Prepare cool oven (325ºF, 160ºC, gas mk 3). Grease deep 9" cake tin; line base with grease-proof paper and grease the paper.
Peel and core the apples; slice into saucepan. Add 5 tbsp water and cook over low heat until soft and pulpy. Leave until cold.
Place margarine and brown sugar in large mixing bowl. Mix; beat with wooden spoon for about 5 mins until mixture is light.
Beat eggs and gradually add to mixture. Add walnuts, crystallised ginger, lemon rind, apple pulp, currants, sultanas, raisins, peel and dates (if using); mix well.
Sift flour, bicarb of soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and ground ginger into bowl. Fold into mixture with metal spoon until well mixed.
Press mixture into prepared tin, level top with back of metal spoon. Sprinkle top liberally with caster sugar. Bake in centre of oven for 1½ - 1¾ hrs. (May need up to 2 or even 2½ hrs.)
Test by pressing with the fingers. If cooked, cake should spring back and have begun to shrink from side of tin. Leave in tin for 10 mins. Turn out. Remove paper and leave to cool.
Apple and Sultana Chutney
Ingredients
7 lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced.
1 oz garlic, peeled and chopped
2 pints vinegar
3 lb sugar
8 oz, crystallised ginger, chopped
1 lb sultanas
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
Method
Place apples, garlic and a little of the vinegar into a large pan. Simmer the apples until they are reduced to a thick pulp.
Add the sugar, ginger, sultanas, spices and salt, then continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the remaining vinegar and cook until the chutney reaches the desired consistency.
For Fig and Ginger Chutney, add: 2 red and 2 white onions, chopped4 – 5 green peppers, deseeded and chopped.
Root ginger may be added instead of crystallised ginger – again peeled and chopped Chilli pepper, black pepper, paprika, to taste Curry powder and cumin powder may also be added if a curried flavour chutney is preferred.
Quince Preserve
Ingredients
4 medium-sized quince fruit, peeled, cored and cut into quarters (or cut into small cubes)
1 kg sugar
½ pt water
1 tsp lemon juice
Sprig of lemon geranium (ambaroriza)
Method
Place the quince, sugar and water into a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.Simmer for about 20 minutes until the quince is soft.
Add the lemon juice and the lemon geranium.Turn off the heat and leave to stand overnight.The next day, bring back to the boil, stirring continually, and boil until the quince has turned a deep reddish-pink colour and the liquid is at setting point (a little, placed onto a cold saucer, forms a skin and wrinkles across the top when pushed)
Let it cool, then bottle in sterile jars.Cypriots serve small amounts of this on saucer-sized plates to guests with a glass of cold water, in place of coffee, as a welcoming treat.
Bitter-Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
3 lb bitter oranges
Juice and skin of 2 lemons
6 pts water
6 lb sugar
Method
Cut the fruit in half and squeeze out the juice and pips.Slice the peel thinly and place into a large pan with the fruit juices, water and pips (tied in muslin).
Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours, until the peel is soft and the liquid has reduced by about a half.Remove the muslin bag, squeezing it well, and add the sugar, stirring until it has dissolved.
Boil rapidly until setting point is reached (a little on a cold saucer forms a skin and the surface wrinkles when pushed).
Leave to stand for 15 minutes then pot in sterile jars and cover.
Notes: I actually use less sugar than the recipe states – about 5kg sugar to 8-10 lbs fruit as this gives a more bitter marmalade but it still sets. To get a darker marmalade, add 2 tbsp treacle or molasses when adding the sugar. The pips and pulp provide the pectin, which is important for setting purposes, so don’t be tempted to leave them out.
Cypriot Sweetmeat from Bitter-oranges
Ingredients
2 kg sugar
10 oranges
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
1 glass waterSprig of lemon geranium
Method
Grate the rind from the oranges and discard (or use for other recipes like marmalade)Peel oranges into quarters and discard the flesh (or use, with the rind, for marmalade).
Roll each strip of peel into a cylinder and secure with a cocktail stick.Place the cylinders of peel into a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil.
Discard the water.Cover the peel with fresh water and discard, every day for 4 days.Cover the peel with fresh water and bring to the boil, simmering gently until the peel is soft (a cocktail stick enters easily when pushed through).
Drain the peel, discarding the water. Sprinkle the peel with cold water to cool then remove the cocktail sticks.Place into a saucepan, cover with the sugar, add the glass of water and the lemon juice then leave overnight for the sugar to dissolve.Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and leave overnight.Bring to the boil again and boil until setting point is reached (a little of the liquid placed on a cold saucer forms a skin and the surface wrinkles when pushed).
Add the lemon geranium and heat for a further few minutes to infuse the flavour.Cool, then pot into sterile jars.
Note: This recipe came from a Cypriot friend whose mother-in-law makes these cylinders, as sweetmeats for guests, every year once the bitter oranges are in season.
Stuffed Vine Leaves
Ingredients
Vine leaves
Stuffing ingredients
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 cups rice
2 cups minced pork or lamb
1 onion, finely chopped
2 – 3 large beef tomatoes
PureedCrushed mint, black pepper, cinnamon, salt (to taste)
1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
A little olive oil to mix stuffing ingredients together
Method
Prepare vine leaves by cooking in boiling water until soft.Meanwhile, mix stuffing ingredients together with a little olive oil.Take one vine leaf at a time and spread out onto a plate, under-side upwards.
Spread 1 – 2 tbsp filling across the middle to form a sausage shape.Roll the leaf as follows: back of leaf over filling then sides in on top; roll forward fairly tightly to form a long ‘stuffed’ parcel.
Repeat until all the filling and vine leaves have been used up.Place the stuffed vine leaves into a pan and cover with a plate.
Cover with water (up and over the plate)Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and cook until almost all of the water has gone.
Turn off the heat and leave until the remaining liquid has been absorbed. Serve hot or cold.
Note: Can also be cooked in the oven – same procedure but takes much longer.
