Almond Tart

This makes a change from the usual creamy, rich, chocolatey desserts.

It is good served for tea or anytime.

Equipment

A food processor if you have one

2 mixing bowls

Kitchen scale

Egg separator

Electric beater

A cup to put the eggs in

Cling film and wax paper

An oven

A grater

A sharp knife and chopping board

Baking beans or uncooked kidney beans or rice

A loose bottomed, fluted flan tin (that’s the one with the crinkly sides)

A cooling rack

A small bowl to put the almonds into

A kitchen scale

Ingredients

For the pastry

-         For the pastry you will need:-

-         350g plain flour

-         Pinch salt

-         225 grams cold unsalted butter.

-         100grams icing sugar

-         3 egg yolks

For the filling:-

-         350 grams softened unsalted butter

A tip to soften butter: Fill a glass jug with boiling water, leave it to stand for five minutes before pouring the water out; then enclose the butter in the steamed-up jug for a few minutes

-         350 grams castor sugar

-         350 grams ground almonds

-         4 eggs

For serving: Red currants, strawberries or seasonal fresh berries

Method

Clear a space on your kitchen counter and make sure it’s clean.

Gather all the ingredients and equipment.

As ever when working with food, ensure your hands are clean, but particularly so with this recipe as you will be using your fingers to mix the pastry, if you do not have a food processor.

-         Mix the flour, salt and butter by hand, or in a processor, till the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs

-         Add the sugar. Break the eggs one at a time and separate the yolks from the whites. Set aside the whites.

-         Put the egg yolks into the flour, mix in well with a spoon or process again with the food processor. Shape into a pastry ball.

-         Wrap pastry ball in clingfilm

-         Chill pastry for at least an hour

-         Pre-heat the oven to180 deg C.

-         Remove the pastry from the fridge and coarsely grate it.

-         Grease the flan tin with a little butter and greaseproof paper

-         Press the pastry into the prepared flan tin

-         Bake blind – which means bake to make a pastry shell for the filling to go in. To do this put greaseproof (wax) paper over the pastry at the bottom of the flan tin and weigh it down with plenty of dry uncooked kidney beans, rice or baking beans.

-         Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

-         Carefully remove from the oven (use oven gloves if you have them, or a tea towel to protect your hands)

-         Put onto a wire cooling rack

-         Reduce the oven to 150 degrees C.

For the filling:-

Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.

Combine the butter mix, almonds and eggs, adding each egg one at a time.

Remove the paper and beans from the pastry case. Discard them

Pour the filling mixture into the pastry case and bake for 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven.

Turn the oven off

Let the tart cool and serve with the berries (wash berries under cold water before using)

Lemon Cheesecake

Equipment

-        500 ml measuring jug (two cups)

-       Small saucepan

-       Larger saucepan

-       Egg separator

-       Whisk

-       2 cups for the eggs

-       Grater

-       Large spoon to stir and a dessertspoon to measure sugar + a tablespoon

-       Small container (bowl or cup) for lemon juice

-       Rolling pin to crush biscuits and a big clear plastic bag or food processor with chopping blade

-       8 cm round cake tin with a fixed base

-       Chopping board or flat plate to grate lemon on and 3 saucers

Ingredients

-        1 lemon flavoured jelly

-         2 large eggs

-         125 ml of milk (half a cup)

-          2 large lemons

-          325 gram tub of smooth cottage or cream cheese

-          1 dessertspoon sugar

-          3 tablespoons double cream (thick cream)

-          100grams gingernut biscuits

-           50grams of butter

-          A few strawberries for decoration and a few mint leaves if you like

Method

-       Gather all your ingredients together

-       Open the packet of jelly and put the jelly into small saucepan. Throw packet away.

-       Measure the milk into a jug.

-       Take the lid off the cottage cheese.Throw away the lid

-       Measure 1 dessertful of sugar onto a saucer

-       Measure 3 tablespoons of thick cream onto a saucer.

-       Open the biscuits. Measure 100grams. Put rest away

-       Measure 50 grams of butter onto a saucer

-       Separate the eggs. Put whites into one bowl and yellows into another.

-       You can use an egg separator. Put it over a cup and crack the first egg into it. The yolk (yellow part) will stay in the separator and the white will drop into the cup. Do this with both eggs.

-       You can also separate eggs by cracking the egg in two halves and keeping the yellow in the shell and letting the white slip into a bowl or cup but this is very tricky

-       Grate the rind (yellow skin) from the lemons. Save it. Squeeze out the juice into a cup or small bowl

-       Put the pan with the jelly onto the stove on a low heat. Put 4 tablespoons of cold water into it and stir all the time until the jelly melts

-       Put the egg yolks (yellows) into a small mixing bowl with the milk and whisk them together

-       Pour the egg and milk mixture into the jelly in the pan on the stove. Stir and simmer (cook on a very low heat) for 4 minutes. Do not let it boil. Add the lemon juice and the lemon rind (yellow skin) Be careful not to get any pips in from the lemon as they taste bitter and you do not use them

-       Pour the contents of the pan into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the cheese Blend together until smooth, add the sugar bit by bit. Allow to cool

-       Whisk the egg whites with an electric beater until they are stiff and fold them into the cheese mixture. To fold in means to turn them over gently with a spoon until they are mixed in

-       Add the cream. Gently fold everything together

-       Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put it into the fridge for two to three hours to set.

-       Take the ginger biscuits and crush them. You can do this in a food processor with a blade if you have one or by breaking them up as small as you can and put them into a clear, clean plastic bag. Take a rolling pin and crush them

-       Melt the butter in a pan. Add the biscuits to the melted butter and stir them into the butter.. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge and press the biscuit mixture all over the top of the cheesecake

-       Put it back into the fridge to chill.

-       Wash the strawberries in cold water. Carefully slice them.

-       Finally take the cheesecake out of the fridge and turn it over very carefully onto a large plate. The tin will come away and the biscuits will be at the bottom of the cheesecake. Now decorate it with the strawberry slices (and a few fresh mint leaves if you like)

   

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CHICKEN A LA KING

Ingredients

·         1/2 cup salted butter

·         8 ounces mushrooms sliced

·         1/3 cup all-purpose flour

·         2 cups chicken broth

·         1 1/2 cups milk

·         2 egg yolks

·         1/3 cup heavy creamy

·         1 cup frozen peas

·         1 cup chopped drained pimientos

·         4 cups chopped cooked chicken

Directions

·      Step 1

Cook and stir drained mushrooms and green pepper in butter or margarine over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

·      Step 2

Blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat.

·      Step 3

Stir in instant bouillon, milk, water, and reserved mushroom liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.

Step 4  Stir in chicken and pimiento. Heat through

Chicken noodle soup

Apple, berry and pecan nut crumble, with custard

Ingredients

For the crumble

-         6 cooking apples (or Granny Smith’s)

-         150 grams of mixed, defrosted berries

-         75 grams of castor sugar

-         100 grams of butter

-         150 grams plain flour

-         75 grams pecan nuts, chopped

For the custard

-         3 egg yolks

-         1 teaspoon cornflour

-         3 Tablespoons sugar

-         250ml thick cream

-         300ml full cream milk

-         1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

Gather all the equipment and ingredients together. Find a clean, clear space to work in on the kitchen counter or table. Always remember to wash your hands.

Crumble:-

-         First leave the berries out, covered in a bowl, to defrost. When they have defrosted you can begin.

-         Preheat the oven to 200 deg.C

-         Peel and chop the apples into chunks on a board, remove and discard pips and skin.

-         Put the berries into the bottom of the baking dish and put the apples over them. Flatten slightly with your hand.

-         Scatter the sugar over

-         Put the measured flour into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until the combined flour and butter look like fine bread crumbs.

-         Add the sugar and nuts.

-         Scatter the mixture over the fruit

-         Put the dish into the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping has browned and the fruit is bubbling.

-         Using the oven gloves, as the dish will be very hot, carefully remove it from the oven and put onto a cooling rack. Do not place a hot, glass dish on anything cold as it will crack

Custard:-

-         Crack the eggs one by one and separate yellows from the whites.

-         Put the egg whites to one side to use another day (good for meringues)

-         Put the cornflour and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the yolks

-         Put the milk into a saucepan on the stovetop. Add the cream.

-         Turn the stovetop heat on to medium heat and heat the milk and cream mixture until hot but not boiling.

-         Pour the mixture out of the pan over the egg yellows, mix well and return to the pan

-         Turn the heat down to low and stir the mixture, in a figure of 8, with a long handled spoon, until it is thick.  Add the vanilla, stir. Pour into a serving jug and serve with the apple/fruit crumble