Lemon Lime Tart

Adapted from a Stephanie Alexander recipe

Pastry
180g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and left at room temperature for 20 minutes
240g plain flour
pinch salt
60mL water

Filling
2 limes
2 lemons
6-7 eggs (6 large or 7 medium)
250g castor sugar
200mL cream (half and half is fine – just 10% fat)
a little orange juice (~50mL)

24cm loose-bottomed deep flan tin, or pie dish


Add flour and salt to a large bowl, then mix in the butter with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water, then use a spatula to stir it through. The dough should come together easily into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out into a circle about 5cm wider than the flan tin or pie dish. Carefully lay the pastry over the dish, pushing it gently into the corners. Trim excess pastry leaving about 1cm extra. Roll the pastry edge over so that it doesn’t overlap the edge of the dish. Refrigerate 30 minutes, and preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Meanwhile, zest and juice the lemons and limes. Measure the juice and add a little orange juice if required to give about 180mL. Add the zest to the juice and set aside.

Gently prick the surface of the chilled pastry shell with a fork, cover with aluminium foil, then place pastry weights, dried beans, or rice on top. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the weights and foil, then return to oven for a further 5 minutes.

During the final 5 minutes, beat together eggs and sugar with a spoon until well mixed. Add the juice and zest, mix, then stir in the cream.

Remove the pastry shell from the oven, and press the surface down if it has risen a little. Turn the oven down to 160C/320F. Pour the filling into the shell. Be careful not to over-fill, any excess filling can be poured into ramekins and baked separately. Bake 35-45 minutes until the filling is set (ramekins will be ready in 25-35 minutes). Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Serves 8-12

Zucchini Cranberry Muffins

Adapted from a recipe by Hamilton's Barley
Makes 12

I have recently become rather addicted to the Zucchini Cranberry Barley muffins served by Good Earth cafes. My wallet is not so addicted, so I thought I'd search online for a recipe I could adapt. I was excited to find this one, especially when I realised that the barley flour is a local Alberta product.

This recipe would probably work with wheat flour, but I would recommend using wholewheat to get a richer flavour. The fresh cranberries are quite tart, use dried ones for a sweeter taste.

2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup finely grated zucchini (1 medium)
1 3/4 cups barley flour
3/4 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn cinnamon
3/8 tspn baking powder (I use a heaped 1/4 tspn)
pinch salt
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries (or 1/2 cup dried cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 375F/180C. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

Beat eggs in a large bowl, then stir in oil until combined. Stir in sugar and then zucchini.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix well. Stir in cranberries and almonds.

Divide mixture evenly between the muffin pans. Bake 18-22 minutes until lightly browned and centre spring back when poked.

Stand 10 minutes before turning onto wire racks to cool.

Eat immediately, or freeze for later.

Cranberry and Orange Friands

Adapted from the Women's Weekly "Cafe Cakes" book

185g butter, melted
125g (1 cup) ground almonds
6 egg whites, beaten lightly with a whisk
240g (1 ½ cups) icing mixture
75g (1/2 cup) all purpose flour
rind of 1 orange, finely grated
100g cranberries, frozen or fresh


Preheat oven to moderately hot (400-425F). Grease 12-16 1/3 cup friand pans (or use small muffin pans instead), and arrange on a baking tray.

Set aside 2 whole cranberries for each friend pan. Chop remaining cranberries in quarters.

Combine butter, almond, egg whites, sugar, flour, orange rind, and chopped cranberries in a medium bowl and stir until just combined. Divide among prepared pans. Cut remaining cranberries in halves, and place 4 halves, cut side down, on top of each friand.

Bake about 25 minutes, then allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Chai Spice Mix

I really like Chai tea, but I'm not a fan of the concentrated variety. An easy option is to make your own spice mix. At home I mix the spices and tea just before adding the hot water, but for work I just add tea leaves to the spice mix and it's ready to use.

Chai Spice Mix

2 tsp ground cardamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Mix ingredients and store in an airtight container.

To make tea, add 1 tsp loose leaf black tea and ¼ tsp spice mix to a tea infuser. Steep about 5 minutes. Add milk and sugar to taste.

Lemon Bacon and Olive Pasta

Lemon Bacon and Olive Pasta
Serves 4

500g dried pasta
250g pitted kalamata olives, chopped in quarters
250g bacon/prosciutto/pancetta, chopped the same size as the olive pieces
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped fine
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta as directed. Meanwhile, fry bacon until crisp and drain on paper towel. Combine bacon, olives, lemon rind, thyme, and pepper in a bowl.

Add an equal volume of olive oil to the lemon juice, and whisk together until the mixture thickens. Drain pasta, add the lemon/olive oil mixture, and stir until the pasta is well coated. Stir remaining ingredients through and serve.


This is a very flexible recipe – adjust all the ingredients to taste, substitute different meats or olive varieties, try fresh pasta. The only constraint seems to be the lemon juice/olive oil ratio. Too little olive oil and the mixture won’t emulsify and thicken. Even this doesn’t really matter – the lemon flavour will be more pronounced, and the sauce much thinner. For whisking I highly recommend this little gadget, found at the MoMA design store in NYC.

Homemade tortellini with roasted tomato sauce

An original in progress

I was given a pasta maker about a year ago, so I've been experimenting with home made pasta. This one is a labour of love (allow 2-3 hours if you attempt it) but the process is fun, and the eating is worth the fuss (in my opinion). Keep in mind that this recipe is a work in progress - there will probably be leftover pasta filling, and you might want to increase the sauce volume if you decide to bake the pasta instead of boiling it. The tortellini in the picture was made with wholemeal flour, but white flour works well too.
Roasted tomato sauce

12 ripe medium sized tomatoes
1 head of garlic
1cm thick slice prosciutto end (about 15cm long); substitute any cured meat
handful fresh basil leaves
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Cut the tomatoes into halves and remove the brown core. Place cut side down on a baking tray covered in non stick paper. Cut the garlic head in half across the cloves, and place cut side down on the baking tray. Bake about 30 minutes then reduce the temperature to 250F/120C and bake a further hour. Meanwhile, cut the prosciutto into 0.5cm cubes, and fry until crisp. Drain excess fat.

Allow to cool slightly, then scoop the roasted garlic out of the skin into a small bowl. Mash with a fork, removing any hard pieces. Peel each tomato half, and scoop out and reserve the seeds. Chop the peeled seeded flesh and add to the garlic along with any juice. Strain the reserved seed into the garlic and tomato mix to collect as much juice as possible. Coarsely chop the basil and add to the tomato mixture along with the prosciutto and a splash of olive oil. Stir. The sauce can be kept in the refrigerator overnight.

Pasta Dough

2 cups plain flour
3 eggs (or 4 small ones), lightly beaten with a fork

Measure the flour into a large bowl, and make a well in the centre. Pour in the egg mixture, and stir with a fork until as much egg as possible is incorporated into the flour. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. Wrap in plastic wrap, and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile make the filling.

Tortellini Filling

1/2 cup ricotta
1/4 cup ground(or finely chopped) walnuts
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan parmigiano reggiano (or substitute about half the volume of pre-grated cheese
1 egg white (if making double just use the whole egg)
fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to use.

Assembling the Tortellini

Take a quarter of the pasta dough and roll through a pasta machine at the thickest setting. Fold the dough in half and run through the roller again. Repeat for each narrower setting until you get to the second narrowest width. Roll the pasta sheet through a few times, then lay out on a clean bench.

Cut circles approximately 8cm in diameter. Place a teaspoon of filling slightly off centre, brush the edge with water, and fold into a semi circle, smoothing the edges together and making sure there are no air bubbles inside. For more compact tortellini, pull the pointed edges together and press to seal. Place each completed tortellini onto a greased baking dish, and repeat the process until all the pasta dough is used.

Cooking the dish

If you’re better at this than me, the tortellini can be cooked briefly in boiling slated water and topped with sauce. Every time I try this, I end up with empty tortellini and boiling water full of ricotta mixture. So for foolproof tortellini, pour the sauce over the tortellini (best to make them flat rather than compact) in the greased and bake at 350F/180C for about 40minutes until the pasta is soft. This quantity should serve 2-3 as a main dish.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Apricots and Golden Raisins

Adapted from Canadian Living Comfort Cooking Winter 2007

This stew is a new favourite for me. It takes a few hours to prepare and cook, but freezes well. The recipe calls for lamb, but it works well with pork too.


Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Apricots and Golden Raisins
(serves 8)

1.5 kg boneless lamb shoulder
2 tspn ground cumin
1 ½ tspn cinnamon
1 tspn each salt and ground ginger
½ tspn each turmeric and pepper
2 cups low salt chicken stock
3 tbspn olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, sliced diagonally
1 cup sliced dried apricots (the Turkish variety)
½ cup golden raisins (or sultanas)
1 tbspn liquid honey
1 tbspn dried mint
¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted, to serve

In a large bowl, combine cumin, cinnamon, salt, ginger, turmeric and pepper. Set aside 1 tbspn, and add the rest to a large bowl. Trim fat from lamb, and cut into 3cm cubes. Toss in large bowl with spice mix.

Heat 1tbspn of the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Brown lamb in batches, adding up to 1tbspn extra oil if required. Transfer lamb to a plate. Add remaining oil to pan, then fry onions, garlic and reserved spice mix over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft; about 5 minutes.

Return lamb and any juices to pan. Add stock mixture and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lamb is just tender; about an hour. Add carrots, apricots, raisins, honey and mint; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender; about 30min.

Uncover and boil over medium heat until thickened to the consistency of gravy, about 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with almonds.

Lemon Vodka Risotto

Adapted from Vogue Australia Wine and Food Cookbook 1995/96

This recipe is an old favourite from my undergraduate days when I subscribed to Vogue Entertaining and Travel. It was the first risotto I ever cooked, and probably the first I ever tasted. The lemon flavour is quite subtle, and blends very well with the stock. I happily eat the risotto by itself for dinner, but it would make a nice starter for a more substantial meal.


Lemon Vodka Risotto
(serves 2 for a main meal, 4 for a starter)

3 tbspn (45mL) olive oil
1 small brown onion, peeled and chopped finely
200g Arborio rice
1.25L reduced salt chicken or vegetable stock, warmed to near boiling
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tspn dried mint flakes
finely grated zest of one lemon
4 tspn freshly squeezed lemon juice (or more, to taste)
50mL vodka
1 tbspn (15mL) unsalted butter
15g freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the onion and fry until softened. Add the rice, and stir until all the grains are coated. Continue cooking until the grains are lightly toasted. Add 1 cup of the hot stock and cook the rice, stir often until all the stock is absorbed. Add another half cup of stock and cook until it is absorbed. Repeat, until all the stock is absorbed. Never drown the rice by adding too much liquid at a time. Taste the rice, it should be tender, but still a little firm. Add a little extra stock or water and cook longer if necessary.

When the rice is cooked, remove the saucepan from the heat and add remaining ingredients. Stir, then cover the saucepan and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.