In the continuing spirit of the Store Cupboard: Luscious Lemons

Making lemon curd is up there with stirring therapy. However we don't always have the time to stand and stir, so here's a microwave version. It's really quick and very useful.

Making Microwave Lemon Curd

115g/4oz butter, cubed

Finely grated rind and juice

of three large lemons**

225g/8oz caster sugar

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

Put the butter, lemon rind and juice in a large microwave-proof bowl. Cook on high for 3 minutes.

Add the sugar to the bowl and stir for 1 minute until it has almost dissolved. Return to the microwave and cook on 100% power for 2 minutes, stirring every 1 minute.

Beat the eggs and the yolk together, then whisk into the lemon mixture, a little at a time.

Cook on medium (40% power), for 10-12 minutes, whisking every 2 minutes, until the curd thickens. Strain the curd through a sieve to remove the milky white cords from the eggs - they become chewy and unpleasant.

Ladle into hot sterilized jars, cover and seal. When cool, store in the refrigerator. Use within 2 months.

N.B. Microwaves vary.

This recipe is based on an 800 watt version. For microwaves with a different wattage, adjust cooking times as follows, 900 watt – subtract 10 seconds per minute. 850 watt, subtract 5 seconds per minute. 750 watt, add 5 seconds per minute. 700 watt, add 10 seconds per minute.

**If you don't have fresh lemons you can use lemon juice and omit the rind. As a guide for juice 4 tbsp of juice is equivalent to 1 and a half lemons.

I have to confess that most of the time I make this curd using lemon juice because it's in my fridge.

There are many uses for the curd – but here's a recipe you might like and I think is perfect for the store cupboard. If, like me, you dislike traditional tiramisu because of the coffee, this is a great alternative.

Lemon Tiramisu

Lemon syrup

(4 tbsp lemon juice, 100g icing sugar)

20 fl oz whipping cream

4 tbsp Limoncello liqueur

20 sponge fingers or Madeira cake

4 tbsp caster sugar

8oz Mascarpone

Lemon curd to fold into Mascarpone mixture

plus more to decorate

To make the syrup put the lemon juice and the icing sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

Mix the syrup with the Limoncello liqueur.

Mix the cream carefully with the caster sugar and mascarpone, gently fold lemon curd through the mixture.

Cut up/slice the sponge fingers/cake into shapes that suit the bowl(s) you are using and dip into the lemon juice/liqueur.

Layer the sponge fingers/cake and then the mascarpone mixture, repeat. Decorate the top of the tiramisu with piped lemon curd.

Lush!

Saluting the Sandwich

We have of course the Earl of Sandwich to thank for the original idea – circa 1762.

Sandwiches can and should be memorable – I'm sure we can all remember both the best and the worst we've eaten. Sandwich making is an art form and should be revered.

I was delighted that the students chose Croque Monsieur for the class in the USA – in truth it was chosen because the students didn't know that it was. Croque Monsieur first made an appearance in Paris just before World War I. There are many variations - I could go on ad nauseum but to name just a few, Croque Madame tops with an egg (fried or poached), Provencal tomato and Tartiflette sliced potatoes and reblochon cheese.

American sandwich history is formidable, right back to The Sloppy Joe, The Club to The Sub(way) and I couldn't leave out pastrami on rye from the deli.

Back in the UK, surely our most famous sandwich is the bacon butty – smoked or unsmoked bacon – bread toasted or not, buttered or not – tomato ketchup or HP – serious decisions. Not for the faint-hearted I've introduced both family and friends to the art of fishfinger butty making. Popular with university students - as part of a hangover cure or as a midnight snack. There are many different variations, – do you use a microwave or the oven for the fishfingers – the microwave is quicker - do you use salt and vinegar, tomato sauce, tartare sauce, and the ultimate addition - a cheese slice. Choice of bread is crucial – thick white sliced (it has to be fresh) or a submarine roll are favourites. Similarly the bread choice is important for the star of the comfort eating zone, the chip butty. This delicacy began life in the North and is most certainly up there in my top ten.

I think the sandwich is best described as mood food – there's one out there to suit every occasion and weather for that matter – how wonderful is that. Sandwich I salute you!

GOM: Chapter 9 Class day – no pressure.

Before we begin I would like it known that I remain vigilant on hummingbird watch.

Okey dokey, a lot to get through today. First priority – give the GOM a task for the afternoon. It's easy when they have a mission and today it's car related – one of their favourite hobbies is getting the best deal possible when wanting to change a car. The GOM may not be in the first flush of youth if you know what I mean, but nobody plays “good cop, bad cop” better than they do – essential qualities during negotiations.

First up “mise en place” - in English translates to “put in place”, or, get all your ducks in a row. If there is preparation you can do ahead of the game whether it's for a Class or generally at home you will save so much time and effort by weighing ingredients, grating cheese etc., and for today I'm making a batch of chocolate mousse so it will be set when required later. The funky containers will be perfect.

Wave goodbye to the GOM and on goes the white jacket – a few minutes later my two students arrive and off we go.

They are impressed with the Croque Monsieur, served with a sweetcorn relish, it's a winner.

Croque Monsieur

4 slices of medium sliced wholemeal bread

2 tsp Dijon mustard

75g (3oz) Gruyere cheese (grated)

2 slices of ham

30g (1½oz) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350f/180c/160fan

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread. Spread half the cheese on two slices of bread followed by the ham, remaining cheese on top. Sandwich together with the other two slices of bread and cut into triangles.

Heat the butter in a frying pan until foaming – fry your festive croque monsieur for 1-2 minutes on each side. If your frying pan is suitable for the oven then pop in for 4-5 minutes. If not then pop the croque onto a baking sheet.

Now for the mousse. I know this appears to be out of flunter but my students have an appetizer and a glass of wine or beer to enjoy so they can watch me work, relax and enjoy.

I make no apology for singing Nigella's praises – this is her recipe. The purists will poo poo the use of condensed milk, however for those of us who have to exercise caution with uncooked eggs (the traditional way of mousse making) it's brilliant. You can also omit the alcohol and increase the orange juice if you prefer. My personal preference too is not to top the mousse with whipped cream – it's rich enough for me without - it's personal taste. Childhood habits die hard, no matter what part of the world, and the mousse bowl is taken to be scraped out with spoons – apparently it would be rude not to.

Nigella's Instant Chocolate-Orange Mousse

(Taken from Nigellisima – page 148)

Recipe serves 6

150g dark chocolate – minimum 70% cocoa solids, finely chopped

175g condensed milk

500ml double cream (heavy USA)

pinch of salt

2 x 15ml tbsps Aperol, Triple Sec, Cointreau, Grand

Marnier or other orange liqueur

2 x 15ml tbsps orange juice and the zext of half an orange

Melt the chocolate carefully either in a microwave (following instructions) or over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water). When almost melted stir with a rubber spatula to scrape down and to help the last bits of chocolate to melt. Take off the heat and leave to cool a little. Pour the condensed milk and 250ml of the double (heavy) cream into a bowl, add the salt and whisk until thickened but only just – the beaters should leave a trail of ribbons. Stir a third of the whipped cream mixture into the cooled melted chocolate – “you can be fairly brutal about this”. Now, slowly in 2/3 batches, fold the lightened chocolate mixture back into the rest of the whipped cream mixture. Then gently stir in the liqueur and orange juice. When combined fill 6 glasses of 150ml leaving space below the rim. Place the mousses in the fridge for 1 hour – you could serve sooner as they are edible straight away. Whip the remaining 250ml of cream until thickened but still floppy, before peaks begin to form (refrigerate too). When ready to serve divide the cream between the glasses of mousse and top with the orange zest.

Now for the Fish Pie. I've been asked to demonstrate a mornay sauce (cheese sauce) and a perfect showcase for a mornay sauce is as part of a Fish Pie. Instead of the traditional pastry top I'm using baked potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly.

Sauce making is a form of therapy and students enjoy watching the process, truly a labour of love. It's worth all the time and effort. The recipe below is scaled down – for a giant size double the quantities.

500g fish fillets of your choice

(would recommend mixing smoked and unsmoked fish)

30g unsalted butter

1 tbsp plain flour

black pepper

500ml milk (or a mixture of milk and cream

if you'd prefer a richer sauce)

150g cheddar cheese, grated – reserve

50g to sprinkle over your potato topping

Poaching the fish. Warm the milk in a large frying pan and then add the fish fillets and poach for 5-7 minutes. Remove the fillets and drain on kitchen paper (placed on a tray). Strain the milk to remove any pieces of skin etc., from the fish.

Use a medium size saucepan, melt the butter and then add the flour making a roux. Gradually add the liquor from poaching the fish until you have a stiff sauce. Add the cheeses and add black pepper. ** Taste. There is no salt in the recipe – if some of your fish is smoked and there is salt in the cheeses there should be sufficient - however tastes differ, you may feel you need a sprinkle.

Gently remove any skin from your fish fillets and break into large pieces and transfer to an oven-proof dish. Combine the sauce with the fish and top with the sliced potatoes. A sprinkle of salt and pepper, a knob of butter and a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese to finish off. I baked the potatoes this morning and poached the fish too.

All your ingredients are cooked, so 30 minutes in the oven will be perfect.

Options

If you are using plain milk in your sauce, you could enrich by adding 2 egg yolks and 2 tbsp cream, beaten together, off the heat at ** above.

You could use a mixture of Cheddar and Gruyere and sprinkle the top with Parmesan.

The students enjoyed their pie, taking some home for supper, along with the mousse I prepared earlier (sorry for the pun). Two happy bunnies and we had the best time.

Just in time the GOM return - “what's for supper?”

Fancy, schmancy and fast

Here's another edition to your store cupboard - Amaretti biscuits – usually found in 250g bags. A word to the wise, they can be expensive so check out the cheaper supermarkets where deals are available.

Another smart investment is a set of shot glasses. These are not expensive if you shop around. In the past I've got good deals from John Lewis and TK Maxx. Sizes vary from 40ml to 160ml – choose what size best suits your purpose.

Crumble Amaretti biscuits – 150g gives you a base for 6 x 160ml. The easiest and cleanest way to crumb your biscuits, without creating washing up, is to place them in a strong food bag and secure the end with a klippit. Bash the biscuits gently with the end of a rolling pin to break them up, then continue, gently, rolling the biscuits until you have the required consistency of crumb. Some like rubble, some like finer, purely a matter of choice. If you don't mind the washing up or have a magic box (dish washer) then blitz in a food processor.

Sprinkle your crumb into the shot glasses, forming a base. Layer the mascarpone mixture mentioned in the post Store Cupboard and desserts – the beginning. You could pipe the mixture using a disposable bag – no need for a nozzle, just snip the end so that it's wide enough for the mixture to pass through easily – approximately 3cms. You don't have to be a piping genius, the trick is to hold the bag in one hand and fold it over your hand – this makes it easy to fill. Spoon the mixture into the bag. When the bag is full twist the top to force the mixture to the bottom to prevent any air pockets. Hold the bag vertically over your glass to fill – no messy blobs on the side of the glass. Alternatively use a spoon – it's not compulsory.

Your top layer is a fruit coulis, another useful addition to your fridge store cupboard.

Strawberry Coulis

(Fresh or frozen fruit)

200g Strawberries, hulled and halved

200g Raspberries

75g icing sugar, sifted

Heat the fruit in a large pan for 4-5 minutes or until the fruit starts to break down. Add the icing sugar and continue to cook the fruit for a further 2-3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved.

Transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth, add a splash of water if necessary to loosen. Strain the coulis through a sieve and set aside to cool. Chill in the fridge until needed.

I decant the coulis into a plastic squeeze bottle – you can get either 225 or 400ml and they usually come in packs of two. If you want to source, they are described as sauce/salad dressing bottles.

Cover your shot glasses with cling film and refrigerate until ready to serve. Don't add the coulis top until serving if you do it will “bleed” into the mascarpone mixture – not a good look. Sprinkle with praline. Texture, sweet cream, zing and toffee – I think you'll find it fits the bill.

Sublime to the ridiculous – Elizabeth David and the guilty pleasures of television.

Elizabeth David.

I would have to describe myself as a bibliophile and, like many of us who are interested in food, have more than my fair share of cookery books.

Elizabeth David probably made the biggest contribution (post World War II) to the way we eat and for bringing to our attention Mediterranean ingredients that we take for granted today and we owe her so much. We have her to thank for bringing us olive oil, vegetables like peppers, courgettes, Parmesan cheese - I could drone on but will resist the urge. There are two books that I would recommend. The first is her authorised biography “Writing at the Kitchen Table” by Artemis Cooper. This book does what is says on the tin and is a comprehensive and compelling read. The second is “An Omelette and a Glass of Wine” (Omelette) by the lady herself, helped by Jill Norman. It's a collection of all sorts of bits and pieces from her articles and experiences. Elizabeth wrote for many prestigious publications - Vogue and The Spectator to name but two.

Here's how my history trail unfolds. Page 34 of Omelette is entitled “Big Bad Bramleys”. This article talks about (as you may have guessed) the Bramley apple but it also talks about Eliza Acton and her recipe for apple sauce. This recipe is a must for anyone who wants a serious apple sauce whether for use in sweet or savoury dishes. There's no big secret other than the key is in the preparation of the apples. To give perspective, Eliza Acton's book “Modern Cookery for private families” was first published in 1845.

I suppose my conclusion is that if you like history too then it's a double whammy and both Elizabeth David books mentioned should, in my view, form part of your library.

Apple Sauce

Eliza Acton via Elizabeth David

Pre-heat oven to 160 fan. Grease a glass dish with butter.

This sauce is so easy – the only emphasis is on the preparation of the apples. All the peel and core must be removed. There are no amounts here, you can cook as much sauce as you like and it freezes well. Peel, core and slice your apples as thinly and evenly as possible.

Place your apples in your dish and cover with a lid or foil – NO WATER, SUGAR OR ANYTHING ELSE.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. Check after 20. Apples should be soft. Here's the satisfying bit – whisk the apples until they begin to break up, sprinkle with caster sugar plus a generous knob of unsalted butter, whisk again – enjoy.

You can use this sauce for loads of recipes – I use it as an addition to my vegetarian stuffing at Christmas.

Apples sauce, like chicken soup, has an age old reputation for comfort.

The guilty pleasure of television.

In this day and age we are swamped, nay drowning in cookery programmes. Back in the day I watched the original Masterchef when Loyd Grossman hosted and would even confess to catching the odd episode of Ready Steady Cook. These days my guilty pleasure is limited to three shows, The Great British Bake-off and the other two are Australian. Masterchef Australia which began in 2009. This show is compulsive cooking entertainment. It's a knock-out competition with increasingly difficult challenges along the way, for ordinary home cooks. What sets it apart is the hosts who are excellent. It's an exciting journey with bumps along the way – some of the contestants you'll warm to, others not - yet again it's personal. More recently and by accident I came across My Kitchen Rules (MKR). The format is different from Masterchef in that it is teams of two, competing from different states in Australia and begins with an instant restaurant in the respective teams' homes. Masterchef Australia begins around August/September until Christmas. MKR is running as we speak. There's nothing wrong with a little light relief.

Whether it's reading serious books or watching frivolous tv programmes, a little bit of what you fancy does you good.

Sweet Surprises for Summer

As we are now officially in the summer season I thought you'd like an idea to enhance whatever entertaining plans you might have, without breaking the bank and with very little time and effort and no time at all in the kitchen.

At the moment there's heaps of “outside” stuff to choose from in all the stores and on-line. I sourced clear plastic wine/champagne bottle coolers. The coolers I found are shaped and have an easy “hand hold”. I wanted something new and fun for my daughter-in-law's birthday party, hence the ribbon and then chose giant marshmallows, mixed wrapped sweets of various shapes and sizes, wrapped Italian hazelnut and chocolate cookies and flying saucers (aka fizzing whizbees). The contents of the coolers not wrapped were decanted at the last minute and here are photographs of the finished prototype.

The surprise (this was an al fresco occasion) was the outside wood burning stove (or chiminea, firepit etc) that came into its own to toast the marshmallows – obviously supervised and with appropriate skewers for toasting. A huge hit, with children and adults alike. Some may say why use old fashioned sweets – it's my experience that the adults enjoyed this idea probably more than the children. A dessert (or part of) with a difference and the coolers can be customised to suit whatever the occasion and can be used afterwards for your fizz.

Store Cupboard desserts and puds – uber-useful extras

Vanilla ice cream.

These days you don't need an ice cream maker and there are many “no churn” recipes out there. This option came, I think, from Sainsbury's Magazine and it is excellent. I've tweaked along the way as you would expect.

My first tip here is rather than freeze in one container, use 500g pots with lids. This ice cream needs to be removed from the freezer 20 minutes or so before you want to serve so it's more practical to have frozen in smaller amounts. This recipe gives you 1.6 litres of ice cream - equal

to 18 scoops.

You'll need 1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk, 1 x 600ml double cream and 2tsp vanilla bean paste.

1. Put the condensed milk, cream and vanilla into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until the mixture is quite thick and stiff. **

2. Spoon the mixture into a lidded freezer-proof container and free for at least 6-8 hours or until firm.

Here's my tweak. You can buy jars of salted caramel sauce – easily available at most large supermarkets – usually 260g. Fold the sauce into the ice cream, at ** above. Hey presto salted caramel ice cream. What I have found though is that it may be a little too sweet – it's the personal taste thing again.

What does work very well is to make your own sticky toffee sauce. One batch of the recipe given below produces approximately 539g of the sauce, or, just over two batches to fold through the ice cream. It can be frozen for convenience – don't forget to halve the sauce and freeze in two separate containers. I think you'll find that making your own sauce it is less sweet and really enhances the vanilla ice cream.

I can hear your waistline expanding as I type.

Praline

Praline is largely used for adding to and flavouring cream, ice cream, butter cream or whatever takes your fancy.

Place 3oz caster sugar into a frying pan and 3oz unblanched almonds on top. Heat the sugar and almonds on as low a heat as possible. Resist the urge to prod/stir/mess with and don't walk away. The sugar begins to melt and when it is a pale golden colour and the almonds make a popping sound, turn it out onto a non-stick sheet.

Leave the praline to cool and set. You can then break up and blitz in a food processor to a consistency of your choice. If you're feeling cheffy you can use it in large pieces, as a decorative upright shard or blitz into a coarse powder. It keeps well so long as you transfer it into an air-tight jar. Should the mood take you you can even blitz it into a paste. Whatever your choice you'll have toffee shards/crunch or crumb that smells and tastes wonderful.

Sticky Toffee Sauce

Again there are many recipes available for sticky toffee sauce with lots of variations - this is the one I use all the time, 4oz unsalted butter, 8oz soft dark brown sugar and 10 fl oz double cream. Heat together the butter and sugar. When dissolved add the cream. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring. The best 15 minutes ever.

All three recipes are perfect additions to your store cupboard, to mix, match, sprinkle and drizzle to your heart's content.