Lemon and yuzu meringue tart

A show-stopping lemon meringue pie with a fashionable twist from Will Torrent's Patisserie at Home - a great book if you aspire to cook like a pastry chef (but don't be daunted. The instructions are particularly clear.)

Will writes: I wanted to update the classic tarte au citron with an unusual flavour and an old-fashioned technique. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit, like a hybrid of lemon and lime with a hint of mandarin. I like to top my lemon tart with meringue, piped high and flambéed at the dinner table with a blowtorch!

1 x quantity Pâte Sablée (see below)

25 g white chocolate

Lemon and yuzu curd

2 tablespoons yuzu juice (available online or in good Japanese supermarkets)

juice and grated zest of 2 lemons

3 egg yolks

100 g raw cane sugar

2 tablespoons butter, chilled and diced

Meringue topping

100 g sugar

2 tablespoons water

3 egg whites

You will also need:

a 20-cm fluted tart pan, greased and lightly dusted with flour

baking beans

sugar thermometer

piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle

kitchen blowtorch (optional)

Serves 6–8

Preheat the oven to 180ËšC (350ËšF) Gas 4.

Take the Pâte Sablée out of the fridge and put on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it out to a rough circle at about 25 cm in diameter.

Loosely wrap the dough around the rolling pin and transfer it to the prepared tart pan. Unravel the dough into the pan. Gently coax the dough neatly into the curves and angles of the pan, press lightly into the sides and cut off any excess with a small, sharp knife.

Lay a sheet of greaseproof paper over the pan and fill it with baking beans. Put the pan on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 10–15 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 160ËšC (325ËšF) Gas 3. Remove the paper and beans from the tart pan and return the tart case to the oven for 5–10 minutes. Remove the tart case from the oven and allow to cool completely, then remove from the pan.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate on low power in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (not letting the base of the bowl touch the water). Brush the melted chocolate inside the cooled tart case.

For the lemon and yuzu curd

Put the yuzu juice, juice of 1 lemon and all the lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to the boil over low heat.

Put the egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk until it looks like the sugar has dissolved. Very slowly pour the boiled citrus juice into the mixing bowl, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pan, set over medium heat and stir. It will start to thicken and resemble thick, glossy curd.

Now remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time. Mix until all the butter has melted. Finally, pour the curd into the tart case and allow to cool completely.

For the meringue

Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer over low heat until the syrup reaches 121ËšC (250ËšF) on a sugar thermometer.

Meanwhile, put the egg whites and remaining lemon juice in a stand mixer and begin whisking until stiff peaks form. Once the syrup has reached the right temperature, slowly pour it in a steady stream into the meringue bowl with the beaters still running. Avoid letting the syrup touch the beaters. Keep whisking until you have used up all the syrup and the meringue is glossy, thick and has cooled substantially – this may take several minutes of whisking. The bowl itself must have cooled too.

Fill the piping bag with meringue and pipe bulbs of different sizes onto the curd in the tart case (see picture - love this effect FB)

To serve, blast the meringue with a kitchen blowtorch or under a very hot grill.

Pâte sable

This is one of my favourite types of pastry. It’s a rich, sweet shortcrust but made with icing sugar to achieve a really lovely crisp, crumbly texture (‘sablée’ means sandy) that works perfectly with rich cream and fresh fruit. It’s so versatile that you can use it for tarts and biscuits but also as the base for gâteaux.

200 g butter, softened

100 g icing sugar

a pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 eggs, lightly beaten

250 g plain flour

Makes enough to line a 20-cm tart pan

Beat the butter, sugar and salt together in a stand mixer or in a bowl with an electric whisk until pale – about 5 minutes.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise using a small, sharp knife and scrape the seeds out into the creamed butter mixture. Add the lemon zest and beat again to incorporate.

With the whisk running, gradually add the eggs, mixing until fully incorporated.

Gently mix in the flour but do not over-work the dough otherwise the gluten will develop and you will end up with pastry that is tough rather than crisp and light.

Bring the dough together into a ball with your hands, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until needed – at least 2 hours, but overnight if possible.

What to drink:

Lemon is quite a tricky ingredient to pair with wine - it needs something with a similar acidity. I'd go for a beerenauslese Riesling myself or a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc. Alternatively you could go for something a little lighter like a well-chilled Moscato d'Asti.

Recipe from Patisserie at Home by Will Torrent, photography Jonathan Gregson published by Ryland Peters & Small £19.99.

Orlando Murrin's seed cake

If you're thinking of baking something for teatime today try this traditional English caraway seed cake from cookery writer Orlando Murrin.

Interestingly Orlando's version differs from the original which according to the site Gode Cookery was made with yeast and ale*. His is more like a madeira cake or pound cake, flavoured with citrus and much more to contemporary tastes. It would be perfect with a cup of oolong tea or a glass of Rainwater madeira

Orlando Murrin's Seed Cake

160g/6oz softened butter, if using unsalted add a pinch of salt
190g/7oz golden caster sugar, plus 1tbsp extra to glaze
1/2tsp vanilla extract
a little lemon and orange zest finely grated
3 large eggs, separated
225g/8oz self raising flour
1 tbsp caraway seeds
150g carton of natural yogurt

21cm (7inch) cake tin, loose bottomed, lined with baking paper (e.g Bake-o-Glide)

Heat oven to 170°C/150°C fan.

Cream butter with sugar, vanilla and citrus zest. Beat in egg yolks. Mix in half the flour and half the yogurt, then the remaining half of each and the caraway seeds, until combined. Beat egg whites to soft peaks and fold in – be patient as the cake mixture is stiff. Turn into the tin and smooth top. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining caster sugar, which will form a thin sugar crust.

Bake for about an hour, until a skewer comes out clean, checking after 45 minutes and covering with foil if necessary to prevent it from becoming too brown. It is a characteristic of this cake to rise to a peak and crack.

*There's also some interesting speculation on its origins on the blog Baking for Britain.

Blue cheese and preserved plums

A lovely serving suggestion from Trine Hahnemann's inviting book Scandinavian Christmas. The preserved plums couldn't be simpler.

Trine says: "The perfect end to a lovely meal. You simply have to drink port with it! Choose plums with sweetness and tender flesh."

Serves 8

For the preserved plums

500g plums

1 vanilla pod

200g caster sugar

50ml dark rum

To serve

250g Danish Blue, or any blue cheese (I would serve them with Stilton FB)

rye wafers (see picture)

Rinse and halve the plums and remove their stones. Divide them between sterilised jars.

Divide the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds.

Mix 500ml of water, the sugar, vanilla seeds and pod in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, then add the rum and pour over the plums. Each jar must be filled to the top. Seal the jars immediately.

The plums will be best after four or five days. (Stored in the fridge or a dark, cool place, they will keep for two or three months.) Before you serve them, bring them to room temperature.

Place the cheese on a platter with a jar of preserved plums and provide plenty of rye wafers. Serve with port. (I would choose a Late Bottled Vintage port with this)

This recipe comes from Scandinavian Christmas by Trine Hahnemann, published by Quadrille Publishing. RRP £16.99 Photography by Lars Ranek

 

Chocolate and cherry roulade

To celebrate Chocolate Week here's one of my favourite recipes for a chocolate and cherry roulade which comes from my book An Appetite for Ale. Unusually it contains two different types of beer! You can obviously leave one of them out though a cherry beer is the perfect pairing with it.

Making a roulade might sound daunting but is actually no more difficult than making a chocolate mousse providing you have the right kit (see below)

For the roulade

175g Belgian dark luxury chocolate*

2 tbsp stout, porter or black coffee

5 large eggs, separated

125g caster sugar

For the filling

350g pitted morello cherries or stoned fresh, black cherries

2 tbsp Kriek or other cherry beer or cherry juice

1 tbsp kirsch (optional)

284ml carton double cream

1-2 tbsp caster sugar

To assemble

Icing sugar

You will need a 33cm x 23cm shallow rectangular ‘swiss roll’ tin, some non-stick baking parchment, several large bowls and an electric hand whisk

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Lightly grease the baking tin and line with a piece of non-stick baking parchment.

Break up the chocolate and put it in a bowl with the stout, porter or coffee. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the pan doesn’t touch the water. Leave to melt, stir once to amalgamate and take off the heat.

Put the eggs and sugar in another bowl and whisk together for a couple of minutes until light and moussey. Fold in the chocolate mixture with a large spoon.

In another bowl - and a clean whisk - whisk the egg whites until they just hold their shape. Add a couple of tablespoons of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture to lighten it then fold in the rest of the egg whites lightly without overmixing.

Tip the chocolate mixture gently into the baking tin and lightly and evenly spread it over the base of the tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the top is risen and firm to the touch.

Leave the roulade in the tin, cover with another sheet of baking parchment and lay a damp teatowel over the top. Leave for at least 3 hours. Meanwhile drain the cherries, if bottled or stone them if fresh, halving or quartering them if they’re particularly large. Put them in a bowl, with the kriek and a few drops of kirsch and refrigerate.

To assemble the roulade lay a large piece of baking parchment on your work surface and dust it with sifted icing sugar. Carefully tip the roulade onto the paper. Peel away the baking parchment off the base of the roulade and trim the edges.

Strain the cherries, reserving the juice. Lightly whip the cream until just holding its shape, fold in the kriek or cherry juice and sweeten to taste. Spread the cream over the roulade leaving a space round the edges and scatter the cherries on top. Using the paper roll the roulade up like a Swiss roll (don’t worry if it cracks), carefully transfer to a serving plate and sift over a little extra icing sugar.

* you don’t want chocolate that is too high in cocoa solids for this recipe. Choose one of about 55-60% cocoa solids (available in the baking section of supermarkets)

What to drink: As I said this was originally intended to go with cherry beer but a chocolate stout or a sweet red wine like a Recioto della Valpolicella would work well too. Serve the cherry beer in a champagne flute - it looks amazing!

Photos © Vanessa Courtier