Monthly Archive for ottobre, 2016

Lemon meringue pie: a misdemeanour

Published by Lucina, on 30 ottobre 2016 in cakes, desserts and English Recipes. 0 Comments
lemon meringue pie: a misdemeanour

lemon meringue pie: a misdemeanour

I had been meaning to make a lemon meringue pie for a long LONG while. It is, after all, a classic dessert here in the UK and one I really like. Inspired by one of the episodes in the Great British Bake off , I decided to have a go. Oh dear, oh dear! DISASTER! My creation would have come bottom of the pack in the Bake off competition by a mile and would have raised a few incredulous eyebrows. How Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry would have laughed!  To look at it ( see picture at the bottom) it wasn’t all that bad but once you cut into it  liquid started oozing out. ARGH! What an almighty mess! I know where I went wrong. I failed to cook the lemony custard that went inside beforehand thinking that it would solidify while cooking in the oven. WRONG! Ironically I used a Mary Berry’s recipe but clearly didn’t follow the instructions properly. Oh well! Back to the drawing board. On the plus side: it actually didn’t taste that bad and the meringue at the top was spot on, despite my reservations. At least it didn’t end up in the bin! Another thing I will do next time round: I will trim the pastry at the top AFTER I have baked it blind. I did notice that that’s what the Bake off contestants were doing but failed to learn by their examples. As a result it shrunk too much. I really didn’t do myself proud with this one. SORRY! :-( But, as the blog demands, I have to share the failures, not just the successes! Continue reading ‘Lemon meringue pie: a misdemeanour’

Pasta and cauliflower cheese bake

Published by Lucina, on 20 ottobre 2016 in English Recipes, pasta and vegetarian. 0 Comments
pasta and cauliflower cheese bake

pasta and cauliflower cheese bake

First of all apologies for the rather messy and unprofessional picture. I remembered I needed to take one when I had already served a couple of people. OOPS! Still, what counts is the taste, right? And this dish was so comforting it deserves to be shared. How could I not blog it? I am not a fan of cauliflower but if you add a bechamel sauce to it and bake it I could eat it every day. This is a variation on cauliflower cheese but I think the addition of pasta works really well. An ideal dish to have now that the days are getting shorter again and autumn is knocking at the door. Continue reading ‘Pasta and cauliflower cheese bake’

Tzatziki

Published by Lucina, on 9 ottobre 2016 in English Recipes and starters. 0 Comments
tzatziki

tzatziki

While we were gallivanting in the Greek islands in September we became quite fond of tzatziki, which is a staple Greek starter/mezze dish made with Greek yoghurt, cucumber and LOADS of garlic. Please don’t go kissing anyone afterwards, that’s my advice!! Unless they have also eaten it, of course!  The ingredients are simple and straightforward and so is making it. The only problem was that  the first time I made it I failed to strain the cucumber  so it was a bit on the liquidy side. Still, very edible and refreshing. It’s ideal to have with some pitta bread or crudités. There are various versions out there. I noticed, for example, that in some restaurants in Greece they were also adding some grated carrots. So I followed suit. I got my basic recipe from good old Jamie Oliver, and slightly adapted it.  Continue reading ‘Tzatziki’