We are enjoying a day filled with dark clouds and plenty of rain today. We can't complain really. May was a beautiful month, but we do need rain.
Rain is a part and parcel of why this country is so lush and green! Admittedly things were starting to turn brown, and I don't like that either!
Might as well improve the day by baking a lovely dessert. Lemon Sandwiches with Blueberries and Cream are just the ticket to brighten anyone's day!
With everything that is going on though, rain can be a bit depressing. With the virus, the lockdown, the riots, etc. we needed a bit of a pick-me-up.
A pick me up is always welcome and there is nothing better for that than a tasty dessert. And what a fabulously delicious dessert this is!
Thick slices of a moist and delicious lemon cake are topped with a rich yogurt cream and a sweet fresh blueberry sauce. Its very similar to a strawberry shortcake in a way I suppose.
Except this isn't made with baking powder biscuits. Its made with lemon cake. A moist and delicious lemon cake. A very yummy cake.
You really can't go wrong with this dessert. Thick slices of that gorgeous cake, stuffed with berries and a yogurt cream, and then dusted with some icing sugar. Beautifully delicious.
Incredibly moreish. Simple and easy to make, and yet at the same time very impressive to say the least.
That cake is light and lemony. You could enjoy just the cake on its own with along with a nice hot cuppa . . . and trust me, we will be doing just that.
I mean lemon cake and hot cups of tea, what could be better than that? I''ll tell you what! Slices of lemon cake stuffed with cream and berries, that's what!
It is moist and tender and as light as an angel's wings. That cream filling is a lush mix of whipped cream and thick greek yogurt, with just enough tang to provide a brilliant cool contrast to the sweetness of the cake.
Even on its own that cream filling is lovely. I love using yogurt in things like this. It has a tang that is quite unbeatable. Rich and creamy.
Lets talk about the berry portion. Oh sure, you could just put some fresh berries in the middle and nothing else. Stir them together with a bit of blueberry jam that has been loosened with a bit of lemon juice and . . . wow, just WOW!
This is amazing. Sweet and amazing, and such a simple concept. You will find yourself thinking of other ways that you can use this sweet filling and cream.
Of course if you are not fond of blueberries, you could use strawberries, or raspberries. Maybe even sliced canned peaches. All would be pretty wonderful.
All would be quite delectable. Peaches and raspberry jam would give you almost a Peach Melba kind of touch. I do so love Peach Melba. Don't you?
The recipe calls for a pretty long loaf tin, which I did not have. Instead I used a 10 by 3 inch loaf tin as well as an 8 by 3 inch tin. They were perfectly baked in about ten minutes less than the recipe states.
This did mean that I had two cakes. I froze one. Yes, this cake is easily frozen. Just wrap it tightly and freeze. I use two layers of plastic cling film and then a layer of foil.
The recipe is one I adapted from one of my favourite cookery books, Apples for Jam by Tess Kiros. I love her books. I have about four of them I think.
Her recipes are quite nice I think. Especially the ones in Apples for Jam. I think I have cooked just about every recipe in that book. It is rare that you will actually do that. Its a sign of a very good cookbook.
All of her recipes turn out wonderfully and are simple. In their simplicity they are quite delicious. I have never had one fail me yet.
The chapters are ordered according to colours, with each chapter following a different colour theme. The photographs are also quite beautiful. If you don't have this book, you might want to consider getting it for yourself.
I have all of her books. There was only one that I really didn't care for much, the Portugese one. Piri Piri Starfish. I gave that one away, but Apples for Jam and her book Falling Cloudberries . . . exquisite!
The Fallling Cloudberries ones explores her childhood and growing up with a mixture of a Scandanavian and Greek heritage. Both are countries which intrigue me. I have wanted to go to Greece since I was a child. Perhaps one day I will actually get there!
Lemon Sandwiches with Blueberries & Cream
Yield: 12
A basic lemon cake, which is great just as a cake, but put slices together in paird, with some tangy yogurt cream and sweet blueberries sandwiched in the middle and you have a company worthy dessert worth sharing!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 250g butter softened, (9 ounces or 1 cup +1TBS)
- 280g caster sugar (1 1/4 cups superfine sugar)
- 3 large free range eggs
- 310g plain flour (2 1/2 cups)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- the finely grated zest and juice of one unwaxed lemon
- 185ml of single pouring cream (3/4 cup)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
To fill and finish:
- 100ml double cream (3 1/2 fluid ounces)
- 2 tsp icing sugar
- 100ml thick greek yogurt (7 TBS)
- 100g fresh blueberries (3 1/2 ounces)
- 3 TBS blueberry jam
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- icig sugar to dust the cake
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 170*C/325*F/gas mark3. Butter a 12 by 4 inch loaf tin really well and dust with flour. Shake out any excess flour. Alternately you can line it with baking paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift the flour and baking powder together with a pinch of salt. Whisk into the creamed mixture alternately with the cream, until you have lovely smooth batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for one hour and ten minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan completely.
- To make the filling. Whisk the jam together with the lemon juice to loosen. Fold in the fresh berries. Set aside to macerate.
- Whip the cream with the icing sugar until soft peaks form. Fold in the yogurt.
- Cut the cake into 1/2 inch thick slices and sandwich together with a dollop of the cream/yogurt mixture and a nice spoonful of the berries. Dust the top with icing sugar and serve.
With the sunny weather and really warm temperatures we have been enjoying lately we have started to crave things like salads and grilled meats.
Simple meals. Light meals. Summer Comfort Food.
Yes, there is such a thing as Summer Comfort Food.
Wikepedia defines Comfort food as the following: "Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental
value to someone, and may be characterized by its high caloric nature,
high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be
specific to an individual, or it may apply to a specific culture."
I would tend to largely agree with that. Comfort food indeed is not only delicious, but at once nostalgic, evoking memories of our childhoods, special family moments and memories, individual cultures.
This would greatly vary according your family and where you are from.
People tend to associate Comfort Food eating with the colder winter months, when we want to eat stews, bakes and stodgy, soul enriching foods.
Where I don't agree is that Comfort Food necessarily is that it needs to be highly calorific and filled with carbs. I think there is plenty of comfort foods that are not any of those things.
One of my favourite comfort foods is Canteloupe melons. You might think that strange, and maybe it is.
When I was a child my best friend Susan's mother always served canteloupe melon with vanilla ice cream after dinner on Sundays. I can remember being invited to have dessert with them and enjoying this "rare for me" treat.
We never had anything as exotic as canteloupe melons in our home.
I can still remember how beautiful they tasted, almost like a delicious perfume . . . and the textural contrasts between the crisp ripe melon and that rich and creamy vanilla ice cream. Nothing starchy or stodgy there.
Her mother also used to make the most beautiful potato pancakes and it was a special day for me when I would be invited in to share them with her family.
I must remember to ask her how her mother used to make them because I have been thinking about them a lot recently. Those were starchy and stodgy, and yes comforting.
To me Potato Salad is definitely a comfort food dish. I can still see my mother standing at the kitchen counter, spearing hot boiled potatoes with a fork as she peeled their skins off with a knife.
In my minds eye I can see her methodically cutting everything into cubes . . . the potatoes, cucumber, celery, onions . . . and sometimes eggs.
I loved to watch her work in the kitchen. She was not a woman who tolerated little fingers interfering, but she did not mind me watching her work so long as I stayed out of the way.
She made beautiful potato salads and coleslaws, soups, stews, breads, pies, etc. She was not a fancy cook, but she was a good cook.
She always said that she wasn't, but I would beg to differ.
One thing that I really, really dislike is a potato salad that is absolutely swimming in gloopy mayonnaise. It is so un-necessary.
Mayonnaise should not be the dominant factor in a potato salad. It should be there, absolutely but . . . this is a "POTATO" salad and potato should be the dominant factor.
This is a somewhat healthier version of the traditional potato salad in that it uses half the amount of mayonnaise as my regular one.
I make up for that by combining it equally with a low fat plain yogurt. This gives the dressing a lovely tang.
I have added plenty of crunch with the additon of chopped sweet pickles.
I use sweet gerkins, but you can use whichever sweet pickles you have to hand which you enjoy.
More crunch and texture comes from the use of chopped English Cucumbers. I wash it really well and leave the skin on.
I also remove the seed portion as it can become somewhat watery upon standing.
There is a hint of sharpness with the use of finely chopped red onions. Not quite as harsh as brown onions in flavour, they also add a hint of colour. Some chopped hard boiled egg and a few other seasonings such as salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and some dried dillweed complete the picture.
You can use fresh dillweed if you have it, but double the amount. I like to garnish my salad with pretty things like radish roses, chopped chives and a sprinkl of paprika in homage to my dear mother who always felt a dash of paprika dressed everything up!
Healthy Potato Salad
Yield: 4
A healthier option for a potato salad that is every bit as delicious as a regular potato salad. In fact I think it is more delicious!
Ingredients:
You will need:
- 1 pound of red potatoes, boiled in the skins until fork tender
- 2 large free range eggs, hard boiled
- 2 sweet pickled cucumbers, dried and diced to 1/4 inch dice
- 3 inch piece of English cucumber, washed, trimmed and diced to 1/4 inch dice (I leave the skin on)
- 3 TBS red onion, finely chopped
For the dressing:
- 65g plain yogurt (1/4 cup)
- 65g mayonnaise (1/4 cup)
- 1/2 TBS Dijon mustard
- 1/2 TBS white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp dried dillweed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
To garnish:
- sweet paprika to sprinkle
- radish roses (optional)
- finely chopped chives
Instructions:
- Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing until well combined and smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Set aside.
- Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch diced. Put into a bowl, along with the diced cucumber, diced pickle and chopped red onion. Peel the eggs and chop coarsely. Add to the bowl. Toss everything together to combine. Add the dressing and fold everything together until well combined.
- Spoon into a serving bowl and cover tightly. Place into the refrigerator and chill for several hours, or as long as overnight.
- When you are ready to serve, sprinkle lightly with paprika and minced chived. Garnish with radish roses if desired.
We enjoyed this for supper along with sliced tomatoes and some cold chicken. I added a buttered roll for my husband. We were both very happy with this.
Thanks for visiting! Do come again!
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