Bruschetta Summer Lunch

Bit of a different recipe to normal as this doesn't contain as much sugar as normal. In fact this contains very little sugar at all. This is a really super simple summery lunch or starter which takes about 10 minutes to make and is really fresh and quite healthy.

12 slices of bread or as many as you need as it depends on what loaf you use (I used a tomato and olive loaf but any fresh bread would work)
6 vine tomatoes
1 red pepper
1/2 an onion
2 tsp basil pesto
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of olive oil
A handful of sliced olives
Salt
Pepper

Chop the tomatoes, red pepper, garlic, olives and onion into relatively small pieces. Put in a bowl along with the salt, pepper, vinegar and oil, mix lightly and leave in the fridge while you prepare the bread.

I have now made this in two ways, the quickest (and healthiest) way is to simply toast the slices but if you have more time or don't mind a little extra oil, I think this way is better.

Splash some oil on a frying pan or grill. Once warm place your bread in the pan (this may take a few batches) and drizzle oil on the other side of the slices. Once they are toasted on one side, flip the slices over to cook on the other.

As soon as they are nicely browned, remove from the pan and place on a serving dish. Pile on the tomato mixture generously and serve.

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Raspberry Macarons

Procrastination has reached a record high. And then there was a patch of summer in Britain, surprising I know. But there it is. So we bought raspberries, and made BRIGHT PINK macarons. This recipe is inspired by the lemon macaron recipe in John Whaite's book but obviously I have changed it so that is raspberry flavor.

And there is not much more to say as an intro so here is the recipe, so you lot can make them too...

For the macarons:
130g ground almonds
170g icing sugar
3 egg whites
75g caster sugar
Red paste food colouring (I used to use liquid but have been converted to the solider stuff)

For the filling:
80g butter
230g icing sugar
120g fresh raspberries

Method
Using a large coin as a guide (10p pieces are best) draw, evenly spaced circles on to a piece of baking paper.

Mix the almonds and icing sugar together into a large bowl, in order to get rid of large lumps sieve the mixture.

Whisk the egg whites they form peaks, in the middle of soft and stiff.

Continue to whisk as you add the caster sugar at a tablespoon at a time. Once you have added half of the caster sugar add as much food colouring as you wish, then continue to add in the sugar. With all the sugar added, beat for an extra 30 seconds to make sure it is mixed properly.

Pour the meringue mix on top of the dry ingredients. Using a spatula fold the almond mix on top of the egg whites, incorporating the the ingredients from the edges and bottom of the bowl. The batter should be in the words of John Whaite, "magma-like".

Fill a piping bag with the mixture. I find the best way to do this is to stand the piping bag in a tall glass and fold the top of the bag over the rim as this keeps the bag open. Twist the end of the bag and pipe blobs of batter on to the prepared sheet so that they fill the circles.

Once they are all piped, pick up the baking trays and hit them gently against the counter so that all air bubbles rise to the surface. Then using a dampened finger, flatten any peaks in the macarons. Leave for an 1 hour to form a shell.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Make the buttercream. Mix the butter quickly to soften and then add the icing sugar so that it is creamy. Then add your raspberries, split in half or crushed, mix again. As well as giving a great taste they also make the buttercream a naturally incredible colour.

Bake the macarons for 12 mins, opening the oven door quickly at four minute intervals.

Allow to cool and then remove from the paper.

Fill them with the buttercream, you can pipe it is quicker if you just spread it.

Mother's Day Lemon Meringue Pie

Happy Mother's Day (in most parts of the world)! And spring has finally arrived in London, so decided that a suitable pudding would be fruity as chocolate is probably too heavy?!? 

Lemon Meringue Pie is a shortcrust pastry base, a layer of lemon curd and then a thick layer of meringue on top of that. It has a lot of stages but if you ignore the vast quantity of bowls you need it is relatively easy. You can buy these but they are often very very very sweet so if you make it yourself you tend to get more of a balance between sour lemon and sweet meringue.

Ingredients

For pastry: 

150g plain flour

50g caster sugar

90g butter

1 egg yolk

a little whole milk

For curd:

25g cornflour

200ml water

zest and juice of 3 lemons

100g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

40g butter

For meringue:

4 egg whites

200g caster sugar

Enough ingredients or...?

Method

1. Make the pastry: mix the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl so that it forms a crumb like consistency. Add the egg yolk and just enough milk to make the crumbs stick together in lumps. Then bring the pastry together, refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

3. Roll out the pastry and bake blind in a greased 23cm tin. Baking blind is when you cover the pastry in foil and then put baking beans (or raw pasta or rice) on to the top. This keeps the pastry in shape.

4. Cook for 15 mins. Remove the beans and then cook for 10 mins until the pastry is golden brown. Then leave to cool.

5. Meanwhile make the curd. Mix the cornflour with a third of the water in a bowl.

6. Bring the remaining water to the boil, then add lemon zest and sugar. Once dissolved, pour in cornflour solution and mix until smooth. 

7. Remove from the heat and then stir in butter, then lemon juice and finally egg yolks. If there are lumps it may be useful to strain it in a sieve but it doesn't really matter. 

8. Pour the lemon curd onto the cooled pastry and leave to chill until the curd firms up. This will stop the meringue layer from mixing with the curd. 

9. If you have turned the oven off, preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

10. Whisk the four egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then, at a tablespoon at a time, add the sugar, whisking after each addition until smooth and glossy. 

11. Spoon the meringue onto the lemon curd layer (if you want to be neat you can pipe the meringue but I don't think it is necessary) and bake for around 20 mins or until the meringue is golden and crispy on the top. 

12. Leave to cool and then eat.