MY FAVOURITE RECIPES(continued)

TARTE AU CITRON

Now this is nectar, food fit for the gods

Ingredients
Ready rolled short crust pastry (for the lazy)
4 medium eggs
8oz caster sugar
3 lemons
284 ml pot double cream (extra thick is best)
15ml Icing sugar (for dusting on the top if you're posh)

Method
Line a 10 1/2 inch tin with the pastry (a loose bottom tin is best) prick the base with a fork and bake blind for 15 minutes
Blend the eggs, caster sugar, zest from two of the lemons and the juice from all three lemons in a processor or liquidiser for a couple of minutes. Add cream and blend for a further half a minute or so.
Pour the mixture into the prepared and cooked pastry case and cook for 45 minutes or until it has set. (This is when it wobbles a bit when you poke it gently and has just a hint of brown on the top.)
At this point you can serve it, but it is at its best served cold, and it can be frozen.
How can anything so simple to make taste so wonderful.

I don't dust with icing sugar, or glaze the top with lemon flavoured gelatine, as can be done. We just take a large curl of lemon zest from the third lemon as decoration.
Serve with a glass or two of Muscadet de Village and think you've gone to heaven.

NORMANDY APPLE TART

Ingredients
2 sweet shortcrust pastry cases
(Shop bought cases can be really good or you can make your own if you insist).
1 pint thick apple puree well sweetened.
4 dessert apples,peeled, cored and sliced.
Juice of two lemons.
2 tablespoons of apricot jam.
2 tablespoons of water

Method
Fill the pastry cases with apple puree.
Toss the apple slices in half the lemon juice as quickly as possible before they brown.
Arrange the apple slices concentrically on the top of the tarts.
Place on a baking tray and bake in a medium oven (180ish degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.
Heat the jam, water and remaining lemon juice until thick and syrupy (do not allow to boil).
Press through a sieve and spoon over the tart to glaze.

Luxury Bit
Serve with calvados cream.
There might be a cheffy way to make this but all I do is add calvados to taste with extra thick double cream and mix gently.
Why make two? One is never enough, and if it is, stick the other one in the freezer.

PEACH SCALLOPS

Ingredient
Short Crust pastry made into 8 single portion sized discs.
4 tinned peach Halves.
Extra thick double cream.
Icing sugar.

Method
Blind bake the discs until light brown.
Place four discs onto side plates for serving.
Place a dollop of the cream on the back of each disc.
Place a peach half flat side down on the top of the cream.
Prop the remaining discs against the peach halves so that they resemble a scallop, push down gently so that the cream sticks them in place.
Mix some of the peach juice with the remaining cream to dress the plates.
Sprinkle over with the icing sugar.

Works equally well with tinned apricot halves.
How easy is that!