Tè al ribes rosso - red currant tea

 

More than a recipe this is a tip: fresh red currants make a delicious tea, just wash the berries and add hot water, let them sit for 5-10 minutes and then serve, with lemon slices if you like, and sweeten if you wish (sugar, honey, maple syrup...)

  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Limoncello Tiramisù

Would you like t make a tiramisù style dessert without coffee? Are you a fan of lemons and limoncello? I had a jar of lemon curd to finish, so I made up this lemon version, and it worked wonders: in fact it tastes so good that no one will be believe that it is so easy to make! Of course I used NZ best limoncello, Limoncello Sovrano. 

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of lemon curd

300 ml cream

1 small glass of Limoncello Sovrano thinned with a little water

12 savoiardi biscuits

Edible Flowers to decorate

Smooth the lemon curd with 3 tbsp of cream, then whip the rest of the cream and fold with the lemon curd mixture. Place the Limoncello in a deep plate and add a little water to thin it down (or use just limoncello - I prefer to thin it down so that my kids can also eat this). Quickly soak the savoiardi biscuits in the limoncello, one side only, then place them in a serving bowl, soaked side up.

 Add some cream and lemon curd mixture and then repeat, making two or there layers (depending on the shape and size of your bowl. 

Cover everything with a final layer of cream and lemon curd mixture and refrigerate for a few hours.

Decorate with edible flowers (I used roses and borage flowers). Serve.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Elderberry Flowers Syrup and Elder flower Tea

Yesterday I posted these Elderberry Flower Fritters, and today I have another recipe (and a half) that you can make with elderberry flowers:

Elderberry Flowers Syrup

For this you will need 1 l of water, 1 kg of sugar, about a dozen elderberry flower heads, 30 g of citric acid and 3 organic lemons (I picked some juicy organic lemons from Regina's garden). 

Wash and cut the lemons and put them in a pot with all the other ingredients (or in a large jar, if you have it). Let this mixture stand for three days, stirring from time to time. Don't go over three days or it may ferment. After this time filter the syrup through a muslin cloth, squeezing the lemons and flowers well. Boil the filtered syrup for 5 minutes, removing any possible scam forming at the top. Cool down and filter again, through a finer cotton cloth this time. 

Bottle and use as a cordial (it is very thirst-quenching), or to flavour desserts (like panna cottaor blamanche), ice cream, fruit salads and berries.

Elder flower Tea

I am drying the remaining flowers for tea. Dry them in the shade and keep them for winter: the tea is traditionally used to relieve cold and flu, cough and sore tummy.

To learn more about foraging and eating flowers and wild plants in New Zealand come to our Slow Food event on November 24th, click here to find out where and when.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Lemon Pudding and Raspberry Pudding

Two types of puddings with one recipe (and using yolk and whites separately)!

For the Lemon puddings I used 2 free range egg yolks, 3 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of flour  500 ml of milk, 20 g butter and the juice of one organic lemon. Stir the first 4 ingredients and the, once then custard is thick, add the following two, stirring well. Turn off the heat and pour into 4 glasses. Refrigerate before serving.

For the Raspberry puddings I used 2 free range egg whites, 3 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of flour  500 ml of milk, 20 g butter and 2 tbsp of Fresh As Raspberry powder. Stir the first 4 ingredients and then, once the custard is thick, add the following two, stirring well. Turn off the heat and pour into 4 glasses. Refrigerate before serving. Top with raspberries if you like.

I am entering these recipes in Sweet New Zealand, the monthly blogging event for Kiwi bloggers. Our September 2013 host is Carmella from Easy Food Hacks, click here to enter.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Lemon and Thyme Halloumi with Chards

I have been so busy lately that I had no time for blogging, or visiting other blogs much (sorry!). And no time for taking photos of food either, or preparing photogenic dishes, for that matter. The other day I cooked some silver beet (chard), leaves and stalk separately. We had the leaves as a side, hot and dressed with some Japanese soy sauce and lemon juice, and I kept the stalks for the day after. I love lemon juice and have plenty of lemons now, this recipe is so simple that it is not even a 'recipe' but it is all I have time to post now, and I can assure you that it is magic!

Lemon and Thyme Halloumi with Chards

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 block of plain halloumi cheese

A few chard stalks, boiled in salted water and drained

Fresh lemon juice

Fresh thyme

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and then sauté the holloumi on both sides until the edges start to colour. Remove the Halloumi from the pan and add the chard stalks. Sauté them quickly too. Cut the halloumi in slices and place back over the piping hot chard stalks, drench with lemon juice, add fresh thyme and serve immediately. Everybody will ask you what you put in it!!!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

How to make your own lemon detergent at home

I always use eco cleaning products, or go for the 'home remedies' like baking soda, vinegar and methylated spirit, but I always fantasized about making some myself. I found some good ideas on  Galline 2nd Life, a blog that I like very very very much! I was immediately attracted by the washing up and dishwasher detergent, but for a different reason: it reminded me of a beautiful lemon salt scrub for the body that someone presented me years ago. It smelled great and was so nice to use under the shower... it even looked like the one in the picture... So I tried!

Ingredients, as given by Lo in Galline 2nd Life

3 lemons

200 g salt

400 ml water

100 ml white vinegar

Slice the lemons, keeping the peel but discarding the pips. In a food processor blend the lemons as finely as possible with the salt and a little water (taken form the 400ml). Place in a pot, add the rest of the water and the vinegar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Once cold place in a jar.

I tried to use it for the dishes and it works quite well, unless the dishes are really greasy. For the dishwasher Lo suggests to put 2 tbsp in the dishwashing powder compartment, I did and tried at different temperatures, but I think that it works better if doing the dishes by hand.

Lo also says that it can be used for wooden chopping boards, and I used it for the kitchen sink and marble benches (very good, and with a nice lemony smell). Then I took it into the shower and use it on myself! This is where I liked it best: a mild exfoliant, particularly nice for the feet, especially if you are one of those New Zealanders who spend half of their life in jandals or bare-footed!

In a few words: a real multipurpose detergent! Thank you Lo!

Recipe by Lo and Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©