You probably have worked it out by now, I do love sweets and I do love baking. One of my favourite things, is the Lemon and Lime Tart. It’s easier than you think, just take some time and patience… most of all because it is much better the next day.

So here we go with the pastry, it is my grandma’s recipe and I have used it for more than 10 years. She’s been using it for a lot longer, so it’s kind of trusted.

Ingredients:
200g Flour
100g Sugar (white or brown, you can use both)
100g Butter (at room temperature, in small cubes)
1 Egg
1 Yolk
1 Pinch of Salt

Arrange the flour and sugar on a bench in a volcano shape, eggs and butter in the middle. Start working the dough, until nice and smooth. It is going to be a little crumbly at first, don’t panic and keep going. Wrap in cling foil and let rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, butter the tart tins (I like small tarts, with this recipe you can make up to 6 x 10cm) and dust with flour.
Take the dough from the fridge, divide in 6 equal portions and roll it to fit into the tin, then pierce the base with a fork. Heat the oven to 180°C, put baking paper and some dry chikpeas on top so that the base doesn’t rise. Bake for about 10/15 minutes until golden, take the baking paper and chickpeas off and let bake for another couple of minutes. Let rest and cool down outside of the oven.

For the curd:
250ml of Lemon and Lime Juice  (1 1/2 Lemon and 6 Limes)
160g Sugar
4 Eggs
120g Butter (at room temperature, in small cubes)
Lemon and Lime zest (I used about 3 limes and 1 lemon, the more the punchier!)

Slightly beat the eggs, add the sugar, the zest and slowly the juice. Place the bowl over a saucepan with simmering water, the heat shouldn’t be too strong as this may cook the curd too fast. Also, the boiling water should not touch the bowl, this is very important. Keep whisking to make sure that there are no lumps in the mixture, it will take about 15 minutes to become nice and thick, it will change pretty fast so be ready to take off the heat and cool in some cold water. Add the butter and gently mix it into the curd until smooth.

When the curd has cooled down a little, you can pour it into the tarts and then refrigerate for a few hours… or if you can manage that long, a day.
Enjoy!

Ps. For the curd, I used a recipe from one of my favourite blogs… the quantities are for passion fruit, but the principle works well for this too. Thanks Cavoletto!

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It was on my list for the things to do for this 2011… so here I am!

I will be running the City2Surf and, at the same time, raising money for the wonderful Guide Dogs Australia. It’s going to be heaps of fun, there will be targets and depending on the result big or huge donations. If you feel you would like to contribute as well, please feel free to visit my page and donate as much or as little as you like.

xx Lilac

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There are things you do in your childhood that, for some reason, just stick with you. Whether are names, dates, faces, episodes or stories… they just stay with you and come back and visit, every once in a while.  My memory of today is a cake, a particular one. On winter Sunday afternoons, after having lunch with family, watching football on TV, done with homework it was time to bake. The recipe was always the same so it is probably no surprise that after 25 years I still remember it and do it exactly the way I used to.

It’s super easy, you only need to use one mixer (so incredibly fast to clean kitchen afterwards) but the ingredients need to go in this order… very important, and make sure you taste all the way!
First in the processor are 300gr sugar and 150gr unsalted butter. Let it go for a while, until sugar and butter have no lumps. Next step, add 4 eggs and let it go for couple of minutes and then add 300gr of  flour 00. While the mixture is going, add 1 glass of milk, this should make the mixture a lot softer. Also add 1 bag of Pane degli Angeli yeast, it’s beautiful for cakes and you can find it in little Italian shops, it comes in a box of ten I think and it’s really the best.

After a few minutes when the mix is nice and smooth, batter a baking tin and dust over some flour. Make sure that the layer of flour is light but cover across the whole tin and then pour the mixture. You can leave it as it is, or put some chocolate chips… up to you!

The one I did this afternoon was with chocolate chips and orange zest… the cake has to bake for about 45 minutes at 180°/190°. Check with a toothpick that the cake is cooked through and let rest out of the oven for a while. Then make a tea, call some friends and enjoy a good movie. Or maybe a cartoon… it’s always good to feel like little kids again!

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Sometimes the best discoveries are the ones perchance… I have no idea where I found this one in particular, but isn’t showing and sharing things with other people, the reason why we all write blogs so passionately? I believe so. What you see above is Wasara, a Japanese company that produces paper tableware.

Overly delicate, sinuous and elegant, this range of ephemeral plates and bowls flows gracefully over the table: the nature of paper tableware is in itself a one time only, however Wasara creates these collection using bamboo and sugarcane waste (bagasse), making their collection completely environmentally-friendly. As they say, “Earth to Earth”…

I couldn’t find a retailer in Australia, but there is a New Zealand distributor, named Epicure Trading… maybe they can help!

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Every year, Vivid Festival transform Sydney in a city of lights… Skyscrapers with magical luminous effects, the Opera House becomes a multiform of colours, geometry and shades, and Circular Quay is all dressed up. This year, Custom House is taking the scene with the most amazing sound and light effects. For approximately five minutes, you see the front of the building changing shapes and colours, it’s truly spectacular.

It all last until Monday 13th, so if you are in Sydney for this long weekend make sure to go down to the Rocks for a quick look… Sydney is beautiful when all the lights are turned on!

Ops, I forgot… click on the pictures to watch the video. Just in case you cannot see this in real life, quality is not great but gives you a very good idea on how amazing this is… ;)

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