Lemon Syrup

You only have to mention homemade lemonade to elicit envious smiles from your girlfriends. Why? Because they’re torn between joining you and leaving in disgust of your fantastical domesticity! But this syrup is as magical as the one Alice in Wonderland drank. One sip and in an instant you’re transformed into everything  that years of styling of shabby-chic vintage crockery-collecting represents. There’s no need for an antidote, though: just pull up a pretty cushioned chair, add a drop of gin and ply them with a friendship-winning White Rabbit Cocktail; they’ll soon come round!


Makes 1 litre

Prep time 25 minutes

Cooking time 5 minutes

Zest and juice of 7 lemons

500ml water

500g caster sugar

1 Put all the ingredients into a pan over a low heat and gently dissolve the sugar.

2 Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 3–4 minutes. Allow the liquid to become still and scoop off any foam. The syrup should have thickened slightly and become more viscous. If it is not, then return to the boil for another minute. It is better to be on the under- than the over-side of syrupy. If you overdo it, you’ll end up with a bottle full of jelly!

3 Decant the liquid into a sterilized bottle. It will keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

Links

I use mine as the Drizzle for my Lemon drizzle cake

Lemon and Geranium Cupcakes

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon tea on the lawn these cupcakes are simple to make but layer with summer flavour. The best place nearby to where I live in Northampton to buy scented pelargonium’s is at Cramden Nursery in Kingsthorpe and I used Turkish Delight variety in mine.
For the best results fill with cream about 30 minutes before serving.
Serves: 18
Prep time 20 minutes & overnight infusing of cream
Cooking time 18 minutes
Suitable for freezing Yes but I freeze before Adding the Cream
Ingredients

200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter, cubed and softened
2 lemons, finely grated zest
3 medium eggs, beaten, at room temperature
200g self-raising flour
4/ 5 Scented pelargonium leaves
500ml double cream
3 tbs icing sugar

Method

1 Bruise the Geranium leaves and add to the cream. Leave to infuse overnight.
2 Preheat the oven to 180°C/ gas mark 4.
3 Place 18 cupcakes in a tray ready.

4 Put the sugar, softened butter and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric hand mixer. The result should be pale in colour, with a really light and fluffy texture. Putting in the lemon zest when you cream the butter and sugar helps to release the oils in the zest, which results in a much more lemony sponge.
5 Now start adding the beaten eggs, which should be at roughly the same temperature as the butter and sugar. Add them in stages, beating after each addition. If the mixture looks like it’s going to curdle, add 1 tablespoon of flour. Finally, fold in the flour. You will be left with a really thick mixture, but this is what you want for a dense sponge.
6 Spoon the mixture into your prepared cupcakes and bake for 15 - 18 minutes
7. Remove from the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
8 Strain the cream and whip to a firm consistency. Cut out a chunk from the top of each cupcake to make a hollow.
9 Dollop a tablespoon of cream into each indentation. Cut the remaining piece of cake in half and place on top of the cream to give you an old-fashioned butterfly-cake effect.
Decorate with Geranium petals (Although I do remove mine before eating

Lemons and a Random act of Kindness

There is something magical about food, and whenever I mention to someone that I have started writing a recipe book there is always a reaction. People always, without exception, talk to you about food, their favourite, their fantasy meal, or a recipe they tried out. Forget talking about the weather to get a conversation going – talk food.

This week something amazing happened. I have been grinning like a lunatic since I was called by a small successful publisher and they want to see me next week. I owe a huge thank you to a lady called Heather, who is a seriously amazing agent in the literary world. Although sadly she wasn’t able to represent me she put herself out of her way yesterday morning to give me some great leads. Her words were like rocket fuel, and I wasn’t going to let them go to waste. So the advice I followed resulted in the meeting next week. Really .. it was a good job that the interested publisher got my answer machine, and not me, because the whoop of delight as I listened to her message was as though I had got the winning numbers of the lottery ..no louder!

Now I have butterflies.

This random act of kindness reminded me of an incident that happened to me aged 19. Returning to the Dordogne from Paris I had my bag stolen. I was so upset I managed to board the wrong train and ended up in Toulouse instead of Brive. Hungry, with no money, no passport and no idea what to do, I went to the station loo. In came an impeccably dressed French lady, to use the loo, and found me red eyed and slightly hysterical. She gave me 50 Francs. More than enough to get a meal and catch a train back to Brive. I asked for her address to return the money, but she refused to give it to me. She asked, instead, that whenever I had the opportunity to do a good deed that I pass it in the same way, and the good deed would return to her when she needed it most. Almost two decades later and I am still passing on good deeds. That 50 Francs has gone a long way, and I hope each time that it will reach her. Perhaps this advice was part of a bigger loop?

There was a marvellous recipe in a magazine I read called Delicious for Lemon Curd Ice Cream. I can’t recommend the recipe or the magazine enough. Squeezing the juicy lemons made got me all citrusy. With the asparagus season coming to an end this week’s recipes are based around Lemon & Asparagus. I think the Quiche recipe is outstanding, it will be in Saturday’s Chronicle and Echo.

Speaking of good deeds, I always try and buy my Fruit and vegetables from Stephen Troop, from K F Troop and Son green Grocers, Brixworth. I’ve even started cycling in to pick up my bits. Yesterday though, I had to take the car, as he lent me a large box of his prize lemons for an hour for the photos. Food makes a wonderful thank you. I made it back up the village as fast I could with a large cone topped with a large dollop of Lemon Curd Ice Cream, luckily I passed him in his van as he was off to do deliveries, before the ice-cream had the chance to melt.