Monday 26th August 2019.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Like so many others who weren’t blessed with a fast metabolism and an ability to eat whatever they want without putting on a pound, my life is often feels like one long, painful diet. I merely glance at an Eccles cake or a cheese scone and I can feel myself get heavier. I think of myself as a balanced eater. If I’ve been slightly overindulgent one day, with age I have (just about) acquired the skill of self-restraint, and so am incredibly disciplined the next.
Often, I open the fridge and find odds and sods or ingredients from recipe tests earlier in the week. A bowl of homemade aioli , a slither of Cropwell Bishop blue cheese. It can be both a pleasure and a curse to know what to do with these. Occasionally, a recipe writes itself for you and all of your components just work together. Other times you stand in the light of the fridge and scratch your head wondering how on earth you’re going to make supper out of these leftovers.
This week I had bought one too many pots of double cream (you often have some spare when one person in the house is dairy intolerant and the other is a vegan) and I always try to keep my baking cupboard well stocked for emergencies, so I knew there would most probably be a jar of lemon curd and a packet of meringue nests lurking somewhere near the back. So voilà, the recipe wrote itself.
Ingredients:
- 300ml double cream
- lemon curd
- 250g full-fat cream cheese
- 4 meringue nests
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Method
1. First, take your cream cheese out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. This will make it easier to combine with the other ingredients. Add the cheese to a large bowl along with the lemon zest, icing sugar, vanilla extract and black pepper.
2. Whisk together either using a stand mixer or an electric hand held one (you don’t want to stand there doing it manually). After a couple of minutes, add the double cream and about half of your lemon curd. Whisk again until you have a mixture with a consistency similar to that of Greek yoghurt. About 2-3 minutes should do it.
3. Using a large serving spoon, fold the crumbled meringue nests into the mix.
4. Finally, add the remaining lemon curd and gently fold through the mixture to create a rippled effect. Decant into 4 jam jars or glasses and let them rest in the fridge for at least one hour before serving.
(Don't be put off by the black pepper. the hum of spice lifts the dish wonderfully.)
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