The French aren't all that Bad

Ratatouille Niçoise

The holy grail of recipes for me is one that is guiltless, fun to make and shaky-hand craving inducing. This is one of very few that fits the bill. I did.. Um.. Guilt it up a little though.

I was a teeny bit weary of eating a dish made entirely out of vegetables (vegetables eeeeuw!), so I thought I might make it a bit easier to handle with a bit of Mornay (cheese) sauce and a Ciabatta roll.

So, yes, I added the slutty creamy cheese sauce to the somewhat formal healthy French vegetables. And you know what? They made a gorgeous couple. A whole lot of common sense with a little bit of fun :-).

In fact, I would even leave the roll behind and just have the gooey comforting yet nutritious mixture wrapped in a blanket while watching a movie.

Ratatouille Niçoise
From Larousse Gastronomique

6 aubergines
6 tomatoes
3 green peppers
2 onions
10 baby marrows
 3 garlic cloves

1) Firstly, prepare the veggies. This is the longest part:

• Peel the aubergines, and cut them into rounds.
• Peel the tomatoes (awful- I know, but you'll get through it!), cut each into 6 pieces and remove the seeds.
• Remove the stalks and seeds from the green peppers and cut into strips.
• Peel and chop the onions.
• Slice the baby marrows into rounds.
• Peel and crush the garlic cloves.

2) Now, heat up 6 tablespoons of olive oil in a LARGE pan (I had to use a pot- my pans were too small) . Add the aubergine, a bit at a time, until it's all browned. Add salt and pepper generously.

3) Add tomatoes, green peppers and onions, and cook for 5 minutes or so. Season a bit more with salt and pepper.

4) Add the baby marrow and garlic.

5) Cook for about 30-40 minutes

6) Season to taste and serve hot.

7) I found the dish tasted even better the next day!

I feel so bum-shakingly proud now that I have made a proper fancy named French recipe- no tears, ducks, or murder!

A Castle Fit for a Princess

Fairy-tale Castle Cake

The perfect cake for the perfect little princess. My friend Megan's little girl Mia turned 2 recently, and I LOVE making little girl cakes! On the day all the little girls crowded around whispered "wow" to each other - it was so cute!

It's been 6 months of minimal cooking and baking, and maximal maths and memorising. I've bought WAY too many cookbooks, naughtily read them in my study time and tried to imagine that my life was spent fabulously whipping up Nigella's suppers and Momofuku's desserts (as long as we're in my imagination, I also have a body and dance like the Hurly Burly girlys). Wow I love it in my imagination.. 

In real life I've been sitting at a computer or book all day, giggling like a real geek at countless pictures of cats (front teeth out and all), and dancing like fat Monica :-). But, real life is turning around again! My exam is over and I can get back to my happy things again! 

Ralph helped so much with this cake- we stayed up half the night decorating, and walked around like zombies the next day, which was awesome cause it made us look like we're the kind of people who just go out on Friday nights and walk around all Saturday all sad and hung over and cool!

Foxy Tart

Lemon Meringue Tart

I never felt brave enough to try a lemon meringue tart. It's like.. In a series, where there is always a boy and a girl, and they're obviously crazy about each other, but afraid to go with their feelings because they don't want to mess up a relationship that means SO much to them. Yup- that's me and lemon meringue tart. And this is just the beginning of our happy ending.

If I'm lemon meringue's soul mate, then Ane must be it's best friend. Sure I can bake it, but she's the one that REALLY appreciates it and reminds me to do the same. Actually, she REALLY appreciate a lot of food. Maybe she is food's best friend? Any friend of food is a friend of mine :-)

Ane came over for a girls sulking evening one night, and I had just found a new lemon meringue recipe by The Food Fox. It was very simple and anything with lemon and condensed milk has my vote (or just condensed milk and a spoon, or just the can.. JUST GIVE IT TO ME)

I've been crushing on The Food Fox lately. It's a South African food blog, so I don't have to worry about being able to get the ingredients and the correct measurements, and it's GORGEOUS. Like this blog is in my dreams :-). I loved this recipe- so easy to follow, so.. doable!

Anyway- that one disappeared so quickly that I didn't get a single photo. Then I decided to make another and experiment a bit. I love sour, so I wanted it to have a distinct sour kick to it. I also wanted the base to go all the way up the walls of my pie dish, and I wanted more filling and more topping.

Lemon Meringue Tart
Adapted from The Food Fox

250 g Tennis biscuit
approx 120 g melted butter

2 cans condensed milk (Each can is 385 g)
300 ml lemon juice (If you like it really sour lemony- feel free to add a bit more)
4 egg yolks

6 egg whites
250 ml castor sugar
5 ml vanilla essence
5 ml lemon juice

1) Preheat the oven to 180 C
2) Take the Tennis biscuits and put them in a bowl

 3) Crush these until they are just tiny crumbs

4) Now, melt the butter, and add bit by bit. The idea is to keep adding butter until the biscuits stick to the walls nicely. Just take a spoon, and press it against a the wall of the bowl and see if it stays to test.

5) Press the now complete base into your pie dish.

6) Next,  pour the condensed milk into another bowl. While whisking, add the lemon juice bit by bit.

7) Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl (remember to save the whites), then add them. This will make the mixture nice and yellow.

8) Now, pour the mixture into the base.

9) Bake for 20 minutes.
10) While it's baking, make the topping.
11) Whisk the egg whites to stiff peak stage. Then add the sugar bit by bit, until it's creamy and shiny.

12) When the tart comes out of the oven, turn the oven down to 150 C, and smooth the meringue topping on top, making gorgeous peaks on top.

13) And you're the proud owner of a delicious Lemon Meringue Tart!

The delicious Ane liked this tart so much that I had to make her another one this weekend! And now I'm craving it again..