Lemon Tarte á la Marco Piere White

I know I know.....I just posted my lemon tarte 2 weeks ago, but I just had to share this recipe from the master Marco Pierre White who I think is the best and most exciting chef of all time. When you see him in his tv show from the old days when he was just 27 years old, you really are amazed on how seasoned he is as a head chef and how fucking great the dishes are he creates. Here is a link to a video of him cooking for Raymond Blanc...www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-D8Wzqs-xc

Pastry
500 g plain flour
175 g icing sugar
250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 vanilla pod, split open
11/2 eggs, beaten

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Fylling

9 eggs
400 g caster sugar
grated zest of 2 lemons
juice of 5 lemons
250 ml double cream

Decoration
50 g icing sugar
sprigs of mint

1. Sift the flour and icing sugar on to a work surface and work in the butter. Make a well in the centre and add the lemon zest and seeds scraped from the vanilla pod. Add the eggs. Knead the mixture with your fingers, working as quickly as you can, until everything is combined to a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

3. Grease a flan tin with a removable base that is 20 cm in diameter and 3.75 cm deep. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a disc large enough to line the tin and allowing an overhang of not less than 1 cm. Lay the pastry gently into the tin.

4. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill with enough dry bakingbeans or lentils (or indeed any dry pulses) to insure the sides as well as the bottom are weighted. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and greaseproof paper and trim off the overhanging pastry, then return the flan case to the oven to bake for a further 10 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, make the lemon filling. Whisk the eggs with the caster sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice, then add the cream. Continue to whisk until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Skim any froth from the top.

6. Reduce the oven temperature 120°C. Pour the cold filling into the hot pastry case (this will insure that the case is sealed). Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and set for about an hour.

7. When ready to serve, preheat the grill to very hot. Sift the icing sugar over the top of the tart and place it under the grill to caramelize the sugar to a light golden brown. Alternatively, you can just sprinkle the tart with icing sugar without caramelizing it. Cut the tart into slices and decorate each with a sprig of mint.

Easy Cheesecake

12 digestive bisquits

100g melted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

250g cream cheese

250g mascarpone cheese

1/2 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

2 large eggs

1 tbsp plain flour

zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 180C

Add the bisquits to a foodprosessor and blitz. Add the melted butter and cinnamon and blitz again.

Press the bisquit base into a pie dish with your hands and bake in the oven for 12 minutes.

Beat together in a bowl the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla sugar, zest and jiuce of the lemon. Beat in the eggs one by one. Shift in the flour and mix well together.

Pour into the pie dish and bake for another 30 minutes on the lowest rack.

Shift some icing sugar on top and burn with a blowtorch.

Goulash

500g stew beef

100g flour

olive oil

1 onion, sliced thinly

1/2 red pepper, de-seeden and sliced

1/2 green pepper, de-seeden and sliced

100g mushrooms, cut into quarters

25g butter

salt and black pepper

2 tbsp tomato purré

200ml beef stock

3 tbsp paprika

a handful of parsley

100ml cream fraise

1. Heat the oven to 150 C. Toss the beef in some seasoned flour, and brown in a hot pan in some olive oil. When the beef is well brown, pour the beef on a plate and set aside.

2. In the same pan, fry the onion, mushrooms and peppers in some olive oil and butter and season well with salt and pepper. Add the tomato purré, beef stock and paprika. Blend well together and bring the mixture to the boil.

3. Add the beef back into the pan with all the juices. Add the parsley and cream fraise and stir together. Cover the pan with tin foil and cook in the oven for 5 hours.

My Favorite Lemon Torte

I´ve allways been a succer for lemon tarts and this recipe is my absolute favorite one, with the crumbly crust, soft and creamy middle and zangy lemon curd on top.....jummy. Hope you like it!! :)

Basic pastry dough recipe, makes 2
500g flour
250g butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg. lightly beaten
4 tbsp white wine or milk
100g icing sugar

Lemon filling
2 lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups heavy cream

Lemon Curd
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp butter

Bring the butter to room temperature. Mix the butter and flour together until just crumbly. Add the sugar, egg and wine, mix into a soft dough. Shape the dough into one or two balls and refrigerate wrapped in plastic.

Roll out the pastry to a thin circle. Line a 9 inch tart pan with the dough. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Remove the zest from the two lemons and squeeze to remove the juice. Place the zest, chopped fine, the juice, eggs, sugar and the cream in a bowl and beat until smooth. Pour the filling into the tart pan and bake for about 30 minutes until the filling sets. Then set aside to cool down.

To make the curd, place the egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl over simmering water. Whisk until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, pour over the lemon tart and spread evenly. Let sit at least 20 miutes.

Serve with some whipped cream.