Meringue

Meringue - notoriously difficult to spell. For me at least. And, or so I thought until a few days ago, to make: but it turns out that it's pretty easy to make lovely meringue. You'll need a good electric whisk, though. And an oven that can go down to low temperatures.

Meringue
Prep time: 30 minutes
Serves: 12
Cooking temp: gas mark 1/4, 110C
Cooking time: 1 hour thirty minutes

Ingredients
4 large eggs
115g golden caster sugar
115g icing sugar


Method

1. Preheat the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
   Separate the eggs: I simple break the eggs into a bowl, one by one, and use a desert spoon to remove the yolk, but everyone has their own way. You don't need the yolk.
   
2. Pour the whites into a glass mixing bowl. Beat them on a medium speed with a hand whisk until the mixture is fluffy and can stand up in stiff peaks. This will take a few minutes.
   
3. Turn up the speed and add the caster sugar, one dessertspoonful at a time, beating for 4 seconds between additions. Stop when it is all Incorporated. It should be thick.
   
4. Sift one third of the icing sugar over, and fold in gently with a large rubber spatula or metal spoon. Continue to sift and fold but don't over mix.
   
5. Spoon heaped dessertspoonfuls onto the baking parchment into nice rounds. Bake for 1 and a half hours to one and three quarters. The meringue should sound crisp when tapped and will harden underneath as they cool.
   
6. Serve with thick whipped cream and summer berries.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Ravioli

Pasta - infamously difficult to make, yes? Well, maybe not. You can make pretty good pasta, without the aid of a pasta maker, and pretty quickly too. Filling experimentation is also fun (we made this one up ourselves): try pumpkin and nutmeg, parma ham and cheese, mushroom, spinach and ricotta, chicken or sweet potato for starters. (Use the fresh stuffed pasta in supermarkets for inspiration!) This recipe is for mozzarella and sudried tomato, yum yum :)

Ravioli
Prep time: 40 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients 
For the ravioli:
150g strong bread flour
2 small eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp olive oil
For the filling:
1/2 small egg, beaten
120g grated mozerella
25g finely grated parmesan
6 sundried tomatoes
2 tbsps spicy tomato salsa (optional)
Ground black pepper
Italian herb mixture
Parmesan shavings, to serve

Method

1. To make the pasta dough - sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the middle.Pour in the eggs and oil and work in,
   
    using a circlar motion, with a metal spoon to make a soft dough. Then, knead for 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic (it shouldn't be sticky, if so add a little more flour - this usually happens if the eggs are too big.) Oil a plastic freezer bag lightly and leave the pasta dough to rest inside for 3 minutes, at room temperature. Move on to the filling.
   
2. Finely chop the sundried tomatoes and combine in a bowl with the other ingredients. You could whizz to a smooth paste if you want or leave it chunky. Season with pepper and herbs and mix well. 
   
3. Flour or oil a work surface very well. Divide the pasta dough into two and roll out into very thin strips, until you can almost see through the pasta.
   
   
   
   Ours broke up and we just did lots of little strips, it doesn't matter as long as you have two that are roughly the same size to place onto of each other with the filling in between. 
4. Drop teaspoons of the mixture onto one strip, evenly spaced out and 7.5cm apart. Brush round with a little water and lay over the other sheet of pasta.
   
   Press down around the mounds gently to seal them, and cut out either with a pastry wheel, (for wavy edges), a sharp knife or a square shaped cookie cutter (we used one with the wavy edges :) ) You should get about 12. Place on a plate as you make them, but don't stack or they'll stick to each other and you may want to oil/flour the plate so they come off easily.
   
   
   
5. Boil a pan of water and cook the ravioli in batches for 2-3 minutes. If they're sealed properly, they should float and not burst (but will taste just as nice if they do.) 
   
6. Serve with Parmesan cheese and seasoning, and a salad. You could garnish with some basil to complete the look.
   

Lamb tagine

This is a delicious Moroccan dish, perfect for Autumn and Winter (which we progress towards, boo hoo) and is also brilliantly easy as it's one-pot. The apricots add a really nice sweetness which, accompanied with the other flavours, give a distinctive taste and aroma. You can use a large ovenproof casserole dish if you don't have a tagine, though it does help to complete the look :D Note, this dish needs to marinate, preferably overnight, so think at a minimum 3 hours in advance.

Lamb tagine
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 3 hours marinating
Serves: 4
Cooking temp: Gas 3, 160C
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 large onion
1 tsp ground corainder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsps sunflower or olive oil
600g boneless lamb (shoulder), cut into 2.5cm cubes
2 tbsps plain flour
300ml orange juice
600ml vegetable or chicken stock
150g dried apricots
Freshly ground black pepper
200g couscous
350ml boiling water
8 cherry tomatoes

1. Finely chop the onion into crescents and put in a large, glass bowl  with the coriander, cumin, ginger, thyme and 1 tbsp of the oil. Mix in the lamb, and cover with clingfilm. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.
2. After this time, preheat the oven to Gas 3, 160C. Put the flour in a small bowl and add the orange juice very gradually, mixing to a smooth paste and ensuring there are no lumps. Set aside.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the tagine, over a high heat. Add the lamb mixture and fry, stiring constantly for 5 minutes, or until the meat is browned.

   

   You can add some carrots as an option, for more vegetable

4. Stir in the flour mixture and the stock. Bring to the boil, stirring, then remove from the heat and cover. Place in the oven for an hour.
   
5. Remove the tagine from the oven. Stir in the apricots, recover and return to the oven for 20 minutes, until the lamb is tender
   
6. Meanwhile, make the couscous - this is incredibly easy to do. Pour it into a heatproof bowl and add 350ml of boiling water. Cover with a tea towel and leave for 5 minutes. Remove the teatowl and fluff with a fork. Recover the bowl and leave for another 5 minutes. Remove the towel and fluff again, then halve the tomatoes and stir these in. Serve with the lamb.