Meringue with Strawberries

It's summer and I'm in a desert kind of mood!

Meringue is so simple to make at home; with an electric whisk the mixture takes just minutes to prepare.

The addition of a little lemon juice helps to keep the meringue shiny.

You then pop it in the oven on a low temperature for several hours and go and do something else while the meringue slowly cooks. ( Look at your phone or tablet...Read an excerpt of a book... Read my other two blogs.)

This is a large meringue nest; if you prefer to make smaller nests, cooking time would be reduced by about half. It makes a delicious dessert topped with Italian zabaglione and some fresh strawberries.


INGREDIENTS:


For the meringue
•3 egg whites

•1 pinch salt

•250 g caster (superfine) sugar

•0.5 tsp lemon juice

•10 g icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted

•200 g strawberries, hulled and quartered


For the zabaglione

•4 egg yolks

•100 g caster (superfine) sugar

•3 tbsp Marsala wine

DIRECTIONS:

1.Preheat the oven to 75°C/165°F/gas mark ¼ or as low as it will go. Line a 24cm/9½-inch diameter round baking sheet with baking parchment.

2 Put the egg whites and salt in a bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the caster sugar, whisking all the time. Add the lemon juice and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

3 Put the mixture into a piping bag (pastry bag) and pipe a large nest onto the baking parchment. Alternatively, if you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a large spoon. Sprinkle with icing sugar and immediately place in the oven for 4 hours.

4 Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before carefully removing from the baking sheet, and then leave the meringue to cool fully.

5 Meanwhile, make the zabaglione. In a small heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and vin santo. Place over a saucepan of gently simmering water, whisking all the time until the mixture begins to boil and thicken. 6 Remove from the heat, whisk well to get rid of any lumps, and leave to cool. 7 Put the meringue on a serving plate, fill the middle with the zabaglione and decorate with strawberries.

Another nice cool treat for a summer day...Enjoy! Eat Well My Friends!

Honey Dew ,Jicama and Mango Salad

Heyyyy, Don’t worry about removing all of the melon seeds in this take on the popular Mexican street snack—they’re edible and add a little crunch to your munch!

INGREDIENTS:


½ small honeydew or Snow Kiss melon (about 1½ lb.)

 1 small or ½ large jicama (about 14 oz.), peeled, thinly sliced into rounds

1 ripe but firm mango, peeled, thinly sliced

¼ cup fresh lime juice

Kosher salt

Tajín Clásico seasoning and lime wedges (for serving)

DIRECTIONS:


Using your hands, pull out some seeds from melon half (you don’t want to ruin the round shape of the inside by scooping with a spoon).

 Place a cut side down and remove rind by slicing down along the curve of the melon with a sharp knife, rotating as you go.

Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, thinly slice melon into rings.

Toss melon, jicama, and mango on a platter with lime juice; season generously with salt.

Sprinkle with Tajín, and serve with lime wedges and more Tajín.

Enjoy!  Eat Well my friends

Key Lime Pound Cake

This looks so good and unfortunately I can't find a bakery open that has this...but what I can do is lay a recipe on you for making this.

INGREDIENTS:


4 sticks butter, that’s 1 pound, room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fresh key lime juice

1/4 cup evaporated milk, (I always keep a good number of those small, 5 ounce cans in my pantry.)

4 teaspoons key lime zest, minced

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

DIRECTIONS:


Preheat oven to 300°. Cover inside of 10 inch tube pan with non-stick spray. (My pan is 10 1/2″ and it’s just fine.)

Set aside. Using a stand-up mixer or electric hand-held, beat the butter well until light in color and fluffy.

Add the sugar and again beat well for at least 5 minutes. (I use a stand up mixer and beat the mixture 10-15 minutes. I don’t like a “grainy” cake.)

One at a time add the eggs and beat only until the yellow disappears.

Stir juice, milk, zest and vanilla together.

Now mixing by hand, gradually flour to the butter-egg mixture alternating with the key lime juice and milk mixture.

Begin and end with flour. Mix well but just enough to incorporate all ingredients. (You don’t want a tough pound cake!)

Pour evenly into the tube pan and tap pan on the counter to loosen any air bubbles.

Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

 Cool on a cooling rack for 20-25 minutes in the pan then transfer from pan to cooling rack and allow to cool another hour or until completely cool.

The cake is far better the following day or 2 days later.

 KEY LIME CREAM CHEESE ICING:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3-4 tablespoons butter, room temperature 4 cups confectioner’s sugar 1/4 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice

2-3 teaspoons key lime zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract Using a hand mixer beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until well mixed.

Add confectioner’s sugar and beat well until completely smooth and fluffy.

Add key lime juice, zest and vanilla and mix until all ingredients are incorporated.

Ice cake. This makes quite a bit of icing.

After icing the entire pound cake I fill the middle hole with the excess icing. When the cake is served icing can be taken from the middle and dolloped along the side the slice of cake.

Enjoy!  Eat Well My Friends: