Friday, April 25, 2008

Lime Custard & Blueberry Pie

Today was a cooking day – Lime Custard and Blueberry Pie, Kangaroo Chili, and Blueberry and Oatmeal Muffins. (Follow the links to see recipes for the muffins.) I needed a day off from house stuff! The pie was pretty simple and really yum. I modified a recipe from Women's Weekly slightly and simply replaced buttermilk with regular milk, as well as used less lime zest than they suggested and a bit more lime juice and pulpy bits.

Shortbread Pie Pastry for crust
3 eggs
½ cup caster sugar
¼ cup milk
Juice from 1 lime
Zest from 2 limes
2 tablespoons custard powder (vanilla)
1-2 cups blueberries
Icing sugar, to dust

Line pie plate with pastry and bake on 200C/400F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 180 and bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Beat eggs and caster sugar in bowl until thick and pale, then add milk, lime juice and zest, and custard powder. Mix until combined, then pour into pastry shell. Bake for 15 minutes on 180C, then reduce heat to 160C and bake another 20-25 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool, then top with blueberries and icing sugar. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Chicken Soup

Seems the secret to a good chicken soup is lime and curry powder. My hubs is sick so thought I would cook some up for him as we had some chicken stock. ezpz!

Chicken Stock
Noodles
Carrots & Celery, diced
Onions & Garlic, chopped
1 tsp Curry Powder
Dash of Parsley
1 Lime, squeezed
3 Whole Cloves

Mix it all together, minus the noodles. Throw the lime halves in for about the 1st 10 minutes. After about 25 minutes, put the noodles in. Serve with noodles cooked.

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Perfect Gin & Tonic

When you go to a bar in Chicago and ask for a gin & tonic with olives, the bartender knows what you mean. When you go to a pub in England and ask for the same, you get 2 olives on a napkin, next to your gin & tonic, which still has a lime wedge in it. In Australia or New Zealand, you just get an odd look when you ask for a gin & tonic with olives. Anyway, for a perfect gin & tonic, get a jar of green olives, preferably with pits still in, spoon out about 2 tsp of the olive juice into your glass, add 5-6 olives, then your gin, and some tonic water.