Tarte au citron (Lemon tart)

I hosted a coffee morning a couple of days ago and made a lemon tart as part of the food offerings. 

Lemon chia muffins

This is adapted from the Wheat Free Market's recipe for lemon poppy muffins. It can be doubled to make a dozen muffins. 

Lemon chia muffins

Matcha pistachio cupcakes

I attended a chanoyu (茶の湯 or Japanese tea ceremony) a couple of weeks ago at House of Tea. While not a lover of ceremonial preparations and presentations per se, I have been interested in matcha and its culinary application for some time now. 

Last November, I made a loaf of matcha pistachio bread (recipe and pictures to follow). It was quite a success. This time, adapting a recipe from Wheat Belly 30-Minute (Or Less!) Cookbook, I made a batch of matcha pistachio cupcakes complete with frosting, which Husband helped to pipe! 

Matcha pistachio cupakes

Apple compote

Ever since I started shopping more at my local butcher's, I'm eating more pork than ever and I've come to enjoy pork chops (though still not a fan of ham fillets). Lately I've been trying to think of new ways to cook or serve pork. While classic, plain applesauce isn't something I like all that much, perhaps because it reminds me too much of baby food. But inspired by the classic combination of pork and apples, I made an apple compote to go with the pan fried pork chops for dinner tonight.

Pan fried pork chop with apple compote on a bed of blanched Romaine lettuce, served with fried sesame aubergine

Pork chops with mango & peach salsa

This is the dinner that almost didn't happen.

Last week, I bought a perfectly ripened mango and some peaches and decided to make a salsa to go with pork chops. I had trimmed and marinated the chops, made the mango and peach salsa, prepared the baby potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Husband came home around 7pm and said he was hitting the gym and probably wouldn't be having dinner when he returned. Then he walked into the kitchen and saw all the raw ingredients for dinner and apologised for not letting me know of his plans before I went to all this trouble. While I was a bit irked, I did appreciate how hard it was to keep fit, particularly when one hit middle-age, so far be it for me to thwart his endeavours.

And off his went. When he got home around 9.30, he said he was hungry and would like the dinner. So I fired up the grill and pan and within 20 minutes, I came up with two plates of beautiful food. 

Grilled pork chop with mango & peach salsa, served with sautéed Brussels sprouts and crackling, steamed baby potatoes

Lemon chilli chicken

Lemon chilli chicken with lemon & thyme gravy, served with roast baby potatoes and steamed broccoli

Persian lemon chicken

A couple of years ago when we were holidaying in Dubai, we visited the Spice Souk and picked up a few spices. Among them was limu omani, or dried lemon/lime. When we got back home, I didn't quite know what to do with these dried citrus so I searched for recipes online and found one for Persian lemon chicken soup. I tried it out and while the flavours were nice enough, I wasn't completely sold and didn't attempt making it again. The rest of the limu omani were stored in a jar sitting on my spice rack.

Yesterday while trying to come up with a different way of using the chicken pieces I had, I remembered the limu omani and decided it was time to give them another go. And the result was a aromatic lemon chicken with cardamom turmeric rice. 

Persian lemon chicken with cardamom turmeric basmati and blanched green beans

Sticky honey citrus chicken

The success of my sticky honey lemon chicken prompted an encore, with a couple of tweaks of course.

Sticky honey citrus chicken with kaffir lime basmati and French beans

Sticky honey lemon chicken

My local butcher has these huge chicken breasts on the bone available nearly every time I go in. I've occasionally taken advantage of the fantastic offers (5 for €8.99) and made a few tasty dishes (like smokey chicken & rice (1) and (2), and oven roast chicken with vegetables). This time I made a delectable honey lemon chicken.

Sticky honey lemon chicken with broccoli

Madeira cake with coconut & lime frosting

One of the cakes I discovered after moving to Ireland was Madeira cake. I was told it was a sponge but I thought it felt slightly denser than the sponge I was used to back in the East (like the 'traditional' birthday cakes in Taiwan). Still, Madeira cake became my favourite tea cake.

Grilled mackerel with garlic, chilli & lemon

Coconut custard cake

Two dear friends came over from London for a visit last weekend, so in addition to spending a couple of days tidying up the apartment and making up the study/guest bedroom, I was baking like nobody's business.

Lemon and lime loaf cake with citrus glazing (1)

I managed to get really juicy lemons and limes last week and have been enjoying homemade lemonade with crushed mint and ice at home. Very refreshing in this unusually warm Irish summer. To kick off the weekend, I took advantage of this wonderful batch of citrus fruit and baked a lemon and lime loaf cake with a citrus glazing.

I made something similar for the first time a good few years ago, a zesty lemon pound cake. But at the time, I wasn't overly concerned with avoiding wheat (and so I used cream flour) or using only natural ingredients (hence the addition of lemon essence). I do remember it being rather tasty, and so I decided to make another one using coconut flour.