Crunchy purple coleslaw

What’s a barbecue with coleslaw? I don’t mean that horrible, cloying, mayo laden shop bought variety, I mean the fresh crunchy homemade variety. I like mine best because it takes on a beautiful pinky-purple colour from the red cabbage and red onion, which is pleasing to the eye if nothing else. I don’t like mine swimming in mayonnaise, just a fine coating to keep it moist and I love the subtle sweetness the apple brings. To make sweeter still add a few raisins. This recipe will make a big plastic tub full, either to feed a crowd at a party, or to last two or you three or four days.

Crunchy purple coleslaw

Rough guide

½ a small head of red cabbage, finely sliced.

1 medium red onion, finely sliced.

1 large carrot, grated (or two medium carrots)

1 eating apple, grated

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl, spritz with the juice of about half a small lemon, season with salt and pepper and dollop on a couple of tablespoons of good quality shop bought mayonnaise (or more to your taste). Mix thoroughly and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.

Also for a more impressive potato salad, take these tips from Jamie Oliver. Boil or steam some new potatoes and while warm pour on them some olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning and leave to cool. To dress mix lemon zest and fresh chopped chives with some natural yogurt (best not to use fat free as it is too thin), season and stir into the potatoes. The potato salad is even more delicious sprinkled with some cold snipped up crispy bacon pieces. Just these two little homemade side dishes elevates any barbecue without barely any effort.

Cauliflowers don’t grow underground!

I was sent a shocking press release at work yesterday. It came from the new Eat Seasonably Campaign and it said that one in five 16-25 year olds think cauliflower grows under the ground! Worse still a quarter of 16-24 think peas are in season all year round and one in five of the same age group think sweetcorn grows all year round.

Photo from www.eatseasonably.co.uk

I think we have a big divide in the food world. At the moment we have a food revolution going on with artisan producers popping up everywhere, allotment waiting lists growing longer and longer and more awareness of animal welfare. But at the same time there is another food revolution going on. Thousands of people are finding ever more cheaper ways to feed themselves with fat laden take-aways and salty microwave meals, imported cheap vegetables and battery farmed meat.

How has it come to this? I can understand that the pressure is on families during the recession, but it is all down to education. Teaching people that using fresh seasonal ingredients when they are abundant and using a better quality of meat in smaller quantities is essential.

The Eat Seasonably Campaign, which was spearheaded by Dame Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust and Chairman of B&Q Ian Cheshire, is backed by top chefs such as Angela Hartnett, Allegra McEvedy, Valentine Warner, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, as well as Defra secretary of state Hilary Benn, the RHS and all the major supermarkets.

Eat seasonably logo

The campaign has introduced a label which will be used to highlight seasonal fruit and vegetables where they are sold. This surely is an excellent idea and I hope it helps the situation. If it was clearly marked out for people they might be tempted into trying out seasonal produce. I really hope it works. Check out the campaign’s website, http://www.eatseasonably.co.uk it includes lots of advice for growing and eating seasonally.

How I learnt to love cauliflower

We are currently coming to the end of what organic vegetable box suppliers Riverford aptly call ‘the hungry gap’. It is the time between March and May when the stored fruit and vegetables have run out and the new plants haven’t grown enough to pick. Inevitably that has meant the boxes have had to include some imported vegetables to make up for the shortfall.

Vegetable curry with cauliflower

There is one vegetable, however, that defies the hungry gap (apart from the welcome edition of purple sprouting broccoli throughout February and March) and that is cauliflower. Great you might think – a home grown vegetable to enjoy through the months before spring really springs into life.

Not for me though. When I decided to start ordering a vegetable box I was fully aware you have to accept what you are given and I said to Will that will be fine because I love nearly all vegetables except for cauliflower – and as soon as I said the dreaded word they started to arrive, and they continued to arrive four weeks in a row!

I don’t know what it is about cauliflower. I think it might be more of a psychological thing rather than a complete aversion to the taste. The smell of it cooking reminds me of being 10 years old and desperately thinking of ways to get out of eating dinner when a cauliflower cheese was bubbling away in the oven – to this day you will not get me to eat a cauliflower cheese.

But I am a firm believer that you can learn to love any food if you give it a chance, and if you cook it in a sympathetic way. So during those four long weeks I tried cauliflower every which way – in soups, as a side, in spicy frittas and in creamy curries – and do you know what, I don’t mind cauliflower that much anymore, in fact I quite like it in a spicy vegetable curry. I actually cooked the vegetable curry three times it was so tasty. So below I give you my mish-mash recipe for a probably very not authentic vegetable curry for all those cauliflower haters out there.

This recipe makes more than two portions but reheats really well the next day for lunch left-overs. Use whatever you have in the house to go with it, I find you need a sweetish vegetable like sweet potato or squash in there though to balance the flavours.

½ a cauliflower cut into florets

1 sweet potato cut into small square chunks

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 or 2 carrots, depending on their size cut into equal sized chunks to the potato

½ can of chickpeas

½ can of coconut milk

1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 green chilli finely chopped

2 large tablespoons of Pataks tikka masala curry paste

A small knob of ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.

Plus, fresh natural yogurt, fresh coriander leaves and ½ a lemon to serve.

1. Heat some vegetable oil in a large heavy based saucepan. Cook the onion until it starts to soften, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for a minute, then add the curry paste and cook for a few minutes until it releases its smells and flavours.

2. Add your vegetables and coat them in the flavour then add the chopped tomatoes, fill the can about a quarter of the way up with water, swirl it around to get all the flavour out of the can and add to the pot. Finally add the coconut milk, stir and put the lid on and let it cook on a gentle simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring every now and then. The only way to know if this is done is to stick a knife in the vegetables to see if they are soft. The carrots are likely to cook last out of the lot. Depending on how big you have cut the carrot and sweet potato you might want to add the cauliflower into the pot 10 minutes after them so it doesn’t go soggy. When the vegetables are more or less cooked add the chickpeas and warm through (at this stage you could also add a handful or two of frozen peas for colour).

3. Serve with plain rice, dollop some natural yogurt on the top (this cuts through the richness of the dish), sprinkle over coriander leaves and serve with a wedge of lemon.

(You will be left with half a can of coconut milk. Either use in a smoothie the next morning, it goes well with pineapple and mango. Or pour into ice-cube trays and once they are frozen pop into a bag and store until you make another curry when you just drop the cubes into the pot and they defrost into a sauce. Use the half can of chickpeas to make a small pot of hummus for your lunch the next day by putting them into a food processor with some lemon juice, olive oil, half a clove of garlic, tahini paste and seasoning then blitzing. The curry paste keeps brilliantly in your cupboard for months, no need to even refrigerate)

Delicious chocolate orange cake

I simply cannot convey to you quickly enough just how delicious this cake is. It is rich, smooth, soggy, gooey and moist, yet light and zesty. But it came about in an unusual way.

Delicious chocolate orange cake

I had been having some problems with my stomach and the doctor advised that I try singling out foods in my diet that might be causing the problem. Willing to try anything and having read a lot about stomach problems and gluten intolerance I thought I’d try going a few weeks with wheat or gluten. At first I found it hugely restricting, especially when I realised I couldn’t even have a beer! But after a few days I found it enjoyable in a strange way, because from a keen cook’s point of view it forces you to push the boundaries. You can’t just say I’ll grab a sandwich or a wrap for lunch and you can’t rely on pre-made shop bought soups, sauces, cakes or biscuits so everything needs to be cooked from scratch.

Although I found my few weeks without wheat to have helped stop the bloating in the stomach I concluded it wasn’t the cause of my problems and happily reintroduced it into my diet (how did I live without crusty bread?!) But during the wheat-free weeks me and Will held a barbecue for his work mates (see post below) and I wanted to make a couple of desserts – one of which I would be able to eat despite not allowing myself gluten.

I used a recipe of Nigella’s that I had tried before for a ‘spiced chocolate cake’, which is in her Nigella Christmas book. I tinkered with the recipe to create a more summery chocolate cake, using orange instead of the spices, and it was a delight (Will told me his mates were talking about it for days after and one person has already asked for the recipe!). It also keeps really well and I was enjoying the left-overs for days after!

This is a perfect dessert for both the gluten intolerant but equally as delicious for all their friends. I urge everyone to give it a go.

Makes 10-12 slices

150g dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa solids)

150g soft, unsalted butter

6 large eggs

250g caster sugar

100g almonds

Zest of one large orange

4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

For the almond topping:

Juice of an half an orange

15g unsalted butter

1tbsp caster sugar

50 flaked almonds

1. Take everything you need out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (gas 4) and butter a 23cm springform cake tin.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together on a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water and set aside to cool slightly.

4. Beat the eggs and sugar together until thick, pale and moussy. They should have at least doubled in volume or more. Gently fold in the ground almonds, the orange juice and zest, taking care not to lose any of the air in the mix.

5. Finally pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mix and stir in lightly. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, but which time the cake will be firm on top and still a little gooey underneath. It will rise right up in the oven and sink when it cools – don’t worry this should happen.

6.To make the topping put the orange juice, butter and sugar into a small non-stick frying pan and melt everything together. Let it sizzle for a minute or so until it begins to caramelise before adding the almonds. Stir everything together until the nuts start to bronze, tip the pan about every now and then to stop them sticking together. Remove and put on an oiled piece of greaseproof paper and allow to cool and go crispy.

7.Remove the outside of the cake tin, and the bottom of it if you can – I didn’t dare move mine and served it with the cake tin still on the bottom. Allow to coo fully. Scatter with the almonds and more orange zest. Serve with a dollop of whipped double cream.

First barbecue party of the season

A couple of weekends ago Will and I hosted our first proper barbeque of the year on a sunny spring Saturday. I was faced with a house of hungry police officers – a daunting thought to say the least – but luckily I had more than enough food. As always you end up over-catering for fear of not having enough. Imagine finishing a meal and seeing someone picking carefully but desperately around the last chicken leg trying to find some more meat on it – I couldn’t bare it!

My crammed fridge hours before the barbecue

I have to say it was a real success though. As young new-comers to the dinner party scene, we planned everything down to the last detail and spent the whole day cleaning the house, shopping then preparing food.

I kept it simple and went for chicken drumsticks in a barbecue marinade, ribs (brought along buy a guest) in a sticky barbecue sauce and Greek lamb kebabs with pitta bread and Tzatziki. These went down a storm with the hungry meat-eaters.

For the lamb kebabs: marinate lamb leg steaks in olive oil, salt, pepper, a pinch of dried oregano and a squeeze of lemon juice for about an hour. Instead of cutting into cubes and skewering I leave the steaks whole so I can barbecue them quickly over very hot flames and keep them pink inside (if they are in small cubes on a skewer they can dry out very quickly). I then let them rest, slice and pile up the juicy pink pieces of meat on a warm plate for people to tuck into.

Alongside the piles of meat I served a classic homemade coleslaw (a mix of thinly shredded cabbage, carrot, red onion and grated apple dressed in mayonnaise and lemon juice), potato salad (dressed in natural yogurt with lemon zest and seasoning, chopped chives and then topped with crispy pieces of bacon) plus bowls of salad an lots of crunchy bread.

The desserts were the real stars of the show, a deliciously creamy vanilla baked cheesecake (which I have posted the recipe for on a previous post) with a bowl of fresh raspberry sauce, mini pavlovas and a gorgeously gooey soggy chocolate orange cake (look out for my next post for the recipe), which was a take on a Nigella Christmas recipe that I fiddled with. Apparently they were all talking about the dessert at the station the next day – result!

At the end of the day as long as there is a good supply of cold beers, soft drinks and wine you’re on to a winner. Barbecues need to be relaxed and stress free. Minimal use of cutlery is a good tip (we used plastic plates to cut down on washing up). Most people managed with just a fork and their hands. Now we just have to wait for another sunny weekend to have another go.

Dipping my toe into seasonal cooking

It’s a bit late to be jumping on the seasonal food band wagon and probably even later to be writing about veg boxes. We’re all at it. Prancing around telling people how marvellous it is to have seasonal produce brought straight to your door. Waltzing past the neighbours carrying a cardboard box laden with frilly greens and giant roots. Chatting to the veg delivery man at the door about how wonderful last week’s purple sprouting broccoli was. But I have to say I’m pretty new to it and I’m writing this to convince others that people on a budget can afford local, seasonal organic food.
I’m on my third week of a permanent order for a fruitit and veg box from Riverford Organic and so far I am loving it. Just £15 gets me a medium sized box that is packed with top quality produce, which is the perfect amount for me and Will.
I have to say I have joined at the least exciting time of the year, they call March-May the ‘hungry gap’, because stored vegetables have run out and the new seedlings haven’t grown yet, so half of the items each week have been imported (from reputable suppliers, still organic, and not air freighted can I point out). I am positively bursting with anticipation for June when we will have summer berries, courgettes, spinach and all sorts of other delights.
This week for example I got about seven apples, four large oranges, a bunch of six bananas, two lots of celery, a large cauliflower, beautiful vine tomatoes, a bag of mixed lettuce leaves, four leeks, a big bag of absolutely delicious purple sprouting broccoli, a huge bunch of swiss chard and the very best bit an EXTRA item – wild garlic picked from the woods.
So far this week Will and I have had for dinner: Salmon steamed with Asian spices and coconut milk with a large side serving of ‘spiced greens’ (using the chard and some of the purple sprouting, plus some frozen peas), vegetable curry (using the cauliflower, onions left from last week’s box, and some added sweet potato) and stir-fry of prawns and purple sprouting broccoli in ginger, garlic and oyster sauce (the broccoli is divine stir-fried) with homemade egg-fried rice. Tomorrow I plan to have a large mixed salad with hard boiled eggs and steamed Jersey Royals and on Thursday a summer vegetable minestrone with the celery, tomatoes, onion, left over Jersey Royals, the leeks and anything else I can find. Plus there was also enough for a large batch of cauliflower cheese soup, which Will is going to take to work for lunches and plenty of salad for my sandwiches.
So after that marathon of food you can’t dispute that a veg box is value for money. Riverford regularly do price comparisons with supermarkets and come out on top and let’s not forget delivery cuts down on carbon emissions, the produce has a lower carbon footprint, soon nearly all of the produce will be from the West Country, there is very little packaging and the packaging that there is can be recycled or given back to Riverford to use again. There is no looking back now I am part of the veg box clan, join us! By the way I don’t work for Riverford, there are plenty of other great box schemes such as the nationwide Abel and Coles and smaller localised ones.

Below is a recipe that came in my bag of delicious wild garlic and was a beautiful way to enjoy the subtle yet pungent taste of wild garlic. I have very roughly halved it so the recipe is for two people.

Wild Garlic Risotto
Half an onion, finely chopped
One clove of garlic, finely chopped
150g risotto rice (Arborio)
1 litre of chicken stock, heated and kept on a gas ring (I used around ¾ of the stock)
Knob of butter
Good handful of wild garlic leaves, shredded (not too thin)
Couple of handfuls of grated parmesan
Optional half glass of white wine (I hate white wine so don’t use it)

1. Fry onion and garlic very gently in olive oil or butter until very soft but not coloured. Thrown in the rice and coat in all the yummy oiliness.
2. At this stage you could add some wine and let it sizzle away. If not add your first ladle of stock and stir to make the grains really rich. Continue in this way, adding stock and stirring to encourage the starch to come out of the grain.
3. After about 10 minutes add the wild garlic leaves. Keep adding stock until the grains are soft but still have a bite to them.
4. Stir in the butter and parmesan and serve will there is still a bit of sloppiness to the risotto. Decorate with wild garlic leaves.

Modern day advice from a 1950s cook

I was sooooooo excited the other day because I found a very exciting thing. While perusing the little shelves of my local charity book shop – The Cotswold Care Hospice Book Shop in Dursley, Gloucestershire, in case you wanted to know – I came across a very old and battered book in the cookery section. It turned out to be an original 1952 copy of Elizabeth David’s French Country Cooking. And the best part is it was just £1.50! Such a bargain for such a classic.

I leafed through the delicate pages of this food bible with utter glee. It seems unbelievable that it was written just after the war had finished and rationing had only just come to an end. The recipes and writing is so up to date and the advice still prevalent for today. I have given you an excerpt here in case you are not lucky enough to have a copy of the book. I particularly like this part:

“Good cooking is honest, sincere and simple, and by this I do not mean to imply that you will find in this, or indeed any other book, the secret of turning out first-class food in a few minutes without trouble. Good food is always a trouble and it’s preparation should be regarded as a labour of love, and this book is intended for those who actually and positively enjoy the labour involved in entertaining their friends and providing their families with first-class food. Even more than long hours in the kitchen, fine meals require ingenious organisation and experience which is a pleasure to acquire.”

I really think Elizabeth is on to something here. I am all for the speedy meal after work but I think so much emphasis is put on quick meals that we have forgotten that cooking is something to be enjoyed, it is a skill to acquire over time, it is something to throw yourself into. All the celebrity chefs try to construct new meal ideas for those hard-pushed for time. “You can cook this up in minutes”, they say and “No need for a take-away this meal can be thrown together in less than the time it will take you to order and pick it up”. But what about cooking for cooking’s sake?

Even if you get in from work at 7pm, there is still time to think about what to create for dinner, to calmly chop and slice, then gently simmer and stir the dish until it is complete. Then sit down – with you partner or with the family – and enjoy the meal. Sometimes it is just slosh, stir and plonk it on the plate, but other times we should remember that making a meal is something to take pride in. I know lots people who think that taking time and pride in your cooking is a waste of time, but how can something as important as feeding yourself be a waste of time? The craft of cooking is as old as time and I just hope that generations down the line we haven’t forgotten it. As long as Elizabeth David’s books are around we won’t.

My first loaf

My first loaf of bread

Hurrah, I have finally done it. I have finally baked my own loaf of bread. Some may be thinking; what self-respecting foodie hasn’t baked a loaf of bread? But I guess I just never got round to it.
I attempted just a simple plain white loaf. I am not going to give you the recipe – you can get bread recipes everywhere. I just want to encourage everyone and anyone to give it a go. Apart from the fact that you can use organic flour and it doesn’t have preservatives and spoonfuls of salt and sugar in it, it is actually really enjoyable to make.
Yes it takes a few hours but most of that time it is sat in a bowl proving or baking in the oven. The kneading is soothing and stress reliving and the hot, doughy smell in the house is worth the effort.
Oh, and it tastes great too. Best eaten fresh, but delicious as toast for several days. I forgot the joy of jam on bread until I ate my loaf. Fresh soft bread, with chewy, hard crusts and a thick layer of proper preserve is a breakfast for a king or queen. Well I hope you inspired to make yourself a loaf this weekend.

Scrummy Savoy cabbage

One of the most important aspects of my blog is that I try and make it easy for couples to cook simple meals, without having to divide portions for four or six people and without creating lots of waste.
So what do you do with a whole Savoy cabbage? It’s in season at the moment and is much tastier than the common cabbage – a little more refined I think.
I first tried a Savoy after seeing Jamie Oliver do a pasta recipe with it (my version of which is below), but I was left with half a head of the bright green vegetable. So with other left-over ingredients I created my second meal – a stuffed chicken breast wrapped in pancetta on top of garlic braised cabbage.

Mozzarella stuffed chicken and savoy cabbage

So what follows is both recipes so you can go out and buy that Savoy cabbage, happy in the knowledge not a scrap will be wasted.
Both recipes give only rough guides on amounts as they were thrown together by me without weighing and measuring.

Pasta with Savoy cabbage, pancetta and cheese sauce.

Your usual amount of pasta for two people (me and Will eat a monstrous amount so I won’t give you a weight) – I suggest Farfelle (the bow shape).
Half a head of Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced.
Half a pack of pancetta (or more if you wish, depends on the amount in the pack I suppose), cut into large strips
One clove of garlic, finely chopped.
Knob of butter
Just over half a ball of mozzarella in chunks
Handful of freshly grated parmesan

Cook your pasta as usual. For the sauce: Heat some oil in a large frying pan that has a lid, add the pancetta and fry until it starts to crisp. Add the garlic and stir round then add all the Savoy cabbage, a knob of butter and some seasoning. Stir this around then add a dash of water and slam a lid on the pan straight away. Let it steam for five minutes or so until the cabbage has wilted, but retains some bite. Throw the cooked pasta in the pan with some of the cooking water and add the cubed mozzarella and the parmesan and stir so it melts into a thick sauce (the cooking water helps it all amalgamate). Serve straight away.

Mozzarella and sun-dried tomato stuffed chicken breast with Savoy cabbage

Two chicken breasts
The left over mozzarella from the pasta dish
Six strips of pancetta left over from the pasta dish
A few sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (and if you wish a few roasted red peppers from a jar, chopped)
Half a head of Savoy cabbage, finely sliced
Two garlic cloves finely chopped
A knob of butter
Some steamed purple sprouting broccoli if you wish

Chicken stuffed with mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes

Open up the chicken breast so they are flat and place on a board. Cover with cling film and bash lightly with a rolling pin so they flatten out a bit. In the centre place a few slices of mozzarella, and a few sun-dried tomatoes and red peppers. Don’t add too much or it will burst open when cooking. Wrap the chicken up tightly with the pancetta strips. Fry the outside of the chicken parcels quickly in a pan to get a bit of colour on them. Transfer to a baking dish and put in a pre-heated 200 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
Ten minutes before the chicken is due to come out of the oven heat a large heavy based frying pan that has a lid. Add some butter and the garlic, fry gently for a few minutes. Add the Savoy cabbage, a dash of water and slam on the lid and steam for 10 minutes. Season and serve in the centre of the plate with the stuffed chicken on the top.

A special meal for two

ONE of the most depressing things that I heard recently on the news was that sales at Dominos Pizza are up since the recession kicked in because more people are staying in with a take-away and a DVD instead of going out. Well, I would say keep the DVD but ditch but the take-away. Why would you want to pay £10 (or whatever the price is) for two greasy pizzas when you could buy some nice ingredients and a bottle of wine and cook your own meal. Set the table with candles and your best crockery and serve up a restaurant style meal for a credit crunching price.
Will and I did exactly that for New Year’s Eve. We had looked around at various set menus in nice restaurants that looked delicious but cost a fortune, and we started to wonder; is it really worth it? I could easily cook us a delicious meal at home for half the price of a meal out, leaving plenty of money left over for a few bottles of wine.

Retro prawn cocktail

I let Will choose the menu, which invariably meant he chose a steak. I also correctly predicted that he would ask for a baked cheesecake because he has been begging me to make one for ages, although I would never has guessed he would choose the retro starter prawn cocktail. What a wonderful throw back and actually a delicious throw back when made with fresh juicy prawns, crisp lettuce and some added avocado chunks hidden in the salad for texture. I couldn’t resist the triangles of brown bread and the dusting of paprika!
Then for mains we decided that since we were saving so much money by eating in, we would splurge on the steak and buy two fillets, which were melt in the mouth good. I served the steak with homemade chunky chips, creamed spinach and a slice of butter flavoured with Worcestershire sauce and parsley.

Fillet steak with chunky chips and spinach

Now here is where it gets good. The vanilla baked cheesecake. This recipe came from Tamasin’s Kitchen Bible by Tamasin Day-Lewis. It was light, but rich and creamy, very smooth and also easy to make. Below I will give you the original recipe and in brackets the changes I made, which were mainly done because I couldn’t get hold of the ingredients listed.

Base:
1 packet of Doves organic digestives (I used McVities)
55g unsalted butter
Cheesecake:
450g fresh cream cheese, full fat (I used Philadelphia Light and it worked well)
2 Large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
55g vanilla sugar (caster sugar that has had a vanilla pod sitting in it)
170ml organic double cream
1 split vanilla pod
Zest of 2 lemons (I used just one and felt it was enough but I imagine two would be lovely and zingy)
Topping:
150ml sour cream (I used a 140l pot that they sell in supermarkets)
1 dsrt spoon vanilla sugar (I used 1 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Whiz the biscuits into crumbs (or put in a bag and bash with a rolling pin). Tip them into a large, loose-bottomed cake tin and pour over the butter. Stir to amalgamate and press down firmly. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from the oven.
Put the cream cheese, eggs, yolk, cream, sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon zest in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until very smooth and creamy. Pour on top of the biscuit base and bake for 25 minutes.
Cool in the oven with the door ajar. When cool remove from the tin and chill in the fridge. For the topping stir the vanilla sugar into the sour cream and spread all over the top, decorate with some more lemon zest.
Beautiful served just as it is or whiz up some raspberries with a little icing sugar to make a coulis and serve on the side.