The lemon tart and madeleines

This afternoon, I finally got around to baking the lemon tart I gave the recipe for a while back. It was simple to make and wonderful to eat! I had intended making madeleines as well but I didn't like the recipe in the Paris Sweets book so I've found one from Rick Stein's French Odyssey.

3 medium eggs
100 g caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
100 g plain flour (all purpose), sifted, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon (t) baking powder
100 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing the tins

1. Brush 2 x 12 madeleine moulds with melted butter and set aside for a few minutes till the butter has set. Then dust with four, tapping out the excess.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C.

3. Put the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and whisk with a hand-held electric mixer for 3 minutes until thick and moussey.

4. Whisk in the lemon zest.

5. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together, and gently fold in, followed by the melted butter and the honey.

6. Place the batter in the fridge and leave for 15 minutes to thicken slightly.

7. Fill each of the moulds three-quarters full with the mixture and bake for 10 minutes until puffed up and golden.

8. Leave to cool, then carefully remove from the tins.

A simple chicken dinner

I bought some chicken thighs from my butcher last weekend because I thought that I might make the lemon chicken again. They are quite inexpensive and I think, taste better. Here is what I did. It tasted very good so I thought that I should write it down.

Ingredients

1 or 2 small onions (or one large)
6 chicken thighs (2 or 3 people - add thighs accordingly)
1 lemon
1/2 C (4 oz) of dry white wine (not necessary but I had some left from another recipe - I buy 1/2 bottles for cooking)
1 or 2 chicken stock cubes and 1 cup of water (or chicken stock)
salt, pepper, Italian seasonings (whatever you enjoy most)
olive oil (or other)

1. Chop onion/s and gently fry them till they are soft. Don't allow to brown.
2. Remove chicken skins, dust thighs with seasoned flour and brown in frying pan with onions.
3. Once the chicken has been fried on each side, add the wine, and chicken stock (water + stock cubes).
4. Season and add lemon juice.
5. Turn down heat and gently simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.
6. You could add cream or crème fraiche to make a richer sauce.

I served this with mashed potatoes and carrots but you could have rice and any other vegetables.

If you wanted to serve 4 people, you would need 8 good sized thighs.