Harvest from the garden: Thyme
Creamy pasta
Ingredients
- 6 medium green and yellow courgettes
- 500 g penne
- 4 large eggs
- garlic to taste
- 100 ml single cream
- 1 small handful of Parmesan cheese
- olive oil
- 6 slices of ham, keep separate in a bowl
- ½ a bunch of fresh thyme , (15g)
Method
Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.
Halve and then quarter any larger courgettes lengthways. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the courgettes at an angle into pieces roughly the same size and shape as the penne. Smaller courgettes can simply be sliced finely.
Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the packet instructions. In a bowl, add the cream. Some grated garlic, and grate in half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly with sea salt and black pepper, and put to one side.
Heat a very large frying pan and add a good splash of olive oil, add the courgette slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick.
It’s very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the courgettes, bacon and lovely flavours, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly.
When serving, separate the eggs and put the yolks into a bowl (saving the whites for another recipe).
Lemon tart
Ingredients
- 1 sweet tart crust (or homemade pie crust, or store bought 23cm / 9″ sweet pie or tart crust)
- Lemon Tart filling:
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (1 lemon’s worth)
- 1/2 cup lemon juice (from 1 – 2 lemons)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 12 tbsp / 170g unsalted butter , cut in 1cm (1/2″) cubes
- 3 whole eggs large, (Note 1)
- 3 egg yolks (from large-size eggs, Note 1)
Instructions
Tart crust:
Make tart crust per linked recipe, including blind baking the empty tart crust. Allow to fully cool before filling (to ensure it won’t go soggy).
Lemon Tart filling:
Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 180℃/350℉ (160℃ fan)
Whisk ingredients together: Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan and whisk to combine.
Thicken on stove: Place the saucepan on the stove over low / medium low heat. Whisk constantly, especially as the butter is melting, to ensure it doesn’t split. Keeping stirring until the mixture thickens enough to visibly mound (ie. holds its shape briefly) on the surface when dolloped – about 5 minutes, though it might take longer depending on stove strength, saucepan heat retention etc.
See video and photos for thickness guide. Don’t take it off the stove until it’s thick enough otherwise the Filling won’t set.
Strain into a bowl using a fine mesh strainer.
Fill tart: Pour into tart shell and smooth the filling surface using an offset spatula or similar.
Bake: Bake for 5 minutes. It will still be a soft custard when you touch it but not liquidity. It will set more when cooled so it’s sliceable.
Cool: Cool tart fully to allow it to set before slicing to serve. Pictured with a dollop of creme fraiche (a thick, rich cream that has a slight tartness, and goes very well with the lemon tart) or whipped cream and even vanilla ice cream.
Decorate if desired with lemon slices, edible flowers, raspberries. Else pipe on dollops of whipped cream or dust with icing sugar!