One Of The Very Nicest Things About Life is The Way We Must Regularly Stop Whatever It Is We Are Doing And Devote Our Attention To Eating.

Hi guys!

I’ve got a few things ready to type up and post in the (I hope) not too distant future. There’s a birthday post featuring some of the beautiful presents I got, and another which I’m going to refer to as a “vintage venture” which I went on last week. So they should be up within the next week.

However, after the excitement of the jubilee… and the mass of cakes I ate in celebration of it (God bless you ma’am!) I’ve decided to type up one of my favourite recipes. If you hate the sound of it, don’t make it… I think it’s simple enough :)

And if you do make it, let me know how it goes!

I am unashamedly obsessed with The Hairy Bikers.
(Many believe this is because my father is hairy... and a biker.)
Anyway, my dad got their cookbook from a friend and because he is a self-proclaimed masterchef of the world he, naturally, believed it would be of no use to him and passed it down to his curinarily-challenged daughter! (for the slow kid at the back - that's me!)

I love their recipes because they're easy to follow, they don't use ponsey ingredients (Nigella, I love you, but no-one has oak-dried baby porcini mushrooms or cave-aged truffle pesto in their cupboard!) and they eat REAL food, these guys are not cooking for diet-dwellers!
One recipe I adore is Key Lime Pie so I thought I would share it with you all - ENJOY!

Ingredients

For the base

· 175g/6oz digestive biscuits

· 80g/3oz butter

· 50g/2oz caster sugar

For the filling

· 3 large free-range eggs, separated

· 2 limes, finely grated zest

· 125ml/4½fl oz lime juice

· 210ml/7½fl oz condensed milk

· 80g/3oz caster sugar

· ½ tsp vanilla extract

· pinch salt

To serve

· whipped cream

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

For the pastry base, finely crush the biscuits by placing into a plastic bag and bashing with a rolling pin (alternatively, pulse to crumbs using a food processor). Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then pour over the biscuit crumbs. Add the sugar, then mix well to combine. Evenly spread the biscuit mixture in a 23cm/9in pie case, making sure to cover the sides of the tin as well. Level off any excess biscuit mixture.

For the filling, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until pale and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together the lime zest, lime juice and condensed milk until smooth and creamy, then mix into the egg yolk mixture. Pour the mixture into the pie case.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Gradually fold in the sugar, vanilla extract and salt, then whisk again until stiff peaks form. Spoon the meringue mixture over the filling in the pie case, using a fork to form the meringue into peaks.

Bake the pie in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the meringue is golden-brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Place into the fridge to chill completely before serving.

To serve, cut slices of the key lime pie and serve with a few spoonfuls of whipped cream.

Hope some of you will give it a try and tell me if you like/love/hate it!

Will try and get those other posts up within the week but going away tomorrow on a birthday surprise trip!
(Will also post about that too!)

Until then, take care.

Lots of love, Taz x