Mumandsons

LEMON CURD

We have been looking for a yellow recipe to remind you how to vote today - in case you are in Scotland and for the avoidance of doubt this is Liberal Democrat yellow.

We have adapted this from a BBC website but changed a little the quantities and the timings.
You need:
- juice and zest of 4 lemons
- 4 eggs
- 100 butter
- 180 g sugar

Put the juice, zest, sugar and butter into a heatproof bowl over a pan with simmering water (the bowl should not touch the water). When the butter is dissolved whisk the eggs and add them to the bowl while you stir the mixture (stir energetically while you pour the eggs or you will get scramble eggs) Stir it constantly for 9 minutes - I have no scientific explanation for this, but I think it helps if you stir always in the same direction (the same goes for custard by the way). As the mixture thickens you will see that the whisker/spoon leaves a trail in it. Get the bowl off the pan and stir for another minute. Pour into sterilised jars (just wet the jars with water and put them in the microwave for 1-1.30 minutes)

That is all. Easy - as easy as it should be for you to decide who to vote for!

ROMESCO SAUCE

This is a great sauce for vegetables, boiled eggs or grilled white fish. You need:
- 3 tomatos
- an onion
- a head of garlic
- 10 almonds
- a slice of bread (preferably stake)
- a tablespoon of red wine vinegar
- salt
- half a glass of water
- half a glass of oliver oil
- a pinch of sweet paprika (pimenton) - the flavour of pimenton is very strong, so you need only a tiny pinch.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Cut the tomatoes and onion in half and put them on a baking tray, add the head of garlic and roast it all for 35-40 minutes. When this is ready put it in a food processor (but squeeze the garlic paste out of the garlic head and discard the skin before you do so). Toast the almonds in a frying pan for a couple of minutes. Then add a tablespoon of oil to the frying pan, pour the tablespoon of vinegar over the bread and fry the bread in the oil on both sides (less than a minute on each side). Add the bread, almonds and all the other ingredients to the food processor and blend.

It is nicer if you pulse it so that you get a rough texture, but children may prefer it smooth - mine do.

ROAST LEEKS

Going on with the Wales' theme... Children seem to like this more than steamed leeks. It could not be simpler to make:

You need:
- a couple of leeks per person
- salt
- olive oil

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Put the leeks in a roasting tray. Add the salt and drizzle with olive oil. Let them roast for 35 minutes, until they are golden.

We made them with 'romesco' sauce (recipe to come later when we have time to write it)

The main thing for the children to learn with this is how to clean the leeks. Unless you cut them lengthwise and rinse them well under the tap, you may get some sand which is a pretty disagreeable feeling when they are eating them.

LESS IS MORE - BLACK SNOWDONIA CHEESE

Let me start by declaring that we are not being paid by the cheese producer for this (or any other!) posts. But this is such a wonderful cheese that we just have to put it into our 'less is more' chapter. I was given it as a present when I visited Montgomeryshire earlier this week. I have never-ever tried such an excellent cheddar before - it is simply outstanding. So good that we are eating it on its own as nothing else would do it justice. Before I left for more trips later in the week I put it in the fridge behind the broccoli (where there is no risk that any of my children ever looks!) and yet they managed to find it... So you can see below how quickly it is disappearing.

AUBERGINES WITH HONEY

This is one of the best ways to get children to eat aubergines (not a favourite vegetable with most kids) The key to cooking aubergine is to give it either very hot oil or enough time - raw aubergine is inedible. Middle East countries are the ones who 'understand aubergines' best (I have tried dozens of wonderful dishes with aubergines in my many trips there when I was doing foreign affairs) This recipe comes from the South of Spain though.

This makes a snack or first course dish for four.

You need:

- an aubergine
- 75 g plain flour
- 25 g chickpea flour (if you do not have this then do it with plain flour only, but the aubergines will be less crispy)
- salt
- a small bottle of fizzy water (or beer - don't worry, the alcohol will evaporate)
- 3 table spoons of honey
- one table spoon of water
- a glass of olive oil

Cut the aubergine into thick matchsticks, put them in a bowl and cover them with the fizzy water or beer. Let them rest for 30 minutes.
Salt the aubergine sticks. Then combine the flours in another bowl. Heat the oil in a frying pan until it is very hot (this really has to be very hot, so whenever you thing it is ready give it a couple off additional minutes). Dust the aubergine sticks with the flours' mixture and fry them until they are golden on both sides (do not fry too many in each go or the temperature of the oil will go down and the aubergines will not get crispy). They should get golden after a minute or so on each side. Get the aubergine sticks off the pan and put them on kitchen paper.

Heat the honey with the tablespoon of water into a small pan for half a minute. Pour it over the aubergines. That's it.

Children eat these in seconds.

SCOTTISH TABLET

I promised the Sunday Post earlier this week that I would try a Scottish recipe before I am back there on Friday, so this is it. It is an easy one, I know, and the picture is rather simple, but in all fairness we did not have much time...

Tablet is absolutely scrumptious and it is difficult to stop eating it - but I warn you, it is the kind of food that lasts one minute in your mouth and one year in your hips!

The recipe is from the Guardian (Jan 2014). You need:
- 125 g butter
- 350 gr condensed milk
- a pinch of salt
- 250 ml whole milk (we only had semi-skimmed milk so we used 225 ml milk and 25 ml of single cream)
- 1Kg caster sugar (yes, really)
- half a tsp of vanilla essence.

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the sugar, milk and salt and heat it all (stirring now and then) until the sugar has dissolved. This takes around 20 minutes. Then add the condensed milk and let it simmer (stirring also from time to time) for another 20 minutes (if you have a food thermometer this should reach 115 degrees). Take it off the heat, add the vanilla essence and beat with an electric whisker ( 2-3- minutes) or by hand (much better so that you start burning all those calories!) for 5-6 minutes. It should get the consistency of thick cream. Pour it into a shallow tin previously greased with butter. Let it cool down in the fridge for 30 minutes and cut it into squares when it has cooled down.

It is tricky to get the children to help with this as the mixture gets very hot. In any case, do not let them help you when you beat the mixture at the end as, though it looks like brown cream, it is boiling sugar (soft ball point) so they can burn themselves very easily.

CRACKLED CHOCOLATE BISCUITS

We made these yesterday morning to share them with a large group of people. They work very well for a crowd, as you can get many biscuits (30-35) with the quantities below, and are easy to make. We have tried, altered and combined various recipes over the last three years.

You need:
- 225 g dark chocolate
- 225 g butter (room temperature)
- 300 gr light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 360 g self raising flour
- a teaspoon of being powder
- a pinch of salt
- 6 table spoons of strong decaffeinated coffee
- 150 gr icing sugar

Beat together the eggs and light brown sugar (with a hand mixer) for a couple of minutes. Then add the eggs, butter and coffee and mix well (one minute). Finally mix the salt, baking power and flour - sift them together and fold them into the mixture with a spoon. Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest overnight in the fridge.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Make little balls (walnut size) with the mixture and roll them in icing sugar. We normally roll them twice in the icing sugar so that you get a proper crackled effect. Put the balls on a lined baking tray (don't be tempted to flatten them) and bake for 15 minutes. Be very careful with the timing as they go from soft to dry in no time at all. Let the cool down in a cooling rack.

These are a bit like making chocolate meatballs so they are fun for the children to make. Also, the mixture is rather dense, so even if the children help you to prepare these you should not end up with a chocolate mess.