Before the days of blogs, facebook, cell phones in every hand, and even compulsory email accounts, I had a romance that involved the mailman. Not what you are thinking...much more romantic than that. I had a lover in England who sat in a quiet room every day or so, crafting letters to me on starched white cotton paper with a black fountain pen. His margins were even, lines straight, and every time I opened the mailbox I got what I expected and wanted. He never gushed, but every detail of his thought was expressed beautifully. He drew me in, and in turn I replied. Not with straight lines and white paper though. My writing was wild and unpredictable, on different paper every time. Sometimes I included perfume or a bit of moss from the rock in the woods where I wrote my last letter. I doodled, decorated and embellished. We were very different.
Different, yes. But bound together nonetheless. It was five months of nearly nonstop letters before I saw his face for the second time. I kissed him. His first kiss. And then we knew we would be together forever.
I kissed him. His first kiss. And then we knew we would be together forever.
I suppose this is a sort of valentines post...a tad late. It took me a while to get my thoughts together. That, and I have been testing recipes for macaroons and custard. It's appropriate, really. Two delicious treats from one glorious egg. Two parts held together...not mixed up, but held beautifully together inside a shell. How lovely. This is what I think about when I'm in the kitchen. I separate the eggs...yolks in a small jug, saving for the custard to be prepared later. Whites go in with the coconut and sugar. Nothing is wasted.
I'm sentimental around this time of year. Twelve years ago I sent a man I hardly knew, a box of homemade peanut butter cookies and hershey kisses. I later found out that he hates peanut butter and Hershey's is regarded as an insult to the cocoa bean. He was gracious enough to never tell me his real response to his first valentine. But hey, it was nowhere but up after that one. In fact, our first child came about 9 months after a valentines day...the one we spent having a most delightful feast at St. Johns Restaurant. Mmmmm. That was a good one.
This year we were lucky to get away from the children long enough have a pint at a neighborhood restaurant. But I made chocolate dipped macaroons for me, and custard tarts for him. And we held hands, not mixed up, but beautifully together.
Chocolate Dipped Macaroons
Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
1 large spoon of honey
2 1/2 -3 cups of unsweetened coconut (small shred), or finely ground almonds
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 tsp almond extract if using almonds)
1 bar of Lindt chocolate (70% or a mixture of milk chocolate with the 70% is nice)
Method:
Place the egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut and flour in a medium saucepan. Mix together until the texture is fairly even, then turn heat on to medium and continue to stir until the mixture begins to brown on the bottom slightly. Stir in the vanilla extract, then remove from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature. Once the macaroon mixture is cooled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a cookie scoop to distribute the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how soft or firm you like your macaroons. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Melt chocolate in a microwaveable dish. Dip the bottoms of the macaroons in the chocolate and place on the parchment paper. Cool in the fridge until the chocolate has set. Store in an airtight container
Custard Tarts
Pastry:
For USA, you will need a kitchen scale. These are weighed measures.
9 oz plain flour
pinch of salt
2-3 oz unsalted butter
2-3 oz shortening
Cold water
Stir the salt into the flour. Cut or rub the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Gently stir a little cold water into the mixture (a couple tablespoons at a time) until the mixture begins to form a ball. Do not over-mix pastry dough or it will become tough. Roll out on a floured board and place in a large tart pan, or if you are feeling particularly energetic, you can cut them into small circles and use muffin pans or jam-tart pans for individual tarts.
Custard:
4 egg yolks, plus 2 eggs
2 oz caster sugar
1/2 pint of whole milk
1/2 pint single cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Freshly grated nutmeg
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat the eggs and yolks with the sugar until blended. In a saucepan, warm the cream and milk until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat and slowly whisk the milk into the egg mixture. Add the vanilla extract. Pour the egg and milk mixture into the pastry case or cups. Grate the nutmeg over the tarts and bake for 30 minutes, or until the custard is just set. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving, or refrigerate and serve cold (either way, don't forget the tea).
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