Lemon Meringue Cupcakes - Retro Recipe Day 5

I haven't had Lemon Meringue Pie for years. I distinctly remember the flavour like it was yesterday though, as I am sure many people can. I simply had to make it for retro week. However, The Bloke and I would never get through a whole pie so I had to downsize. And bring it up to date. So here we have my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.

You can easily buy lemon curd in a jar. It makes this recipe take no time at all. But I have also added the recipe for homemade lemon curd too, as its just a nice thing to make yourself if you have the time.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

For the meringue:

Whisk together two egg white until stiff peak stage and slowly add 100g sugar in 3-4 stages, continuously whisking until glossy. Set to one side while you make the cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
zest of 1 lemon

Cream together the butter and caster sugar until light and incorporated. Mix in the first egg and then the second whisking well. Whisk in the vanilla essence and lemon zest and fold in the flour. Note: This is a basic cupcake mix (excluding the lemon zest) that you can make with any added flavour or topping.

Fill the paper cases about two thirds up and cook at 180 C for 10 minutes.

Pipe the meringue on top of the cupcake and put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes, until browned on top.

There are two ways to incorporate the lemon curd. One is to put a teaspoon in the middle of the cupcake batter. You add a couple of teaspoons of the batter into the paper cake, then a teaspoon of lemon curd, topped with another couple of teaspoons of batter. Then cook for 20 minutes before topping with meringue and using the grill to brown the meringue. But personally, this way I find the curd gets a bit lost.

The way I did it was when the meringue topped cakes came out of the oven after its second 10 minutes, I let them cool for an hour, and simply lifted off the meringue top (it comes away easily). Added the curd to the top of the cupcake and put the meringue back on top. This way you are guaranteed a generous amount of the lemon curd!

The recipe for the lemon curd is:

175g sugar
110g butter, cubed
2 eggs
juice from 2 lemons

Put the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Keep whisking until it thickens. It takes about 20 minutes so have faith. When its thicker, put into a sterilised jar ready for use. You can use any leftover curd to put on toast. Delicious!

Jerk Chicken & Calaloo Stuffed Rolls & Pork Beanos

Now this may look like I am veering off Retro Week, but I assure you I'm not so please bear with me! When I was a little girl back in the 70's, my mother used to make what she called 'Beanos'. I don't know if this was a name she made up or a recipe she came up with but it was simply baked beans in pastry - which looked a bit like a Cornish pasty. I loved them so had a go at making them the other day. I wasn't impressed. The pastry was just.. too much really and it was lacking something. I guess my taste has changed over the years. But it got me thinking of another story.

When I was in my twenties, I went to lunch with the receptionist one day. She was a lovely girl called Yvette whose roots were in Jamaica. She took me to a Caribbean bakery and she had a hot roll filled with salt fish (Ackee). I was a vegetarian in those days so opted for the Calaloo version (Calaloo is a Jamaican vegetable, similar to spinach/greens). It was delicious.

With both of these stories in mind I made these. First batch are ciabatta rolls filled with Jerk Chicken and Calaloo and the second batch are filled with tiny pork meatballs and beans. Lets start with the chicken ones.

For these I used a ciabatta bread mix which I have talked about it the past. Its quick and handy (pic at the bottom of this page). The pack I bought made eight large rolls. You make the dough to packet instructions - add water and a splash of olive oil - and have your fillings ready. Cut the dough in half (half for chicken, half for pork & beans).

You simply then just get the dough half and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Press out into a round of about 5-6 inches and fill the centre of the dough with one of the fillings. Pull up the sides and press to seal, using a little water if needed. Put onto a floured baking sheet, seam side down and complete the others. Then take the other half of dough, cut into four again and stuff with the other filling. Put onto a separate floured baking sheet. Leave them all for 15 minutes to rise.

For the Jerk Chicken & Calaloo

I marinated two small skinless chicken breasts in my jerk marinade, which I always have in my fridge (recipe here), for an hour and then baked, covered, in a 200 C oven for 20 minutes. Then I shredded the meat and put into a bowl. I chopped an onion and fried it gently in one tsp. of oil and when cooked added that to the chicken. Then I added 4-5 tablespoons of Calaloo (picture of the tin at the bottom of this page) and stirred together.

For the Pork & Beans

I seasoned about 200g pork mince with salt, pepper and garlic powder and made into one inch balls. Then fried in a little oil until browned and added to 400g tin of baked beans. 

 

The great thing about these rolls is that they can be eaten hot (microwave for 1 minute) or cold. You can bag them up and take to work for lunch, or take them on a picnic with the comfort of no spillages like you would with normal sandwiches!

I got a text from The Bloke at lunchtime today...a very happy man. He LOVED them both.

Here is the Calaloo - you can get it in most stores. And a picture of the bread mix. Happy baking!