When life gives you lemons

After five days away in Spain, it was nice not to have too much on the to-do list this weekend (aside from having to darn some pointe shoes, which quite frankly, I never, ever want to talk about). Pottering around the house, and wandering around my home town of Lutterworth, made for a nice restful weekend.

A good dose of inspiration had come back with me from Spain. In the back garden of our Spanish house, there’s a big, beautiful lemon tree. Always brimming with fruit, and far too much for us to use day-to-day, it got me thinking about what to do with it all.

So this weekend I started practicing my lemon recipes in readiness for the next time that we visit.

Generously offered at the end of most meals, a decent shot of limoncello is usually poured in most southern Spanish restaurants. How hard can it be to make, we thought? So we’ve had a go! Our home-made efforts now need to rest for a couple of weeks, and I’ll let you know how it turns out. Or, you won’t hear from me again because I’ll be in a permanent drunken stupor.

Next up, we whipped up a simple lemon posset for after dinner on Sunday. Cream, sugar, lemons. Easy. But, the true sign of being back in the UK on a bitterly cold Saturday was spending the afternoon with my youngest baking a pretty decent lemon drizzle. Now, we all know that I like a slice of cake, and it got me thinking – could my Spanish lemons (no pun intended) be the start of a new side-hustle?? Do I have a lemon cook book in me?? Do the Spanish eat lemon drizzle? Should I apply for the Bake Off?!

There’s nothing like the welcoming smell of a homemade bake, until, that is, the deliciousness of a still-warm, generous slice. We all heartily tucked in.

Whilst my fingers and thumbs bled at the mother-chuffing darning (honestly, there’s not enough swear words available to describe how long I spent on those ballet shoes this weekend), the fresh lemony scent that filled my house, together with the comfort of some easy baking made for a happy weekend at home. The only wandering that happened was buying the ludicrously small lemons from the local supermarket when I knew how big they were growing back in my Spanish garden. (By the by, there’s plenty of fresh produce out in Spain, including tomatoes – don’t believe the nonsense – in fact, if you haven’t seen this, enjoy!).

For anyone who fancies a slice of lemon drizzle, here’s my simple recipe:

Cream 175g of caster sugar with 175g of marg with the zest of two decent sized fresh lemons until light and fluffy. Add three eggs, one at a time (mixing thoroughly after each one). Then add 225g of self-raising flour, again mixing thoroughly. Put into a 2lb loaf tin (lined with baking paper) and bake at 180 for c50 mins. When it’s cooked through (test with a skewer), poke the cake all over with the skewer and drizzle in some of the lemon juice from the fresh lemons. I think mix a good few spoonfuls of icing sugar with a little bit of the left over lemon juice to make some tasty royal icing. Spread over the top and decorate to suit. Best served warm!

What’s your favourite lemon recipe?

Let me know!