There's always room for hot cocoa

I feel as I have somehow jinxed the weather in Durban due to my boasts about the sunshine returning. The sunshine is a fickle mistress who has been once again been replaced by the ominous clouds and cooler temperatures this week. I must admit though,I still quite enjoy the soothing repetitions of the rain at times and the chance to catch up on all my TV shows ( crime shows are my guilty pleasure, at the moment I'm hooked on Bones and Castle) as well as reading my favourite books. I wish I could tell you that I ensnare my mind with the classics such as Jane Eyre and The Art of War but it's James Patterson all the way and perhaps a cheffy biography. As wine is a perfect match to cheese, so is delicious hot chocolate to a good book. I'm not talking about the watered down drivel that comes out of a generic hot chocolate mix, but the rich unctuous one made with dark chocolate and full cream milk. Once you have made this version, the former will be but a ghost of hot chocolates past in your mind.
Here is my recipe for the ultimate hot chocolate

Ingredients:

400ml full cream milk
1/2 cup of dark belgian chocolate ( any dark chocolate will do the trick)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp brown sugar
mini marshmallows

yields two glorious cups of cocoa

Method:

In a small pot put all the ingredients besides the marshmallows. Heat on a medium heat until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is piping hot.
Scatter with little marshmallows and enjoy! 

Spring has sprung, let's have some sunshine in a pie!

I can tell you that for as long as I have lived in Durban I have found that our moods are in direct linkage with the weather. Don't try have witty banter with a Durbanite after a few dark and rainy days ( You may get a mumble and a pat on the back for a brief millisecond until they descend into the dark crevice that is the winter moping)
Then Spring arrives, the sun is out, the flowers are in bloom and so are Durbanites! The beaches are full ( so are the gyms), beer o clock falls slightly earlier and sunshine food is definitely on the menu!
With that in mind, this lemon meringue pie will be a treat after an early evening braai, absorbing the last heat rays of the day or any day of the year in fact.

Oh my Isla's lemon meringue pie

ingredients:

Pastry base:
115g caster sugar
225g butter, cubed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
340g cake flour
*egg wash (take an egg add a tbsp. of water and whisk)

Lemon curd:
150g butter
125g sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
6 egg yolks

Meringue topping

6 egg whites
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 tsp. cream tartar

Instructions:

1. For the pastry base. cream together your butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add your egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Then add your cake flour until it forms a dough.
2. On a lightly floured surface roll out your dough and press into a tart pan ( mine is a 20cm tart pan)
3. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. While the pastry is chilling, let's make the curd.
5. In a medium size saucepan put in your butter, lemon juice and zest. Cook on medium heat until butter is melted. whisk your egg yolk and sugar together and add your melted butter mix. Place ingredients back in a pot on a medium heat and cook until thick. Pop in the fridge to chill.
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
7. Take your tart out of the fridge, place some baking paper on top, fill with ceramic baking beans or rice. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
8. Take out the oven and remove the baking beans. Brush with egg wash and place back in the oven for 5 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove from oven and cool slightly
9. Remove the curd from the fridge and pour into the pastry case.
10. Now onto the meringue
11. Place egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl and place on top of a simmering pot of water. stir until the sugar has dissolved.
12. Once it has, then place in a mixer and whisk until you have a big bowl of marshmallowy looking awesomeness!
13. Spoon your meringue onto the tart and spread around however your feel!
14. Enjoy your pie and sunshine!!