Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Patrick's Day Fare Pastry chef Caitlin Lopes shares choux bun and lemon meringue recipes

Caitlin Lopes, pastry chef at the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast shares some delicious sweet treat recipes.

MOUTH-WATERING DESSERTS and lazy afternoon teas might be distant memories right now, as lockdown continues to deprive us of the little luxuries we treasured in normal times.

And with a family meal, date night or celebration with friends still out of reach, we are left to our own devices when it comes to homemade recipes. But we can make the best of it.

The Grand Central in Belfast, where I work, is renowned for its afternoon tea which customers often enjoy in the Observatory, the tallest cocktail bar in Ireland, 23 floors up. 

Pandemic restrictions have, of course, turned the hospitality world on its head, but the challenges are something we have to weather and hopefully, life will be sweet again soon.

At the moment, we’re only open to essential workers, meaning the dramatic reduction in footfall has transformed how the hotel operates. We’re so used to being busy seven days a week, so we’ve gone from 100 afternoon teas on a Saturday to having 20 people for dinner.

So if you’re attempting afternoon tea at home, here’s a couple of seasonal recipes for you to try this St Patrick’s Day:

St Patrick’s Day choux bun with green sable topping and a pistachio filling

Screen Shot 2021-03-16 at 14.14.05

Ingredients

Brown sugar craquelin

75g butter (soft)
90g soft light brown sugar
85g plain flour
Green food colouring (or desired colour)

Choux

125ml milk
125ml water
125g butter
Pinch of salt
10g sugar
245g eggs (lightly beaten)
160g strong flour (sieved)

Pistachio diplomat

125ml whole milk
125ml double cream
1tsp vanilla bean paste
45g egg yolk
40g caster sugar
20g plain flour
10g cornflour
30g pistachio paste
1 leaf gelatine (soaked in ice cold water)
85g semi whipped double cream

Method – Brown Sugar Craquelin

Beat butter and sugar until smooth
Add flour and food colouring (add food colouring bit by bit until you get your desired colour)
Let rest for at 30 minutes
Lightly flour your bench and roll your craquelin until approx 2-3mm thick
Cut to desired size and keep in fridge until required

Method – Choux pastry

  • Heat oven on to 170◦C fan assisted
  • Place milk, water, butter, salt and sugar into a wide based pan and bring to a simmer
  • Add in sieved flour and keep mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon until your dough comes away from the sides of the pan to form one piece of dough
    Allow dough to cool for 5 to 7 minutes before gradually adding in your eggs bit by bit. When each bit of egg is added ensure that it has been fully mixed into your dough before adding any more. You should end up with a smooth glossy dough of thick dropping consistency
  • Pipe mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment and top with craquelin (you want your craquelin to be a few centimetres bigger than your piped choux)
  • Bake at 170◦C for 15-20 minutes then lower your oven to 130ºC and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Method – Pistachio diplomat

  • Heat milk, cream, vanilla and pistachio paste to a simmer
  • Whisk egg yolks sugar and flours
  • Gradually pour cream mix over egg mix continuously whisking
  • Place back on the heat and keep whisking (do not leave it or it will scramble) until you can make a figure of 8
  • Whisk in gelatine
  • Set over ice
  • Once set smooth with a spatula
  • When smooth lightly fold in semi whipped cream and place in the fridge for approximately 20 minutes

Assembly

  • Finely slice of the top of your cooled choux bun and set to the side
  • Place your chilled whipped pistachio diplomat into a piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle
  • Pipe into the base of your choux bun until filled approximately 1 to 2cm over the top
  • Place the top of your choux bun onto the top of your piped diplomat
  • Pipe a small rosette of diplomat on top again and garnish with your chosen chocolate decoration if desired
  • Best eaten with some warm chocolate sauce and a big scoop of ice cream!

Lemon meringue tart

Screen Shot 2021-03-16 at 14.24.24

Ingredients

Sweet pastry
250g plain flour (sieved)
100g butter cubed
80g icing sugar (sieved)
Small Pinch of salt
2 eggs

Lemon tart mix
6 lemons zest and juice (keep your zest and juice separate and ensure you don’t zest the white of the lemon as it will be bitter)
400ml double cream
275g caster sugar
5 eggs (medium-sized)

Italian meringue
225ml egg whites
600g sugar
140ml cold water

Method – Sweet pastry

  • Preheat oven to 150◦C fan assisted
  • Crumb together flour butter icing sugar and salt (until it resembles fine bread crumbs)
  • Lightly beat eggs
  • Make a well in the centre and add eggs
  • Knead until you have a smooth dough (approx 5 minutes)
  • Rest for at least 1 hour before rolling to fit your tart base
  • When your tart base is rolled lightly prick the bottom with a fork (not too hard – you only want to pierce it not go the whole way to the base)
  • Blind bake (use clingfilm or baking parchment to place in the centre of your tart and fill with baking beans or rice) at 150◦c for 15-20 minutes until very lightly golden
  • Remove clingfilm/baking parchment and cook for a further 7-10 minutes (lightly golden and crispy)
  • Leave to cool
  • Tip – brush tart lightly with egg yolk when your blind baking is done, and put back in the oven for 2-3 minutes (120◦c fan assisted) to dry it out. This will help protect your base when you pour the lemon mix in.

Method – Lemon tart

Whisk eggs well
Add in the rest of the ingredients leaving out the zest. Keep whisking until well combined
Pass through a sieve and then add in your zest
Carefully pour your tart filling into your cooled base and cook at 120◦c
Check after 20 minutes (for a large tart ring), then every 2-3 minutes after that until you only have a slight wobble in the centre of the tart

Method – Italian Meringue

  • Place egg whites in your mixer with whisk attachment and put on a medium-high speed (you want these to be semi-stiff before adding your cooked sugar mix)
  • Mix water and sugar together in a pan until a paste is formed (ensure you don’t have any sugar residue on the sides of your pan)
  • Put on a medium to high heat and cook to 118◦c
  • Now slowly pour your sugar mix into your egg whites whilst still whisking (steady stream not too fast)
  • Keep whisking until cool
  • Finished product will be a glossy meringue with lovely peaks when piped
  • Place in a piping bag and finish decorating your cooled lemon tart (this can be spooned on too!)

VOICES LOGO

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

View 10 comments
Close
10 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute james Goodyear
    Favourite james Goodyear
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:32 AM

    Women don’t make good comediennes.

    63
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lester Jeffcoat
    Favourite Lester Jeffcoat
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:50 AM

    Says the over-thinking potato.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mjhint
    Favourite Mjhint
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:01 AM

    No actually Christopher Hitchens said it & done an article in Vanity Fair about the fact that evolution may have made men funny as they have to be for the purpose of mating whereas women don’t require the same tactic. After several rebuttals by women including several successful female comedians it appears they only managed to confirm his hypothesis.

    32
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:13 AM

    James, you’re a gas man. Laughing my head off here at your witty joke!

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Beachmaster
    Favourite Beachmaster
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:26 AM

    Oh now!

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute little jim
    Favourite little jim
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:48 AM

    Boobies are not light entertainment, they have no need for cheap funbag jokes.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gavin Corrigan
    Favourite Gavin Corrigan
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:34 PM

    Similar to drivers, good women comedians are a minority

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute catkins407
    Favourite catkins407
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:36 AM

    Definitely” over thinking girl”. It’s a lot better than me. I struggle very much to read people and social situations so I end up being ” what inappropriate fecking thing did I say now ” woman. Lol

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:24 AM

    Glad I’m not alone in that C! I think we all have situations where we overthink – and it can be such a pain. Often it doesn’t do anything positive for us either.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute little jim
    Favourite little jim
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 10:45 AM

    Is overtalking a thing?

    10
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan Stokes
    Favourite Ronan Stokes
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 11:14 AM

    Jo Brand is a brilliant comedian, doesn’t take any crap and knows how to deliver a good story. Similar dead pan style Jack Dee. Im not a fan of Sue Perkins style as I think its very one dimensional, for me it’s more of a “look how clever and witty I am”, as opposed to delivering something funny about life. Her style seems very approval seeking.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ruairi O'Hagan
    Favourite Ruairi O'Hagan
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 11:34 AM

    Great stuff Aoife! Looking forward to the next part!

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Thanks so much R! :D

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dj
    Favourite dj
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 9:43 AM

    Go on,tell us a joke.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Sands
    Favourite Michael Sands
    Report
    Oct 11th 2015, 5:10 PM

    Enda and Joan are leaders of their parties in a government together, how’s that dj lol.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
    Favourite Chauncey Gardiner
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 12:23 PM

    Fair play to you Aoife! It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Cheney
    Favourite Richard Cheney
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 1:06 PM

    Jim Jefferies,Doug Stanhope,George Carlin,Bill Hicks – all highly recommended

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Uncle Monty
    Favourite Uncle Monty
    Report
    Oct 10th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Oh yes, I’ll add Louis CK.if you don’t mind. Doug Stanhope talking about the death of his mother is worth a watch…

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds