Around the World Recipes

Coconut Meringue Pie

makes two pies

Filling:
5 cups of half and half
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
3 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 1/4 cups flaked coconut
1 baked 9-inch pie shells

Meringue:
1 1/4 cups egg whites (from 8 - 9 extra-large eggs)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

For the filling:
In a large saucepan, combine the half and half and butter.
bring just to a boil over medium heat.
Ina a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt until the cornstarch is completely dissolved and mixture if well-blended. gradually add to the mixture in the saucepan, stirring constantly with a wire whisk.
Cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute of until thickened.
Add the marshmallows and 3/4 cup of the coconut.
Cook and stir until the marshmallows melt and the mixture is well-blended.
Pour into pie shells (2).
refrigerate at least two ours.
heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the meringue:
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream
of tartar until soft peaks form.
Add the sugar, a small amount at a time, beating
constantly until stiff peaks form.
Spread half the meringue over each pie to the edge of the
crust.
Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of the remaining coconut.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Makes two nine-inch pies.

Langouste al ajillo

(fried lobster in garlic sauce)
Serves: four to twenty, depending on use
Preparation time: Under thirty minutes
Ingredients:
(A) The meat from one large lobster or about two pounds of lobster meat.
Always at their best when fresh. If frozen, thaw quickly under running tap water. In all cases, rinse in tap water and set on paper towel to drain excess moisture.
Dice into bite size pieces.
(B) 1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoonful ground garlic
1 teaspoonful of parsley flakes
1/3 teaspoonful ground oregano
1/3 teaspoonful ground Italian Red Pepper
2 tablespoonfuls melted butter
Preparation:
Blend all the ingredients in B together. If possible, use the same dish for cooking and serving, to preserve the light gravy.
Baste the lobster meat thoroughly in the mixture.
If you have time to spare, allow the lobster to
marinate in the mixture for at least two hours, covered, in your refrigerator.
Mari nation works wonders for this dish.
Microwave for about 4 minutes on HIGH or cook in the range over medium to medium high heat for about eight minutes. Stir at
least once throughout the cooking process. The lobster is ready to eat when its color is
paper white. Do not overcook. Since the cooking time is so short, you are well
advised to watch them continuously to learn the best cooking time in your circumstances.
Most probably, you'll be asked to repeat this recipe many times!
For finicky diners, hold the Italian Red Pepper and add at the table.
Serve as a fitting appetizer for almost any occasion!
Or convert to a full dish by adding the lobster to a bowl of spaghetti. Enjoy!

Budin de pan (Bread pudding)

Ingredients:
(A) 1/2 pound of bread, after removing the outside rind This can be French bread, Puerto Rican pan criollo, sandwich bread,
etc.
Bread can be fresh or preferably one or two days old.

4 cups whole milk, warm

4 large eggs at room temperature

4 tablespoonfuls butter, melted

(B) 2/3 cup raisins

teaspoonful ground cinnamon

1 cup sugar or suitable substitute like Equal or
Splenda
1 teaspoonful vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon salt
Procedure:
Mix together the ingredients included in (B) and set aside.
Shred the bread into small pieces. Add 4 cups warmed milk and whisk until the bread soaks up the milk. If necessary, let stand 15 minutes
for the bread to soak up all the milk.
Beat 4 large eggs. Add slowly to the bread and milk mix, whisking the eggs into the mix. Add the melted butter and whisk in.
Add the ingredients included in (B) which you had previously mixed together. Blend in thoroughly.
Pour all ingredients into a buttered baking dish.
Place the baking dish into a much larger dish. After placing the baking dish into the larger dish, add enough water to the larger dish to fill
it nearly three-quarters full.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. It will take approximately one hour for the pudding to reach the desired
consistency. Add water to the larger dish if necessary.
Alternately, you may use a "Baño de María" or double boiler to cook the pudding on the range over medium heat. Add water to the bottom section of the double boiler as necessary.
Try not to overcook. The pudding should be removed from heat as soon as it shows consistency (a couple of minutes earlier than
you would normally remove a cake).
Some people like to eat it warm. For best results, though, refrigerate before serving. It will last two to three days, well covered, in the
refrigerator. Enjoy.

Quick Caribbean Chicken

1/4 tsp salt
12 oz chicken tenderloin strips
1/8 to 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp oil
1 med sweet potato, peeled halved and thinly sliced
1 small banana pepper, peeled seeded and chopped
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 tsp cornstarch
2 unripe bananas, diced in 3/4 in cubes
cooked brown rice
Season chicken with salt and red pepper. Heat oil in a large
nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 3-4 min.
Add sweet potato and banana pepper, cook and stir for 5-6 min. In a
small bowl stir together pineapple juice and cornstarch. Add to skillet, cook, stirring gently til bubbly. Add bananas, cook & stir 2 min more and serve over rice. 4 servings.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE RECIPE

I wouldn't go so far as to claim that Lemon Meringue Pie is a South African invention.
However, it is a South African favorite.

Any restaurant offering morning and afternoon tea/coffee and cake that doesn't have a Lemon Meringue Pie on the menu is looking to lose customers.
Also, through the ages, South African cooks have added their own improvements to the basic Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe.
In this sense the Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe given here may, at a stretch, be considered a truly traditional and authentic South African recipe.
For the pie you obviously need a pie shell, for this I use a rich, sweet shortcrust pastry.
Rich, because the Lemon Meringue itself is rich and sweet to compliment the sweet meringue and contrast with the tart sweetness of the lemon pie filling.
SHORTCRUST PASTRY PIE SHELL:-
Note, this Shortcrust Pastry recipe will make 4 pie shells. Presumably, you won't be making 4 Lemon Meringue Pies at the same time, so you can either halve the quantities or wrap the pastry in waxed paper and chill until needed. Will last for a week in the refrigerator. DO NOT FREEZE.
500g cake flour (1 lb 1 ½ oz)
350g shortening (12 ½ oz) (butter, a combination of 50% butter and 50% lard, or margarine)
125ml iced water (½ cup)
40 g sugar (granulated) (1 ½ oz)
25 ml lemon juice. Preferably freshly squeezed. (2 tbsp)
5ml Salt (1 tsp)
1 Egg
Double sift the dry ingredients (flour, sugar & salt) together into a mixing bowl.
Cut the shortening into the dry mixture and rub until the mixture takes on the appearance of coarse crumbs.
Sprinkle the water and lemon juice onto the crumb mixture and press together lightly to form a solid mass.

IMPORTANT: Do not knead the pastry and avoid over working.
Wrap in waxed paper and chill until required.
As an added taste I often add 10 ml (2 teaspoons) of lemon zest (the finely grated outside either yellow or green of a lemon) to the dry ingredients when I know that I am going to be using the pastry for Lemon Meringue Pies.
When ready for use, line pie tins with the pastry and bake at 190oC (375oF) for 15 minutes

LEMON MERINGUE PIE FILLING
250g (sweetened condensed milk (9 oz)
65ml castor sugar (6 tbsp)
3 medium sized lemons
3 eggs

Juice the lemons and using a rasp grate the outside of the lemons to obtain the zest. Be careful to only grate the outer colored skin of the lemons and not the white pith.
Separate the eggs.
In a mixing bowl beat together the egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.
Beat in the condensed milk and pour the resulting mixture into a baked pastry shell.
Using a clean bowl beat together the egg whites and castor sugar until the mixture forms stiff peaks, be careful not to beat so much that the meringue mixture becomes dry.
Spoon the meringue mixture over the lemon pie filling. Do not smooth the top.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180oC (350oF) for 25 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool.
Serve the Lemon Meringue Pie cold; some people prefer to chill Lemon Meringues in a refrigerator before serving.

HERTZOG COOKIES

Hertzog Cookies, or Hertzoggies, a delicious blend of coconut and apricot jam, are uniquely South African cookies

The Cookie Pastry:
· 1 lb self-raising flour
· 4 Tbsp sugar
· 2 Tbsp margarine
· 3 egg yolks
· milk or water (as required)
· 1 tsp vanilla essence
· ¼ tsp salt

Beat the margarine and sugar together in a bowl to a light and creamy consistency
Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla essence, taking care to blend well.
Sift the flour and the salt into the mixture, ensuring that it is thoroughly mixed.
Stir in enough milk or water so that a fairly stiff dough is formed.

Place the dough on a floured surface and roll out to a ¼ inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a cookie cutter.
Line a greased patty tin with the rounds of dough.

The Cookie filling:
· 3 egg whites, stiffly beaten
· 2 cups desiccated coconut
· 1 cup sugar
· apricot jam

Gradually add the sugar to the beaten egg whites, beating well to blend.
Fold the coconut into the mixture and mix well.
Place a little apricot jam in the center of the rounds in the patties and spoon some of the coconut mixture over the jam.
Bake in the oven at 400o F for approximately 15 minutes. The pastry should be a light golden color.
Leave to cool slightly in the patty tin and then place on a rack and let the cookies cool completely.

Makes approximately 60 cookies. These may be stored in an airtight container for 2 weeks