Two tips...

Both born out of laziness (or good household management - which are often the opposite sides of the same coin; it's a matter of perspective how you choose to understand them! )


1. Having made crab tarts for starter on Sunday, I had some leftover dressed crab, and decided to use it in Lamb Mentonais for dinner last night in place of the more usual salmon. Excellent! And in fact a distinct improvement on the normal recipe, as the strongly favoured brown crab meat plays very well against the flavour of lamb. Definitely a modification that will be my preferred method from now on...

2. And, the height of laziness, last week I had leftovers of both puff pastry (from making a Pasqualina at Easter) and shortcrust (following both Lemon and Tomato Tarts, earlier in the week). Not enough of either to make an 8" shell, which was what I wanted for a Tarte aux Pommes. So, I combined them (giving exactly the right amount for one tart shell), by putting the ball of shortcrust on top of the ball of Puff, pressed down with the rolling pin and rolled them out together. As long as you remember to keep the shortcrust pastry on top when rolling out the pastry and lining the tin, then the result is splendid. I had my doubts that it would work, but in fact the result was probably some of the crispest pastry I've ever tasted, with the puff pastry layering nicely on the bottom, and the shortcrust on top keeping it under control and not losing the shape of the tart shell. It even remained beautifully crisp after 24 hours with the apple filling sitting inside it. Try it!

Tonight's Dinner:

Frittata in Tomato Sauce

Lamb Mentonais (leftover, reheated); with Lemon Spinach.

Chocolate Tarts with Lime Cream.