A little bit of lime

I was in Woolies yesterday and nearly fell over when I saw the price of limes at $3.99/kg! I know, I know, pick yourself up off the floor it was not a typo. Two weeks ago I think I paid $1.25 for 1 lime! You can imagine how many I bought, with plans for all the things I could do with them. So tonight's dinner is bought to you by the letter L - for lime!

We started of with a Thai Chicken Risotto. If you have the March 2012 issue of Delicious magazine you can find it in there on page 64 in the "Eat well for less" article. The amount I made would serve 4, ie we've both got lunch tomorrow :)

Start by cutting up 2 chicken thighs into small pieces. Brown them in some peanut oil, then remove from pan. In the same pan, over medium heat add 1/2 onion (I used 2 golden shallots) finely chopped, 1/2 red chilli thinly sliced (depending on the heat of the chilli and how hot you want it either leave seeds in or not, or use the whole chilli), 1 garlic clove crushed and 2 thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves. Cook, stirring often for 2 - 3 mins, until onion is soft. Add 165g aborio rice, 2 tbsp red curry paste and a splash of white wine (that's not in the Delicious recipe!) and cook, stirring to coat rice, for about 1 minute. Add the chicken back in, with 250mL chicken stock and 60mL water (about 300mL liquid all up). Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 - 20 mins till liquid is absorbed. Add more stock if necessary throughout the time. Finally stir in 125mL coconut milk/cream, 1 tbsp fish sauce and 100g trimmed chopped grean beans. Cover and stand for about 10 minutes. To serve, top risotto with coriander, the rest of the chilli finely chopped and more shredded kaffir lime leaves.

This was a beautiful risotto. It had just the right kick of chilli for me, and a good balance of flavours with the lime squeezed over the top. I was a happy chef and a happy eater. So simple, so tasty and all in one pot! 5/5 wooden spoons

And now for dessert. This is one of Nigella's little puddings. I was going to cook it two weeks ago, but ran out of time and energy. Then of course with limes being so cheap this week, Nigella's lemon puddings turned into Rose's lemon and lime puddings. The mixture below made 2 puddings.

Into your mix master or food processor bowl add: 65g softened unsalted butter, 65g caster sugar, 65g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 egg, zest of 1 lime - mix till combined into a thick batter. Add juice of the lime you zested and mix again. Grease two 1 cup ramekins, and dollop about 1 tbsp lemon curd in the bottom - enough to cover it.

Divide the batter amongst the ramekins, covering the lemon curd. Bake for 20 mins till cooked through. Remove from oven and ease sponge away from ramekin and tip into bowl. Serve warm with custard or cream. Make sure you scrape the bits of lemon curd out of the ramekin and "quality control" them - there's got to be a perk for being in charge in the kitchen.

As with the risotto, these were delicious. They were light and citrusy. The original recipe uses lemon zest and lemon juice, where I used the lime. Really, you just can go wrong with this one. Next time I will actually attempt to make my own custard, and not rely on good ol' Fosters Clarks (just add boiling water and whisk) Custard, although it is very tasty and a whole lot quicker. 4.5/5 wooden spoons