dinner for two

Ripe cantaloupe melon with Muscat
The Worlds Best Lasagne
Lemon and Strawberry tart.

What the boy wants the boy gets! I find myself helping a friend concoct a romantic candlelit feast tonight, and the favourite dish of a certain someone happens to be lasagne. I haven't cooked lasagne for years, and might have found the whole idea a trifle boring if I hadn't discovered this! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna/. We played around and substitued chilli and herbs de provence for the basil and fennel as well as a good old walloping of marscapone onto the top layer of pasta. And it looks so pretty piled high with all the layers and sprigs of parsley! If only I could have found some fresh basil would have propelled it through the roof.
Meandering around the market in Le Lion d'Angers yesterday (every friday morning ) produced the lovely cantaloupe - everywhere stalls were piled high and spilling over with melons. Chilled muscat poured into the hollowed out centre at the last minute makes a simple beginning.
And as for dessert. It has been on my mind to conquer 'fear of pastry' making.  The bought pate sucre in France just never has the sweet crumbliness of home-made. So henceforth to 'Strawberry and Lemon Curd Tart'.  This pastry was so simple it took my breath away, straight from the Rose Bakery cookbook 'breakfast, lunch, tea'.

Ingredients
500g plain flour
120g caster sugar
320 g cold unsalted butter
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
Put the flour, sugar, butter and salt into a food processor to blitz until incorporated and resembles fine breadcrumbs or alternatively work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.
Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla extract.  Stir with a fork to cincorporate the flour evenly until you have to begin using your hand.
Using one hand only, bring the dry and wet ingredients together.
Dust your work surface with flour, then remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on the floured surface for a few minutes until it is smooth and homogenous.
Roll out the dough to 5mm thickness and carefully ease into your tart tins. I found that half of this amount of pastry made 4 small tarts. You can freeze whatever you don't need to use immediately.
Chill the tart cases for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Bake blind (I used tinfoil with uncooked rice to hold it down) for 20 minutes until lightly golden brown.
Take out and leave to cool in the tart tins.
Meanwhile make the lemon curd. Put the zest and juice of 4 lemons, 100g butter and 200g sugar into a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water.  When the butter has melted, add 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk (stir them with a fork quickly before adding to the bowl) and whisk enthusiastically for the next 20 minutes or so until the mixture is thick and custardy.  Take off the heat and whisk occasionally as it cools. 
When completely cool put a large dollop of lemon curd onto the bottom of each tart case. Cover with fresh whole baby strawberries and sprinkle with demerara sugar.

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.
Paulo Coelho