ROYAL WEDDING COUNTDOWN - wedding viewing party recipes

As the time draws nearer for the wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton, no doubt many of the millions of viewers who will gather around their television sets will do so with friends. Here are some easy recipes for your royal-wedding party menu.

Roast beef, mustard and watercress sandwiches

Makes 9

Ready in 10 minutes

Ingredients

50g butter

6 slices brown bread

3 slices roast beef, about 70g, finely chopped

1 pickled walnut, mashed (optional)

A handful watercress, finely chopped

1 tbsp crème fraiche (sour cream)

2 tsp Dijon mustard

METHOD

1. Butter the bread and divide the beef between three slices. Add pickled walnut (if using). Mix the watercress and crème fraiche, season and spread on top.

2. Add mustard to the remaining bread, top, trim the crusts and cut into three fingers.

Earl Grey martinis

Makes 2

Prep 10 mins

Cook 10 mins plus cooling

Ingredients

6 Earl Grey tea bags

180ml gin

8 ice cubes

4 large lemons, 3 juiced, 1 cut into wedges

120ml sugar syrup (shop-bought or make your own, as below)

FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP

440ml water

440g golden caster sugar

Method

1. To make the sugar syrup, put the water and caster sugar in a pan over a low flame for about 10 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Cool completely.

2. Steep the tea bags in the gin for 10 mins. Strain and put in a cocktail shaker on top of the ice cubes. 3. Pour in the lemon juice and 120ml of syrup. Shake it up for a good few minutes (really shake it up!).

4. Pour into two cocktail glasses (or little French Duralex glasses), and rub the edge of the glass with a lemon wedge.

Lemon kisses

Makes 20

Prep 30 mins

Cook 8-12 mins

Biscuits can be frozen unfilled and un-iced

Ingredients

200g soft butter

140g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest 2 lemons, juice 1

280g plain flour, plus a little extra for rolling

¹/² jar good lemon curd (we used Tiptree)

140g icing sugar, sifted

Method

1. Stir together the butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and zest from one lemon using a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour - you might need to get your hands in at the end. Tip onto a floured surface, bring together into a smooth dough, then roll out, half at a time, and stamp out 5-6cm rounds. Keep re-rolling trimmings. You should get about 40 biscuits. Arrange on trays lined with baking parchment, cover with cling film and chill for 30 mins.

2. Heat oven to 200C/80C fan/gas. 3. Bake the biscuits for 8-12 mins until pale golden, then cool. Once cool, spread half the biscuits with a little lemon curd and top with a second biscuit. Arrange the biscuits on wire racks over trays. Mix enough lemon juice into the icing sugar to give a runny consistency, then drizzle over the biscuits. Scatter over a bit more lemon zest and leave to set.

Little lemon queen of puddings

Serves 4

Prep 15mins

Cook 30 mins

Ingredients

100g brioche loaf, after crusts are cut off

400ml milk

Butter

25g golden caster sugar

2 eggs, separated

110g caster sugar

4 heaped tbsp lemon curd

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Cut the brioche into chunks then whizz to crumbs in a food processor. Put in a bowl. Heat the milk with a knob of butter and the golden caster sugar until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the brioche crumbs and mix. Cool.

2. Stir the egg yolks into the brioche mix then divide between four heatproof glasses, ramekins or dishes (approx 200-250ml). Bake for 20 minutes. Take out and leave while you make the meringue.

3. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks then add a spoonful of caster sugar. Whisk again until stiff, add another spoonful of sugar and repeat until you've used all the sugar.

4. Divide the lemon curd between the ramekins then pipe an extravagant swirl of meringue on top using a star-shaped nozzle, or you can just pile it up with a spoon.

5. Put back in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes until the meringue is tinged with pale gold colour.

SOURCE: www.bbcgoofood.com