This year, The Emerging Dietitian has somewhat been put on hold whilst I finished the final year of my dietetic degree.

Well guess what? I have finally finished my degree! Ten years in the making and I’m finally here. I’m awaiting my final results next week and then I can officially call myself an Accredited Practising Dietitian. This is something I am so very proud of.

Now that uni is over, I’ve finally had a chance to breathe, to slow down, to be present in my life and to get back to what I love doing; cooking, spending time with loved ones and documenting these experiences over here at The Emerging Dietitian.

So onto the lemons. My Yiayia has a lemon tree which is simply overflowing. Every time we visit her, Emilia always assists in picking a few lemons but this particular visit I had a hankering for more.

Initially I made lemon cupcakes with a lemon curd filling and coconut icing for a friend to enjoy. I followed this recipe for the cupcakes and curd but adlibbed with my own icing. This recipe made an abundance of slightly sweet but perfectly tart lemon curd that I had to refrain from purely eating out of the jar.

To avoid food waste I initially popped some frozen shortcrust pastry in the oven, baked it until golden brown and then topped it with the lemon curd. If you are after a decadent and indulgent store bought pastry, Carême is my go to. It is expensive but it’s wonderful for a special (or not so special) occasion when you don’t have time to make your own pastry.

But I still had more curd! So I decided to invite my in-laws over for dinner and finish the night off with a decadent lemon curd pavlova. Bearing in mind I’ve never made a pavlova before either! I stumbled across this recipe by Nigella Lawson and thought I would give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. The pavlova was light and airy, the curd was tangy and sweet and the cream provided a slight relief from the lemon curd. I decided to omit the flaked almonds and garnished this dish with fresh berries and flaked coconut. Simply divine!

My advice? When life gives you lemons…. make lemon curd pavlova.

Enjoy

xx