Sundays Under the Lemon Tree

Sundays Under the Lemon Tree

Julia Busuttil Nishimura

Myo Yim

Scribble, 2025

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781761381485

On Sundays, our family gets together to eat good things under the lemon tree in the backyard.” 

But before they eat, there is the cooking to be done and everyone pitches in to help- except for the littlest one, also the narrator, who  is deemed too small to help.  But when Dad can’t carry three buckets at once to collect seawater which is the secret ingredient to making ricotta, things change and the reader is taken on a journey that not only takes them through the park, up and down a big hill, across a busy street down the 67 wooden steps to the beach (and back again) but also involves them in the making of a special handed-down-through -generations recipe that becomes the hit of the meal. 

Drawing on her Maltese heritage and her broad experience as a cook and a cookbook author, this is one that will reflect the experiences of many of our students, not only as they gather for family dinners but also learn those traditional foods and recipes that bind and bond families together in unique ways.  While some of the budding cooks might like to try making the Apple, Lemon and Ricotta cake from the recipe supplied, others might like to share their own family events that bring them together regularly and the foods they share, especially as the upcoming celebrations seasons, in all its manifestations, is almost upon us again.  It offers the opportunity to share what happens in their families and why, investigate the origins of the observances, discover those passed-on recipes so strengthening intergenerational relationships,  but also engage in instructional writing as they share recipes, maths as they make them and developing a general awareness of the ties that bind us no matter where we are from.

Not to mention the memories it evokes and makes!

At a time when “Peace on Earth” seems to be the catchcry – although not the reality – stories and activities that bring people together can only help to promote it.  

And to kick start proceedings, here is my family’s recipe for pavlova, passed on through six Kiwi generations so far and eaten at every Christmas dinner I can recall… even when sugar was in short supply, post-war. It’s taken from the Edmonds Cookery Book that has been passed through the family since my Great-Gran got a copy for my Nanna in the early 20th century! (And my Nanna only had a wood stove till the 50s, as did we –how posh we were when we moved to Christchurch in 1960 and had an electric one.  And a fridge!!!) 

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 2 tbsp cold water
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup  caster sugar
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 tsp Edmonds Fielder’s Cornflour
• whipped cream and fresh fruit – kiwifruit, strawberries and passionfruit

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150˚C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and draw a 20cm circle on it.. Flip the baking paper so that the pencil line doesn’t transfer to your pavlova. Make sure there is enough baking paper to be able to grasp the edges to flip the pavlova when cooked.
2. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff, add cold water and beat again.
3. Add the sugar very gradually while still beating. Keep beating for 5 minutes to dissolve the sugar. (My Great-Gran and Nanna swore by doing it by hand but my mum had an electric mixer. All mod cons in the 50s.)
4. Slowly add the vinegar, vanilla and cornflour.
5. Pile the meringue in the centre of the circle and gently spread it out to the edge of the circle keeping it as round and even as possible. (The littlest one gets to lick the bowl, and the next in line the beaters. )
6. Bake for 45 minutes, then leave to cool and dry in the oven overnight. That gives it its crusty shell.
7. Gently place  a serving plate on top and flip the tray over so the marshmallow side is uppermost.  Peel away the baking paper. Cover with whipped cream  with whipped cream and fresh fruit.  (Or you can leave it crunchy side up and just decorate the top.)

Our family pavlova recipe – but not my photo because the resident chef (son) was too busy to cook for me this weekend.