Nanny's Lemon Loaf

This past week I returned to Toronto after four months of staying in Nova Scotia with my parents, waiting out winter. I am really grateful to have been able to spend that much time with my family, in a year when many people have been separated from their loved ones for so long. Although I didn’t ever envision myself living with my parents for almost 6 months of my first year “living on my own” (I moved to my first solo apartment in February 2020), I had a lot of fun sharing many meals with them, many walks, and many evening chats. In my time home I also spent a lot of time reflecting and reminiscing on the meals and foods that formed the basis of my love for cooking. My grandmother was a huge part of those early food memories. She was an amazing baker; I used to call her the “pie queen”. She passed away in 2016 but we still have her recipe cards which my mom and I spent one recent Saturday afternoon exploring.

Most of my go-to baked goods are her recipes, and I hope to share more of them here to continue on her legacy. This lemon loaf was written on a few recipe cards throughout our findings, including Mom’s notebooks, so it is definitely an Avery family favourite. The original calls for shortening, which I’ve subbed below for butter. Like many of her recipes, there were limited instructions. I feel like my Nanny had such great instincts in the kitchen, as does my Mom, so those notes weren’t needed. I’ve tried to interpret the method below. I hope you try out this recipe and feel the love and warmth I do every time I bake it. 

Lemon loaf is a classic Nova Scotia treat, perfect with afternoon tea, morning coffee, or… sneaking as many slices as you can when no one is looking. It is fragrant, sweet, and the lemon glaze adds an extra tartness to the exterior that makes you want to come back for more. 

Here are a few tips for the recipe:

Do not overmix the batter

Like all cakes, you want to ensure that once you combine wet and dry ingredients that you don’t overmix, otherwise you will have a dense, chewy cake. The batter should just come together.

Pour the lemon glaze on right when it comes out of the oven

To get a crispy, sugary crust on the loaf, ensure you pour your glaze on right when it comes out of the oven. The glaze will run down the sides of the pan and soak into the loaf while it’s hot, almost hardening the sugar. If you pour it on when it’s cold it won’t soak in and it will be sticky.

Be patient and let it cool completely

Ok one of the recipe cards from my Nanny said to wait 24 HOURS BEFORE EATING. That is actually wild, I do not recommend. But I DO recommend maybe leaving the house for a few hours while it cools so you aren’t tempted to cut into it while it’s still warm! This is best served completely cooled and it will take a few hours to lose its temperature.

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Nanny's Lemon Loaf

15 min prep time, 60 min bake time, let cool for 4-6 hours

Ingredients

½ cup room temperature butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon 

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

½ tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk

Glaze

Juice of 1 lemon 

¼ cup white sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing or lining with parchment paper.

2. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 2-3 minutes on high.

3. Add in the eggs and continue to beat until well mixed and fluffy. It will take some time for the liquid of the eggs to mix in fully to the butter mixture so be patient! It should look smooth and fluffy.

4. Add in lemon zest and combine well.

5. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder.

6. Gently fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until craggly, it’s ok if there are some dry ingredient patches.

7. Pour in the milk and fold gently until well mixed but not overmixed. The batter should just come together, with no dry patches or milk patches.

8. Pour batter into loaf pan and place into 350F oven. Bake for 60 minutes until golden brown and cracked on top -  a cake tester should come out clean!

9. While the loaf is baking, whisk together your lemon juice and sugar until sugar is dissolved.

10. Immediately after the loaf is removed from the oven, pour the glaze over top. It’s critical that you pour when it’s piping hot to get the beautiful crust outside that isn’t sticky.

11. Allow the loaf to cool completely, ideally 4-6 hours before slicing and serving.

Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken

Sundays back home typically involve a large family meal. Growing up my grandmother would come over and later in my life after my brother had moved out, he’d be back home for Sunday supper. There was usually a roast of some type but the ritual, more than anything, was our family coming together over a shared meal before the week began again. Since living in Toronto I’ve tried to keep this ritual alive. Sundays are typically a slower day for me, so even if it’s just roasting a chicken for myself, it feels nice to keep up the tradition. This is my go-to roast chicken recipe because it doesn’t require a ton of ingredients and the flavour is easily malleable for leftovers. Throughout the week I cut it up for salads, heat it up with chilli powder and lime for tacos, and glaze the drumsticks with honey and sriracha for weekday dinners with rice and steamed broccoli. 

Another Sunday tradition of mine is going to my local farmer's markets. I can’t recommend enough buying your chicken from the market or a local butcher. Although it will be more expensive than the grocery store, the quality of the meat is so much higher. Plus a roast chicken will give you so many servings (not to mention the soup potential!) that on a per-serving basis, it’s quite economical.

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Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken

Time: 2 hours

NOTES:

The key to this recipe is to put most of the flavour UNDER the skin of the chicken. Don’t be afraid to get your hands a little messy! You can buy food-safe plastic gloves if you are uncomfortable touching raw meat.

You may also feel like this is a lot of salt. It is actually a modest suggestion for how much salt should really go on a bone-in whole chicken. The salt will ensure a moist, flavourful chicken with crispy skin.

Ingredients:

4-5lb whole chicken, ideally locally/organic

Rub:

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 1 - 1.5 tbsp kosher salt

• 1 tbsp dried oregano

• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Fresh cracked black pepper

Other:

• 1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters

• Zested lemon cut in half

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F and ensure the rack is in the centre of the oven.

2. In a small bowl combine the lemon zest, kosher salt, dried oregano, garlic, olive oil and pepper - stirring to create a coarse paste.

3. Prepare a roasting pan or 9x13 pan - add onion quarters to the corners.

4. Pat your chicken dry and place into the pan breast up. Using your pointer finger and your middle finger, lift the skin on each chicken breast away from the breast meat. 

5. Take ⅓ of your paste and push under the skin on one chicken breast, trying to spread evenly under the skin. Repeat for the other breast.

6. Rub the remaining ⅓ of your paste over the skin of the chicken, being sure to get the wings and drumsticks.

7. Place one ½ the lemon inside the chicken, ensure it isn’t fully blocking the air from entering the chicken. Place the other ½ lemon in the pan.

8. Cook for 20 mins per pound, between 1 hour and 20 mins and 1 hour and 40 mins depending on the size of the chicken. I recommend rotating the chicken halfway through as the back of your oven is hotter than the front.

9. Chicken is done when a meat thermometer reads 165F in the thickest part of the thigh meat.

10. Let your chicken rest for 15 minutes before serving.

11. The juice at the bottom of the pan makes a delicious serving sauce. Put it into a mason jar in the fridge to separate the fat, skim off, and heat as a jus.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake (Gluten Free)

Growing up, my mom always preferred lemon desserts. In the true fashion of trying to copy everything my mom liked, I have now developed a strong preference for citrus based desserts. But desserts are always a bit of a downfall for me when I have company over for dinner. I always seem to run out of time.

Enter this 7-ingredient lemon olive oil cake that involves no flour (gluten-free friendly and no flour all over your kitchen!) and no fancy baking equipment. You don’t even need vegetable oil! Just your regular everyday cooking extra virgin olive oil. Don’t have a cake pan? You can do this in a square brownie pan! Don’t have a lemon? Use an orange! The world is your oyster/cake. One bowl, a quick 15 mins in the oven and your dessert is ready.

The result is a thin, crumbly, spongey cake that’s not too sweet but hits the spot after a decadent meal. Also goes well with tea for an afternoon treat.

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Lemon Olive Oil Cake

30 minutes total

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs

• ½ cup white sugar

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

• 1 large lemon zested (yields about 1 tbsp lemon zest)

• 2 cups almond flour (ground almonds)

• 1 ½ tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp kosher salt

• ½ lemon, juiced (yields about 2 tablespoons)

 Method

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 9” cake pan by oiling the sides/spraying with cooking spray and lining the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper

2. Tip: trace the bottom of your pan on a piece of parchment paper and cut out the circle to get the perfect piece

3. Whisk together the eggs, olive oil, sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl until smooth

4. Add the almond flour, baking powder and kosher salt on top. Mix together with the wet ingredients using a fork, which helps prevent you from overmixing. Mix until combined.

5. Add the lemon juice and fold into the mixture.

6. Pour into the prepared pan.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. The top should be evenly brown.

8. Let cool completely before serving. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar on top. Or with a big scoop of ice cream.