Meringue ice-cream, sort of...

Since I found a few fabulous ice-cream recipes on Joy The Baker's blog, I've been really inspired to whip some up. And my love of home made ice-cream is growing as a result! Around six years ago, I was given an ice-cream maker as a Christmas giftie. It has had some use, particularly making Nigella's baci ice-cream from Forever Summer. I gave up for a few years though, particularly after one night's failed dinner party dessert. What should have been lush vanilla bean ice-cream turned into very expensive ordinary custard. It was exceptionally disappointing. And then last year during mango madness I experimented with mango sorbet. Again the results left something to be desired.

But thanks to Joy and the Kitchy Kitchen, I'm back into the ice-cream making mode. And loving it. I think I've mentioned this before, but recipes for peanut butter chocolate ice-cream and a cookie no-dough choc chip ice-cream have been winners. The cookie no-dough turned out to be a good butterscotchish/tasty flavour, rather than cookie per se. But the fella woofed it down.

So I've broadened my ice-cream horizons, read too many delicious magazines and made myself some meringue ice-cream. Well sort of. Loving the flavour, not so sure about the texture. I could have whipped it for longer perhaps. Or maybe the mixture needed thickening before churning. I think that's it. But post it I will, as I've got loads of it to eat and think I'll make it again.

I've scanned in the cover of the mag I found the recipe in. No camera. Yet again we have a broken camera, but this time I found the receipt. So it is off in the South being repaired. Hurrah for scanners!

Meringue Ice-Cream a.k.a. Cinnamon and Lemon Ice-Cream
Makes 1 L

2 c milk
150 ml thick cream
160 g white sugar
Peeled rind of 1 lemon
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 eggwhites – 3 or even 2 would work though

If needed/using, place your ice-cream maker’s bowl into the freezer to chill, ideally overnight.

In a saucepan, combine milk, cream, 100 g sugar, rind and cinnamon. Heat over a medium heat, stirring to combine. Bring almost to the boil, remove from heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour.

Strain this mix, refrigerate until cool – ideally overnight.

Whisk eggwhites until stiff peaks form. Spoon in remaining 60 g sugar, one tablespoon at a time until the sugar dissolves in the whites. Gently fold ¼ of the eggwhite mix into the infused milk mix. Fold in remaining eggwhite mix.

Place mixture into the bowl of your ice-cream maker. Churn until it begins to set, around thirty minutes. Spoon into a freezer container, freeze until set. Alternatively, freeze until setting around the edges, remove from freezer and beat with an electric mixer to break up the crystals and make smooth ice-cream. Re-freeze and repeat two more times.

This would be delicious served with some poached pears or rehydrated dried apricots.

Adapted from Delicious September 2003.

If only every Monday started like this...

I've got a few days off work due to having a knee investigation last week. Mum has come up from down south to look after me too. So today we spent the morning crafting quilts, drinking tea and flicking through old cooking magazines. It was wonderful.

Mum is finishing off the top of a quilt for my nephew the J-Man. He is eight months old, and the son of a die-hard trucking father. The quilt has trains and cars and planes on it. I can imagine my brother making engine noises to the J-Man while rocking him to sleep.

My project is the old-world star quilt. The quilting is 95% complete. I just have to get it done. I also have two quilt tops waiting for their turn.

And after all the magazine flicking, there is so much I want to cook. Chicken with rice vermicelli salad, baked olives, meringue ice cream, lamb with roast eggplant salad, cream cake, orange and poppy seed cake, chocolate and pistachio whirley-gig buns, pumpkin and prosciutto cannelloni...

One of my more blond moments...

This weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to a cheese party. Friends Geoff and Hannah wanted to celebrate a number of special things, so organised a party on the beach for Saturday afternoon. Guests were encouraged to bring along beach things and a plate of cheese. Being a former deli-girl, I was eager and also amazed that I have never personally hosted a cheese party. Thursday afternoon I perused the local fine food establishment, hunting for a soft rind soft goats cheese. Milawa Cheese Factory make something similar, which I've previously covered in prosciutto and baked in the oven. It was the epitome of an indulgent dinner... Anyway, given that I now live in rural Australia the options were limited when it came to goats cheese. I did find a dutch semi-hard that was piquant enough to satisfy.

So, on to my silly mistake. I opted to bake a loaf of bread to go with the cheese. It was certainly a success and I've put the recipe for the two baguettes below. Thanks Martha Stewart and Nicky from work who lent me the cookbook. The instructions called for a baking stone to be heated in the oven. As I don't have a baking stone, I used a beautiful hand-crafted wooden chopping board. Ops. I have now a black board, with a hidden grain. I must remember, wood is combustible. Repeat after me "Wood is Combustible". So an inverted baking tray made do instead. The loaves were crusty on the bottom and cooked wonderfully though.

Baguettes

Starter:
7 oz flour
¾ cup warm water – plus a little more
¼ oz dried yeast

Dough:
7 ½ oz flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tbs salt
1/3 cup warm water
Vegetable oil
Polenta

To make the starter: Combine ingredients in the bowl of your mixed, and combine with the paddle attachment until you have a thin batter. You may need more water that the ¾ cup. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours.

To make the dough: Add the flour, salt and a little of the water to the starter. Attach the dough hook and mix of low speed for 3 minutes. Add more water, up to 1/3 cup if needed – I only used a tiny bit of water. Increase the mixer’s speed and kneed for a further 3 minutes. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed lightly. The dough will be soft but not sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 1 hour to prove until doubled in size.

Return dough to the floured surface. Press gently into an oval. Fold the top third down, the bottom third up, then fold the sides in. Turn over so the folds are underneath and return it to the oiled bowl. Prove again for a further hour once covered. Why you fold it like this, I don’t know. But Martha recommended it and it worked.

Return dough again to the floured surface. Divide dough into two pieces. Gently shape into two ovals, cover with plastic wrap and leave for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle a long baking tray with polenta. Pre-heat the oven to 220⁰C, with a shelf in the bottom third of the oven in place for your baguettes to cook on.

With the long side of the oval facing you, fold the top third of one of the dough pieces down, the bottom third up. Roll into a long baguette shape. Repeat with the other dough. Cover with glad wrap and place in a warm spot to have a final prove for 30 minutes. Make four superficial slices into the tops of each baguette, and brush with vegetable oil if you want a more golden loaf. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until deliciously done.

These baguettes are chewy with a thick crust. They needs to be torn rather than cut and are perfect with cheese by the ocean.

Sunday reading list

After a restless night's sleep, I thought perhaps the gym would be good. I go around three times per year, and it is only in our basement car park. I lasted eight minutes on the cross-trainer (I think that is what that contraption was!) before collapsing on the floor. The only solution was to come back upstairs and read my newest magazine!

Peppermint Magazine came out during the week, and was a wonderful surprise. I had subscribed months ago and not heard back from the publishers. I feared they had taken my money and run. That was me totally overreacting of course. My mind is still not made up about the mag - I'm wondering if it lacks a little something. But in saying that, it had a big article on the rise of handmade, and has a list of interested blogs who are concerned with creating, eco-ness, op-shop clothing, etc. So far I've been a fan of Vegan & Vintage and don't mind Little Green Stilettos.

Through my blog trawling, I followed a link to a link, etc and have found this fellow - Closet Cooking. His recipe for lemon and blueberry breakfast cake sounds delicious. I'm keen to read him more regularly and get on with the cooking.

Speaking of cooking, here's a recipe for the Orange and Chocolate Cake I dabbled with last week. It is a mix of a number of recipes, and a take on the traditional non-leaven orange cake of Jewish culinary traditions.

Everyday Ingredients Orange & Chocolate Cake

2 oranges
200 g melted butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup self-raising flour
¼ cup cocoa powder

Beginning the night before ideally, place the two oranges into a saucepan & cover with water. Cover, bring to the boil & then simmer for 2 hours. Leave in the water until cool, ideally overnight – your house will smell delicious!

Pre-heat oven to 180⁰C. Line a round 23 cm (or so) cake tin with baking paper.

Remove the oranges from the water, quarter & place into the bowl of your food processor – skin & all. Process until no chunks remain. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, process until well combined. Pour into cake tin. Bake in oven for 45 minutes. Test to see if cooked by piercing the cake with a skewer – will be free of batter if cooked. May need a further 10 minutes. Enjoy dusted with icing sugar. Some thick cream is nice too.

Ice Cream Goodness

Check it out, two lip-smacking recipes for ice creamy goodness...

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream

600 g thickened cream
225 g greek yoghurt
320 g lemon curd
Juice & zest of two lemons
6 meringue nests

Whip cream until just stiff.
Fold in yoghurt. Add juice, curd & zest (in order),
& crumbed meringue nests. Stir gently.
Place into a shallow container to freeze. Cover.
Ripen in fridge before eating.

C/ Nigella Lawson (perhaps from How to Eat)


Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

600 ml thickened cream
Tin sweetened condensed milk
Packet of biscuits – chocolate ripple recommended

Beat together cream & milk in a mixer until thick & smooth
Smash up the biscuits roughly.
Stir biscuits into the cream mix.
Place in a lined container. Cover.
Freeze at least overnight.

Now in the post to the USA for some fellow swappers to enjoy. Only a week or so late... My next swap project is a bird stuffie. Looking forward to it as the recipient has a thing for scandinavian inspired object. Just my cup of tea.