Vanilla Walnut Ice-cream

Summer is the perfect time to experiment with new ice-cream flavours. With every flavour I try finishing in no time and vacating space in my freezer, I get more of an incentive to try out new variations... of course, the freezer must be kept busy especially in the hot summer months! This, of course cannot be said of my fellow foodie who packs her freezer with all kinds of delicious ice-cream, cakes and sweets, only to enjoy them at her own pace!

If you like vanilla based ice-cream, just like I do, then here is a delicious ice-cream you must try making. Here is what you will need:

4 egg yolks
750ml double cream
75g walnut pieces
350g honey

Using an electric beater on full speed, beat the egg yolks until they are light and paler.

Now, in a thick bottomed place the cream and heat it until just before it starts to boil. Whisk in the eggs and pour it into a bowl.

Cool the bowl then place it in the fridge to chill completely. Once you are read to churn your ice-cream in the machine, stir in the honey and pour into your ice-cream machine.

Just before the ice-cream is completely ready, add the walnut pieces. Make sure that the walnuts are cut into small pieces since larger ones will make it difficult to scoop out the ice-cream once it’s ready.

Make sure to use the full fat cream and milk when making ice-cream. This will give you a creamier result. Should you opt for a lower fat dairy, then the result might be more of a slush then an ice-cream consistency.

Rocky Road Knicker Bocker Glory

Here is what you need to make 2 cups:

4 Chocolate digestive Biscuits
2 scoops Rocky Road Ice-cream
2 tablespoons Belgian Truffle sauce
180ml Fresh cream
10 Marshmallows
6 fresh Strawberries

Start off by beating the fresh cream and set it aside. Now prepare the cups you will be using to serve the dessert in.

Slice the strawberries into thick slices and place them around the bottom part of the cup. Place the cream in the middle and press gently so that the strawberries will stick to the sides. Next cover the cream with 1 chocolate digestive biscuit.

We used the dark chocolate digestives to give a deeper chocolate taste to the cup, but if you prefer, you can use the milk chocolate ones.

Place the Rocky road ice-cream on top and dot with marshmallows. We tore the marshmallows slightly before placing them on the ice-cream.

In a microwave proof bowl, place the Belgian chocolate sauce and warm slightly until the chocolate is melted.

Drizzle the ice-cream with the chocolate sauce and serve immediately. If you are serving these cups as desserts, then place them in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Allow the cups to rest for 5 minutes at room temperature before serving. This will soften the ice-cream and will bring all the different chocolate flavours together.

Rocky Road Ice-cream as well as the Belgian Truffle Sauce are available from Marks & Spencer outlets.

This recipe has been previously published in the Best Buy Supplement, June 2009

Fresh Orange Sorbet

Oranges are quite plentiful at the moment so this is a good way to use up your stocks! Local oranges will be great for this recipe as most of them are not too sweet.

You can serve this sorbet as a dessert or mid-way through your meal to freshen the palate. You can also add it to your choice of desserts as this sorbet will keep in your freezer for over 1 week!

There are no raw egg whites in this recipe, so this is suitable for both children as well as pregnant women.
750ml of water
300g sugar
300ml of fresh orange juice

You will need to start by placing 750ml of water in a pot with 400g of sugar. Place the pot over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. In the meantime, wash your oranges and using a zester, remove some of the peel, set aside. Next squeeze the oranges; you will need 300ml of juice which is roughly 8 to 10 oranges.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the orange juice and the zest and stir. At this point you can churn the sorbet in an ice-cream machine or else you can place it in a shallow container and place it in the freezer.

Churning should take you around 30 minutes. If you are freezing the sorbet, set your timer for 3 hours. Once your timer rings, whiz the sorbet in an electric blender then place it in the same container and re-freeze.

Repeat this process for another 3 times until the sorbet is soft and flaky on the last check.

Fresh Lemon Sorbet

Honestly, what do you serve after Chinese? Had the in-laws over this weekend for a massive Chinese take-out with the works; whole duck with pancakes, sweet and sour this and that and obviously the crunchy or rather sugary dried beef, loved by all especially the clogged arteries!

I wanted to make a dessert which didn’t have too many steps in, not a lot of baking, done my fair share for this week and with ingredients handy at hand. So I decided to make lemon sorbet.

I had lots of lemons at home and was quite fed up of stocking up on more lemon curd so this recipe was exactly what I needed. I did not include any egg whites in this recipe, so it would be suitable for both children as well as pregnant women.

750ml of water
400g sugar
300ml of fresh lemon juice

You will need to start by placing 750ml of water in a pot with 400g of sugar. Place the pot over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. In the meantime, wash your lemons and squeeze them. You will need 300ml of juice which is roughly 8 to 10 lemons.

Try keeping the lemons after you squeeze the juice out, they can be used to serve your sorbet in, otherwise you can zest the lemons before squeezing and keeping the zest for later.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon juice and stir. At this point you can churn the sorbet in an ice-cream machine or else you can place it in a shallow container and place it in the freezer.

Churning should take you around 30 minutes. If you are freezing the sorbet, set your timer for 1 hour. Once your timer rings, whiz the sorbet in an electric blender then place it in the same container and re-freeze. Repeat this process for another 3 times until the sorbet is soft and flaky on the last check.

If you kept the lemon halves, peel the pith out and slice the ends to make your cups stand straight. Make sure that you do not pierce the cups or else the sorbet will run out once it starts to melt.

 

Quick Strawberry Ice-cream

I’m still not sure whether the Strawberry festival we had earlier this month was a good idea!

Prices seem to have risen after this strawberry rampage! So, even though at this time of year you could see me make strawberry jam with the cheaper and not-so-attractive strawberries, this year I am still using them to whole and still shying away from blending and mashing!

If we manage to get some cheaper ones this week, here is a fab and very quick dessert you can make for your friends and family. You could also serve this as dessert with some fresh strawberries on top of each plate to decorate.

Here is what you need:

425g strawberries hulled and washed;

400 ml tinned milk;

some fresh mint leaves.

Chill the tinned milk for a couple of hours preferably overnight before preparing this ice-cream.

Place the strawberries in a blender and blend to a pulp. If you prefer a smooth ice-cream then pass the mixture through a sieve and discard the seeds.

With an electric whisk, beat the milk until it has doubled in volume. With the mixer still on, but lowered to the minimum speed, pour in the strawberry pulp. At this point it is best to try your mixture. Should your strawberries be a little sour add some sugar to taste.

Place the mixture in a freezing container and freeze until the mixture starts to solidify. Now, remove it from the freezer and whip it again. Repeat this procedure another 3 times. Once the ice-cream is completely set, it is ready to serve.

You can prepare this ice-cream in an ice-cream machine. Prepare the whipped milk and add the strawberries as above then churn in your ice-cream machine as per your instruction manual.

You can also substitute the strawberries with any other berries of your choice. Should fresh fruit not be available, I suggest you use the frozen berries and not the tinned ones.

This recipe has been previously published in the Best Buy Supplement, out monthly with The Times.
Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com

Banana Chocolate-chip Ice-cream

I am testing new cake at the moment which is leaving me with plenty of egg yolks in the fridge. and when life gives you egg yolks, i make ice-cream! last week i made some delicious strawberry ice-cream on the suggestion of my friend and fellow foodie but this week having had some terribly ripe bananas to get rid of, I made some banana ice-cream.

The best thing about this ice-cream and anything else involving fresh bananas is that they are available all the year round so you can make this delicious dessert whenever you feel like even in the middle of winter.

I have an ice-cream machine which makes the process easier but, if you don't have an ice-cream machine, you can still make this recipe a try.

Here is what you need to make about 2l tub of ice-cream
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon lemon juice
150 sugar
5 egg yolks
200ml milk
250ml double cream
100g dark chocolate - chopped

Start off by blending the bananas. Only they are mashed to a pulp, stir in the lemon juice immediately. Place the bananas together with 1 tablespoon from the weighed sugar into a pot and place over very low heat. Once the sugar has melted and the bananas warmed, switch the heat off and set aside.

In another pot, heat the milk. Whip the egg yolks and the sugar in a bowl and once it has doubled in volume, add the warm milk. Return the milk and egg mixture to the cook and heat slightly until the mixture coats the back of your spoon and leaves a mark should you make a line with your finger.

Do not leave the milk and egg mixture at any point. This process is very short and you want to avoid having scrambled eggs.

Now take the milk off the heat and pour it into a large pot. Stir in the bananas and allow the mixture to cool completely. Then place the bowl in the fridge and chill for about 30 minutes.

Once you are ready to churn your ice-cream, beat the double cream and fold it slowly into the banana mixture. Place the ice-cream into your ice-cream machine and churn.

Once the ice-cream starts to thicken, add the chocolate pieces. Make sure that these pieces are chopped but hand into small chunks. Do not grate or blend the chocolate. This will make your chocolate too small to enjoy.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com