Mint chocolate chip ice cream

This is my current favourite ice cream.  

Ingredients:

• 300 ml single cream
• 300 ml double cream
• 100 g white sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp (1/2 tbs) peppermint extract
• 100 g baking chocolate -- about 54-55% dark is what I like best

Process:

• Combine all the cream, the sugar, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan.
• Heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.
• Remove from heat and add the vanilla and peppermint extracts. 
• Allow to cool.  Chill further for two hours or overnight in the refrigerator. 
• Churn per ice cream maker instructions.
• Melt chocolate over a double boiler, over very low heat, or in microwave.
• About five minutes before the end of churning --  you'll want to decide this based on the consistency, rather than time; the ice cream should be in clear peaks, but not too firm -- bring the chocolate back to fully melted, open the top of the ice cream maker, and pour over slowly, allowing the stream of melted chocolate to mix with the ice cream. 
• Remove and either serve, or freeze until less slushy.

Enjoy!

Divine strawberry lemonade

• 

a glass pitcher half-filled with orange liquid, sitting on a weathered wooden table with lots of greenery and some stone buildings in the background

Yesterday, I made strawberry lemonade for the first time ever.  This is one of my all-time favourite fruit drinks and it's hard to find it pre-made or on offer in cafes/restaurants (raspberry lemonade, on the other hand, is pretty common?). 

I started this recipe with the lemonade base from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" -- a super-useful and iconic cookbook of which there is also a vegetarian version -- then improvised the strawberry part based on my experience with strawberry ice cream.  

It turned out well and made me happy!  

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients: 

• 300g strawberries
• a two-cup recipe of simple syrup (2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar)
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3 cups water

Directions: 

1)  First, make simple syrup.  Combine two cups of sugar with two cups of water in a saucepan, and heat, stirring every so often, until all the sugar is dissolved.  

2)  Cut up 300g of strawberries, add 1 cup of sugar syrup, and puree.  I used an immersion blender; you could probably also use a hand masher, a regular blender, or a food processor.  

3)  In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups water, and the pureed sweetened strawberries.  Mix well with a long-handled spoon.  Sample.  Adjust sweetness by adding more simple syrup until it's where you want it; I used another cup of simple syrup.  Bear in mind things taste sweeter when warm and this will taste a bit less sweet when chilled.  

You could probably make this with sparkling water just as easily.  If you're making a pitcher, just swap in sparkling water.  If you want to make individual glasses, you could combine everything except the water; I'd need (or you'd need!) to experiment with proportions for how much base per glass.

Enjoy!

Edited to add: 

For divine strawberry lemonade:

1)  First, make simple syrup.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar with 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan, and heat, stirring every so often, until all the sugar is dissolved.  

2)  Cut up 300g of strawberries, add to simple syrup, and just bring to a boil.  Once cool, puree.  I used an immersion blender; you could probably also use a hand masher, a regular blender, or a food processor.  

3)  In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups water, and the pureed sweetened strawberries.  Mix well with a long-handled spoon.  Sample.  (If necessary, adjust sweetness by adding more simple syrup until it's where you want it.)  Bear in mind things taste sweeter when warm and this will taste a bit less sweet when chilled.  

For Really Divine strawberry lemonade:

1)  First, make simple syrup.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar with 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan, and heat, stirring every so often, until all the sugar is dissolved.  

2)  Cut up 300g of strawberries, add to simple syrup, and just bring to a boil.  Leave to sit overnight (or leave to sit overnight once mixed with rest of ingredients). Once cool, puree.  I used an immersion blender; you could probably also use a hand masher, a regular blender, or a food processor.  

3)  In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups water, and the pureed sweetened strawberries.  Mix well with a long-handled spoon.  Sample.  (If necessary, adjust sweetness by adding more simple syrup until it's where you want it.)  Bear in mind things taste sweeter when warm and this will taste a bit less sweet when chilled.  

 

Pita chips

These are adapted from a hummus recipe in Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley's wonderful cookbook, Falastin. They're also a good thing to do with slightly stale pita we're not quite sure we want to eat...

• 200 g pita bread, ripped into roughly 2-3 cm pieces
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

Preheat the oven to 160 C fan.

Mix the olive oil, salt, and cumin in a bowl large enough for the pita pieces.  Add the pita pieces and mix well, until well-coated.  Sometimes I leave them to sit for a few minutes.

Spread out onto a baking sheet.  Tamimi and Wigley recommend parchment-lined (baking paper).  Bake 20-25 minutes, "or until the pita is golden and crispy."

Really, really yummy for snacking.  Oh, and also for scooping hummus. 

UPDATED Strawberry ice cream

I knew I love strawberry ice cream, but I really didn't know how much I love it until I started making it myself.

Here's an update on the earlier recipe I posted.

Ingredients:

• 300g strawberries, stemmed and sliced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 300 ml single cream
• 300 ml double cream
• 135g granulated sugar (or 150g if you prefer sweeter)
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:

•  In a small bowl, combine the strawberries, lemon juice, and 50g of the sugar.  Mix gently but well.  Cover and let stand in the refrigerator for at least two hours, or overnight.  

• Heat 300 ml single cream with the rest of the sugar (85g) (or 100g if making the sweeter version) and a pinch of salt, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla extract; mix.  Once cool, cover and let stand in the refrigerator for at least two hours, or overnight. 

• Strain the strawberries and reserve the liquid.  Remove half the strawberries and set aside.  Mash the other half of the strawberries.  

• Mix together the mashed strawberries, the reserved liquid, the mixture of single cream, salt, and sugar, and the remaining 300 ml of double cream.  

• Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker if that's what you're using.   

• About five minutes before the end, add the reserved strawberries and allow to mix in. 

Enjoy!

Notes:

• It's April and I still used frozen strawberries from the grocery store, which I thawed in the refrigerator overnight, then sliced.  
• The first time I made this, I made a mistake and combined all the sugar with the strawberries at once.  It seems to have worked out just fine.  
• The ice cream was even more amazing, which I didn't think was possible, with this topping: https://www.cooks.com/recipe/en8602mn/hot-fudge-sauce-for-ice-cream.html 

Decaf coffee ice cream

Bunchberry pointed out that I had not posted this recipe yet!  This is one of our favourites. 

Ingredients:

• 135 g sugar (white or demerara are just fine)
• a pinch of salt
• 300 ml single cream
• 2 tsp decaf instant coffee
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 300 ml double cream

Procedure: 

• Mix the 135g sugar, the pinch of salt, and the 300 ml single cream in a saucepan and heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. (You can include the 300 ml double cream, or add later.) 
• Remove from heat and add 1/4 tsp vanilla extract. 
• Refrigerate for 2 hours minimum, or overnight. 
• If you've held back the double cream, add it and mix well. 
• Follow instructions on your ice cream maker. 

Enjoy! 

Ice cream base and basic method

Hello, all!

Here is my current ice cream base:

• 135 g white sugar
• pinch of salt
• 300 ml single cream
• 300 ml double cream

I usually mix the single cream, sugar, and pinch of salt in a saucepan and heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.  Sometimes I'll put all the cream in at once.

Depending on what flavour, I might mix something into the cream while heating, or just after -- cardamom gets heated with the cream, as does ground vanilla or vanilla beans and instant decaf coffee; vanilla extract gets added just after.

Fruit gets added after it's all cool.  

Enjoy!

Rhubarb and ginger clafoutis for two

We traded sourdough starter to a neighbour for a handful of early rhubarb.  What to do with 100g of rhubarb?  We modified this recipe to make a two-person dessert.

[a glass baking dish containing a delicious golden-brown pastry, dusted with powdered sugar with rhubarb peeking through]

For the filling:

• 100g tender early rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
• 10g butter + some for the baking dish
• 1 T + 1 tsp demerara 
• a generous 1/2 T of diced preserved stem ginger

For the batter:

• 38g full-fat milk
• 38g double cream
• 2 small eggs
• 30g caster sugar
• 20g plain flour
• 1/4 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.  Melt the butter in a small pan and add the rhubarb and demerara; fry for two minutes, then take the pan off the heat, stir in the ginger, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until they are light and frothy.  Add the sugar and whisk until well-blended.  Fold in the flour, and gradually pour the milk and cream into the bowl, stirring to incorporate. Stir in the vanilla.

Butter a small, shallow baking dish (we used a 15cm diameter Pyrex).  Sprinkle the bottom lightly with the remaining demerara (we used less than 1 tsp here).  Add the rhubarb and ginger mixture, pour in the batter, and bake for 20 minutes or until puffy and golden brown.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately.

[a blue plate on a black slate place mat.  On the plate is a large serving of a delicious golden-brown pastry, dusted with powdered sugar with rhubarb oozing out of the insides of it]