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]

Strawberry ice cream

This is (no surprise) another modified recipe, this time from the recipe in the booklet that came with our ice cream maker.

I made a couple of mistakes with this, and it was still AMAZING.  

(Please note: UPDATED recipe here!)

Ingredients

• 300g strawberries, stemmed and sliced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 460 ml single cream
• 150g granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

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

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

• Pour app. 160ml of the cream into a medium bowl with the remaining sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the rest of the cream, mashed strawberries, and vanilla, and mix well.  (Note: because I had added all the sugar at the beginning, I had none to add here.  It hadn't all dissolved, so I ended up whisking the complete mixture -- which was fine, and led to the sugar being either dissolved or so well-blended I couldn't tell the difference.)  

• Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours, preferably overnight. 

• 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.

Notes

• It's January in Scotland.  I used frozen strawberries from the grocery store, which I thawed in the refrigerator overnight, then sliced.  
• I made a mistake and combined all the sugar with the strawberries at once.  It seems to have worked out just fine.  
• I have no idea if I remembered the vanilla or not -- I think I didn't.  The ice cream was still amazing.  
• 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 

 IT WAS SO GOOD.

Enjoy!!

Cardamom ice cream

This is modified from I-don't-know-how-many recipes found on the internet. 

• 600 ml single cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8-10 whole green cardamom pods
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks

As ever, if you're looking for something to do with egg whites, I recommend this recipe for coconut macaroons:  https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1783633/coconut-macaroons

• Beat the egg yolks until they are well-blended.    

• Heat the cream, cardamom pods, and sugar in a saucepan until the liquid is steaming, stirring frequently. 

• Pour the hot liquid into the bowl with the egg yolks, beating constantly.  

• Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and heat again until just boiling*.  

• Turn off the heat, add vanilla, stir.  Refrigerate for at least two hours, preferably overnight.  

• Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker, or see ** below.

* Many custard-based recipes say to heat until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon; some people find this really helpful, some less so.  For me it's helpful sometimes.  If you over-cook a custard, the eggs will scramble and it will be lumpy.  One trick I learned from this Delia recipe is that using cornflour (cornstarch) in a custard can prevent this: https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/life-in-the-freezer/preserved-ginger-ice-cream.  She also talks about how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker. 

** At the same link, Delia says:

NOTE: If you don't have an ice cream maker you can still make ice cream. After you have made up your mixture, transfer it to a lidded plastic box and put it in the coldest part of the freezer for two hours or until the contents become firm at the edges. At this stage, empty out the box into a mixing bowl and whisk the ice cream with an electric hand whisk to break down the ice crystals. Return to the plastic box and freeze for another two hours, then repeat the whisking process.

Enjoy!!

Ice cream again!!

A while back, our ice cream maker died.  Which got me started with baking custard (YUMMMMMM), but, it's also meant we haven't been making ice cream or sorbet for a while.

We finally replaced the ice cream maker!  And we have been making ice cream.  And it's wonderful.

Coming up:

• Cardamom ice cream recipe
• Strawberry ice cream recipe