Raspberry Ice Cream

Delicious, creamy raspberry ice cream with a hint of lemon. Smooth and luscious.

125 mL (1/2 c) whipping cream
3 egg yolks (from 3 x 50 g eggs)
85 mL (1/3 c) milk
20 mL (1 T) raspberry cordial, or 1/2 t vanilla + 10 g sugar
20 mL (1 T) lemon curd, optional
50 g sugar
pinch salt

1. Make a custard with yolks, milk and sugar by stirring over a pot of simmering water until thickened. Do not over cook as it will curdle. Cool.
2. Add raspberry cordial, lemon curd, and a pinch of salt. Chill for 2 hours
3. Whip the cream to soft peak.
4. Stir cream into the chilled custard.
5. Churn in an ice cream machine or pour into shallow tray and stir every half hour while freezing. Allow 2.5 hours.

An alternative recipe using jam instead of cordial:

125 mL (1/2 c) whipping cream
2 egg yolks (from 2 x 50 g eggs)
85 mL (1/3 c) milk
60 mL (3 T) raspberry jam
20 mL (1 T) lemon curd, optional
30 g sugar
pinch salt

An egg-free peach melba variation

125 mL (1/2 c) whipping cream
250 mL (1 c) thick yoghurt
60 mL (3 T) apricot or peach jam
20 mL (1 T) raspberry cordial
50 g sugar
pinch salt

Read more...

Lemons

The lemon tree has faithfully yielded crops year after year. Since the gales and unseasonal long hot spell in the past few months, the fruit have shrunk to half size and look blemished. Most of them are dry and juiceless. It takes 8 lemons to produce the juice of 2.

Lemon Curd

Adapted from Australian Women's Weekly

This delicious tangy curd is made with egg yolks and is a fantastic way to use egg yolks left over from dishes like pavlova, angel cake, macaroons and chiffon sponge. For whole egg curd, check out this recipe.

8 egg yolks

150 g (2/3 c) sugar

2 t lemon rind

135 mL (1/2 c) lemon juice (2 lemons)

80 g (4 T) butter

strip of zest

1. Combine yolks, sugar, rind and juice. Whisk. Add butter and strip of zest

2. Stir over simmering water until thickened. Allow 15-25 minutes.

3. Remove the zest. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Let cool.

4. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

Lemon Meringue Tart

To make 2 dozen tartlets or one 24 cm tart, you need 2 cups of lemon curd. This recipe works well with a good mixer like Ed Charles's (@tomatom) KitchenAid giveaway.

Lemon Curd Filling

2 c lemon curd

Meringue Topping

2 egg white

1 c sugar

1 t lemon juice

1 t cornflour

1. Beat egg white until soft peaks.

2. Gradually add sugar while beating. Beat until glossy and stiff.

3. Beat in lemon juice and cornflour.

Sweet Tart Shell

125 g butter

125 g sugar

1 egg

250 g plain flour

1/2 t baking powder

1. Beat butter, sugar and egg.

2. Add flour and baking powder. Mix to a dough. Do not overwork.

3. Cover and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

4. Roll to 2 mm thick.

5. Line greased tart shell with pastry.

6. Prick with a fork.

7. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes until crisp and lightly golden.

Biscuit Tart Shell

This tart shell is an alternative to homemade pastry

185 g Granita, Marie, Nice or equivalent sweet biscuits

90 g butter, melted

1. Mix ingredients.

2. Press into a tart shell and refrigerate.

To Assemble

1. Fill tart shells with lemon curd.

2. Top with meringue.

3. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes until meringue sets and starts to brown.

4. Cool. Chill in refrigerator until serving.

Lemon Curd and Yoghurt Ice Cream

A tangy ice cream with a soft, smooth texture. Ingredients yield a small batch. A Panasonic battery operated ice cream machine works well with this quantity.

1 x 200 g thick yoghurt, plain or flavoured (eg. SKI Apple and cinnamon with grains)

150 g lemon curd

2 T sugar, or to taste

pinch of salt

1. Mix everything.

2. Churn in an ice cream machine or pour into shallow tray and stir every half hour while freezing.

Read more...

KitchenAid Mixer up for Grabs!

Celebrate the sixth anniversary of Ed Charles's "Tomato M" blog, and win a lovely KitchenAid KSM150 in a colour of your choice! Head across there now for full details! Don't forget to follow @tomatom for updates. By the way, this blog turns 6 as well, so it's a double celebration!

Yellow is a great colour for the kitchen: just look at how well the KitchenAid mixers match the kitchen tiles. From left to right, colours from KitchenAid: Yellow Pepper, Buttercup, Majestic Yellow, Almond Cream.

Pick me, I'm a lemon WINNER!

Right now, life's a lemon....

- the wall tiles belong to a "lemon" of a 60's kitchen, with matching sink and upright stove.

- the lemon tree looks straggly, in a distressed mess, and produces juiceless, half-sized fruit.

- the neighbour's majestic lemon scented gum suffered severe lopping for the sake of views, never mind everybody else's privacy.

- the lemon myrtle struggles under the hot summer sun and receives burns to 30% of the leaves.

... can do with a bit of yellow from a beautiful KitchenAid to brighten the day.

But, then things can be worse, just ask Ed Charles. For instance....

- you have no kitchen to use your favourite classic red KitchenAid when a gas explosion kicks you out of your home into temporary accommodation.

- hot meals mean eating at local eateries, with dishes plated up like cow pats.

- the insurance company leaves you cold while you fume red hot, like the tomato in your blog banner.

- your backpacker neighbour, unlike the gum and myrtle, suffered more than superficial burns and cuts.

... can do with a bit of yellow from a beautiful KitchenAid to brighten the day.

And things usually get worse before they get better....

- in the almost bare 60's style pantry that houses this year's grape jam, the last jar of jam looks half empty. It's shock and disbelief that the entire bumper grape crop, from 2 vines grown over 50 year old leached drains, has vaporized. Darn, it's John the villain again, handing out jam to everyone after tweeting chirping boostingboasting of grape bunches that need two large birds crows to steal carry.

- meanwhile Ed Charles is really in a jam with his insurer not paying. He's giving away apricot and blackberry jam to his 5000 Twitter and Facebook followers to effect a solution.

... can do with a bit of yellow from a beautiful KitchenAid to brighten the day.

Then things start to look a bit different...

- the pantry isn't bare anymore since it has SPACE for a new KitchenAid mixer now that the jars of jam are gone.

- the last jam jar is really half FULL, till next year's grapes.

So, pick me, I'm a lemon already a winner!

... of the self-nominated Best Food Blog Award for the least readership.

So as to not end on a sour note over the jam war, as to who has more pantry space for a KitchenAid mixer, here's something sweet for Ed Charles. It's lemon in a tart! Yes, there is even a RECIPE with PICTURES of REAL food, sans food styling glue, real food that makes your saliva runs, to entice a RETURN visit. The food at this restaurant is 100% free! Just leave a comment as a "tip", will you?

Lemon Tart

homemade pastry for 1 x 20 cm tart shell

2 eggs (50 g each)

1/2 c lemon juice

2 t lemon zest

1 lemon myrtle leaf, finely chopped

1/4 c thick yoghurt

1/4 c + 2 T sugar

icing for dusting

1. Blind baked pastry shell for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius

2. Mix the rest of the ingredients.

3. Strain the mixture into the pastry shell.

4. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes until just set.

5. Cool completely.

6. Refrigerate until serving.

7. Dust with icing.

Olive Oil Pastry

Adapted from recipe by Stefano de Pieri

100 mL cold water

125 mL olive oil

300 g plain flour

1/2 t salt

1. Mix everything together to form a dough. Do not overwork.

2. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

3. Roll out and press into tart shell.

4. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To blind bake, pierce all over with a fork. Weigh down with a flat bottom saucer. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, removing the saucer after 10 minutes.

The tart can do with a meringue topping, with the help of a KitchenAid mixer.

Read more...

Chocolate Fondant With Custard Sauce

Cooking disasters are many, even at high class restaurants. No one is going to admit to serving raw food, especially a fancy chocolate dessert with a price that matches. Thus is the origin of chocolate fondant, a rich chocolate cake with a runny centre. Other names include molten chocolate cake or lava cake. Grandma's generation knows this dessert as self-saucing chocolate pudding, made simply by pouring hot water over chocolate sponge batter. Restaurants refine, reinvent and serve it as haute cuisine that commands a high price.

Here's a basic recipe that uses cocoa powder instead of expensive couverture chocolate. The cake is dense and rich. The centres when cooked yields a flowing sauce. If a thicker fondant is preferred, reduce the amount of fluid. It doesn't take long to realize that you don't need to be masterchef with years of experience to produce this dish.

Chocolate Fondant
60 g butter, melted
20 g cocoa powder (4T)
50 mL milk
2 T liqueur (or milk)
1 egg
2 egg yolks
60 g sugar
50 g flour (half SR & half plain, or plain with 1/4 t baking powder)

Prepare 4 espresso cups or 2 ramekins by greasing with butter and lining bottoms. Dust with cocoa powder.

Combine butter, cocoa powder, milk, and liqueur. Fold in the flour. Whisk eggs with sugar. Fold egg mixture into the batter.

Pour into molds. Rest for at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 8-10 minutes for espresso cup size or 10-12 minutes for 1-cup ramekins. When ready, the top of the cakes look cooked and a skewer comes out with thick batter. Unmold onto serving plates. Serve immediately with custard sauce.

Variations:
For espresso version, substitute 1 t espresso coffee powder and 2 T water or freshly brewed espresso. For jaffa version, replace liquids with juice of 1 orange (90 mL).

Custard Sauce
30 g butter, melted
400 mL milk
5 egg yolks
1 t vanilla
60 g sugar

Combine and whisk ingredients. Stir over the stove or over double boiler until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Remove from heat and cool. Do not over cook. If cuddling starts, add 1 tablespoon butter and whisk in a blender. Cornstarch (1 t) may be added to thicken.

Easy Mocha Fondant
60 g extra virgin olive oil
20 g cocoa
50 g SR flour
1 egg
60 g sugar
50 mL espresso coffee
20 mL milk

Mix in a blender. Pour into 2 greased and bottom lined teacups. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 10-12 minutes. This recipe gives a thick, mousse-like centre.

Read more...

Creme Brulee

To make make an attractive dessert, wrap chilled creme brulee in ready to eat cream cheese pastry made with toasted glutinous rice flour. Serve with a fruit sauce.

Creme Brulee
Adapted from Chubby Hubby

4 egg yolks (20 g each)
300 mL whipping cream
50 mL milk
50 g sugar
1 teaspoon water chestnut flour, optional, stablizer
1 teaspoon cocoa, optional for chocolate flavour
1 teaspoon wattleseed, optional for chocolate flavour
75 g fine brown sugar, optional, for crust

1. Combine everything except brown sugar. Whisk lightly to combine and dissolve the sugar.

2. Strain into a jug. The foam makes an attractive crust.

3. Pour into 6 small ramekins, or espresso cups. Use silicon bakeware for unmolded creme brulee.

4. Place in a hot water bath and bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 1-1.5 hours.

5. Remove from the oven and chill overnight. Freeze if using silicon bakeware to aid unmolding. If frozen, then thaw in the refrigerator 6 hours before serving.

6. To make the sugar crust, place the ramekins or espresso cup in an ice bath. Sprinkle the custard tops with brown sugar. Grill for 5 minutes in a preheated oven. Alternatively, use a brulee blowtorch. Omit this step if wrapping with pastry.

Cream Cheese Pastry
Adapted from Kuali

125 g toasted glutinous rice flour, available from oriental stores
180 ml milk
125 g icing sugar
60 g cream cheese
30 g melted butter (or 35 g whipping cream)
1/4 tsp salt
pinch ground lemon myrtle leave

1. Mix the ingredients to form a soft, pliable dough. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

2. Divide into 30-40 gram portions depending on molds.

3. Roll out. Place a mound of filling and enclose before pushing into molds. If using pre-molded filling, wrap neatly and trim off excess.

4. Refrigerate or make close to serving. Best eaten within 2 hours, but can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Read more...