Summer Ice Cream Cake

This ice cream cake has two magical layers. The first, Nigella's meringue gelato cake - creamy with morsels of marshmallowy meringue and a hint of coffee liquer. The second, a super easy chocolate ice cream - just rich chocolatey goodness. Topped with wonderfully ripe cherries, raspberries and pomegranate seeds, it's a great way to a cool down on a sweltering hot summer's day.

 For how good it looks and tastes, it's a crime how easy it is to put together. I was surprised that there was absolutely no churning involved yet the texture of the ice cream was smooth and creamy.

Ingredients
300ml double cream
105g chocolate, chopped (I used milk chocolate, mama likes it sweet)
30ml coffee liquer
100g meringues
600ml pure cream
¼ cup cocoa powder
4 egg yolks
½ cup caster sugar
Fruit to top with

1. Whip the double cream until soft peaks form. Add 30g of chopped chocolate and coffee liquer and fold. Crush the meringues into the mixture and fold until combined.
2. Place mixture in a loaf tin lined with baking paper and pack down into all the corners. Put in freezer.
3. Heat the pure cream, 75g of chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a saucepan on low heat until the chocolate has melted.
4. Whisk egg yolks and caster sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Slowly pour in heated cream mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the whole mixture into the saucepan, cook on a low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Cool the chocolate mixture down in a bowl (clingwrap the top so it doesn't form a skin) then pour into the loaf tin on top of the first layer. Put in freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.
6. Once frozen, flip the ice cream cake onto a plate and top with fruits. Serve quickly and enjoy!

The Cronut

Ah, the mythical cronut - part croissant, part donut, all noms. Tales of its sweet delights travelled to us one night on the television when Dominique Ansel was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to cook his beautiful creation. I haven't had the New York City cronut but I found a recipe for an imitation version by Edd Kimber.

These babies are an absolute treat - flaky, buttery and scrumptiously fluffy. To make these, you'll need a bit of patience and a lot of kitchen counter space. But once you cut out your little cronut discs and lower them into the oil to fulfill their delicious destiny, you'll know it was all worth it.

Ingredients

60ml milk
65ml warm water
6g dried yeast
150g cold diced butter
250g plain flour (The recipe calls for 125g plain flour and 125g strong flour. I couldn't find strong flour so I used all plain flour and added bread improver.)
5g bread improver
30g caster sugar
½ teaspoon salt
vanilla sugar
icing sugar
milk
vanilla extract

1. Combine milk, water and yeast in a bowl.
2. Pulse the cold butter, flour and bread improver in a food processor until it looks like lumpy breadcrumbs.
3. Combine the flour mixture, the wet mixture and the caster sugar and salt until form into a dough. Cover with cling wrap and fridge for 2 hours.
4. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the dough into thirds, turn and roll again. Repeat this 2 times. I found the dough to be quite sticky at the beginning of the rolling but by the time I folded it a few times, it became a nice, smooth dough.
5. Cover dough with cling wrap and fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
6. Roll out the dough to about ½cm thick and cut out your cronut discs with cookie cutters. Put the discs on a tray lined with baking paper, cover with a tea towel and let prove for 1 hour.
7. Fry cronuts in oil at 170ºC until puffed up and golden.
8. Drain on paper towels and toss in vanilla sugar.
9. Make glaze by mixing icing sugar, vanilla extract to taste and a splash of milk. Drizzle on cooled cronuts.

Croquembouche

Custard-filled and white chocolate coated profiteroles on a chocolate iced sponge base

This was my first attempt at making profiteroles, which made the croquembouche idea even more ambitious. I'm so psyched that it all worked because every step was a labour of love for my boyfriend's birthday. I made the profiteroles using Raymond Blanc's recipes for choux pastry and creme patissiere here.

1. Make a cake base of your choice.

2. Make the pastries, dip them in melted white chocolate, fill with creme patissiere and stick them on the cake base with toffee.

3. Decorate with toffee strands (using a spoon, cool toffee down enough for it to make long, thin strands, then drizzle around the croquembouche).

Homemade Banana Ice Cream in Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwiches

I never understood the appeal of a frozen banana until I tried it myself. I knew that vodka and gin stayed nice and unfrozen in the freezer - but putting a piece of fruit in there? Surely it'd come out rock hard (don't mind the innuendo). Somehow, it doesn't. It's creamy and chewable, kind of like... ice cream! Mix it with a bit of cream and voila - creamy, smooth, scoopable ice cream!

The best thing about this is it's much healthier than store-bought ice creams. There's no preservatives, you can control how much sugar you put in (or even substitute sugar with honey, maple syrup or agave nectar) and most of it's fruit. Plus, you're not spending hard earned money on packaging.

What better way to have it than to serve it with peanut butter and jelly - an unbeatable combination. You've got the salty P, the creamy B and the sweet J (there's the innuendo again). Squish it between two layers of crunchy cookie and you've got yourself one hell of an ice creamy sandwich.

Banana ice cream

You'll need:

2 bananas
200ml thickened cream
½-1 cup castor sugar, depending on how sweet the bananas are

Peel and puree the bananas. You can use a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, like me, you can use a potato ricer.

Combine cream and sugar and whip until soft peaks form.

Gently fold the two together and place in an air-tight container.

Chill in freezer overnight. (It takes longer to set than other ice creams.)

Sandwich with cookies, peanut butter and strawberry or raspberry jam. Easy.

Enjoy!

Macadamia & Vanilla Poached Meringue

Light, fluffy meringues poached in a vanilla and macadamia infused milk, served with macadamia and strawberry jam

You'll need:

2 eggs
100g castor sugar
400ml milk
15 raw macadamia nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Strawberry jam to serve

Ground 10 macadamia nuts until it's a rough meal.

Combine milk, macadamia meal and vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Infuse for half an hour and strain.

Beat egg whites until medium peaks form.

Slowly add the sugar. Beat until stiff and glossy.

Place strained milk back into the saucepan and bring to a simmer.

Spoon dollops of the meringue into the milk. Turn when the meringues expand. (You'll inevitably get milk skins on the meringues but you get remove them later.)

Remove and drain on paper towels. (Wipe off any bits of milk skin.)

Serve with finely chopped macadamia and strawberry jam. Check out my strawberry jam recipe here.

Enjoy!

Lavender Panna Cotta

There's a lavender bush in a small lane near my place and it gives off the loveliest scent. Even though I felt a little bit naughty about it, I had to bring some home. I've always wanted to make a lavender-infused dessert so I decided to make lavender and honey panna cotta with passionfruit syrup.

This recipe is adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's elderflower vanilla panna cotta recipe on River Cottage Every Day. (Incidentally, HFW makes me want to move to the country, grow my own vegetables and raise a family of lambs.)

So creamy and florally...

You'll need:

100ml milk
250ml double cream
30g castor sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Some lavender heads (I used 8)
2 teaspoons gelatine powder
150ml natural yoghurt

Place milk, cream, sugar, honey, vanilla and lavender in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat as soon as it bubbles. Leave to infuse for half an hour.

Strain through a sieve and place back into saucepan. Warm over low heat.

Mix gelatine in with a third of the mixture. Stir into the whole mixture. Cool completely.

Stir in yoghurt.

Pour into 4 moulds. I used ramekins, lightly greased with vegetable oil.

Set in fridge for at least 2 hours.

When you're ready to serve, dip each mould into hot water for 10 seconds and then flip out onto a plate.

Drizzle with passionfruit syrup (combine 1 passionfruit, ¼ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a saucepan over low heat and simmer for a few minutes).

Enjoy!

Pepper-seared Sashimi Tuna

 

I finally understand the difference between a $3 roll at Sushi World and a $20 artisan roll at a nice restaurant. The latter most likely uses sashimi grade fish, which, I found out yesterday, does not come cheap.

We bought this beauty at Wellstone Fresh Seafood in Willoughby. I'd read online that they supply seafood to some of the best Japanese restaurants in Sydney. There, I learned that sashimi grade tuna is not the same as a regular tuna steak. In fact, it's twice the price (approx. $20 for 300g) and much deeper in colour. I went home and Googled what makes sashimi grade fish special and it's actually in the way it's caught. Sashimi grade fish is individually caught by hand and killed instantly before chilling. No wonder you rarely see raw tuna at takeaway joints.

This tuna was so tender that the pieces almost fell apart while I was slicing it, and, like most things good in the food world, it melted in my mouth. I have to give credit to Nigella for the pepper crust recipe. Served with a salad of red cabbage, cucumber, spring onion and a soy and wasabi dressing and steamed rice, it was the perfect combination of textures and flavours for a light Summer dinner.

This dish is also an entertainer's dream. You can prepare the tuna and vegetables in the morning and set them aside in the fridge. Then when your guests arrive, you only need to spend 10 minutes searing the tuna, dressing the salad, slicing the tuna and prettying up on a plate.

You'll need:
Sashimi grade tuna
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Peppercorns, lightly cracked
¼ red cabbage
1 cucumber
3 spring onions
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
½ tablespoon sesame oil
½ tablespoon wasabi
1 teaspoon castor sugar
Juice of half a lime
Sesame seeds (optional)
Steamed rice (optional)

Serves 4.

Combine English mustard and sesame oil and rub on tuna.

Roll tuna in pepper, coating well on 4 sides (leaving the ends bare).

Julienne the vegetables and dress with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, wasabi, castor sugar and lime juice.

Sear each peppered side of the tuna in a hot pan (it should be smoking) for approximately 1 minute or until you can see 1mm of cooked meat. Be careful to not cook any further than that as it will continue cooking off the heat.

Rest tuna until cool.

Slice thinly and arrange on a plate. Garnish salad with sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

Homemade Jam: Fig, Strawberry & Ginger

Jam is one of those things you have to keep in the house. When you think of good foods like turkey sandwiches, scones, toast, trifle, spongecakes, jam really ought to be a food group in itself. This year, I decided to make a few batches of jam and give them to family as gifts. Unlike with biscuits or cake (foods that don't make it past Christmas day), every time your loved ones stick a knife in your homemade jam, they'll think of you.

Jam is surprisingly dead easy to make. If you find good quality fruits that are more or less unripened, you really only need 3 ingredients: fruit, sugar and lemon juice. You can add spices or infuse your jam with things like citrus zest or ginger. You can even play around with consistency by putting in some ripened fruit or simmering for shorter or longer.

I decided to make two batches: fig jam, and strawberry and ginger jam. You need unripened fruit because they contain a higher level of pectin, a natural setting agent. Figs are really ripe this time of year so I used the firmest ones I could find. Somehow they made a nice, thick jam. Both jams were delicious and all up took around a day to make.

Fig jam

You'll need:
1kg figs
500g castor sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Glass jars

Preheat the oven to 110̊C.

Place jars in the oven to sterilise. Place the lids in too if they're oven-safe. Otherwise, put them in boiling water while you make the jam.

Quarter the figs and coat well with caster sugar in a large bowl. Keeping the excess sugar, cover and place in fridge until the juices come out (at least 6 hours).

Transfer to a deep pot and place on a medium heat.

Once the sugar is melted, remove the fruit and simmer the syrup for 10-15 minutes.

Return the fruit to the pot and simmer for about half an hour, stirring occasionally.

When it is thick and jammy, take your jar out of the oven and spoon the jam in while the jar is hot. Put the lid on immediately and leave it to cool. Once cool, store in fridge.

Makes around 1 litre.

Strawberry and ginger jam

You'll need:
1kg strawberries
1kg sugar
2 tablespoons ginger, sliced lengthways
Juice of 1½ lemons
Glass jars

Preheat the oven to 110̊C.

Place jars in the oven to sterilise. Place the lids in too if they're oven-safe. Otherwise, put them in boiling water while you make the jam.

Halve or quarter them and place in a deep pot.

Place sugar and ginger in the pot.

Place the pot on a medium heat and stir until the sugar is melted.

Once melted, bring to the boil and gently simmer for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. During this time, taste it regularly and take out the ginger when it's infused to your liking.

Add lemon juice.

When it is thick and jammy, take your jar out of the oven and spoon the jam in while the jar is hot. Put the lid on immediately and leave it to cool. Once cool, store in fridge.

Makes around 2 litres.

Enjoy!

Gooey Rocky Road Soufflé

I'll let you in on a secret: when it's late at night and there's no one else on the road, I will more than likely drive over roundabouts. Of course, I also avoid my boyfriend's glares and then sheepishly explain, "I don't like moving my arms." I'm not an inactive person, I'm actually quite athletic. It's just that at the end of a long day of driving - granted curves and bends are fun - my arms are tired and roundabouts are just too much.

Likewise, some things like rocky road involve too much chewing. It tastes great, don't get me wrong, but after 3 bites my mouth is just in mastication overkill. This is why I decided to make a gooey rocky road: the same great taste but with 95% less chewing required.

To a chocolate soufflé, I added pink marshmallows, white chocolate bits and macadamia shortbread. The white chocolate and marshmallow melt into the soufflé and you end up with a rich, intensely chocolatey soufflé with gooby bits on top. The macadamia shortbread is dense and crumbly and it all just melts in your mouth. This is exactly the kind of lazy eating that's needed for a long weekend.

Gooey Rocky Road Soufflé
Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Chocolate Soufflé recipe

Unsalted butter for greasing, softened
6 squares dark chocolate, finely grated
20g cornflour
200ml milk
200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), chopped
80g egg yolks
200g egg whites
150g castor sugar
Pink marshmallows
White chocolate bits
Macadamia shortbread

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Grease the sides of 8 small ramekins with butter in upward strokes. Refrigerate for 5 minutes and grease again. Sprinkle grated chocolate on the sides evenly.

In a small saucepan, combine cornflour with a bit of milk and create a smooth paste. Gradually mix in rest of milk. Bring to the boil on low heat, whisking continuously. When the mixture thickens after around 30 seconds, add chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk egg yolks in. Cool in a large bowl.

Beat egg whites with an electric beater. When medium peaks form, gradually add castor sugar. Beat until thick and glossy.

Carefully fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, one third at a time, until just combined.

Pour into ramekins and level off with the back of a knife.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the soufflés have risen well past the rims of the ramekins.

Serve immediately with marshmallows, white chocolate bits and crumbled macadamia shortbread.

Macarons Part I: Basic French Macaron Shell

They say that making macarons is an endeavour best left to the French. After several failed attempts, I realised that there is a lot of wisdom in that adage.

Except that when I want something, I will not stop until I succeed. Maybe it's the law student ambition in me; maybe it's my passion for food that doesn't let me shy away from a challenge.


Using David Lebovitz's blog as a starting point, I read and read about the meticulous method of making macarons. As Lebovitz explains in "Making French Macarons: Instructions & Recipes", making macarons is more about technique rather than following a recipe. For tips on macaron shell technique, I found David Lebovitz, Duncan Markham at Syrup and Tang and Corry at Bake It Off to be the most useful sources on the internet.

I tried out two recipes: Duncan Markham's recipe for a basic French macaron and Pierre Hermé's recipe for hot sugar syrup macarons. These recipes were by no means fool-proof or simple to master because they didn't involve the use of cream of tartare or lemon juice to aid the formation of stiff peaks in the egg whites. It took me about 15 eggs, almost 1kg of almond meal and 3 whole days in the kitchen to make a decent macaron shell. There were tears, tantrums and the spontaneous shouting of "Why!" and "It's not fair!" in my sleep. But imagine my joy when I'd made a bona fide French macaron!



However, it was a long learning process. My first few attempts came out porous and deflated. I couldn't understand why - I'd followed the recipes to the T. Dan's mother Barb suggested that I start from basics, beating an egg and making meringue. It made sense, getting to know the science of how the ingredients interact with each other, taking one step at a time. So that's what I did - no colouring and no added flavours (my ambitious strawberry syrup did not work with the macaron batter). I focused on the 4 ingredients used in Duncan Markham's recipe: egg whites, almond meal, icing sugar and castor sugar.

Working with the 4 ingredients


Egg whites


Using 1 egg, I tested how far I could beat it without curdling it. This gave me a better grasp of what soft, medium and stiff peaks looked like. The best way to test which stage you are at it is to stop beating every minute or so and lift the beaters out to see. When it reaches soft peaks, the egg whites will look like a sudsy foam with visible bubbles. Medium peaks means that the bubbles are barely visible and when you lift the beaters out, it will rise up and flop back down. I couldn't actually reach stiff peaks without castor sugar (as it helps bind egg whites). You will know you've got stiff peaks when the mixture is glossy, has obvious ripples and when you lift the beaters the peak will stand up on its own. Edit: Between medium and stiff peaks, the castor sugar will make the egg whites increase in volume. If it decreases in volume again, you've overbeaten it. However, it is salvageable. Bake at a lower heat for longer so that you don't get a hollow shell.


Beating egg whites is finicky enough but with macarons there are about 4 other fronts you have to worry about:


(1) Fineness and dryness of almond meal
Whether you use whole almonds (raw, not blanched) or packaged almond meal from the supermarket (which I found doesn't work that well anyway) you need to prep it before using it in macaron mix. Fineness isn't crucial but creates a smoother shell so that it's nicer on the eyes. Dryness, however, is key because excess moisture will cause the egg whites to collapse. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Blitz the almonds or almond meal in a food processor for 1 minute. Remove lid and use a spatula to loosen all the ground almond at the bottom. Blitz for another minute. Spread into a thin layer on a baking tray. Put in the oven for 5 minutes. Cool completely.



(2) Dryness and temperature of egg whites
As egg whites contain water, you want to dry out that excess moisture for perfect macarons. To do this, separate your eggs 2 days in advance. Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl and let stand at room temperature. You can cover it, but use something that'll let it breathe, like a tea towel. Egg whites beat better at room temperature, so don't fridge them during these 2 days!



Just piped



Rested for 20 minutes



(3) Speed of incorporation
One of the most important things I learnt during my mistake runs is that you need to be fast when incorporating the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. If you work too slowly, the egg whites will deflate and your macarons will be firm and chewy. When folding the dry ingredients into the egg whites, scrape the edge of the bowl in a semi-circle, then fold into the middle. You want to get rid of the excess air so use a bit of force.


(4) Prepping your utensils
For beating egg whites in general, always beat in a clean glass bowl, making sure that the bowl and the beaters are completely dry to begin with. Use the smallest bowl you can so that the egg whites will get maximum beatage. When baking, use thick baking trays, or stack two together (with no gap in between), lined with baking paper. You can stick down the baking paper with blobs of macaron mixture in each corner.


Macarons au blanc monté (French meringue)
Recipe courtesy of Duncan Markham ("La Macaronicite 2: basic technique and simple macaron recipe", Syrup and Tang)



1 part egg white (50g)
1.3 parts almond meal (65g)
1.6 parts icing sugar (80g)
0.8 parts castor sugar (40g)


Blitz almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor for 1 minute.


Beat the egg whites on a medium speed until medium peaks form. Gradually add castor sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.


Sprinkle half of the dry ingredients over the egg whites and fold in with a spatula. Fold in remaining dry ingredients. This is also when you would add food colourings.


When done, you should be able to make a ribbon on top that takes at least 30 seconds to disappear.


Prep baking trays and spoon batter into piping bag with a 1cm wide nozzle.


Holding the nozzle close to the baking paper, pipe your macarons about 4cm apart. Try to make them round and flat (you can dip your finger in water and smooth out the tops if needed).


Tap the tray on a flat surface to get rid of excess bubbles.


Preheat the oven to either 120°C (baking time: 20 minutes) or 180°C (baking time: 9 minutes).


Rest the shells after piping for at least half an hour in a dry place.


Bake for 18-20 minutes in the middle shelf. If doing more than one tray, bake one tray at a time.


Remove baking paper from tray and cool on a wire rack. Gently remove macaron shells from baking paper and continue cooling face up on the wire rack.


Refrigerate in an air-tight container for at least 1 day before filling.



9 minutes at 180°C



20 minutes at 120°C


Stay tuned for the hot sugar syrup recipe and ganache filling!