April 20, 2013

No Bake | Mulberry Strawberry Buttermilk Sorbet & Mulberry Jam … In season with mulberries!

“I put everything I can into the mulberry of my mind and hope that it is going to ferment and make a decent wine. How that process happens, I’m sorry to tell you, I can’t describe.”
John Hurt

Mulberry Strawberry Buttermilk Sorbet & Mulberry Jam! Here we go round the mulberry ~~bush~~ tree, and looks like I’m going to stay right under it! We’re enjoying a very short and very sweet mulberry season. I feel so inspired! Seems like it’s going to be mulberries all the way.

Mulberries are actually a good source of raw food protein, a rarity in the fruit kingdom. They are also a good source of magnesium, potassium, riboflavin, iron, calcium, vitamin C, and fiber. One of the mulberry’s greatest health assets is it’s high concentration of resveratrol, an antioxidant currently being studied for its effects on heart health.

The sudden mulberry distraction {maybe madness} arrived unannounced as usual. This post is more about the story around the fruit, than the sorbet or jam itself. The latter would barely spin a tale, though the sorbet recipe is a real winner!

A large number of us joined the very large hearted and talented Neel at Learn Food Photography to polish our photography knowledge and skills. A few of you might know that I am still very lost about the technicalities behind the camera and am a compulsive auto shooter.

So thanks to this 30 day exercise, we are down almost 3 weeks doing what we like to do best. That includes virtually meeting and interacting with a huge like minded community. {The photograph below is one of my favourite shots from last week.}

In addition to some serious photog learning, the interactions are also a huge take away. It’s fascinating to see how food photography can reunite folk from India to Mexico! Together we’ve played with light, angles, DOF, backgrounds, props, diffusers and so much more. Maybe you can catch bits in my photographs. You can see the sorbet in many different hues, from an early morning shot, to a rather deep pink late evening one. An enriching experience!

It was on the forum that I chanced upon a photograph of mulberries that Ozan from Turkey shared. That made me sit up. What happened to our mulberry season? Why didn’t I remember? Man Friday was immediately summoned and commissioned with ‘the mulberry task’.

He never fails…never! He soon brought me a bag of pretty, juicy mulberries, sweet as sweet could be. Morning saw me stirring mulberry jam! Nothing to the recipe. Just the berries with equal sugar, a vanilla bean, a dash of lime juice. I threw in some aged balsamic too. Simmered until soft over low heat, then cooked until it thickened somewhat. TADA! Jam! No pectin, nothing!

I get a HUGE bagful every alternate day. I’ve frozen some. Throw them into smoothies for the kids. A strawberry mulberry smoothie is beautiful. Then I wanted to make something I’ve waited long to make, a buttermilk sorbet. I added some mulberries instead of just a strawberry sorbet. Delightful!

This mixed berry sorbet is light, refreshing, summery and beautiful! I shot it in many different ways in the ongoing LFP exercise. It included styling – napkins, garnish, Pinterest inspiration etc. I got some right shots, and some very wrong. So much fun, and so much to learn.

It was three days of ‘mulberry shots‘! Another huge bagful came in this morning so the head is buzzing with mulberry coloured thoughts again. Any recipe suggestions are more than welcome. Hopefully I’ll have another mulberry centric post out this month!

Until then, please help yourself to really really refreshing and pretty Mulberry Strawberry Buttermilk Sorbet. The Mulberry Jam is quite sweet and makes for a nice addition in a berry dessert sauce, added to whipped cream into a fool, dolloped over breakfast cereal or slathered onto a warm buttery toast! I love cooking in season!

Recipe:Mulberry Strawberry Buttermilk Sorbet

Summary: Sweet, tangy, refreshing, light, the berry buttermilk sorbet is addictive good. Great way to use summer berries. Makes about 1 ltr.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

200g mulberries, frozen
200g strawberries, frozen
150g vanilla sugar
2 tbsp kirsch
Juice of 1 lime
500ml buttermilk, frozen in ice cube tray {for Thermomix recipe}

Method:

Thermomix
Place all ingredients in bowl of TM and process at speed 10 for a minute at a time until pulverized to smooth consistency Use TM scraper to scrape down sides now and then.
Transfer to freezer safe bowl and freeze until desired {or serve immediately!}
Ice cream maker
Remove the stems of the mulberries if you like {I didn’t}
Place all the ingredients in bowl of processor and blend well until smooth. Taste and adjust sugar if required.
Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer instructions.

Recipe: Mulberry Jam

Summary: Sweet, simple and full of berry goodness, this is another great way to use the seasonal berry. Makes about 2 jars.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

500g mulberries
500g sugar
1 vanilla bean
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method:

Pull out the stems of the mulberries.
Place the berries in a heavy bottom saucepan, crush them with the back of a spoon so that they release their juices. Bring to a simmering boil, then add the remaining ingredients.
Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook to desired consistency, about 15 minutes.
Transfer to sterilised jars. I refrigerated mine as I didn’t seal them.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

June 20, 2012

Frozen Dessert | Apricot Peach Sorbet … when life offers you more stone fruit!

“No matter how full I am, I’m always ready to dig into a bowl of icy cool sorbet after dinner.”
David Lebovitz, the Perfect Scoop

Inspiration rules. Sylvie is one of the most talented food bloggers, stylists and photographers I have virtually met, and her blog Gourmande in the Kitchen never ceases to amaze. Those apricots ~~called~~ shouted my name out loud. It must have been more than a coincidence that I carried some rather fetching yet not so sweet apricots home, because I had my answer… Apricot Peach Sorbet.The paintwork has been completed and I if I expected all the stuff to grow feet and saunter back into place, I was dreaming. Torn between apricots, the cocker spaniel, ladders and getting the house into order was a strange dilemma; I had a finger in every pie, but first it had to be the apricots as Sylvies post had me haunted.Ambitious me! I only got as far as the fruit being pitted and cooked. Don’t you just love these beautiful babies? They give up the pits so cleanly and willingly, that I look at peaches rather sternly! Wouldn’t it help if they did it with such ease too? No wine on hand, so the simmering happened in sugar + water with a vanilla bean thrown in.Just a matter of minutes and we had gorgeous apricots in syrup. Cooled and chilled they tasted sublime, but lack of time saw them in the fridge for 2 more days. WORK WORK WORK! The dog had to be bathed as she was ‘smothered‘ in paint, her feet, her ears all ‘painted‘ in dust as she was constantly in and out of everything. She is NAUGHTY at one year but absolutely charming … and now scrubbed clean!The teens just don’t seem to lift a finger these days. Between Castle, Desperate Housewives, Junior MasterChef Australia, MasterChef Australia, more TV, sleeping, eating, going out, all in no particular order, they do NOTHING! Well almost nothing … other than whizzing smoothies and stir fries in the kitchen {read dirty D I S H E S}; also wanting to make Shannon Bennett’s involved Peach Melba…sigh! … which meant that instead of making the mascarpone I intended to serve the fruit over, I was relegated to more clearing and cleaning. The fruit eventually landed up in the freezer, syrup and all, followed rather hastily with some peaches that I had bought too. Some good would come out of it I thought …… and it did! Nothing better to beat the incessant summer heat with a fruity, delightful cold sorbet. I loved the colours, the tangy sweetness that flooded the mouth, the beautiful texture … the ever so slight hint of bitter almond. Beautiful!

#lovestonefruit

Sorbets are quite similar to granitas, both are dairy free and egg free {unlike ice creams which have custard base}. They are both made from blended fruit, fruit juice or maybe a simple sugar syrup. The difference lies in the way the two are made. Sorbets are made by ice cream machines and churned to give a soft, airy, ice cream like smooth texture, whereas granitas are hand made. Granitas are grainier in texture, coarser, full of ice crystals … and both are a wonderful end to a meal.

Recipe: Apricot Peach Sorbet

Summary: Tart, sweet, refreshing, healthy and easy, this apricot peach sorbet is a wonderful end to a meal. Just right for summer! Inspired by Gourmande in the Kitchen

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes {plus cooling/chilling time}
Ingredients:

Apricots in syrup
12 apricots, halved, stoned
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean
Juice of 1 lime
600g peaches, halved, stoned, frozen
50g sugar

Method:

Apricots in syrup
Simmer honey, sugar, water and vanilla bean in a non reactive pan until the sugar has melted. Slide the apricots in and simmer gently for 4-5 minutes, until they are just tender.
Take off heat, add a squeeze of lime, cool and then chill. Discard vanilla bean and freeze with liquid for Thermomix recipe.
Making the sorbet {TM recipe}
Place apricots frozen with syrup {cut up into chunks}, frozen peaches and sugar in bowl of TM, and process on speed 8 going up to 10 for 1-2 minutes, until smooth. Taste and adjust sugar if required.
Pipe into serving glasses and serve immediately, or freeze.
Note: If using ice cream machine, puree the cooled apricots in syrup with the peaches and sugar, and proceed according the manufacturer instructions.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

April 5, 2012

Frozen Desserts| Strawberry Fro Yo ♥ Spring is here ♥ … summer too!

“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring is was until here three days ago, and then something happened. Before we could really immerse ourselves into it, we had a summer attack – almost 40C in North India already. That means power cuts, DUST, HEAT and whining kids! Strawberry Frozen Yogurt cheered us up!I’ve been missing {as Mr PAB reminded me this morning} and it’s those dreaded holidays once again! Yes, the ‘not so terrible anymore‘ teen is done with her exams and is home {and hungry yet screaming diet}, and the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible‘ pre teen is on Spring break. Always hungry! “Et tu, Brute?”It’s a struggle to keep the rumbling tummies happy! The lad’s up at 5.30am and sets off cycling with his friends. Comes back in a couple of hours; HUNGRY! The teen emerges out of bed much later; hungry too! She whips up some mean pancakes these days in a matter of minutes, then sits back to indulge. He doesn’t enjoy pancakes but enjoys writing poetry. Was quite obliging this morning and wrote a ‘Spring‘ poem for me in a jiffy, and then gobbled up a couple of Double Chocolate Orange & Oat Energy Bars!In the midst of this, the pooch is now facing her first real hot Indian summer and flops down every now and then. HOT! Hungry too but then again, dogs are always hungry and she is no exception. I have offered Coco the entire range of dog food and she hates it! I now cook her meals as well … and much to my joy, she loves it!She is a real sweetheart and almost as charming as the lad, if not more. She now almost ‘sings for her supper‘ and licks her bowl clean in a matter of seconds {She gets veggies including eggplant, zucchini, beets, potato, carrots, spinach, cracked wheat, dal and eggs all cooked together}, and amazingly she loves it!She’s cute as cute can be. Always ready for a game of catch. Forever N A U G H T Y, and happy to pose for the camera too!Back to the fro yo! Summers here. It’s big time to cut back on calories and revert to low fat food. Fresh exciting zingy flavours are fun. Citrusy marinades, grilled chicken, light salads, fresh fruit, quesadillas, wraps, pasta salads all come to mind. For dessert, fruity frozen yogurts, sorbets, granitas and low fat ice creams really rock! And stuff like buttermilk panna cotta too!This Strawberry Frozen Yogurt was fun and I love the colours. Nothing to it. Just a good balance of flavours and fresh ingredients. I used homemade yogurt hung for 2 days in the fridge to get rid of excess whey and then whizzed in the Thermomix to produce the most sensational fro yo. You can use the same proportions in your ice cream maker. I use frozen strawberries mainly because I am inclined to buy too many boxes and hardly find the time to use the perishable fruit immediately. Besides, the Thermomix is most magical when it comes to ice creams and frozen desserts. Its like having an instant ice cream maker on hand as it blitzes the frozen berries into smooth sorbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream in minutes.

Recipe: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Summary: Refreshing strawberry frozen yogurt which is great for the season. It’s low on calories and great on flavour. Looks very pretty too.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes {plus chilling time}
Ingredients:

450gm strawberries {frozen}
250gm hung yogurt {hung for 2-3 days in the fridge}
170gm vanilla sugar {adjust if required}
1 tbsp kirsch {optional}

Method:

Place all ingredients in the bowl of your Thermomix and process on Speed 10 for 1 minute at a time, stirring with the TM spatula as required. Repeat 3-4 times until well blended. Adjust sugar if required and blend for another 30 seconds.
Transfer to a freezer safe container. Serve immediately or freeze until required.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India