April 2, 2009

FROZEN STRAWBERRY YOGURT…a refreshing ice-cream in disguise!

“Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal.”

Voltaire

And when it is ‘N O F A T’, as in fat-free, insanely fruity & tangy, & has yogurt, then it’s even bettah! This refreshing Frozen Strawberry Yogurt is much the ice-cream that I crave, & has all the goodness of the world stirred inside it.

Stirred because it’s hand made, yes you heard right, as I don’t own an ice-cream machine, & David Levobitz is quite right when he says you can make ice-cream without a machine. Rolling lasagna for Daring Baker’s Lasgana of Emilio Romagna (embarrassingly I was amongst a large number of us who thought Emilio Romagna was a lady, not a region as it actually is), gave me strong biceps. Making hand made ice-cream just adds to the toning…LOL!!

I found this recipe posted by Coco @ Purple Foodie & have made it twice already, the first time with basil, & the second time without. Perfect scoop each time. I love yogurt with fruit & this has to be the easiest & most delicious summer dessert. While I wait impatiently for the mango season to arrive, I have a few bag of strawberries in the freezer… Thank you for the idea Coco!

This post is specially for Year 3 of Cooking to Combat Cancer, an the event which is on its third go around. Cooking to Combat Cancer was started in March ’07 by Chris @ Melle Cotte after her world was rocked by cancer.

Have you met Chris? She’s a fighter & she’s doing a great job sharing her experience & knowledge about combating cancer. in her words, “As you’re cooking over the next couple of weeks, try to work in recipes which include ingredients that help the body fight cancer. In short? Think healthy.”

Check out her post here for many useful links. Berries are part of this list of 11 cancer fighting foods that I found on her post.

Berries: The two most widely studied cancer-fighting compounds in berries are ellagic acid (richest in strawberries and raspberries) and anthocyanosides (richest in blueberries). Ellagic acid is believed to help prevent skin, bladder, lung, and breast cancers, both by acting as an antioxidant and by slowing the reproduction of cancer cells. The anthocyanosides in blueberries are currently the most powerful antioxidants known to scientists and are beneficial in the prevention of all types of cancer.

I think this recipe might work as well with blueberries too, though I can’t try that version as blueberries are non-existent in India. My best choice was strawberries for Chris, & they do make this a very delicious low-cal dessert!

FROZEN STRAWBERRY YOGURT
Adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
1 cup (240g) hung curd
1 pound (450g) strawberries, rinsed and hulled
2/3 cup (130g) sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Method:

Tie the yogurt in a cheesecloth and let it sit in a strainer in a bowl overnight or for at least 2 hours. This will help drain off all the whey and result in a very creamy frozen yogurt dessert. (I think overnight is a better option)
Cut the strawberries and toss it in the sugar until it begins to dissolve. (I used vanilla sugar)
Blend it together to a puree. (Strain if you don’t like the seeds in)
Next, blend in the yogurt and lime juice until the mixture is smooth. (Check the sweetness if you like)
Freeze the mixture in a wide dish or plastic container. (The larger the surface area, quicker the freezing – since we have to pulse this mixture a couple of times).
Keep checking on the mixture every 30 minutes or so and use the stick blender to break the icicles, 4, maybe 5 times. (I used a sturdy whisk).

Once it’s almost set, you can add a handful of finely chopped fresh basil, or else, some chopped pistachio nuts if you like.
Garnish with sliced strawberries & a sprig of basil, or, chopped pistachio nuts & mint!

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September 7, 2008

MANGO GINGER BASIL SORBET…YES, IT’S THE PERFECT SCOOP!!

“Don’t limit my taste. There’s some jazz that I like and there’s some opera. I’ve been listening to what was essentially country music, but it crossed over to rock.”

Rick Moranis

Caught sight of a fabulous, lip-smacking, refreshing mango sorbet teasing me at different times…enticing, delectable, torturous at times. Got tortured by Cynthia @ Tastes Like Home, by Nic @ Cherrapeno (yellow for Bri), then by Mike @ Mike’s Table, where he had a chilling good frozen event.

For some very strange reason I never attempted a mango sorbet the entire mango season. And then, when the mangoes decided to say goodbye, panic set in & silly me decided that was the last mango thing on my list of things to definitely do. Turned out to be a very expensive sorbet, because I paid for the mangoes through my nose. In retrospect, it was worth every penny… I’m glad I made this fantastic sorbet.

Pure sorbet pleasure from David Lebovitz‘s book The Perfect Scoop. I don’t own the book, but borrowed the recipe from Nic’s blog, & adapted it a bit to add a burst of flavour. Was just far out & I can’t wait for next summer to get here quick…a whole year & a really long wait! Then again, time seems to be flying, & the pages of the calendar are disappearing as I stare at months whiz by. Summer shall be back again…stone-fruits & all. Until then, I shall begin to explore pip fruits!! They’re here already, apples & pears, heralding the beginning of fall. And life goes on…

Mango Ginger Basil Sorbet
Adapted from Nic @ Cherrapeno (who adapted it from The Perfect Scoop)
(I doubled her recipe)

Ingredients:
Mangoes – 5 large, ripe(4lbs)
Ginger – 2″ piece ; finely minced (I microplaned it)
Basil – 12-14 fresh leaves; chopped fine
Sugar – 1 1/3 cup
Water – 1 1/3 cup
Fresh lime juice – 8 tsps / of 2-3 limes, plus more to taste if required
Vodka – 1 tbsp
Pinch of salt Method:

Peel the mangoes and cut the juicy flesh from the stones. Cut the flesh into chunks and put them in a blender, along with the sugar, water, lime juice, vodka and the pinch of salt. Squeeze any remaining juice out of the mango and add it to the blender.
Puree the mixture until smooth. Pass through a strainer.
Add the ginger & chopped basil.
Taste the mixture and add more lime juice, as required.
Put the sorbet into a freezer-proof container and pop into the freezer. Whisk to break down crystals every hour…(or if you are a lucky ice-cream maker owner, let the maker do the work!!). Leave to set overnight.
Scoop out & serve with cut mangoes & fresh basil if you like.

REFRESH YOUR SENSES!!

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Chefs.com

August 25, 2008

ROASTING APRICOTS FOR A SORBET…

“I doubt whether the world holds for anyone a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice cream. “

Heywood Broun

Here’s a short & sweet post…great roasted flavours, that I made ages ago. Picasa has been misbehaving & lots of my files seem to have become inaccessible with a .ini file type. Naughty & bad Picasa! I can see the pictures in the folder, but when I try to open the folder, it says nothing to view. I have a few pictures of this beautiful roasted apricot sorbet which I had elsewhere, so I’d better get it on my blog before I lose these precious few pictures too!

A sorbet is ideally made in a sorbetiere, but quite good results can be obtained without a machine if you are prepared to spend some time whisking the mixture during freezing. This is the only way to break down ice crystals & produce a fairly smooth result – the more you whisk the smoother the sorbet will be. Here’s to elbow grease!! Generally speaking, you will get a better result by hand with a fruit puree than with a fruit juice. Thus spake the Le Cordon Blue’s ‘Cook’s Bible’…& I followed like a lamb, with my elbow grease!!

This is the only picture I have…& it was melting very fast at temperatures above 42 degrees!! This was originally headed for Mike @ Mikes Table for his event, but never made it in time. It had to see light of day eventually, so here it is!! This was my first attempt at a sorbet… & it was SO GOOD!! I eyeballed the amounts; shall try & put them into measures!

Roasted Apricot Sorbet

Ingredients:

Roasted apricot puree – 500ml

Sugar – 2/3 cup
Water – 1/2 cup

Juice of 1 lime

Almond Essence – 1 tsp

Pinch of salt

Method:

Cut & stone the apricots. Lay them on a foil lined baking sheet, cut side up. Sprinkle some brown sugar over the apricots & bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes until nice & brownish orange, & gooey. Let them cool on the sheet, then scrape them with their juices & puree with an immersion blender.
Add the the rest of the ingredients + a pinch of salt & run the blender again. Add 1 tbsp of vodka if you like.
Freeze until semi-frozen, about 2 hours.
Whisk every 1-2 hours until frozen with a balloon whisk. I then left it overnight.
Served mine with some apricot kernels made into a praline with sugar. The pictures of course abandoned me!!
Enjoy!!