August 4, 2012

Frozen Dessert | Mango Sorbet … Taste of Yellow for Barbara!

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

Pablo Picasso

It’s raining summer desserts at home. The mango crop has been fantastic {as has been the peach harvest}. How better to celebrate this luscious fruit than with David Lebovitz! The man is genius, and his Mango Sorbet an absolute winner! The Perfect Scoop is a favorite on my shelf; indispensable for ice cream lovers. Remember the Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream? Droolicious stuff!I’ve had this Mango Sorbet in my drafts for a bit. Then suddenly this week things took a turn for the worse … the power grid collapsed, not once but twice! 12 hours without electricity, then back, then gone again for 4 hours! Just when we kind of resurrected, the second collapse came by, 14 hours this time! While newspapers and TV channels were crying themselves hoarse about the worlds biggest black out, 600 million folk without power, all I could think about was “my mango sorbet”!It was a good lesson in preparedness for the future that awaits the generations to come. As kids we’ve lived different times, a country traditionally having exposed its people to frequent power cuts, so it was no big deal as power would go off all the time. Add to it black outs during the Indo Pak war in 1971. Brown paper darkened the windows, jets flew low over the town, sirens echoed over the city, trenches were ready and waiting. No power and no back up … and it didn’t bother us!Cut to now! The power goes off and the inverter cuts in. Instant solution and the kids barely even notice. The grid failure was different however! They learnt a new lesson … when the national grip trips, NO ONE knows when the power will be back! And another yummy one … grid failure is time for smoothies, ice cream, loads of food cooked non stop by a mother who cannot see food wasted!Remember my frozen cherries I mentioned in the Fresh Cherry Quark Cheesecake Pie post? Ho hum… since they threatened not to be frozen for long, they were hurriedly cooked with balsamic vinegar and made to top a delicious dessert to fill these gorgeous Urban Dazzle glasses. Result – happy family who didn’t complain about power cuts! Recipe to be posted next …The mango sorbet is light, refreshing, delicious and screams summer! It’s also my tribute to a beautiful lady – Barbara of Winos & Foodie who was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and sadly lost her battle recently. I was fortunate to meet her virtually on and off over her Yellow events; she was a fighter all the way! Monthly Mingle is the brainchild of the lovely Meeta @ Whats For Lunch Honey, and this month it celebrates Barbara’s spirit at the wonderful Jeanne @ Cook Sister. So positive, so full of energy, great sense of humour, always ready to share her experiences, Barbara held the food blogger world in awe, her love touching a lot of us. For years she successfully ran the Taste of yellow blog event. Of late, I had met her over Thermomix recipes after I bought one. RIP sweet Barbara … you were and are an inspiration to all of us!

{I am linking a few other yellow posts I did recently to this months Monthly Mingle}

Macaron à la Peaches et Crème Rustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer Galette Fresh Peach Brown Streusel Coffee Cake

Recipe: Mango Sorbet

Summary: The mango sorbet is light, refreshing, delicious and screams summer! Recipe adapted minimally from ‘The Perfect Scoop’, David Lebovitz.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes plus freezing time

Ingredients:

1kg 200g mango, chopped {net weight} {5-6 mangoes}
160g powdered sugar {or normal sugar for Thermomix}
170g water {equal weight of ice cubes for Thermomix}
Juice of 3 limes

Method:

Thermomix recipe
Cut and freeze mango.
Place sugar in TM bowl and pulverize on speed 10 for 7 seconds.
Add frozen mango, lime juice and ice cubes and process on speed 10 for 1 minute until smooth. Use TM spatula if necessary to scrape the sides.
serve immediately or transfer to a bowl and freeze until required.
Ice Cream Maker Recipe
Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust sugar or lime juice if required.
Chill the mixture and then place in your ice cream maker, according to manufacturer instructions.

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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