Coconut Ice Cream is my best trick

Coconut Ice Cream

I've got quite good at making ice cream after spending the summer making it for my lovely sister-in-law Louisa. When you have treatment for cancer it can change the way food tastes, and how much you want to eat. So I started making ice cream, because it was all I could do to give a little pleasure to a friend when  pleasure was thin on the ground. I said to Louisa it was my only trick, and she said it was a good trick.

Louisa said the Coconut Ice Cream was the best, combined with chocolate. The chocolate melted too fast, so I'll just write up the Coconut here.

The recipe has the usual ingredients, sugar, egg, milk and cream with flavours. It's a soft scoop ice cream so it has an extra ingredient, corn syrup or powdered dextrose monohydrate - also called medicinal glucose - don't buy the variety that contains vitamin supplements.

RECIPE

Ingredients

• 70g/ 0.5 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 300ml / 1.25 cups
• 3 tbsp/ .0.25 cup plus 2 tsp powdered dextrose monohydrate (or 130ml corn syrup)
• 185ml/ 0.75 cup whipping cream/double cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• makes about 750ml or 3 cups of ice cream
• 6 tbsp coconut milk powder

Method

• In a large heatproof bowl beat the sugar and eff together
• in a pan bring the milk to just below boiling point
• pour the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture in a slow stream beating constantly
• stir in the coconut milt powder
• put the milk, sugar, coconut and egg mixture over a pot of simmering water until itreaches 85C/185F degrees or it coats the back of a spoon so that if you draw your finger through it it keeps the shape. The bowl mustn't touch the simmering water.
• remove the milk mixture from the heat and stir in the powdered dextrose (or corn sytrup), then chill.
• once chilled stir in the vanilla, coconut and cream and freeze - you can still freeze or pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn for about 20 minutes or until it has the consistency of softly whipped cream
• transfer the ice cream into plastic freezer boxes and freeze
• once you're ready to eat the coconut ice cream take it from the freezer and it'll be ready to eat immediately

I'm about to make it again. I'll take photos and add them in a while.

I inherited an ice cream machine from my mum along with an ice cream cook book: Ices the definitive guide by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir.  It's got the history of ices along with a long list of ice creams that I've been working my way through. I've had to replace the ice cream machine. It does take up a lot of room.

salted peanut chocolate crunch

Ingredients

200g/7oz dark chocolate
100g/3.5oz milk chocolate
125g/4.4oz butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g/8.8oz salted peanuts
six handfuls of crunchy cereal
1 baking or foil tray, approximately 30 x 20 x 5 cm. (if using a baking tray, line with parchment or greaseproof paper)

method

• prepare oblong tin, 20x30cm, lining with baking parchment (crumple up the parchment so it goes into the corners more easily)
• in quite large pan (jug if you're microwaving) melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup gently on gas or in microwave, stirring occasionally
• stir cereal and peanuts together
• add peanut mixture to the melted chocolate mixture and stir to combine
• pour mixture into lined tin and smooth to one level
• leave to cool several hours in cool place
• slice to suit your taste

Spicy non-mayo by itsu

When I'm out and about in London I like getting lunch at Itsu, now fully automated. I like it so much that I bought the Itsu cook book and found this spicy sauce recipe. It is vegan and simple to prepare. I haven't experimented with flavours yet, besides garlic, ginger and black pepper the main flavour is Sriracha sauce, which is usually vegan but best check the label as fish sauce is included in some varieties.

Tahini is used to thicken the sauce as well as increase depth of flavour, but not very much, so this is truly a low fat low calorie sauce.

When I'm at home this is the sauce I now like to use with my regular lunch of steamed veg and rice. and sometimes I give it a boost with gomasio.

Itsu Spicy Sauce

Recipe

• 120g silken tofu
• 3 tsp tahini paste
• 3 tsp Sriracha chllli sauce (or 1 hot red chilli, chopped)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp  sugar or alternative
• 10g (2cm) grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• t tbsp water
• 1 tbsp light oil

Method

Put all ingredients into a blender and whizz together to make a smooth sauce

Use immediately, or store in a screwtop jar in the fridge until needed.

notes:

if you use a firmer tofu you will get a grainier result, but it will still be delicious

Cauliflower pasta

This is a simple and very satisfying dish. Also very easy to make. The anchovies melt down into the oil and mix with the cauliflower to make a tasty sauce. It doesn't look like much, but it is delicious. 

The recipe gives enough for four people but I find I can share with one other, happily sharing eating a whole cauliflower, just reducing the amount of pasta by half. 

Cauliflower pasta 

Ingredients 

1 cauliflower 

250g penne 

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

1 tin anchovy fillets in olive oil 

1 fresh chilli (sliced) or generous pinch of dried chilli flakes 

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped 

ground black pepper 

Method 

• Take a large frying pan and pour the oil from a tin of anchovy fillets into it, put it on a low heat, put the garlic and chilli along with a few grinds of pepper into the oil to infuse for a few minutes 
• Don’t add salt, as the anchovies are already salty 
• Fill a large pot with water and bring to the boil, put in the cauliflower whole or in pieces, and cook the cauliflower until cooked or about 5 minutes, then pick out the cauliflower and set aside, saving the water to use for cooking the pasta 
• Keep the water boiling and add the penne, while the penne are cooking finish the sauce. 
• Add the anchovy fillets to the pan 
• Add the cauliflower and stir and mash them into the oil then cook for 5 minutes, stirring in some parsley, adding water from the pasta cooking liquid if mixture seems to be getting dry. 
• Once the pasta is cooked, mix into the pan with the cauliflower. Season to taste, sprinkle over the rest of the chopped parsley, then serve.

Singapore Noodles - my favourite from the BBC's Ken Hom

Ken Hom’s Singapore Noodles

 

Ingredients

For the Singapore noodles

• 225g/8oz thin rice noodles

• 50g/1¾oz Shiitake mushrooms

• 175g/6oz frozen peas (defrosted)

• 4 medium free-range eggs, beaten

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 3 tbsp groundnut oil

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ tsp freshly ground white pepper

• 1½ tbsp finely chopped garlic

• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger

• 6 fresh red or green chillies, de-seeded and finely shredded

• 6 tinned water chestnuts

• 100g/3½oz Chinese barbecue pork (or cooked ham), finely shredded

• 3 spring onions, finely shredded

• 100g/3½oz small cooked prawns, shelled

• fresh coriander leaves, to garnish

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

• 3 tbsp Indian Madras curry paste or powder

• 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 250ml/9fl oz coconut milk

• Method

1. Soak the rice noodles in a bowl of warm water for 25 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the excess liquid. Remove and discard the stems and finely shred the caps into thin strips.

3. Beat the eggs with sesame oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

5. Heat a wok or large frying-pan over high heat until hot. Add the groundnut oil, and when very hot and smoking, add the garlic, ginger and chillies and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the water chestnuts, mushrooms, pork and spring onions and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the rice noodles, prawns and peas, and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
6. Add the sauce and cook over high heat for another 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Pour the egg mixture over the noodles. Stir-fry constantly until the egg has set.

7. Turn onto a large platter, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Plum and blueberry crumble cake

Plum and blueberry crumble cake 200 gram butter, softened 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar 2 eggs 1 cup (150g) self-raising flour 1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour 3/4 cup (180ml) milk 1 kilogram canned whole plums in natural juice, drained 60 gram fresh blueberries 2 teaspoon icing sugar

Spiced crumble topping 1/2 cup (75g) plain (all-purpose) flour 50 gram cold butter, chopped coarsely 3/4 cup (60g) shredded coconut 1/4 cup (55g) firmly packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon mixed spice

• METHOD: 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a deep 22cm (9-inch) springform pan; line base and side with baking paper.

2. Beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; fold in sifted flours and milk, in two batches. Spread mixture into pan.

3. To make spiced crumble topping, blend or process ingredients until combined.

4. Halve plums; discard seeds. Place plums and blueberries on cake mixture. Sprinkle crumble topping over fruit.

5. Bake cake about 1½ hours (cover cake with foil if browning too quickly). Stand in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

6. Serve cake, warm or at room temperature, dusted with sifted icing sugar.

Burnt top Cheesecake

Burnt top cheesecake

This is a lazy person's baked cheesecake, no folding or separating eggs. No adding topping. The ingredients get added in series and the most complicated thing is tidily getting the mixture from the bowl to the cake tin. 

Why cheesecake? Apart from pure greed, I've had some double cream in the fridge sitting and turning sour. For some reason I bought a big pot when I only needed a small one... Turning to browsing some cookery books I found this recipe for a simpler cheesecake that uses sour cream. The original recipe says use a 20cm/8" loose bottomed cake tin, but once the mixture was ready to decant I realised it would make a massive cake, so used two smaller tins, 15cm/6" and 18cm/7". Both a good size, and more manageable than one vast cheesecake both for cooking and eating. 

it looks creamy and it tastes creamy

Recipe: Burnt Top Cheesecake

The caramel coloured crust on this cheesecake gives it a slight burnt caramel flavour, matched by the creamy interior to make a delicious mouthful.

Prep

You don't need to butter the tin if you're lining it with baking parchment. I used a combination of a round cake liner and parchment. The height of the parchment stops the top of the cake from browning too much (burning), as the cooking temperature is quite high.

ready for the oven

Ingredients

800g soft cheese

225g caster sugar

2tbsp plain flour

200g sour cream

4 eggs

2tsp vanilla

Half quantities:

400g soft cheese

112g caster sugar

1 tbsp plain flour

100g sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Method

You decide what size tin you want to use, the mixture is enough for two 18cm/7" cakes. Line lose bottomed or springform tins well with baking parchment, so that the parchment sits well above the edge of the cake tin.

Set the oven to 220C fan/240C/gas 9, don't crowd the oven.

in a large bowl mix the soft cheese and sugar until smooth and even with an electric mixer

add the sifted flour, soured cream, eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix together until you have a smooth batter.

cooling after cooking for 30m

Pour or ladle into your lined tin/s, and bang the mixture in the tin sharply on the counter to get rid of any bubbles.

Put the tin/s into the hot oven and cook for 20-30 minutes - the top with darken, but the mixture will still have a wobble.

Brown Betty

This Brown Betty is a delightful, warming apple pudding and easy to make. The combined taste of the cloves, apple, treacle and sherry is hard to beat and they combine to make a smell make that's heavenly. It’s a dish that can be eaten hot or cold, my preference is for hot, but it’s unlikely I’d turn down a helping of it cold - the flavours seem to grow that longer it's kept.

In our house this was a standard Sunday pudding, my father developed a liking for it cold, cooked in a charlotte tin and turned out, which seems like an unecessary complication. With lots of cream. You could liken it to an Apple Charlotte, a deconstructed one that tastes much better. Unlike a Charlotte that uses melted butter brushed into place, the dobs of butter sit alongside the morsels of apple and make their own way through the crumbs while it cooks. You might imagine, reading the recipe, that it might seem to be a bit dry: it isn’t.

When I was trying to remember the recipe I read quite a lot of American versions, which aren't the same and seem more complicated. I found a reference to 'old fashioned Brown Betty' in a Pan Dowdy recipe, and perhaps our family version takes its molasses (black treacle) from there. You can see that here, and I'll include the version that my father wrote, although I never saw him make it… I've written it out the way I remember making it with my mother.

The quantities are a guide - you’ll probably manage to get everything in the dish. Give it a go. And use Bramley apples if you can.

Dad's write up

Brown Betty Recipe

Ingredients

2lb/scant 1kg apples

1/2lb/250g fresh breadcrumbs

¼ kb/125g unsalted butter

Brown sugar - more than a cupful

Black treacle - about two tablespoons

½ mug/1 wine glass sherry

Several pinches of ground cloves

Pinch Cinnamon 

Method

Set the oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3/325F

Use a deep pie dish

• Peel and core the apple and cut it into bit sized piece

• Generously butter around a deep pie dish

• Scatter a layer of breadcrumbs, then some apple pieces, pinches of butter alongside dustings of cloves and some cinnamon, sprinkle over with sugar and repeat until you’ve used up all the apple - then add one last layer of breadcrumbs

• Drizzle the treacle over in a random way - if you warm the spoon in boiling water and then dry it the treacle will flow more easily

• Pour the sherry over, covering as much as possible 

• Bake for around an hour, or until the apple is completely cooked (test with a skewer)

The cooked dish has a lovely crust - eat with cream, yoghurt, ice cream, or on its own.

pan dowdy

Apple Pan Dowdy
[A TASTING-TEST KITCHEN ENDORSED RECIPE]

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 quarts sliced apples
1/2 cup dark molasses
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water

Line a casserole with pie crust. Mix sugar, spices, and salt and sprinkle over apples. Fill casserole, add molasses, butter, and water. Cover with punctured pie crust, tuck edges together, press to sides of casserole. Bake in moderately hot oven (425°) 45 minutes, decrease temperature to 325°. When crust has browned slightly and apples are tender, remove from oven.

Take a silver knife, chop up mixture, being sure that the pie crust is thoroughly mixed with apples. If dry or not sufficiently sweetened, add more water and molasses. Return to oven and bake 1 1/2 hours at 325°. Serves 10.

When finished, the pudding will look very much like Old-fashioned Brown Betty. I was told that New Englanders served Apple Pan Dowdy hot with butter. The pudding can be warmed over, in fact it is even more delicious on the second or third day if you can keep it that long.

Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

time needed: 1h minutes including prep and warming oven

Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

Having come home with two very fat venison sausages I looked in the fridge to see what would make a simple supper. In the veg collection we had sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and fresh chillis and a lovely spring cabbage.

Based on this recipe we ate very well. And considering that Steve said he'd like 'just a sausage sandwich' he managed to tuck in ok.

Substitutions, aside from the veg, which was prepped in slices, was fig jam with lemon and vinegar instead of redcurrant jelly, with a few frozen redcurrants thrown in. It was nice and sharp.

In summary:

• set oven to 220C and allow to warm up 10m
• oil all the veg except the onions and put in roasting tray, put in oven and roast 15m
• add the sausages and onions, stir through the veg, put back in oven 20m
• drizzle redcurrant (or similar) mixture over contents of roasting tin and stir, put back in oven 15m
• serve with salad or green veg.