Rudders at Home

A week or so ago, I spotted this recipe for pistachio gelato online over at Chocolate & Zucchini. I decided that I wanted to try it after my cherry and chocolate chip ice cream turned out so well. I like pistachios, but I’m not a huge fan. However, the recipe seemed so easy – no eggs – and I’ve had pistachio ice cream in Italy, which was gorgeous. I was hoping that I could possibly recreate that at home. And I think I did pretty well! Have a look:

The flash on the camera has washed things out a bit, you can’t see how green the ice cream actually is. I was really surprised at how vibrant the color was. But, I didn’t have time enough to sort things out and play with the camera – my dessert was melting! I also have to say I thought it was a bit rich, so I wouldn’t put that much in a bowl again. Admittedly I was being a bit greedy. 🙂

This recipe was very easy to put together, and it will definitely be something I’ll make again. It churned up quite quickly, and has probably been the best ice cream I’ve made this summer so far.

I seem to be having a bit of a love affair with my ice cream maker this summer. I don’t have anything lined up yet for next weekend. I wonder if I’ll finally end up doing the strawberry which Paul has been asking for? Or maybe I’ll try to find some peaches and make peach, like mom suggested. Or I may just take a weekend off. Who knows?

No Comments »

So, I made some more ice cream at the weekend. This time I made my favorite, chocolate chip mint. Gorgeous. Basically, I just took a basic custard based ice cream and added peppermint extract. Then I cut up a bar of dark chocolate and added that in after it had churned. It was so good I think I might just make it again next weekend!

The rest of the weekend passed in a bit of a blur. Today we spent the day in London, visiting with a friend of mine over from the States for work. He’s come down from Newcastle for the weekend, so we met up for lunch.

After we left him to catch his train, we wandered over to the National Portrait Gallery. I can’t believe I haven’t been there before. It was an excellent museum, with a broad range of portraits from over the centuries of British history. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. And it’s free, so there’s no commitment!

2 Comments »

…with chocolate chips?

When I read this recipe here for cherry ice cream with chocolate chips, I couldn’t help but think about Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. Cherry Garcia is my favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry’s, and because I haven’t made ice cream yet this year, I couldn’t resist this recipe.

In short, this ice cream was gorgeous. I personally think it’s the best I’ve made so far in my ice cream maker. I highly recommend trying it out sometime soon. For the Brits, 1 cup equals 237 mls, but I’m sure you can round up to 240.

No Comments »

I’ve been hungry for home recently. With the small spurt of warm weather here, I’m really in the mood for a picnic. I’ve also been yearning for a cookout. Really yearning. A warm summer afternoon up on top of the hill, with a fire, hot dogs and marshmallows. I can almost close my eyes and imagine opening a cooler and setting things out on the picnic table – isn’t that crazy? Give me a bar of Hershey’s, some graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows and we’re all set for some s’mores.

I was browsing through some food blogs the other day and when I stumbled across this S’more pie recipe at Smitten Kitchen, I knew I had to make it. If nothing else I thought it might curb my hunger for the sweet treat.

It turned out pretty well, and it was definitely well received by Paul. I used a combination of digestive biscuits and ginger snaps for the graham cracker crust, and in place of the corn syrup, I used golden syrup, which worked as well. Next time I might split my chocolate and do half milk and half dark. I used all dark this time, and it was just a bit too strong and overpowered the other parts.

If I get a hankerin’ for s’mores again, this will definitely be a good option. Now, I think next weekend I might just fry some chicken and make potato salad.

No Comments »

Earlier this week, I went with a couple girls to a cheese tasting. It was a tutored tasting, which Neal’s Yard Dairy do near their shop there in Borough Market. A tutored tasting is where they give you a number of cheeses to taste, and they walk you through tasting them. At this one, they gave us an overview of where the cheese comes from, explained the process of making the cheese, and why the cheese you’re eating now tastes different from the cheese you ate before – among other things. I would hate to spoil the surprise if you were to go on your own!

It was a brilliant night. It’s not cheap, but it was pretty good value for money. We had ten good sized pieces of cheeses to try, plus red and white wine, artisanal bread, and other munchies which they were not stingy about at all. The picture below should give you an idea on portion size – that’s a fairly normal sized plate they’re on.

This tasting focused on mountain cheese. Going clockwise from 12 o’clock: Reblochon, St. Nectaire, Stillsitzer Steinsalz, Ossau-Iraty, Gruyere, Comte, Grand Jura, Kirkham’s Lancashire, Salers de Buron, Lincolnshire Poacher

Because I forgot my camera (yes, again, I know!), photo courtesy of Ruth, one of the nice girls I went with.

3 Comments »