lychee lime and coconut sorbet

Summer has started hot and early here this year.  Oh and very stormy!  So ice cream has been on the menu again.  I really love lychees, that nobbly pink-skinned jewel with such creamy white and tasty flesh.  But it is a bit early in the season so I used tinned fruit in this delicious sorbet taken from the blog of Lilac Petals- here.
I added a bit of rum to spice it up!

Ingredients:
1 can of lychees in syrup
220g caster sugar
500ml coconut milk
80-90 ml lime juice (it takes about 3 limes to get this much juice)
zest of 2 limes
1-2 tbs of rum-  you could also use lychee liqueur to really increase the flavour!
toasted coconut for sprinkling on top

Method:
strain the lychees into a bowl and put the fruit aside
add the lychee syrup and sugar to a saucepan; bring it to a boil while stirring, then leave to simmer for 4-5 minutes.    Cool in fridge or freezer till cold.
Now put the syrup, lychees, coconut milk and lime juice and zest, and rum into a food processor/blender- it made a lot of mixture so you may need to do it in 2 lots.
Whizz till well combined.  I put it into a metal loaf tin lined with freezer liner;  place in freezer till frozen.
Scoop it out and serve with toasted coconut.

gathering ingredients

getting ready to whizz

mixture came up to the very top of the processor!

frozen and ready to  eat

so delish!

Melbourne trip October 2013

Can I say as an ex-Melbourne girl that there are many delightful aspects of this city and a huge one is definitely the food. Our recent trip down for family events included lots of deliciousness!  We even managed to fit in a quick dinner at George Calombaris's new place Gazi.   The decor was interesting- lots of terracotta pots hanging from the ceiling, and a long bar/bench arrangement where you could sit (rather uncomfortably) and try to make yourself heard over the loud din.  Can anyone tell me why restaurants think it is a good idea to have hard surfaces with no sound absorption making dinner conversation almost impossible?  Well apart from that, we had a fab meal with fresh and delicious flavours, good service, good people watching (I saw Daniel from Masterchef sitting at the bar) and an all round good night.

Highlights were the duck souvlaki, and beet root salad; oh and don't forget the fries!  And the broad bean salad, and the grilled eggplant, and the fried saganaki and on and on.... 

I would love to try some other dishes next time I am down there, and would recommend a visit if you are in the city. 

delish bean salad

duck souvlaki

yummy fries

 and now for something completely different!  love the melbourne laneways.  there are so many hidden treasures including this tiny soup shop which displayed its wares in big pots at the very front of the shop.

pots of soup!

beautiful bejewelled windows full of cakes

 this tea room had a huge queue waiting to indulge in the glorious cakes in the window.  lots of people including myself were busily taking photo after photo of this amazingly gorgeous display in the front window. we went back the next day for breakfast rather than wait for ages for arvo tea, and enjoyed a very pleasant meal in beautiful surroundings. And of course with elegant Melburnians!

wow!  this was so gorgeous to look at!

 we bought the most beautiful macarons you have ever seen with gold leaf on top no less!  and were served by this charming French girl.

lovely French girl with charming accent- tick!

next up- the scrummiest iced chocs you have ever had.

we went-more than once- to koko black for iced chocs-  sooo good.  i had a raspberry choc one and the next time i had rose chocolate.  OMG is all I can say!   this was just after breakfast mind you as it was wet and we had time to kill before flying home.

a ceiling full of terracotta pots

out the front of Gazi- it was very hard to find-typical of Melbourne!  They like to keep their jewels hidden!

Wow!  i luuurve Melbourne!  I am dying to go back as we barely touched the surface of food fashion and fun..

raspberry muffins

Muffins are good whether it be the English or American variety as far as I am concerned!  I got up yesterday and felt that there was a need for muffins in my kitchen.   As famous blogger faux fuchsia often says- the universe directed me to do it.  I concur so muffins it was.
I had frozen berries in the freezer that needed using up, being of the raspberry persuasion rather than the blueberries called for in the recipe but hey let your pantry be your guide.  I have an old clipping from a women's magazine with a really easy recipe which always works, even when you have to add more milk like I did and stir a few too many times.  They were slightly flatter than I would like but still tasty.

ingredients

dry ingredients all ready for the big mix

adding the fruit and wet ingredients

just out of the oven

this is the old recipe I used!

ready to eat!!  so yum

Brisbane Open House 2013

Brisbane springtime flowering jacarandas architecture history - what's not to love?  A couple of weeks ago this river city celebrated its 4th year with the Open House scheme. And this year I decided to be one of the 500 volunteers who help keep the scheme running.  I spent an afternoon at the Old Windmill on Wickham Terrace, enjoying meeting people and helping them get a taste of Brisbane history and architecture.  The Windmill is the oldest surviving building in Queensland, built in 1828 by convicts.  It has had a chequered life and is currently unused.  It is very popular when open during the Open House weekend each year, and hopefully next year they will be able to allow visitors to check out the old reservoirs at the same location. There were 71 buildings open, 500 volunteers and over 51000 visitors all up.

I managed to fit in a visit to the Old Museum after my volunteer shift.  There was a gorgeous full moon, music, food, wine and a beautiful old building to boot.  I thoroughly recommend the Open House scheme- come one come all. See you there next year!

looking out from the bottom floor of the old mill

from the top of the old mill

gorgeous bougainvillea outside the old museum

looking up at the old museum at sunset

outside the old museum at night

looking up from inside the Old Windmill

Homemade vanilla extract

Wow when you do a fair bit of baking, the vanilla essence/extract bottle seems to disappear like nobody's business!  I had been thinking of making up some myself, as it will also be great for Xmas gifts.  And you need to get started now, as it takes up to 8 weeks of steeping to mature.

So I split some beans, and threw them into a jar with some vodka; some recipes suggest bourbon or other hard liquor, but I think watching the clear liquid turn beautifully brown over the weeks is more fun!  I can't believe how much it has changed after just one day;  it is already looking mysteriously and sumptuously golden brown. 

You need to give it a shake a couple of times a week, and then after 6-8 weeks, bottle it and give some away to lucky friends and family for Xmas. 

Ingredients:

6 plump moist vanilla beans

500 mls (2 cups) of vodka (or other liquor of your choice)

Method:

Slit the beans in half horizontally after cutting into 2 or 3 pieces 

Place them in the bottom of a jar

Pour over the vodka

Let it steep for at least 6 weeks

Strain it and bottle it

You can place a piece or 2 of the beans into each bottle for extra flavour.

slitting the beans

pouring in the vodka

ready to steep for 8 weeks!

after one day!

chocolate and potato cake

I love a moist chocolatey chocolate cake and this one from Belnda Jeffery's book Mix and Bake is a beauty.  (just follow the link above and hit the look inside button and then go into the second page and the recipe comes up).   It is so easily made- just chuck everything in a food processor, then whizz it and bake it.  Easy peasy!  For a bit of a change, I replaced 40g of the chocolate with caramel chips (drops, bits-whatever they are called) which gave it a slightly chewy, fudgy texture.  And instead of icing or ganache, I smothered it in Nutella mixed with cream, and spread it liberally over the top.  I actually whipped this up in the morning as a birthday surprise, and we were eating it by early lunch time.

Belinda Jeffery is definitely one of my food heroes (along with Nigella, and Not Quite Nigella, and Annabel Langbein).  Her recipes are easy, fabulous and delicious.  You can't go wrong if you buy her marvellous baking book!

adding the ingredients to the processor

mixture all ready for the oven

the result- ta da!

Lemon curd icecream

Ok you'll be thinking- not only is she a chocolate nut, she's also freakily obsessed with lemons. True on both counts! I am never without chocolate of some sort and lemons in my fridge.

So this week I decided to make up a batch of lemon curd icecream; recipe here from the blog Spicy icecream. It is actually a recipe for blueberry cobbler with the icecream but I left out the cobbler part!

I used my regular recipe for lemon curd-here- then I followed Spicy Icecream's instructions.

Ingredients:

250 mls lemon curd

1 can condensed milk

500 mls thickened cream

Method:

Simply whip the cream in one bowl till you have soft peaks

Empty the condensed milk into another bowl

Fold the cream gently but firmly into the condensed milk

Grab your loaf tin lined with freezer liner

Spoon some of the creamy mixture into your tin, then some of the curd and swirl!  Keep going till all the cream and curd are finished up

Freeze for at least 8 hours. 

This would be lovely with fresh strawberries or other fruit on top. I am thinking candied lemon slices would be great also. And maybe finely chopped into the icecream before freezing. Or you could even try the cobbler!

ingredients in the saucepan

curd all ready to go!

swirling and layering

all done!