Caramelized Pineapple & Toasted Coconut Ice cream

Summer is almost here, and my home here on the Sunshine Coast is pineapple country. I am living just down the road from Pineapple mecca , 'The Big Pineapple' and have been making the most of this summer fruit.

What better way to make the most of it than by combining it with the ultimate Tropical Summer ingredient, Pina Colada style!? Coconut!

This ice cream is made with coconut cream so its dairy free. Use an organic tinned coconut cream for the best, creamiest results.

If you are lucky enough to own an ice cream churner simply add the cream, the pineapple and toasted coconut to the churner together.

Caramelized Pineapple & Toasted Coconut Ice cream... with a hint of spiced rum

makes approximately 1L of ice cream.
* 250g fresh pineapple cut into 5mm thick small wedges
* 3 tbsp pineapple juice (i cut my pineapple up the day prior to making the ice cream and this juice had collected in the bowl)
* 2 tbsp spiced rum (optional can be substituted with more pineapple juice)
* 4 tbsp coconut sugar (or other such as agave syrup, rapadura, honey, rice syrup)
* 1/3c dessicated coconut

* 3c coconut cream
* 5 egg yolks
* 3 tbsp maple syrup
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

put the pineapple pieces, pineapple juice, rum and coconut sugar in a bowl, stir and put aside.
in a fry pan add the dessicated coconut and stir over medium heat until toasted golden. set aside in a small bowl
Whisk egg yolks, maple syrup and salt in a pot
Add coconut cream and whisk well
Add the vanilla seeds and the scraped vanilla pod. Put the stove on medium heat, stir constantly with a wooden spoon for 8 minutes until thickened slightly, so it coats the back of the spoon. Don't let the mixture boil.
Remove from the heat and strain into a container or bowl. Put into the freezer to chill.

Heat the frying pan on a med/high heat on the stove again, add the pineapple pieces and juices to the pan, let bubble, string occasionally and reduce until syrup has thickened. (approx 5 minutes) set aside.

(optional extra step - heat a griddle pan very hot and char the pineapple pieces slightly.. and for garnish only a few extra discs dusted with a little extra coconut sugar to help caramelize them)

Each 45mins to an hour remove the bowl of ice cream from the freezer and stir/whisk/ Bamix/blend to break up any ice crystals. you will need to do this 3 or 4 times for the smoothest creamiest ice cream.
Once the ice cream is beginning to thicken to thick shake or soft serve texture gently stir through the toasted coconut, pineapple pieces and syrup before placing back in the freezer to complete freezing.

Let soften out of freezer for 5minutes before serving.

Vietnamese Inspired Glass Noodle Salad

 

I made this refreshing summery salad for a BBQ  during the weekend. My uncle Raouly requested i bring Pancit (a very meaty noodle dish), my Filipino family love their salty and meaty food!

Since it was a BBQ, and since i wanted something to even out the meaty BBQ playing ground i took his request and 're-moulded' it. ...Yes, OK so it is NOTHING even close to resembling Pancit! but it does have noodles!

I know its not vego, but i used a little fish sauce in the dressing. Please Feel free to omit the fish sauce and use a little more vinegar or soy. Always, ALWAYS taste test and adjust the dressing. Quantities i have listed for the dressing are oh so approximate!

I didn't have a lot of coriander left when i made this salad, but i would really suggest using a whole bunch of coriander and a really good handful or Vietnamese mint. 

you can prepare the the whole salad ahead of time if you need to, however i prefer to prepare most of it but wait until the last minute to add the dressing and garnishes. This makes sure the salad keeps its variety of crunchy, and slippery textures.

Vietnamese inspired Glass noodle salad

ingredients
* 6 wombok leaves washed and sliced into strips
* 150g vermicelli noodles (soaked in warm water for 15minutes until clear and roughly chopped)
* 2 carrots grated into long strips (or julienne)
* 1 1/2 capsicum julienne
* 1 handful snow peas julienne
* 2/3c slivered almonds toasted
* 4 tbsp sesame seeds toasted
* 2/3c fried shallots or onion (buy from Asian grocery store)
* 1 bunch coriander leaves roughly chopped
* 1 handful Vietnamese mint chopped fine
*  rind of 1 lime
* 1 long red chili chopped fine (remove as few or as many seeds as you like depending on your preference for spice)
* 125g firm tofu cut into cubes (buy marinated or marinate yourself)

marinade
* 2tbsn tamari
* 2tbsn sweet chilli
* 1 garlic cloves crushed
* 1tbsn oil


 dressing
* 1/2 bunch coriander roots washed and chopped very fine
* juice f 2 limes
* 1tbsn fish sauce (replace with extra rice wine vinegar or shaoxing if preferred)
* 2 tbsp chili sauce
* 3tbsn coconut oil (or use any light flavoured oil)
* 2 tsp sesame oil
* 2 tbsp shaoxing vinegar or rice wine vinegar
* 2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
* 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
* 4tbsn palm sugar (or any other sugar or hone you prefer)
* s & p
 * *** plus extra of any of the above to adjust to your taste


Method

To marinate tofu place the cubes and the marinade ingredients into a Tupperware or zip lock bag and leave in fridge to marinate for at least 30mins...up to 4hours.

Dry toast the almonds in a frying pan. place in a small bowl. do the same for the sesame seeds

Mix all the salad ingredients (except for the almonds, sesame seeds, fried onion and 1/3 of the coriander)  in a large bowl

in a glass jar or mixing bowl shake or whisk all the dressing ingredients until well combined and sugar is dissolved. taste and adjust as required.

Just before serving the salad cook the tofu in a frying pan or on the BBQ until heated through, dried out and nicely browned.
Add the dressing to the salad along with half the sesame seeds, half the almonds and half the fried onions.
Mix thoroughly with your hands.
Top with the tofu, sesame seeds, almonds and fried onions, then the remaining herbs

Serve with lime wedges.

Lovely Bush Lemon Crostata....with thanks to Matt and Bill Granger

 


Last week while Biss was visiting me at my new home on the Sunshine Coast we went for a nice long walk along my nice long beach... On the path to the beach by my home Biss spotted a bush lemon tree.... the lemons were knobbly and juicy looking, alas we could only reach one little lemon.

A few days later on a walk to the beach with my darling husband i asked him to collect the lemons for me. OK, so i may have been taking advantage of his drunken state and may have challenged him to retrieve me some lemons. So up the tree went Matt and down came the lemons! It turns out though that lemons are quite thorny buggers, poor Matt had plenty of battle wounds and decreed i better make him something "f*#*king yummy" with those bush lemons. And so i did.

This recipe is a combination of two of Bill Granger's recipes from his cookbook Bills Basics. I had been wanting to make his Plum Jam Tart (p45)  recipe for a while, however there are no plums yet! i spotted his Lemon Tart (p234) recipe which is a crustless tart, only i love my biscuitty bases... so decided to bastardize his 2 recipes to suit me to a T.  This is a really easy recipe as there is no kneading required, no leaving to rest in the fridge and although i blind baked the crust i didn't need to worry about any pastry weights.

I have now eaten WAY WAY more than my share of Crostata and am a content fatty... man do i need some friends around to help eat all these goodies!

happy baking until next post~
x Ba

Lemon Crostata

Base
100g unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
1/3c caster sugar
175g (just over 1c) Plain Flour - i use wholemeal
1/4c ground almonds

Filling
3 eggs
1/2c plain flour - i used wholemeal
1c caster sugar
125g unsalted butter melted
zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
150ml lemon juice
300ml cream

Method

* Pre-heat oven to 180degrees
* Line the base of a 23cm spring form cake tin
* In a bowl stir the butter and sugar together.
* Add the flour and a pinch of salt, stir to make a soft dough
* Press the dough evenly into the base of the tin
* Bake in oven on a baking tray, for 15-20mins until the pastry is just slightly puffy and golden
* Remove from oven, sprinkle the ground almonds over and let cool while you make the filling
 * In a large bowl whisk the eggs
 * Gradually add the flour, then the sugar, butter, lemon zest, juice a small pinch of salt and the cream. Whisk well
* Pour on top of the base and bake for a further 40-45 minutes, until slightly browned.
* Remove from oven and let cool for 20minutes before slicing.
* serve with yoghurt or cream.

Yummy still warm...or cool

Strawberry Hazelnut and Condensed Milk Brioche Scrolls (with Chia Seeds)

 

Hello Friends!
We are here, still alive and kicking..... Sorry for the long wait between bites, life has been happening at quite a pace lately!
I know Biss has been a busy girl since arriving home from her 4 months of travels gallivanting around the globe... and me? Well I've been cooking up my bun in the oven, 6 weeks until he is ready to join us in this delicious world. On top of pregnancy i have just moved with my husband to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. The past few weeks i have spent unpacking DIY-ing and nesting...and trying to learn the ways of my new kitchen and oven. Prior to that i was madly packing and organizing our great migration... so i apologize profusely for the neglect the blog has been experiencing.

I hope you are all well and have sprung to life with the change of season. The change in menu has been most welcomed in my house with the spring fruit and veg now available and i eagerly await the tropical summer fruits just around the corner.

Today I baked some buns in the oven, I have been craving sticky cinnamon  scrolls for a few days...and found in the current (October) issue of Delicious magazine a yummy looking recipe for Dulce De Leche Brioche Buns by Rachel Khoo author of cookbook The Little Paris Kitchen. We have a recipe for Dulce de Leche on our blog if you would like to make this recipe as it can be hard to find ready made. I cooked up a variation as i had plenty of strawberries in the fridge, which turned out to be delicious and slightly (only slightly) better for you.

Strawberry, Hazelnut and condensed milk Brioche Scrolls (with chia seeds). All i can say is yummo my craving has finally been satisfied!

This is a bit of effort to cook as you need to begin the day ahead, knead and prepare and then let rest the following day for another 2 hours before baking... and they are best eaten warm from the oven...however I do suggest though that you give it a try and i hope you enjoy them as much as i did!


 Strawberry  Hazelnut and Condensed Milk Brioche Scrolls (with Chia Seeds)

Ingredients:

dough:
75g unsalted butter
50ml milk
7g dried instant yeast
1 2/3C plain flour (i used half wholemeal)
60g Rapadura sugar 
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 heaped tbs creme fraiche (i used sour cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange blossom water (optional)
filling:
150g condensed milk
2tbs chia seeds
1 punnet (250g) strawberries roughly chopped
1 handful chopped hazelnuts

Method
Put the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat until the butter has just melted. You want the milk and butter lukewarm NOT hot. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Create a well in the middle and stir in the the milk mixture, half the egg, and the remaining dough ingredients. Mix until you have a soft sticky dough. Place in a bowl cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Next day... Line a 24cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured working surface and knead for 5 mins.
Roll into a large rectangle (approx 40 x 30cm)

Drizzle the condensed milk over the dough leaving a 2cm border. Sprinkle the chia seeds over, then the strawberries and hazelnuts. Roll the dough up to form a long log. Cut into 6 equal pieces.

the condensed milk will make this a little messy but the condensed milk will thicken and caramelise in the oven and be delicious. Place the cake tin on a baking tray lined with baking paper (to catch the excess oozy mess).

Place the pieces cut side up into the prepared pan, brush with some of the egg then leave covered with a clean tea towel in a warm place to rise for 2hours, or until doubled in size. (I placed the tray on top of my little coffee machine on the cup warmer..it worked a treat. i have also used a Italian trick in the past of filling the kitchen sink with hot water and placing the dough in the cupboard under the sink.)

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees. Brush the buns with a little more egg, then place in the oven to bake for 30-40minutes or until nice and golden brown. Once cooked transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.