Chilling out with kiwi fruit sorbet

Last weekend I had a bowl of kiwi fruits just sitting around looking unloved. So before they went to inedible mush, I mashed them up and converted them into a delicious, fizzy sorbet. This was the day before the ridiculous hail storm we had in Melbourne, in which we personally experienced golf ball sized chunks of hail. It was quite scary.

> golf ball sized chunks of hail. Crazy!

I kind of made it up as I went along, with a basic sugar syrup and some lime and cointreau to give it a lift. The cointreau also helps to keep it slightly soft to make it easy to serve. I reckon limoncello would go very well too. The key to making sorbet is breaking up all the little ice crystals so it's all smooth. I don't have an ice cream maker, but I do have a stab mixer that blends ice.

How I make delicious Kiwi Fruit Sorbet without an ice cream machine

8 kiwi fruit

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1 1/2 tbsp cointreau

Juice of 1 lime

Pinch salt

1. Dissolve sugar in water in a saucepan, bring to the boil for 1 minute, then set aside until cool.
2. Peel kiwi fruit, blend in a food processor until they are an even slushy consistency.
3. Add cointreau, lime juice, salt and syrup, process until smooth.
4. Transfer into a container (I used an old ice cream container) and place into the freezer for 1-2 hours.
5. Using a stab mixer, blend up your frozen kiwi fruit puree until all the ice crystals are broken up. Smooth over, re-freeze for another 1-2 hours (or overnight, as I did) and blend once more.
6. Allow to refreeze, and eat when desired.

I'd recommend consuming this within a week. Although eating it all in that space of time should not be a problem, I'd say!

Taste Sensation needs some translation

Gib and I were in our local asian grocer. It's a fairly new one to our area and the main reason why I like going there is because it's called "Glory Mart". For some reason that amuses me. Oh, and they are the only place I've found that sells edamame, which is a favourite of mine.

But they do stock an extensive range of delicious and interesting food (and some interesting but not so delicious food). We spotted this and had to buy it because it looked like a good Taste Sensation candidate, but then realised we have no idea how to make it. My Japanese skills ain't that good yet. I can read the words, but don't know what it means. I'm so used to Japanese food coming with awesome diagrams that I'm a little lost with this one. It looks like there are just 3 easy steps... 3 easy steps that I can't read. I'm assuming it is made with milk though. I'd even say 200ml of milk. I've sent a copy of it to my friend, Erika, who is Japanese. I'm betting she'll be able to help me with this one.

"Let's make dessert with milk!"

Very easy (somewhat healthy) berry yoghurt dessert

I don't have a huge sweet tooth and would much prefer and entree to dessert. Iam not a huge fan of chocolate desserts (*gasp*) and think that they are overrated. I think that might be in part because I spent two years doing kid's parties at an entertainment complex and the vast majority of parties would have a chocolate mud cake. As a party host, you'd always get offered a piece and while that sounds exciting, after a while it loses its appeal. I much prefer fruit based desserts any day.

Last night we were heading to a friend's place for dinner and I was asked to make dessert. It's difficult finding a recipe that's moderately healthy and quick to make, so I made my own. This recipe did turn out to achieve its goal in moderate healthiness and was ridiculously quick to make. It was also given the double thumbs up by our friends, and was promptly gobbled up.


Beth's most fantastic berry yoghurt trifle

Serves 6

• 10-12 sponge fingers (I used the Unibic brand), cut in half
  
• 500 g vanilla yoghurt (I used Jalna's low fat variety as I prefer the more "natural yoghurt" flavour)
• 500 g frozen mixed berries (or whatever berries you like)
  
• 1/3 cup warm water

1. Mix the berries and warm water together. If the berries you have chosen taste a bit tart (i.e. raspberries) then you may want to dissolve in 1-2 tbsp sugar.
2. Make a layer of halved sponge fingers on the bottom of your dish. Pour half the yoghurt on top. Pour half the berrie mixture on top.
3. Add another layer of spong fingers and repeat.
4. Leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins, although the longer the better so the sponge fingers can soften and absorb all of the juices. I made mine in the afternoon and by dinner time it was perfect.

You could also consider soaking the sponge fingers in something a little alcoholic for some extra kick.

Low GI rhubarb, apple and strawberry crumble

Tonight I had a punnet of strawberries that needed using up fast, some cut rhubarb in the fridge and a couple of apples sitting merrily in the fruit bowl. And then I found this recipe for rhubarb, apple and strawberry crumble. It's low GI too.

I love crumble. Any type of crumble with any type of fruit. With a little ice cream, custard or just on it's own. It's a cold weather thing and something that I look forward to each winter.

For this recipe, I just chopped the apple and put all the fruit in the baking dish, tossed through the sugar and cinnamon, put it in the microwave for 3 minutes, put the cumble mixture on top and baked for 30 mins. Too easy. Ok, so the photo makes it look ugly (need to improve photography skills) - I was in a rush to gt out the door - but it tastes so good, lots of tang.


After two hours of training I was absolutely ravenous and all I could think about in the last quater hour was that delicious crumble waiting on the bench for me when I got home. And boy it was good when I finally got to eat it.

Recipe Box Swap: Garden fresh lemon curd!

The theme for this month's Recipe Box Swap is "Garden fresh: "If you can pick it from the garden, buy it at the farmer's market or get it from the produce section of the grocery store, tell us how to prepare it!". It was a tough choice as nearly all of my meals are from the garden, market or produce section (well, rather, delivered fresh to my door). Deciding was all too much, so I decided to really stick to the theme and go with stuff that I get from my garden. It's not quite Thursday in the US, so you still have time to join in too!

My garden has lots of herbs: sage, basil, a giant rosemary bush that's threatening to overrun our bbq, oregano, mint (kept in a pot, as that has been known to overrun the garden in the past too). But the thing that brings me most pleasure is our lemon tree. I adore lemons. So I decided to post my recipe for lemon curd. I generally use it to fill sponge cakes or to go with fruit salads and Gib loves to have it spread on toast. I've also been known to eat it straight out of the pot with a spoon (not too much though, it's not the healthiest thing ever!). Lemon curd is just so versatile.

Lemon curd:

• 3 home grown lemons, juiced and strained (about 125 ml). Zest one of the lemons.
  
• 200g sugar (you can also use "smart" sugar or other diabetic substitute)
  
• 3 free-range eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten and passed through a strainer (helps prevent curdling). I strongly recommend free range for this, not only to keep with the theme and because the hens they come from are more ethically treated (speak to Jamie Oliver for more on that), but also simply because eggs are a key ingredient in the flavour and consistency of your curd. Good quality lemon curd is dependent on good quality eggs.
  
• 100g butter cut into cubes (dairy-free margarines also work)
  

1. Use a double boiler, or a heatproof bowl that fits neatly into a medium sized saucepan. Make sure it wont touch the water in the bottom. Fill the saucepan 1/4 or 1/3 with water and bring to just boiling (medium to high heat).
2. With the bowl not sitting in the saucepan, combine the lemon and sugar in the heatproof bowl. Add eggs and lemon rind to the lemon and sugar mixture, mix until combined.
3. Place the bowl into the saucepan and reduce the heat so the water is at a simmer. Stir the mixture constantly for about 20 minutes -- don't leave it or it will curdle! (Oh yes, I've curdled my curd before). It will have thickened and be of a smooth consistency.
   
4. Remove the top part of your double boiler or your bowl from the pan and add the butter to your mixture, a few pieces at a time, making sure each is dissolved before the next addition. Sometimes I need to add up to 1 tsp cornflour if the mixture is too runny, or if I want it thicker as a filling for sponge cake.

Lemon curd can be stored in sterilised jars in the fridge for up to a month.

Lemon curd by Patricia Scarpin

Recipe Box Swap: BBQ chocolate filled bananas

The theme for this month's Recipe Box Swap at I have to say... is BBQ mains or sides. When I think of barbecues, I think of the standard sausages, corn, mushrooms... and then there's BBQ desserts. My all time favourite is the good old chocolate filled banana. It was a treat I'd have with the family of one of my best primary school friends on balmy summer evenings. It's so simple and deliciously messy (and low GI!).

You will need:

• Ripe bananas - one per person, and maybe some spare too. They are popular!
• Chocolate - about 4 squares per banana. Alternatively, you could use chopped mars bar!
• A sharp knife
• Aluminium foil

1. Make a slit along the length of each banana
2. Push the chocolate into the banana, right down into the flesh. Push the banana together to close it up again.
3. Wrap in aluminium foil.
4. Cook for approximately 15 mins on a slow-moderate part of your BBQ, turning once (after the mains are out and the BBQ is cooling down, I put my bananas on).
   

To eat: unwrap the banana and scoop out the banana flesh and chocolate with a spoon. You could also serve with ice cream, or maybe sprinkle with cinnamon. Be sure not to wear white clothing while eating these!

Image by exactfare instead of me, because it's not BBQ time in southern Australia at the moment :-(

Leftovers and seconds

I loathe to throw out any fruit or vegetables (except for maybe those furry gray carrots that get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about for a few weeks) and so I'm always trying to think of inventive things to do with nearly-past-their-used by date items in my fridge and fruit bowl. My food delivery comes on Fridays, so often Friday or Saturday is when I cook to make way for the new stuff.

I'd been pondering what to do with some broccoli I had in the fridge: I hate the stalks and I'm always trying to find ways to conceal them in things so I can't taste them and don't have to throw them out. I also had some daikon and carrot lying about so, before I headed off to work I whipped up some quick Japanese pickles. I'm not sure if this is how it's supposed to turn out, but I'll let you know how it tastes in about 4 days.


My favourite thing to do with tired fruit, apart from stewing it and eating it with ice cream, is turning it into muffins. Three lonely kiwi fruit were still left. They'd been left in the bottom of the bowl and almost forgotten. I also had a banana that I had frozen in the back of the freezer. I made this recipe from a base muffin recipe that I have and hoped for the best. Although the photo doesn't look that exciting, these muffins are actually very tasty and are definitely on my "to make again" list. The kiwi fruit gives them a bit of zing, the banana keeps it smooth and sweet, and the ginger gives them a lift.

Kiwi fruit and banana muffins

Wet ingredients:

• 100 g butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 banana, mashed
• 3 kiwi fruit, diced
• 1/2 cup low fat milk

Dry ingredients:

• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.
2. Combine the wet ingredients.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients. Mix until the dry ingredients are just combined.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. Let to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool.

Apple and rhubarb compote

This morning I visited the Holmesglen Tafe farmers market and, in addition to the delicious goats cheese, locally made olive oil, freshly baked sour dough, zucchini pickles and organic kipfler potatoes, I also bought 1kg organic fuji apple seconds. I used a portion of these to stew up with some rhubarb I had lying about in the fridge.

I adapted this recipe from the recipe for rhubarb compote in Beverley Sutherland Smith's "A taste for all seasons".

• 250 g apples, peeled and diced
• 1 rhubarb bunch (500 g)
• Juice of 1 orange
• Several strips of orange rind
• 1/2 cup sugar

Place all ingredients in a dutch oven or heavy based saucepan (I added a little bit of water just to get it all started). Bring to the boil then reduce to a low simmer for ~30 mins until the rhubarb is just soft. Remove orange rind and serve. Can be frozen for up

A delicious dessert

This recipe came out of the Herald Sun City Style lift out yesterday. (Much to my delight, the liftout also also featured meet me at mikes and other "cool crafters" around Melbourne!).

It worked out quite well, but was a little mushy on the bottom. A small portion was left the next day, and some of the gooeyness on the bottom had seem to be absorbed. Maybe the cooking temperature needs to be adjusted for next time?

Apple roll cake

1.5 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 small egg, whisked
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 400g tin of pie apple (but I used 200 g pie apple and 200 g tinned strawberries)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to moderate.
Cream butter and sugar until pale & fluffy
Add egg, beat well
Sift in flour, mix alternatively with milk.
Turn mixture out onto a floured bench and kneed until smooth
Cut in half and roll out one half onto baking paper in a rectangle, 5 mm thick. Spread with the fruit and cinnamon.
Roll out remaining pastry and press, particularly around the edges.
Bake for 20 mins or until the pastry is golden brown (see below!).

I should probably have got a photo of the insides too, but I was too busy eating it and forgot... oopsies... but you can get an idea if you look at the bottom left corner and see a bit of apple poking through... delicious. Will definitely make this one again.

Watermelon sorbet

As a "healthier" dessert I decided to try my hand at making sorbet. This recipe is adapted from this recipe, but I found I prefer to use honey because it gives a more interesting flavour, and lemon gav I don't have an ice cream machine or anything like that, but I do have an 800 watt ice crushing stab mixer and that seemed to do the job just nicely.

• 500ml water
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
  
• 1.2kg seedless watermelon, rind removed, coarsely chopped
• 2 egg whites

1. Combine the water, honey and sugar in a medium saucepan and stir over low heat for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool. Add lemon juice and combine.
   
2. Meanwhile, place watermelon in a jug and blend with a stab mixer or blender until pureed. Strain puree through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. The recipe said I should have about 600ml of watermelon juice, but I had about 800 ml. This didn't seem to affect the recipe.
   
3. Add sugar syrup to watermelon juice and stir until well combined. Pour into an airtight container, cover and place in the freezer for 4-5 hours or until almost set.
4. Roughly break up the sorbet with a metal spoon and use a stab mixer to blend to a smooth, soft texture.
5. Return sorbet to container and place in the freezer for a further 4 hours or until firm. Remove from the freezer and repeat step 4. Return sorbet to the container and place in the freezer for a further 4 hours or until firm.
6. Place the sorbet and egg whites in the bowl of a food processor and process until sorbet is pale and smooth. Return to the container and place in the freezer for a further 4 hours or until almost firm.
   

This keeps for up to a week. If you're not serving it on the day you make it, you'll probably have to give it a quick beat with a metal spoon before balling it up to serve.

Coconut creamed rice = absolute bliss

500 ml milk
400 ml coconut milk
1 cup short grain rice

Bring milk and coconut milk to almost boiling, add rice, reduce to low. Keep stirring until it's that delicious oh-so-creamy consistency and the rice is cooked through.

Serve with peaches or raspberries or whatever. Keep the left overs in the fridge.
I have found myself doing the whole "Oh, maybe I just need to pop by the kitchen for... errr.. what was I in the kitchen for? I don't remember but there's creamed rice. I'll just have a bit more..." or mysteriously walking past the fridge and winding up with a spoon in my hand and there being not-very-much creamed rice left...

Cooking with Kate

Today my buddy Kate came around and baked and cooked. I found out that Kate is remarkably more productive in the kitchen than I am. I made curried carrot soup, gingerbread men and Kate made steamed sweet red bean buns, pumpkin scones and baklava. What an absolute machine she is! I gecook quite healthily but today we went all out... I don't think I've used that much butter in one go for quite some time (heheheh just ignore the fact that we worked together as researchers at a heart research institute!). The steamed buns, while fun to make, didn't turn out so well so I wont bother posting the recipe for those.

Now you'll notice that there are photos! I haven't got my new camera yet, but I did get a new phone which has a camera! So some of the photos have come out a bit strange and aren't great quality... oh well.

Curried carrot soup

• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 kg carrots, grated
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp hot cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
  
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 400 ml light cocounut milk

Heat oil in a large heavy based pot. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds and then add onion. Cook the onion until clear.

Add the mustard seeds, cayenne, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric and fry for 1 minute until fragrant and the mustard seeds are starting to pop.

Stir through carrot and ginger. Add stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 mins. Blend with a stab mixer until smooth.

Stir through the coconut milk, bring the soup up to temperature and serve.

*This soup is actually more orange coloured than this, and the wall is actually white, not blue. But you get the idea!

Karatebread men (makes 18)

Kate and I met at work and became buddies after we both discovered we both do karate and both love to cook. So we combined our passions today and made... karatebread men!

• Melted butter, to grease
• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
• 1 egg, separated
• 375g (21/2 cups) plain flour
• 1 tbs ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 150 g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper
Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Beat in the golden syrup and egg yolk until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn out onto a

floured surface and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 4mm thick. Make sure to coat the rolling pin in flour too because this dough is quite sticky. Avoid handling the dough too much. Cut out your 9cm gingerbread men and use a spatula to lift and place onto trays (about 1 inch apart). Reroll the dough and repeat until all the dough is used up. Any scraps can be rolled up and made into some random shape, like a circle or gingerbread "log" or if you're like me you might just like to eat the dough raw! Or if you're feeling boring, put scraps into the bin.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 mins before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make your icing by beating the eggwhite to soft peaks. Add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Ice your men however you want, but we chose to put little white dogis on ours... and once we started to run out of icing we made sumobread men. My icing skills aren't well practiced, so you'll have to use your imagination a bit!

HAI-YAAAAHHH!!!

Baklava

Recipe from here.

• 375g (1 packet) filo pastry
• 180g butter, melted & cooled (although, I think we only used about half of this! I don't think we were trying hard enough)
• 2 tsp water

Filling

• 150g walnut pieces
• 150g unsalted pistachios
• 55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
• 1tsp ground cinnamon

Honey syrup

• 1 375g jar honey
• 165g (3/4 cup) sugar
• 250mls (1 cup) water
• 1 lemon, rind finely grated and juiced

Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread the walnuts on a baking tray and lightly toast in the preheated oven for 5-8 minus. Cool.
Combine walnuts, pistachios, sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor and process using on 'pulse' until they are finely chopped.

Remove the filo pastry from its packet and lie flat on the work bench. Cover with a dry tea towel and then a damp tea towel. (This will keep the filo from drying out while making the baklava.)

Brush a shallow 18 x 28cm cake tin with some of the butter (see right). Take 1/3 of the sheets of filo. Brush the top sheet generously with butter and fold into thirds to make a rectangle the size of the tin. Place in the base of the buttered tin and brush surface with butter. Spread 1/2 of the nut filling over the filo to cover. Layer 1/2 of the remaining filo sheets as before. Spread left over nut filling over filo and top with the remaining layered buttered filo sheets. Lightly brush top with remaining butter.

Using a sharp knife, cut a diamond pattern into the top layer of filo and sprinkle with the water. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes longer or until the filo layers are cooked through.

Meanwhile, to make the honey syrup, combine honey, sugar, water, lemon rind and juice in a saucepan and stir over high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and keep on medium heat for 10 minutes or until the syrup has thickened slightly.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. When cooked, remove baklava from the oven and immediately pour the cooled syrup evenly over the surface. Stand to cool completely.
Cut into diamond shapes. This can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Pumpkin Scones

40 g butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
350 g pumpkin (e.g. jap, kent)
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
~1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease your tray. Cut off the rind from the pumpkin, cut into chunks and steam or microwave until soft.

Beat butter, sugar and egg together. Stire in pumpkin, flour and nutmeg and enough milk to make a soft, sticky dough. Kneed lightly until nice and smooth.

Roll out dough to about 1 1/2 inch thinkness, cut out into circles with a cutter (or a tumbler or wineglass or whatever!). Brush the top with milk and cook for 12-15 mins. Best eaten soon after baking.

Perhaps 12 mins would be better than 15! But ooooohhhh soooo yummy!

Recipe Swap - Rockmelon Sorbet

This is great, so easy to make. I can't believe more people don't make it themselves. I don't have an icecream/sorbet maker or anything like that, I just make it ye olde fashioned way and the results are fantastic.

1 rockmelon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
small segment of vanilla bean, seeds removed, or use vanilla extract
1 slice lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
icing sugar, for garnish

1. Remove seeds from rockmelon, then scoop out all the flesh onto a sheet of plastic. Wrap the melon in the plastic and put it in the freezer. Leave it there until it is completely frozen.
2. Prepare the syrup by placing the sugar, water, vanilla, lemon peel and salt into a saucepan, then bring to the boil and simmer for about five minutes. Chill in the fridge.
3. Place the sugar syrup, lemon juice. and rockmelon into a food processor. Blend well, scraping down the sides occasionally. Put the mixture into a container then into the freezer.
4. Freeze for several hours, beating it and scraping downt the edges about every 20-30 minutes for the first 1.5 hours to prevent icicles from forming, then less so after that.

This is fine in the freezer for a week or so, but in my house there is no way it would ever last that long!

Coconut creamed rice with raspberries

Here it is: the best dessert ever to exist. I cannot get over how good it tastes! I got it out of a Diabetic Living magazine while sitting in a GP waiting room quite a few months ago (and chances are the edition in the waiting room would have been about 3 years old anyway). I just want to eat the whole pot! I cannot express to you just how delicious this recipe is. It's all about the coconut. Unfortunately I don't have a photo, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

• 400 ml coconut milk
• 500 ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup short grain white rice
• 300 g frozen raspberries

Heat up the coconut milk, milk and vanilla essence until it's gentle boiling. Slowly add the rice, stir frequently. Turn down to the lowest heat setting. Cook until rice is soft, stirring often. Take off heat. Stir through frozen raspberries and leave it for a couple of minutes to allow the raspberries to defrost before serving.

Be gentle with your stirring: If you stir too much, it mooshes up the raspberries and you lose the contrast between the coconut rice and raspberries, and it also doesn't look so visually appealing. You want your creamed rice to stay white, with little pockets of bright pink, juicy raspberries... mmmm...