Frozen Grapes with Sweetened Sour Cream

(about 4 servings)

Years ago a friend served this to me in Toronto, and I have been making it ever since. It's a very simple recipe and quite a wonderful surprise on a very hot day. The sweetened sour cream makes a nice contrast to the frozen and often slightly sour grapes.

Zephyranthes

 

This remarkable perennial bulb needs very little care in Texas. It tolerates very moist conditions to quite dry. I've had a few bulbs in a neglected planter for several years now, and whenever we get a bit of rain,  these beautiful flowers appear a day or two later.

Zephyranthes, commonly known as rain flower.

Strawberry and Banana Buttermilk Smoothie

(1 serving)

This is a quick and easy breakfast smoothie. If you use very ripe fruit then you won't need to add any sweetener. The buttermilk was great in place of the yogurt I didn't have this morning.

Mango and Coconut Milk Sorbet

(about 1 quart)

I've always thought of sorbet as milk free and not containing any animal products, however mine does; I added half a teaspoon of gelatin.

Recently a friend was asking me about the cornstarch I used in my grape gelato, and whether I had tried using *gelatin instead. I hadn't, but I was curious to try it out.

The texture of this sorbet was wonderful; it was pretty smooth considering the lower amount of sugar and fat in it. I have never used pectin, but I intend to try that soon. Then this recipe would  be vegetarian.

Chocolate Gelato

(about 1 quart)

I have been consumed with making gelato all week. I barely finish making one when I'm already thinking about the next.

This chocolate gelato was amazing; rich tasting with a nice smooth texture. I decided to use orange liqueur for this. If you prefer to make yours free of alcohol, then add 2 raw egg whites instead.

2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dark cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
3 tbsp corn starch
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup liqueur or brandy (I used Gran Marnier)

Pour the milk into a saucepan.

Whisk the cocoa and cornstarch into the cream until smooth and add to the milk. Turn on the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue boiling for one minute, whisking the chocolate mixture the entire time.

Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips. Whisk until the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool. Place into the refrigerator for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Stir in the liqueur and process according to your ice cream manufacturer's directions.

Chinese Corn Soup

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(about 6-8 servings)

Plump, fresh sweet corn is showing up everywhere. I managed to get a hold of 6 ears of organically grown corn for almost nothing; they were practically giving it away! This wonderful Cantonese soup came to mind while I was choosing my corn, so afterwards I made my way to the butcher to pick up a nice free-range chicken breast.

I imagine this could be made with frozen or canned corn although I have never tried that. Fresh corn is just too good to pass up, and worth that extra bit of prep time!

Asian Style Scallop and Shrimp Dumplings

(about 30-36 dumplings)

These dumplings are similar to Har Gow, although the wrappers differ somewhat. I ran out of wheat starch, so I added more tapioca starch. The resulting wrappers seemed a bit thicker to me as well as "chewier", but in a pleasant way.

I kind of liked the wrappers and noticed they didn't seem quite as delicate when I steamed them; I wasn't afraid they might fall apart if they stayed in the streamer a tad too long. On the other hand, one of the wonderful aspects of starch wrappers is the ability to see through them, and because of their thickness these weren't quite as translucent as they might have been.

*The dumplings do freeze well. Place them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze for about 20-30 minutes. Then bag them for further freezing. I usually double or even triple this recipe to have a good supply on hand for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.

Daring Cooks Challenge May, 2011; Gumbo

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo!She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

I have never made a gumbo before and I was quite pleased with the way this turned out. I made half the recipe and it came together rather quickly despite what initially appeared to be a somewhat lengthy ingredient list.

I did make a few substitutions (nothing major), I used butter in my roux, skinless and boneless chicken thighs rather than half a bird, and brown rice to serve this with. 

The leftover gumbo reheated nicely and seemed to improve with flavour.

Citrus Margarita

(about 6 servings)

A couple of years ago I was a bit obsessed with margaritas.. I made a slightly different version each evening after work, looking for that perfect one.

This was pretty much what I settled on at that time, except for the 7-up. Last week I watched someone add this to their margaritas and thought it was the perfect way to adjust the final taste in terms of sweet/sour and/or strength.

Mediterranean Olive Pesto

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(6-8 servings)

This chunky pesto contains everything I love. It comes together very quickly and if there's any left over, it will keep well refrigerated for about a week or so.

On occasion I will swap a couple of things out, (depending on what's available at the olive bar) but this is basically how I have been making this pesto for years.

Concord Grape Gelato

(about 1 quart)

I've been in possession of a wonderful ice cream machine for several years now and haven't yet tired of experimenting.

My preference lately has been for something low-fat and fruity. Usually I combine vanilla yogurt with frozen fruit, but I wanted something a bit different this time.

While I was shopping for frozen juice concentrate the other day, I wondered what it would be like to use that as a base for a frozen milk dessert like gelato.

This is my third batch and I'm absolutely thrilled. This gelato is intensely grape flavoured and silky smooth.. I can hardly believe I made this!

I also wanted to give raw egg white a try instead of using alcohol to see if it did indeed affect the texture. It did so very nicely; the resulting gelato didn't turn rock hard in my freezer.

* These days it's difficult to know just how safe raw eggs are. I decided to give the powdered pasteurized egg whites a try for this recipe. They worked beautifully.

No Knead Beer Bread with Roasted Garlic and Cheese

This is probably the best loaf of no-knead bread I have made yet! The aroma of bread and garlic while it was baking had my knees trembling with excitement. The texture was looser and chewier than usual, possibly because I used a tad less flour than usual (I ran out). Or perhaps this was the beer talking; I will have to make another loaf to be certain!

Before I knew who Jim Lahey was, I would bake a loaf of bread on occasion. I went through various stages of bread making over the years. I made it completely by hand, then invested in a bread machine which took up a huge amount of space. Eventually I grew tired of the paddle hole at the bottom of the oddly shaped loaves which emerged, so I would let the machine do the work, then I'd remove the dough and shape and bake it the conventional way.

This past year with a few exceptions, I have mostly made the no knead bread, trying out different flours and flavours. This week was no different. I decided to swap out the water for beer and I was thrilled with my loaf of bread.