Long Overdue...Ice Cream for the masses

Halfway through the second month of the year and it's about time to resume normal transmission.. don't you think?

So, a while back (last year!) I mentioned that I was asked to make Ice Cream for our family Christmas gathering. Last time I made a batch, I used a basic Creme Anglaise recipe as my base. For Christmas, I wanted to make it decadent, so I chose a recipe which I multiplied. Suffice to say, I used a total of 2,5 litres double cream. Now that's rich!

Double Cream Overload

I had been pondering what flavours to make for a while and was toying with making a christmasy type of Ice Cream, you know, it being for Christmas lunch and all. I thought about an eggnog Ice Cream or maybe a spin on a fruit cake ice cream, but I eventually settled on making a Cherry Brandy Ice Cream. Not sure it's quite Christmas, but hey..

Lovely Fresh Cherries

12yr Old...why not

So after pitting all the cherries (bloody hell) I started to cook them off in a pan. After adding the brandy (a generous measure) and letting the alcohol cook off, I set it aside to cool down. I then used a hand blender to create a coulis of sorts and adjust the flavour with a touch more brandy. It was then into the Ice Cream machine which had been in the freezer for 2 days.

Churning Cherry Ice Cream

Ready for freezing

So with the brandy in the Ice Cream, I thought I should do a kid-friendly batch (for my nieces and all the big kids). I spotted these awesome jelly flavours at Woolworths and thought Jelly and Custard!

My Flavour Inspiration

To ensure that the jelly wouldn't just blend into the Ice Cream, I made it quite firm. In used half the amount of water so that I could create little cubes of jelly to drop into the Ice Cream as it churned.

Firm cubes of jelly

Lovely thick custard

Time to freeze

The finished product was thoroughly enjoyed by the family, but I wouldn't describe the process as sunshine and roses. I had a few challenges during production. If you know me at all, you will know that I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to my cooking..and if things don't go my way, I tend to lean towards the grumpy side of things. Even if the end product turns out fine, I'll still know it was a balls up..

The problem with doing a batch of Ice Cream so large is that when using the Krupps Ice Cream Maker (or similar) is that you are limited to churning a pint at a time. You also need to refreeze the bowl between batches, otherwise the mixture doesn't freeze properly. 

I made these two Ice Creams in 6 batches and being short on time, neither Ice Cream set correctly. We very nearly ended up eating chilled Jelly and Custard. Thankfully, after a little rest in my sister's freezer before lunch, both Ice Creams had set enough that you could scoop it, rather than ladle it. Will I be using this recipe again? Perhaps, but then only for a small batch.

Lunch was followed by the mandatory group photos. Thanks to my Uncle's awesome photography skills, we got some beauties..

Family Portrait

Crazy Poses

It may have been the brandy in the Ice Cream

My Cousins and My Sisters

 It's always a blast when this family gets together..you crazy lot, you.

N

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

Last week I got a call from a good friend, inviting me round for dinner last night.
After being surrounded by so many foodies the last few weeks, I decided to try my hand at making Ice Cream again. I last made Ice Cream when I made a triple layered Casata for my mom's birthday last year. (which went down very well, I might add...)

Two years ago I bought a Krups Ice Cream Maker for myself as a birthday present. (It's marked down at Dion Wired, in case you haven't figured out what you want for Christmas). Great for making small batches at a time. One drawback is that you have to re-freeze the bowl before doing a second batch.
The only thing left to sort out was what flavour I would make.

Vanilla is too easy. Make Crème Anglaise (from my trusty Larousse Gastronomique Dessert Book. Don't judge. I don't cook often enough to have these recipes committed to memory) and put in maker.. Et Voila.. No. Instead I asked those going to the dinner for inspiration. I got the brief to be creative..and Whisky would not be frowned upon. Capital!

One of my favourite sweets has got to be Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (or Reese's Pieces, or Reese's Wafers). To say I am partial to peanut butter would be an understatement. While browsing the baking shop for inspiration, I found a tub of chocolate ganache. I then found some peanuts and my mind was made. Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I blended the peanuts to a fine crumb and then added some smooth peanut butter and a pinch or two of rock salt. Blended again and came up with a sort of chunky peanut butter.

I poured my custard, which had been cooling in the fridge, into the Ice Cream maker and spooned in half of the peanut butter mixture. I let this churn a bit before adding a few spoons of ganache and then the rest of the peanut butter. The result was small pockets of chocolate and peanut butter spinning around. A nice surprise in your spoonful.

Peanut Delight

Once it was done, I scooped the final product into a container for further freezing.
Luckily, I made a double batch of Cremè Anglaise so I got to work on prepping my second batch. A quick rinse of the bowl and back into the freezer to prime it for it's next challenge. Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Ice Cream with bits of Sweet Temptations White and Dark Chocolate Toffee (The name needs a bit of work. Might be a tad too long..)

Love my Jack

After attending the launch of Jack Honey a while back, I have been advocating it's use as a social lubricant. Now Jack might not be to everyone's taste, but if you haven't tried Jack Honey, I suggest you remedy this oversight at your next earliest opportunity. With Appletiser it tastes like more, as a cold shot it tastes like trouble and served with Ginger Ale it tastes like hangover. It really is a smooth drink and I wanted to carry this over into my Ice Cream.

While tweeting my inspiration, I got some great advice from the Ice Cream Queen herself, Janine van Zyl. Boil the Jack to get rid of the alcohol. This would prevent the custard from splitting or not freezing. Sage advice.. if only I had seen it before adding three tablespoons of Jack to my custard. I mixed it in well and hoped for the best. By the time my bowl was sufficiently frozen, the custard was still looking good. And tasted amazing.

I poured the custard into the bowl and added in finely diced pieces of the toffee (the texture is similar to the Creme Caramels that you can find in any decent shop, more of a soft toffee than a filling remover). Again, after churning for a while i transfered the Ice Cream to a plastic container and put this in the freezer, ready for transportation.

I decided that I wanted some texture to the dish, so I bought some Stroop Waffels to serve with the Ice Cream.

After a lovely dinner of homemade lasagna and a bottle of David Finlayson Pinot Noir (really amazing stuff) it was dessert time. I'm proud to say that my friends enjoyed it, even though it was a bit on the rich side.

I was well chuffed with my handiwork.

Any suggestions for weird but wonderful flavours?
Leave a comment.

N.

Assignments, Hospital Visits, Ice Cream and Work. What did you do?

This past week has been pretty hectic. (I'm starting to sound as repetitive as the bloody twitch in my right eye)

Due to some very efficient procrastination on my part, I left my module 3 assignment to the last minute. Well, last half hour, but still. Thankfully it was a quiz and due to one silly mistake (rushing will get you nowhere) I narrowly missed out on 100%. I'll take it though.

That was Monday, which also included a visit to hospital, otherwise known as the B&B. The old man was in once again, thankfully this time it was just for observation while he was on a drip to get rid of some inflammation in his leg. Please make sure that, if you have a hyphenated surname, they put your full name on the board. Stupid male nurse nearly gave my dad someone else's medication which would have been catastrophic.. I hear he's in kak now..good.

The trouble is that after a long day at work, followed by visiting hours, you don't really feel like getting stuck into reading course notes. Besides, Mondays are reserved for Come Dine with Me SA. Trust me, you need to follow #ComeDineSA on twitter on a Monday evening. It makes for entertaining reading.

Tuesday and Wednesday was much the same, with the old man eventually coming out on Thursday. Just in time for Ultimate Braai Master. Possibly THE BEST reality show, cooking or otherwise, to be on the telly. And it's Proudly South African. I'm backing Rust 'n Dust all the way (@RustnDustCT). Karl matriculated the same year as me at York High. You go boy!

I'm off to dinner with some mates on Tuesday and I decided that I'd make some Ice Cream for dessert. I'm still pondering what to do to my creme anglaise base to make it magical.. After being surrounded by so many fantastic chefs last week, I fear my delusions of grandeur will lead to a flop. Best just to keep it simple, right? Nah.. So far I'm leaning towards mixing in some Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey to the mix to create a nice boozy ice cream. Any thoughts?

Month end is always fun when I'm weekend duty manager, but thankfully it's been rather measured. Everything is under control and while I'll probably have a late night again tonight, I'm on track to get done with all my paperwork.. Thankfully Module 4's SEO assignment is submitted (for better or worse) so that's one less thing to worry about.

Tonight I think I'll try out the new dinner menu. Lamb Shank or Rib-eye? Undecided...but it shall be Dinner for One once again.. Same Procedure...

Don't forget to check out http://derrycoffeecompany.yolasite.com/ and have a guess as to which coffee shop it's based on. There's a coffee in it for the first person to guess correctly.

Also, Marmite or Bovril.. Have your say in my poll.

Ciao ciao,

N.

Sometimes you just need to take a break.

Greetings.
Wow. What a super busy week! Between work and my second assignment for my Internet Marketing course, I've had no time for anything else. I think I only had one bottle of wine last week (Shock, Horror!)

So as mentioned before, this week we had to create a website for a business (real or fictional). As we progress through the different aspects of Internet Marketing, we will be applying our knowledge to this site.
I met up with my friend on Saturday morning to chat about a few ideas I had for the site. Decided to multitask and have breakfast at the same time. I was joined by my sister, her husband and another friend.
I just love the cappuccinos there!

As promised, if you can guess the coffee shop that I have based my fictional site on, the coffee is on me. (That means I'll pay...don't go throwing your coffee on me.)
So, check out the first draft of the site and hazard a guess in the comments section below. Really, it's not that difficult..

In the midst of finishing this assignment, I had some serious issues with the site builder that we are using. The templates are limiting and, when you do select a template you like, it's a bit tricky to place things where you want them. Add to that my dodgy Cell C connection and the site freezes. I'm not one for saving after typing every word (far too tedious) so if the site freezes, you have to start all over...very frustrating.

On Sunday I was making slow progress, so I decided to take a break and head off to the Blaauwklippen Family Market at Blauuwklippen Wine Estate. This is fast becoming one of my favourite markets. It's a nice drive out there and they have Alpacas!

Last time I was there I noticed a stall that was selling chopping boards and Japanese Chefs knives. I didn't take much notice then, but this time something caught my eye. If any of you are old enough to remember La Linea (Italian for 'The Line') you will appreciate that this is the best chopping board...EVER!

La Linea

I decided to buy this one for it's absolute quirkiness. The company who makes it is Setta, a local company. They have quite a selection of boards (Natural Bamboo and Solid Surface) so go check them out. The guy at the stall very kindly told me that you can watch all the episodes of La Linea on Youtube...(I've started already).

A trip to Blaauwklippen Family Market is not complete without stopping by Cold Gold Ice Cream for some awesome Artisan Ice Cream. A double scoop of the best chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone? I'll take two! Janine really knows her stuff when it comes to the cold stuff. I stopped by for a chat about how she got into the business and she sneakily told me that she was a fan of my blog.. Flattery will get you everywhere.
She then told me that she had brought takeaway containers, just in case someone wanted to buy some Ice Cream to take home. I went with a tub of Vanilla and a tub of Fat Free Macadamia, Nougat and Cranberry (so healthy, it's practically a vegetable).

Yum

So after my little excursion, I headed back home to finish off my assignment. I was a lot more focused and I was able to finish it off in no time. You definitely need to take a break every once in a while. And when you live in Cape Town, a decent destination is not far away.

Check out my site and let me know what you think.
http://derrycoffeecompany.yolasite.com/

Till next time.
N.

Blaauwklippen Family Market - Sundays in Stellenbosch

Late last night I decided that today I would try something new. The weather in Cape Town is stunning, so I was not up to being stuck in doors. I knew I wanted to go for a drive, so I finally settled on Stellenbosch as my destination. More specifically, the Blaauwklippen Family Market.

Stunning Weather in Stellenbosch

Happening every Sunday at Blaauwklippen Wine Estate, it is a great way to spend the mid part of your Sunday. Parking is plentiful, they even let the older folk park quite close, which I thought was quite nice.

Specialized Parking

I did a few circuits of the market to take in all the stalls. You've got your usual craft stalls, pet items, jewellery, etc., but it was the food that I came for. And I was not disappointed. A taste exploration as many different ready to eat food stuffs were available. From Argentinian Steak rolls to Bitter Ballen, there was something for every taste, including Thai, Indian and freshly baked pastries and pancakes.  

Vendors showing their wares

I'll have mine medium rare, please

Bitter Ballen with mustard..I'll take two.

Belgian Waffles anyone?

I also managed to pick up some fresh deli meats as well as some pucker Cornish Pasties. (although, I was a tad disappointed with the pasties. Bit on the dry side, pastry and filling). On the fresh pastry front, I picked up a delicious Parmesan Twist, which was like a giant Croissant in loaf form.

Parmesan Twist

There is plenty place to sit, either under the umbrellas in the courtyard or on the many grass areas, where your kids (if you have them) can go mad after a sugar rush. Bring a blanket or some camping chairs and you're sorted.

Craft Beer and Wine Tasting are also available but, as I was driving, I only looked on and drooled. 

Plenty seating space

But for me, the stand out stall was Cold Gold Ice Cream. What could be better than some Ice Cream on a warm spring day? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was rather intrigued by the different flavours that Janine van Zyl had available, but eventually settled on Liquorice. (They even have a selection of Vegan Ice Cream...)

Loads of flavours to choose from

WOW. It was delicious. If you like liquorice (which you should) you must try this out. I tweeted about it while I was savouring it under a tree and got a response almost immediately. The beauty of Social Media and the importance of ORM (Online Reputation Management). This prompted me to go back and buy one for the road. I got the 66% Chocolate Ice Cream (last one that they had!). A little pot of chocolate gold. I swear, this had a halo around it when I opened it. Absolutely heavenly.

Chocolate Gold

Gabrielle over at www.deepfriedbananas.com is going to be doing a piece on Janine soon, so keep an eye out for it. I'm glad to say that I now have a reason other than wine to go to Stellenbosch. And with summer on it's way, you should definitely give this a try.