Comfort Food

Every now & then you just want a quick easy snack just to comfort yourself, or indulge. This is one of those recipes - & I use the term recipe loosely, as there is nothing precise or structured about it. It just sort of came together in the most unexpected way. I was thinking as to what to create for this months Paper Chef entry. The ingredients were Bread, Chocolate, Berries, & Lime. Simple, compatible. But leading to too many choices! With time running short I went with instinct & this was the result: Chocolate French Toast with Berry syrup & Lime Cream.

the combination of the slightly bitter chocolate (70%), sweet berry syrup & tangy Lime cream worked a treat, leaving me wanting more.

Ingredients:

white bread, slices about 1cm thick

dark chocolate (70%)

cinnamon

egg

cream

lime

frozen mixed berries

sugar

Strawberry liqueur (optional) or water

icing sugar

oil

butter

Method:

Beat the egg with some cream or milk & cinnamon.

Place a block or 2 (depending on size) between two slices of bread & soak in the egg mixture.

place about a tablespoon of sugar & a tablespoon of liqueur in a small saucepan & heat until the sugar is dissolved & starting to bubble, then add the frozen berries & turn the heat to low, & allow to warm through.

Gently heat the oil in a fry pan

Zest the lime into the cream, add a little sugar & whip.

turn up the heat & add some butter to the oil & allow to melt.
Fry the egg soaked chocolate bread sandwich until golden brown then carefully flip to fry the other side. The chocolate would have started to melt so be careful flipping it so that you don't dislodge the bread.

Place onto paper towel to absorb excess oil then onto a serving plate, dust with icing sugar, & serve with the berry syrup & lime cream.

Very comforting & moreish.

Australian Finger Lime Ice Cream

In my previous post I asked what was it?

Its actually an Australian native, a Finger Lime.
It has an interesting characteristic, which is the juice vesicles are fairly tough, meaning that they retain their shape without bursting. Obviously if you apply enough pressure, they will burst & the juice will run out. But why attempt to juice one of these fairly small limes? They are about the size of your finger, so juicing them in the usual fashion would be a challenge.
I prefer to use them where you'd like the tang of lime but not the wet soppiness of the juice. I've previously served a traditional Russian potato pancake topped with sour cream, caviar and lime. The shape of these lime vesicles makes them look like little beads of caviar and biting into them releases an explosion of lime flavour.

There are a few different varieties available (Australian Finger Lime company has a few listed), but I have only ever seen the green variety for sale.

Today I thought I'd try something a bit different, using the lime in an ice cream. My reasoning being that the lime vesicles would hold their shape & juice within the ice cream. I was hoping to achieve a creamy smoothness of the ice cream & then bursts of the sour-tangy lime.
So I made a fairly standard vanilla creme anglaise (recipe here)and churned it in the ice cream machine.
I added the lime vesicles to the mixture just before pouring into the container.
End result? Vanilla & Lime Ice Cream.

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

What to do with all these strawberries that we bought from Prahran Markets? Paul suggested making Strawberry Ice-cream, which sounded like a brilliant idea. But how to mix the strawberries into the ice-cream was the question. Do we pulp the berries & add them? Do we coarsely chop them and run the risk of frozen berry lumps attacking the teeth? Or do we make a strawberry jam & use the jam as flavouring in the ice-cream?
The picture in the previous post should have been a give away – we went with the last idea. Half a kilo of fresh strawberries made into some divine jam. I purposely left it a bit syrupy so that it would combine better with the ice-cream. The higher sugar content of the cooked berries would also help prevent them from freezing into solid lumps.

Components
500g strawberries, cleaned & cut in to quarters
500g castor sugar
6 free range egg yolks
600ml cream (35% milk fat)
40g vanilla sugar

Process
To make the jam: place the berries in a saucepan, add the sugar and cook over a medium heat, until the berries have lost most of their moisture content. The syrup should be nice and thick. A small teaspoon will set when tested on a cold plate.
Be careful not to over cook the berries, as they will end up with a burnt, caramel taste. Pour the jam into sterilized jars & let cool.

To make the ice-cream base: This is a classic Crème Anglaise, place the cream in to a saucepan and heat till it just starts to bubble. Meantime beat the egg yolks and vanilla sugar till light & fluffy. Add the heated cream slowly to the egg mixture whisking crazily to thoroughly combine the two mixtures.
Pour back into the saucepan & return to a low heat stirring constantly till it thickens.
Strain through a fine sieve to a cold bowl & keep stirring to help remove the heat from the mixture. I have also read that you can place the bowl in chilled water to help cool it.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
Once cooled, add a few spoonfuls of your fresh strawberry jam, how much depends on your taste buds & your sweet tooth. I used about 100ml of the jam.
Mix thoroughly, cover & leave over night in the fridge.
Next day pour the mixture into an ice-cream churn & churn till it thickens & starts setting. Pour this into a clean container & place into the freezer to set totally.
Serves 4. Needless to say, eat as quickly as possible while its fresh.