“Oh, they’s so fresh an’ fine, an’ they’s jus’ off the vine.
Straw-ber-ry! Staw-ber-ry!”
Porgy and Bess
Yesterday was the first day of Spring in North India, ‘Basant’ as it’s locally called. It makes the end of winter here and is celebrated with the festival of colour, Holi. It’s quite surprising to see that year after year the Hindu calendar marks a different date for Holi, and this is always the first day of Spring. The weather magically changes, and the date is never wrong! It always marks the last day of winter, of warm clothes, and dispels the need for that warm, comforting bowl of soup.
There’s Spring in the air, fruits galore, colour in every frame, a freshness in the breeze and birds chirping incessantly. Yes, they know it too, as do the butterflies. I made this fruity fro yo to celebrate the arrival of Spring, and to use up certain ingredients in my fridge which were threatening me with dire consequences!!
My SIL in Pune told me about this beautiful hung curd like cheese she made the other day. She had used whole milk curd that she hung for extra long. She cut cubes out of it, tossed it into a salad, and got a taste pretty close to fresh feta. It sounded divine, creamy and delicious. I was hooked and 2 days later had a kilo of homemade whole milk curd hanging in the fridge.
For some reason life decided to chart it’s own tiresome course, and I eventually never got down to using it in my planned menu. Day 3 had the curd cheese weighing heavy,heavier than the whey it gave up, in my mind. Had to be used quick. I doused it in some olive oil to protect it. Another day went by and it was a now or never. A quick change in plans had me thinking frozen yogurt.
In went strawberries and cape gooseberries, the latter a tart and intriguing tropical fruit which is rather underrated here and probably doesn’t deserve the credit it deserves. When we were young, it was sold covered in it’s husky cover, in basketfuls. Here now we find it sold differently, with the covers pulled back and the inner berry exposed trying to attract your attention … maybe an attempt to get it to sell more. It’s even prettier when you slice it…
In also went some vanilla sugar which I make all the time, have jar fulls ready, and is one of my best discoveries through blogging. A quick look around the shelves had me reach out for some pretty pink peppercorns that Anushruti had send me from her mothers’ garden some time back. Pepper and strawberries, IMHO, are a nice combination; pink pepper with them, even better! I used the same combination in my Mac-a-Verrines just recently with amaxing results!
The result was a tangy, creamy, delicious frozen yogurt, just right for anytime, bursting with fresh fruity flavours. The pink peppercorn lent it a beautiful edgy kick, one that I love paired with strawberries. It’s mild and comes through with gentle sensuality. I served it with sliced fresh fruit, and it tasted slam dunk delicious.
Strawberry & Cape Gooseberry Pink Peppercorn Fro Yo Ingredients: Curd cheese made from 1.5 litres full fat milk, hung for 2 days in fridge 2 tbsps olive oil 3/4 cup vanilla sugar 1 tbsp vodka, optional 300gms strawberries, hulled and quartered 100gms cape gooseberries, halved
Method:
Place the cut fruit in a glass bowl with the vanilla sugar and leave to stand for about an hour.
Puree the berries well with an immersion blender. (You can strain them if you don’t like the seeds, but I like to leave them in for texture)
Add the hung curd and break it up gently, then blend everything well with the immersion blender. Add the pink peppercorn and vodka, if using, and blend again. (Vodka helps to keep the ice-cream from getting frozen rock solid).
Turn it into a freezer suitable container, and place in the freezer. Whisk every hour to break and distribute crystals, or set according to the instructions of your ice cream maker.
From Sunday, February 21 – Sunday, March 7th, BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine (BA-CFF) is running H2Ope for Haiti, an online raffle to raise funds for Concern Worldwide’s relief effort in Haiti. For full details and how you can help please visit our HOME page at BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine as well as our donation page at Justgiving. A list of prizes is available on the here.
“Light, refined, learned and noble, harmonious and orderly, clear and logical, the cooking of France is, in some strange manner, intimately linked to the genius of her greatest men.”
Rouff
Freshfrom last month’s challenge where we made the absolutely delicious French Yule Log, the Daring Bakers are still on the French trail. This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen aka Baking Soda of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehrenbitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by AngéliqueSchmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.
Versatile & fun all the way. Wish I had more time because I would have loved to try out the savoury version too. But the month of January has been VERY BAD, & we’ve had terrible power cuts. I thanked my lucky stars that I managed one happy batch at least!Thank you Karen & Zorra…my family loved this wonderful dessert! Here is the recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef AngéliqueSchmeinck. There was an additional challenge for the month, as well as a savoury version of these wonderful tuiles. Be sure to check out Karen @ Baking Soda and Zorra @ Kochtopf for the recipes. Recipe: Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example) Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch 65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft) 60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar 1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract) 2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork) 65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour 1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice Butter/spray to grease baking sheetOven: 180C / 350F Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable. If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are gently molded over a rolling pin or arched form while they are still warm. Once set, their shape resembles the curved French roofing tiles for which they’re named. The Dutch angle: traditionally this batter was used to bake flat round cookies on 31st December, representing the year unfold. On New Years day however, the same batter was used but this day they were presented to well-wishers shaped as cigars and filled with whipped cream, symbolizing the New Year that’s about to roll on. And of course the batter is sometimes called tulip-pasteThey weren’t that simple to make for whatever reason. I ran into a number of calamities…
I had frozen collected egg whites & forgot how many there were in the box. 1 egg white = 1 tbsp may not have been the perfect beginning.
Got the dough ready, piped out, butterflies stencilled & coloured, baking sheet popped in, 2 minutes later the electricity went…went as in WENT AWAY/zilch/black-out ! Ooooh did I tell you I have a black tongue? Elder sis called from Dallas the other day telling me how she was so excited that she finally had a week off from school. She had a casserole in the oven, & decided to throw in an orange marmalade cake as well…blah, blah,blah. Me, the ultimate black tongue, had barely uttered the words, ‘Oh, you are so lucky, at least your electricity doesn’t go half-way through, I wouldn’t dare such a long baking session a go…blah, blah, blah”, when suddenly, & very uncannily, the phone line went dead! She called back after 5 minutes, horrified, to say that they had a FULL POWER BLACK-OUT in the community! First time in 8 years, fire engines zipping across town, sirens ringing, & the full drama! She eventually lit ALL the candles at home, chucked the half-cooked dishes, fed the family almost cooked casserole, & sent the poor mites to bed! So I try & keep my silly, over-the-top comments very reserved…coz this ain’t the first time it’s happened!!
OK, then again, back to the tuiles. Tried & resurrected the half baked tuiles aka butterflies, but didn’t manage too well. For the later batches, was a bit luckier with electricity, but stuck to circles, some of which I made into cups in the muffin tray, some rolled into cigars, & 1cornetto.
I had the most fun with the filling. Had bought a huge bunch of physalis which are in season these days & was dying to use them in a dessert. Had seen them dipped in caramel in a book I have. So, I thought up a mousse…which I made with hung yogurt (hung for 24 hours) + cream + Castor sugar + physalis. Blended everything together with the hand blender, strained it though a not-so-fine mesh strainer (just to get rid of peels & not the little seeds), folded in whipped cream, & piped it into the cups. Garnished the mousse with some chopped physalis & then with 1 single physalis each, drizzled generously with caramel syrup. Was the most amazing & refreshing dessert.
Do make sure you follow the miles of TUILES that our ever growing band of Daring Bakers have laid outHERE. I joined the Daring Bakers in January 2008 over a very weepy Lemon Meringue Pie, my first challenge, & am a very happy, satisfied DB now. It’s been a wonderful experience! Thank youLis & Ivonne!
Read at Kelleypea’s than her old Daring Baker friend Jenny of All Things Edible has a new house and is celebrating with a Housewarming. I’m joining in the celebration by sending this off to Jenny for the party at her gorgeous new house!
