This recipe was born from a failure, as my son likes to remind me! You could call it an experiment – because I knew it could fail, but was excited by the challenge anyway. I was trying to make nougat without a thermometer. It’s tricky to know when the sugar is cooked to the right point for the nougat to set and not ooze … Continue reading Nougat ice cream cake
Salt-crusted and wrapped in beach towels, we’re standing on the polished concrete floor of our favourite holiday ice-cream shop, waiting in line though not standing still. The kids are darting off to check the cabinet and make up their minds, while I, their much more respectable adult, am subtly standing on tippy toes and peering around the people in front of me. My two kids have taken to betting which flavour I’ll get – plum, quince, prickly pear; if there is something fruity and unusual, it has ‘mum’ written all over it they reckon. The give me their vote; I feel annoyed, pigeon-holed; then invariably get what they thought. Continue reading Fig and cinnamon ice cream
The fruit from all the trees in our backyard inspires me to cook the best that I can; to make it really count; to capture the short season before it is gone. It’s usually a balance of making old favourites and having fun exploring new and delicious things. And while enjoying the fruit in the now, I also like to dabble in a little preserving/making things last, even if it’s just putting one small thing in the freezer. Continue reading Peach and Thai basil granita (and sherry cobbler!)
Lime season should be summer, you’d think. Then the weather feels perfect for lime-spiked drinks on ice and Asian salads, but it’s not until a few months later that limes really come into their own. Our backyard lime tree, a dwarf Tahitian, starts fruiting around the end of March. When the limes turn from deep green to a slightly more yellow, ‘limey’ colour, and they yield a little when squeezed, it’s time to start picking. Unlike lemon trees that keep giving for much of the year, limes are a special autumn treat. Continue reading Easy lime (or lemon) ice-cream