Tag Archives: summer

Reader’s requests for Tomato recipes

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I’ve recently received two reader’s requests.  One from my Chilean friend Sonia who remembers a Roasted Tomato Salad I made when she came to our house in Santiago, Chile.  It was given to me by my friend Ferne.  The other is from my American cousin Anne who remembers a cheese and tomato flan I made when she was in England in the 70s.  Fortunately I have a similar memory when it comes to food and knew immediately which recipe she meant.

The tomato salad needs to be made with Roma tomatoes because round varieties contain more water and don’t hold their shape.  Once prepared the salad will keep for several days in the fridge.  It’s a fantastic addition to a buffet or barbecue, perfect to have in the fridge over the holiday season and fairly quick to make when you’re asked to “bring a plate”.  Being asked to bring a plate to a pot luck lunch or dinner is quite common in Australia.  My Greek teacher, Michael Kazan, told us that when he first arrived in Canberra over 40 years ago and was asked to bring a plate he was somewhat perplexed.  If your host hasn’t got enough plates, they’re probably short of everything.  So he and his wife turned up with plates, glasses and cutlery.

Use your favourite shortcrust pastry recipe for the Lancashire flan, or buy it. Preparing the right amount of pastry and filling to suit your tin/dish is always hit and miss.  Quiche tins and dishes vary in their capacity, even ones with the same diameter.  I made up 250g of pastry (250g flour and 150g butter, plus a dash of water) and used the rectangular tin shown in the photo.  There was enough pastry left to make another small quiche shell which I partly cooked then froze empty, to use on another occasion.

Ferne’s Roasted Tomato Salad

1 kg Roma tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbs Thai sweet Chilli sauce
2 Tbs olive oil
Dressing:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar, preferably white
1 Tbs chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 200°C.  Halve tomatoes lengthwise and place cut side up on a cake cooling rack over a baking tray or dish.  Line the baking tray with baking paper to save on the washing up.  Mix garlic, chilli sauce and olive oil and brush generously onto tomatoes using it all up.  Bake 30-40 mins or until starting to brown.  Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.  Arrange in a serving dish.  Place oil and vinegar in a jar with a lid and shake well.  At serving time spoon over some dressing and sprinkle with basil.  Serve at room temperature.

Serves 8-10

Lancashire Cheese, Tomato & Bacon Flan

1 uncooked quiche shell made from shortcrust pastry and chilled
100g lardons or bacon
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (discard the seeds)
125g grated Lancashire cheese (or substitute cheddar)
2 large eggs
1 cup cream (or use half cream, half milk)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tomatoes thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line pastry case with foil and fill with corn or something similar to give weight.  Bake for 5-10 mins until pastry has set.  Remove foil and cook for a few more minutes until light golden, remove from oven.  Meanwhile fry lardons or chopped bacon in a non-stick pan until lightly browned. Drain and scatter over the base of the pastry case, then sprinkle onion, chopped tomatoes and grated cheese evenly over the bacon.  Beat eggs, cream and milk, season to taste and pour over.  Arrange sliced tomatoes over the top.  Bake for 30-40 mins until puffed and golden.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

Serves 8

Note: lardons are chunky bits cut from thickly sliced bacon or speck.

Mediterranean Tartlets

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These delicious tartlets make a perfect lunch in summer – combining all the flavours of the Mediterranean in one easy and adaptable dish.  The layers can be prepared the day before and assembled just before serving.  Vegetarians who don’t eat fish can omit the prawns.  If you can’t find yellow capsicum use all red ones.

Three sheets ready-rolled puff pastry squares (25x25cm)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
400g peeled cooked prawns, tails left on (optional)
½ cup black olives, pitted and halved
½ cup semi-dried tomatoes, chopped (optional)
Onion Marmalade:
3 large onions, finely chopped
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs white balsamic or white wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
Grilled Vegetables:
4 small eggplants (the long thin ones)
4-6 zucchini (courgettes)
2 red capsicum (peppers)
2 yellow capsicum (peppers)
olive oil spray
Pesto:
2 Tbs pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 Tbs grated Parmesan
1 cup basil leaves
4-5 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 200°C.  Cut each pastry square into four smaller squares, approx 12.5 x 12.5cm.  Place on baking sheets lined with baking paper, prick with a fork then bake for about 15 mins or until golden brown.  Cool and store in a container with a lid.  If you can’t find ready-rolled pastry use block puff pastry and roll it out yourself.

In a large frying pan cook onions with butter and oil over a medium to low heat for about 40 minutes, stirring often, until soft and golden.  Don’t let them brown.  Towards the end of the cooking time add vinegar and sugar.  Store covered in the fridge.

Wash and dry eggplants and zucchini and slice lengthwise about half a centimetre thick.  Spray both sides with oil then pan fry, grill or cook on a griddle until lightly browned and tender.  Place peppers on an oven tray and cook under a hot grill, turning once, until somewhat blackened and blistered.  Remove, cover loosely with foil and when cool enough to handle remove skins, seeds and membranes and cut into 4 – 5 lengthwise strips.  Store vegetables, covered, in fridge.

Place all ingredients for pesto in food processor.  Process to a puree, stopping to scrape down halfway through and store in a container in the fridge.

To serve, place pastry squares on individual serving plates.  Spread with onion marmalade, then top with some grilled eggplant, zucchini and peppers.  Arrange a few prawns on top, then crumbled feta, olives and semi-dried tomatoes.  Thin down pesto with some extra olive oil, then drizzle over the tarts.  Serve with a rocket salad.

Serves 12

Blanca’s Chilled Avocado Soup

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This recipe comes from my dear friend Blanca Bulnes who lives in Santiago but spent 4 years in Canberra when her husband was the Chilean Ambassador to Australia.  It’s quick and easy to make and perfect for a warm summer’s day.

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
4 large avocados
1 cup thick Greek yoghurt
½ cup cream
1 Tbs grated onion
2 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tsp ground cumin (not in original recipe but if you like cumin it makes a nice addition)
To serve:
chopped parsley, or toasted slivered almonds or red pepper puree (see below)

Home made chicken stock is best for this recipe.  Leave it in the fridge to chill, then remove any fat from the surface.  Otherwise make up a litre of stock using a cube. Vegetarians can use vegetable stock.

In a food processor mix avocado flesh with yoghurt, cream and some of the stock.  Scrape into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.   Chill for several hours or overnight. Serve garnished with chopped parsley or toasted slivered almonds or a drizzle of red capsicum/pepper puree.

Red Pepper Puree: place 2 capsicums on an oven tray and spray with oil.  Place under a very hot grill until slightly blackened and blistered, then turn and grill the other side.  Cover loosely with foil and leave until cool enough to handle.  Remove skin, seeds and membranes then blitz in a food processor with enough olive oil to make a smooth red paste.  Store covered in the fridge.

Lemon Meringue Pie

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At 3pm on the first Tuesday of November Australia comes to a virtual standstill.  The Melbourne Cup, Australia’s major thoroughbred horse race, has been run since 1861.  Even people who never bet on horses place a bet in this race.  Lunches with sweepstakes are organised all over the country by those who can’t make it to the Flemington racecourse in Melbourne.  Ladies come dressed to kill, wearing their best hat, in order to create the right atmosphere.

Asked to bring a plate to a Melbourne Cup buffet lunch I decided to make an old English favourite, Lemon Meringue Pie.  As you can see, the lemon tree outside our kitchen window is laden with fruit.  Last year we picked all the lemons and put them in a second fridge we keep in the garage for drinks.   After a few weeks they started to go off, so this year we’ve decided to leave them on the tree and pick them as we need them.  Not sure if this will affect next season’s crop, but we’ll find out.

My ceramic quiche dish holds about a litre of filling, so this makes quite a large pie.  If you find you have too much filling,  put the excess into little glasses  to eat with a dollop of cream.

 

1 large fully-baked sweet shortcrust pastry shell
¾ cup caster sugar
¾ cup lemon juice
1 Tbs grated lemon rind
2 cups water
½ cup cornflour
3 eggs, separated
75g unsalted butter
½ cup caster sugar, extra

Keep the egg white from making the pastry and use it in the meringue.

Mix cornflour with some of the water to a smooth paste in a small bowl.  Heat lemon juice, sugar, remaining water and grated rind in a saucepan.  When boiling add cornflour mixture and stir until thickened with a wooden spatula.  Remove from heat and mix in egg yolks and lastly butter.  Cool a bit then push through a sieve to remove any bits of cooked egg white and spoon evenly into the pastry case.

With electric beaters whip the four egg whites (one left from making the pastry) with a pinch of salt until they hold soft peaks, then gradually add the extra sugar and continue whipping until you have a glossy meringue.  Pile onto the lemon filling, covering completely so there are no gaps.  Bake at 170°C for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and cool.  Serve chilled.

Serves 10-12

Mango Semi-freddo with Macadamia Praline

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Catherine drove from Newcastle to Canberra, to stay with us for a few days.  On the way she bought a tray of mangoes from a vendor by the side of the road.  James and Karen hosted a family BBQ on Sunday evening and I volunteered to bring dessert.  Catherine suggested we make a mango semi-freddo with praline, so we had a look at a couple of recipes online and a few more in my large collection of cookbooks and devised this between us.  A triangular tin bought in Paris about 10 years ago in a kitchen shop called E. Dehillerin made a perfect mold.  I could spend hours in that shop.  The mold is also a good shape for pâté and terrines.

Mango Semi-freddo with Macadamia Praline

2 large mangoes, flesh pureed in a food processor
4 eggs, separated
400ml cream
⅓ to ½ cup plus 2 Tbs caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup caster sugar
Praline:
80-100g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
⅓ cup caster sugar 

Make praline:  Place nuts in a small frying pan and stir for a minute or two over medium heat until lightly toasted. Tip out.  Add sugar to pan.  Heat and swirl until you have a nice caramel, then add nuts, mix through and tip out onto a piece of foil.  Leave to cool then break into pieces and blitz very briefly in food processor.  It should remain quite chunky.

Line a plastic or metal mold which holds 1.5 to 2L with plastic wrap, leaving excess hanging over.  Take out three large bowls.  Place egg yolks and sugar (⅓ to ½ cup according to taste) in one, cream in another and egg whites and a pinch of salt in the third.  With electric beaters, whip egg whites until soft peaks, then add remaining 2 Tbs sugar and whip till thick.  With the same beaters (no need to wash) whip egg yolks and sugar till pale and frothy and lastly the cream till thick.  Scrape cream and meringue into egg yolk mixture, add vanilla essence, then whip the whole lot together until well mixed.   Taste and if liked add a little more caster sugar.

Tip praline into mold to cover the bottom. Tip in about half the semi-freddo mixture, then drizzle with half the mango puree.  Use a knife to swirl the mango evenly through, then pour in remaining semi-freddo, drizzle with the rest of the mango puree and repeat the swirling.  If you have too much filling pour into small glasses and freeze individual ones.

Freeze for several hours or overnight.  Remove from freezer about 20 mins before serving.  Tip out onto a serving plate and cut into thick slices with a knife dipped in hot water.  You may need to hold a cloth rung out in hot water on the outside of the mold for a few seconds to loosen this dessert.

Serves 10-12

Note: this recipe contains raw eggs

Quick Raspberry Ice Cream with Raspberry Compote

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Everyone is short of time.  So while I love to cook, I’m always looking for ways to produce delicious food in record time.  This ice cream recipe, which can be adapted and varied with different berries, is a real winner.  Whip it up a couple of hours before dinner and by the time you reach dessert time it will have firmed up enough to scoop.  You can use fresh raspberries instead of frozen, but the advantage of frozen berries is that it turns the rest of the ingredients into instant ice cream.  I have put 500-600g of raspberries so you know that if your supermarket sells them in half kilo bags you don’t need to buy two!

Quick Raspberry Ice Cream with Raspberry Compote

Ice Cream:
500-600g frozen raspberries
600ml thick Greek-style yoghurt
300ml cream
1 cup icing sugar, or to taste
Raspberry Compote: 
2-3 cups frozen raspberries
¼ cup sugar, or to taste

Place all ingredients for ice cream in food processor and process until mixed. Leave it a bit chunky with some bits of raspberries still visible. Place in freezer for an hour or two or until firm enough to scoop into balls with an ice cream scoop dipped into hot water.  If left in the freezer for longer you will need to remove it about 10 mins before serving so it’s not rock hard.  For the compote, mix raspberries with sugar and leave to thaw, stirring from time to time.  Serve chunky or if preferred, push through a sieve and serve as coulis.

Makes about 1.5 litres of ice cream

Beetroot & Goat’s Cheese Salad

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Beetroot is an excellent source of antioxidants and nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, sodium and Vitamin C.  The Olympic athletes in London this year drank concentrated beetroot energy drinks in little shot bottles and as you can imagine the company which makes them is going from strength to strength.

I don’t much like canned beetroot, but I’ve always been a fan of fresh beetroot.  Until a few years ago I only knew how to boil it and serve it in salads, doused with a little vinegar. Now I prefer to roast it with some olive oil.

This is another recipe from the November issue of Delicious which I halved to serve two and adapted a bit to speed things up.

Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Salad

2-3 small beetroots
1 Tbs olive oil
1 head of endive (witlof) trimmed and leaves separated)
1 stalk rhubarb
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs water
1 cup home-made croutons (use sourdough or French baguette)
120g soft goat’s cheese (I used small log-shaped packet) sliced
Some pea shoots or cress to garnish
Extra virgin olive oil to serve

Wine dressing:
½ cup red wine
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2 Tbs sugar
4 pickling onions or shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise
freshly ground black pepper

Turn oven to 180°C.  Peel beetroots, cut in halves, then cut each half into four, so you have 8 wedges from each beetroot.  Place in a baking dish, drizzle with oil, mix then bake for about 30 mins or until just tender.  Halfway through cooking time remove from the oven and stir. When cooked remove from oven and cool.

Meanwhile trim rhubarb, cut into 6cm lengths, then slice thinly lengthwise.  Heat water, sugar and lemon juice and when boiling and sugar has dissolved add rhubarb.  Let it come to the boil again then turn off heat – the sticks should maintain their shape so don’t overcook.  Drain rhubarb and keep the liquid in the pan.  To this liquid add all the ingredients for the wine sauce. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-12 mins or until syrupy. Remove onions and separate them into petals.  Discard star anise.

To serve, drizzle some of the wine sauce on two serving plates, then mix the rest with the beetroot.  Arrange about five endive (witlof) leaves on each plate, then the beetroot wedges, croutons, goats cheese, rhubarb, shallots and pea shoots.  Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Serves 2

Coffee & Halva Ice Cream Cake with Hot Chocolate Sauce

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This cake makes a great dessert or birthday cake to serve a crowd.  It can be made a few days ahead and is always popular.  The coffee and halva flavours might be a bit sophisticated for small children, although our two and a half year old granddaughter Natalia loves olives, artichokes, radicchio and rocket, so you can never tell.  The recipe is adaptable – instead of coffee you could add chocolate chips and instead of halva you could add crumbled honeycomb or violet crumble bars.  Use your imagination.

Halva is a dense, crumbly Middle Eastern sweet containing nuts – a bit like a cross between fudge and nougat.

The chocolate sauce uses ingredients everyone has in the pantry (so you don’t need to rush out and buy a bar of chocolate) and keeps for at least a week in the fridge.  If preferred you can make a sauce by heating a cup of cream to boiling point, then removing from the heat and adding about 200g chocolate (milk or dark), broken into squares.  Stir till dissolved.

Coffee and Halva Ice Cream Cake with Hot Chocolate Sauce

Meringues:
4 large egg whites at room temperature
pinch salt
250g caster sugar
½ cup slivered almonds (optional)
Coffee Ice Cream:
2 litres good quality vanilla icecream (bought or home-made)
2 Tbs instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 Tbs hot water
Halva Ice Cream:
2 x 300ml sour cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
¼ cup icing sugar
250g (approx) halva (from delis and specialty shops)
Chocolate Sauce:
½ cup sugar
¾ cup water
4 Tbs cocoa powder
2 Tbs golden syrup
1 Tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup cream
To serve:
Cocoa powder

Meringues: Line two baking sheets with baking paper and turn oven to 150°C.  Draw a 20 cm diameter circle on each sheet of paper.  With an electric mixer whip egg whites with salt until they hold their shape, then gradually add the sugar, beating constantly, until you have a thick glossy meringue.  Spread meringue evenly onto the circles you have drawn, leaving a little space all around as they will expand in the oven and you want them to fit into a 20 cm tin.  If liked, sprinkle almonds over one then bake the meringues for about an hour until firm but pale in colour.  Turn off the oven and leave them to cool in there.

Coffee Ice Cream: Remove ice cream from the freezer and let it soften for about 10 minutes then tip into a large bowl and stir until smooth.  Thoroughly mix in coffee mixture, then put back into container and refreeze.  Halva Ice Cream: Mix sour cream with icing sugar, vanilla essence and roughly crumbled halva.  Tip into a plastic container with a lid and freeze.

Remove the two ice creams from the freezer about 10 minutes before assembling the cake.  Place the meringue layer without the nuts in the bottom of a 20 cm springform cake pan, bottom-lined with baking paper.  If too big, carefully trim off the edges with a sharp knife and keep testing, till it goes in.  Spread a layer of coffee ice cream over the meringue.  There will be more of this ice cream than the halva one, so you may decide not to use it all.  Sprinkle the meringue trimmings over the ice cream – unless you’ve already eaten them – then spread evenly with the halva ice cream.  Top with the other meringue, nut side up and trimmed to fit.  Press down gently.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for up to 3-4 days.  Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving so it’s not rock hard.  Run a knife dipped in boiling water around the outside of the cake to enable you to remove sides from cake tin.  Dust top of cake with cocoa powder through a sieve.  Slice cake with a knife dipped in boiling water and serve with the sauce.

Sauce: Choose a large pan because this recipe will boil over if the pan is too small.  Place all ingredients except butter, vanilla essence and cream in pan.  Mix then simmer for 5 mins without stirring.  Cool for 10 mins then stir in butter and vanilla.  When almost cold mix in the cream.  Serve warm with ice cream.  Keeps for at least a week in the fridge – reheat in the microwave and allow to cool a bit.  If piping  hot it will be too runny.

Serves at least 12

Variation: if preferred divide meringue into three to make three thinner layers.  This allows you to put one between the two flavours of ice cream.

Raspberry Cake with Raspberry Coulis: leave the first layer of ice cream plain vanilla, leaving out the coffee.  For the second layer place the two packets of sour cream in food processor with 2 cups frozen raspberries, 300ml cream and icing sugar to taste.  Blitz enough to combine but leaving the raspberries a bit chunky.  Serve cake with Raspberry Coulis instead of Chocolate Sauce.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Cake with Hot Chocolate Sauce: Instead of slivered almonds on one meringue layer, use skinned and lightly toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped.  Instead of the coffee and halva ice cream layers, use three 470ml tubs of Connoisseur Murray River Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Chocolate Coated Hazelnuts.  Remove from the freezer to soften slightly then mix them in a bowl then spread over the first meringue layer.

Finnish Salmon Pie with Cucumber Salad

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I learned how to make this Finnish Salmon Pie at a cooking demonstration given by a Finnish diplomat’s wife over 30 years ago.  Back then fresh salmon was not so readily available and everyone used tins.  In fact I don’t think I tasted fresh salmon until I was in my twenties!

The original recipe used two large tins of salmon.  I now make it using a combination of fresh and tinned.  If preferred use just salmon. The butter and dill sauce is an optional addition.  Not on the agenda if you’re watching cholesterol levels, but quite delicious.  The cucumber salad is a perfect accompaniment.

If you’re not sure what a Swiss roll tin looks like have a look at these images on Google.  Mine is about 25x30cm.  If your tin is bigger just roll out the pastry to about this size.

Finnish Salmon Pie

Ricotta Cheese Pastry:

150g self-raising flour
125g butter
125g soft ricotta cheese
1-2 Tbs cold water
Filling:
500g fresh salmon
1 x 415g can pink salmon, drained
2 Tbs chopped fresh dill
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
50g long grain rice, almost cooked
3 Tbs cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten

Sauce:
100g butter, melted
2-3 Tbs chopped dill

Pastry: Place flour and butter in food processor and process until it forms crumbs.  Add cottage cheese and process.  As soon as the pastry starts to stick together add just enough water so that it forms into a ball – you may not even need any water, depending how wet your ricotta is. Stop motor immediately, tip out, wrap in plastic wrap and chill while you prepare the filling.

Filling: Cook rice and eggs together in boiling water to cover for 10 minutes. Tip into a sieve and allow the rice to drain.  Put the eggs back in the pan, cover with cold water and leave until cool enough to handle, then peel.  Remove skin and any bones from fresh salmon, then cut into 1-2cm dice.  Place in a bowl with the canned salmon (discard skin and bones), the rice, dill and hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped.  Mix well and season to taste.

Place a piece of baking paper on a Swiss roll tin – not essential but makes washing up easier.  On a floured surface roll out pastry to the size of the Swiss roll tin, then place on the baking paper, folding it to make it easier to move.  It doesn’t matter if the edges are ragged, you won’t see them once the pie is finished. Place salmon filling down centre in the shape of a log or loaf and covering about a third of the pastry surface.  Cut diagonal slits in pastry every 2cm down each side, from the edge of the pastry as far as the filling. Fold in the two ends, then bring up strips from alternate sides, overlapping them slightly, to form a pseudo-plait. Use your hands to push everything firmly into place.  Can be refrigerated at this stage if you like.   Paint with beaten egg and bake for 30-40 minutes at 200°C. Serve warm, cut into slices and drizzled with the sauce.

Sauce: Melt butter and mix with chopped dill.

Variations: use white fish and canned tuna instead of the salmon.

Cucumber Salad with Dill

4-5 Lebanese cucumbers (about 15cm long) or 2 longer telegraph cucumbers
1 medium brown onion
1/3 cup vinegar (cider or white wine)P1060250 - Copy
¼ cup water
1-2 tsp salt, to taste
¼ cup sugar
½ cup thick sour cream
½ tsp hot English-style mustard
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, firmly packed

Peel onion, cut in half and slice thinly. Slice unpeeled cucumbers thinly and mix with onions. The quickest way to do this is with the slicing blade of a food processor.

Mix vinegar, water, salt and sugar. Pour over onions and cucumbers, mix well and leave for 1-2 hours at room temperature, mixing from time to time. Drain cucumbers and onion in a colander or large sieve. Discard the juices. Put the colander in a bowl, so it continues to drain, then put it in the fridge, covered and leave it there draining till serving time. In a small bowl, mix sour cream, mustard, fresh dill and pepper to taste and refrigerate till serving time.

To serve, mix well-drained cucumbers and onions with the sour cream dressing. Garnish with sprigs of dill.

This salad goes well with most fish dishes, especially salmon. It’s also a good addition to a buffet or BBQ.

Margarita Ice Cream

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The reason I’ve been a silent blogger for the past couple of weeks is the following. My family brought my dear friend Elaine in from Chile as a surprise for my birthday. As I was greeting the guests at the party she rang on my daughter’s mobile. And as I was speaking to her and saying how I wished she could have been there, in she walked. What a great birthday gift! Anyway I’ve spent the past fortnight doing touristy stuff in Canberra and Sydney with Elaine and having an absolute ball.

Elaine has now returned to Santiago and over the four day Easter break I will be doing some cooking. Am having fun using my new iPad to take photos of the dishes. This recipe for Margarita Ice Cream is another from Nigella Lawson and it’s delicious. As you can see it looks great served in Martini glasses with the rims dipped in a mixture of caster sugar and salt.  We had a full house for lunch today and the ice cream had started to melt by the time we got organised with a camera, so it’s not the best photo!

Margarita Ice Cream

500ml thick/double cream
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (125ml)
3 Tbs Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 Tbs Tequila
150g icing sugar
To serve:
Lime zest
A Tbs each of salt and caster sugar, mixed

With electric beaters, whip cream until thick but not stiff, then gradually whip in the remaining ingredients. Pour into a plastic container and freeze for several hours or overnight. Due to the alcohol content it will not set rock hard, so there’s no need to remove it from the freezer 10 minutes before serving time, as you usually do with home-made ice cream.  Use an ice cream scoop dipped in hot water to make balls and serve in Martini glasses, the edges dampened with a little water, then dipped in a mixture of salt and caster sugar. That sounds like a lot of salt to go with ice cream, but you won’t use it all. Garnish with lime zest. Serve on its own or accompanied by fresh fruit.