Posts tagged ginger

Gingerbread Latte Ice Cream, Salted Pistachio Brittle

April 10, 2015 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

Its Easter, a foodie occasion so I cannot forgo a dessert menu without this icey sweet delight. Coffee is such a crowd pleasing and moresih dessert flavour (if you’re a caffeine lover) as it naturally tops off a dinner and satisfies those bitter fans and the sweet toothed. From tiramisu to coffee cake I love it. But in ice cream….well need I say more. With the subtleyly of the ginger and cinnamon it makes for a ironically warming flavour in this cooling ice cream. Acoompanied with a warm lava centred chocolate fondant it was the perfect finale to Easter lunch.

Ice Cream (Serves 6 modestly)

300ml single cream
1 can condensed milk
2 tbsp coffee granules
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the cream until just coming up to the boil. Add the coffee and spices and whisk until all combined off the heat.
Leave to cool.
Whisk in the condensed milk until thoroughly combined and transfer to a container or tupperware to store int he freezer.
Freeze until set! You can remove it from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving to make it easier to serve.

Salted Pistachio Brittle

Very general measurements and method here! If in doubt use a sugar thermometer.

200g caster sugar
160g roughly of golden syrup
3 tbsp water
60g pisatchios, crushed
1 tsp malden salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter

Line a baking tray with non stick parchment (grease with oil if you want)
Crush the nuts and mix with the salt and set aside.
Mix the sugar, syrup and water in a pan. Heat on a medium high heat but do not be tempted to stir. Allow it to melt and begin to caramelise and bubble. Leave for 5-10 minutes or so bubbling away until the syrup beings to turn golden. Watch very closely here as you don’t want it to catch and burn or turn too dark. When a golden brown colour add the butter and remove from the heat and quickly pour onto the baking tray.
Immediately scatter over the salty nuts evenly and leave to set. It will harden quickly, within 10 minutes! Once poured out and still soft though you can move the tray around to make it thinner if required by tilting.
Once set, peel from the parchment and break carefully into shards for each guest

Seabass in a Fragrant Coconut Sauce

February 11, 2015 Comments Off read Seafood

As an avide foodie I crave and adore nothing more than a night in with a new recipe, ingredient, technique or guest to experiment on for the blog! Cheaper, more fun and far more relaxing. However, since moving to London the expanse of diverse, exciting and vibrant culinary pop-ups, restaurants, cafes and bars has stolen part of my attention which had been held hostage to the blog for a long while. I rarely eat out, only really on occasion. And then, nothing pains and bruises me more than ordering (or eating!) something I could have made myself. Be it better, warmer, larger or cheaper! Hence, I choose my dining locations carefully and my menu choices with thought.

However, as a fellow foodie, my willing sister and I venture out on a monthy or so basis to one of London’s restaurants to excite our taste buds, get inspiration and frankly for a girly catch up. Our list of ‘must try restaurants’ is only growning sadly. It seems that once one is ticked off another is added. We’ve had some great food but last Friday, after long frustrating working weeks, a home cooked delicious meal was in order. A few luxurious king prawns, a little love, time and attention and an aromatic riesling guaranteed and certainly delivered a more relaxing, cheaper, (boozier…..ahem…..) and enjoyable evening. This dish was delicious and hit the spot for flavour, decadence (without being time consuming I add, especially if you miss out the stock infusion at the start) and highly satisfying. Followed by a few too many scoops of my cheats salted caramel ice cream it was agreed that an evening in was far more rewarding and enjoyable than filling London’s bars and tills with our hard earned cash!

Serves 4

4 seabass fillets
8-10 large raw whole king prawns (win heads and shell) Optional – if you want to make a flavoursome stock. Raw cleaned prawns are fine if not.
2 tsp coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Thumb sized piece ginger, grated
20g tumeric root, grated
1 large red chilli (heat according to taste)
350ml fish stock
400ml coconut milk
1 stick lemongrass
1 Kaffir lime leaf
2 tbsp fish sauce
Bunch spring onions, chopped
Large bunch coriander, chopped
2 limes, 1 cut into wedges to serve
Around 8oz rice – I used red Camargue rice
Greens to serve e.g. mange tout, pak choi etc.

[This first step is optional and can be skipped. It will add a depth of flavour to the dish by using the shells and heads to enrich your fish stock. Peel the shells and heads from the prawns keeping the prawns for later. Heat a little oil in a saucepan on a medium high heat and add the shells and heads. Fry for about 5-8 minutes until they turn pink and begin to release their flavour and oily orangey juices. After this time, add the hot fish stock and simmer gently for about 4 minutes.
Sieve through a fine sieve into a jug or another saucepan retaining all the liquid but then discard the shells. Keep the stock warm until needed.]
Next, heat a tsp of coconut oil in a heavy based saucepan. Fry the ginger, tumeric, garlic and chilli for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the stock and coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
Bash the lemongrass with the back of a knife a few times to open up the layers and add to the pan with the lime leaf and simmer gently for about 10 minutes to reduce the sauce and let the faours infuse.
Add the fish sauce (I suggest adding it a tbsp at a time and tasting in between as once its in you can’t take it out again!).
I made this a day ahead and I really think it benefitted from some time infusing in the pan while quietly chilling in the fridge (especially using the lime leave and lemongrass which will release thier flavours endlessly). I recommend at this stage to remove from the heat and leave to cool and infuse overnight. If not, continue as below.
Simmer (or reheat, depending on your method) the sauce until you reach the desired creamy consistency you prefer then remove the lemongrass and lime leaf and discard. Stir in the chopped spring onions and coriander. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Keep warm while you prepare the rest.
Cook your rice and add the juice of 1 lime to the drained hot grains and set aside to keep warm.
Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat and add another tsp or so of coconut oil. Cut your seabass fillets in half if you wish, and score the skin to stop them curling up on frying. Fry, skin side down for 2-3 minutes, flipping only whe the skin is crisp and the flesh is almost done which you will see when the majority of it has turned white.
While the seabass is cooking, add your prawns to the hot coconut sauce. Add them when the sauce is barely simmering to gently and lightly cook the prawns. Don’t overcook these or they will go all chewy. They need very little time and heat so a brief blast in the hot sauce until they just turn pink will do sufficiently.
To serve, divide the lime rice among large warmed soup bowls.
Top with the seabass fillets and divide the creamy sauce around the outside. Scatter with any reserved coriander and a juicy zesty wedge of lime!

To serve – I served mine with some briefly blanched sugar snap peas and mange tout. Drained and dressed quickly with a teaspoon of sesame oil while still hot and scattered with nigella seeds.

NOTE: This would also work very well with salmon. Feel free to gently poach the fillets in the coconut sauce for a different technique. Serve with any greens you like. Another addition would be to grate in some fresh coconut for added texture and taste.

WINE: Served with a lovely aromatic riesling to balance with the spice in this dish. Or a beer if you prefer! See here for some lovely suggestions.

To follow if you’re feeling like you need a Friday treat…………

Mix 1 can caramel condensed milk, 300ml single cream, 1 ½ tsp flaky maldon salt, crumbled in a tupperware. Freeze until set and then devour! NO CHURNING INVOLVED! (Crumble in some roasted hazelnuts, walnuts peanuts or pecans if you like)

Gingerbread Ice Cream, Lemon Apple Tart

December 26, 2014 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

Gingerbread! Not only is it a festive crowd and stomach pleaser but its also an adored treat in the Wardlaw household! So what could be better than gingerbread and ice cream combined for a festive spicy Christmas lunch dessert this year. I think I’ve gotten a little carried away with the gingerbread theme recenty (see here for gingerbread latte macaroons and here for gingerbread scotch pancakes). And those that know me know that ice cream is my achilles heel (see here for some inventive creations).

We’re probably in the minority in terms of food ethos on Christmas day. While many people might not think twice about their pudding choice I like to choose something that leads on from the indulgent main event that leaves people feeling happy and not sick and queezy. Don’t get me wrong, we’re a family with healthy appetite but a modest one. So, I always create something fresh and clean to cleanse the greasy remains of the turkey lunch so this zesty fresh tart is perfect.

This is a really old and long used tart recipe which could not be more simple to knock out! If you’re not making your own pastry it can be ready to go in under an hour!

Serves 6

Gingerbread Ice Cream

Although you could just flavour the ice cream base with gingerbread spices, I thought some added crumbled gingerbread would be a nice addition. Gingerbread is characteristcally mosit so I dried and crisped mine up beforehand to provide some texture to the final snowball scoop.

1 can condensed milk
300ml single cream
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon
200g gingercake (I used Jamacian ginger loaf)

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Crumble the ginger cake onto a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes or so, keeping an eye on it, until it begins to crisp a bit or loose some of its moisture. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Don’t worry – once its cooled it will crisp up more.
Mix the condensed milk and cream together thoroughly in a jug then add the spices and mix.
Churn in an ice cream maker until thick but not too set. Alternatively you can pour it into a tupperware box and leave to set in the freezer until thicker and no longer sloppy.
Once the ice cream is the right consistency and the cake crumbs have cooled, stir them into the ice cream so it is distributed evenly and then freeze until hard.

Lemon and Apple Tart

Shortcrust Pastry (enough for 2 tart cases)

125g unsalted butter
250g plain flour
Zest of 1 lemon

Filling

1 large cooking apple
2 large eggs, whisked
1 lemon, zest and juice
100g caster sugar
50g melted butter

Start with the pastry. I like to use plain shortcrust as the ice cream and filling are sweet enough. Mix together the butter and flour in a food processer until it forms a breadcrumb like texture and then grate in the lemon zest and mix.
Keep adding a few tbsps of cold water bit by bit and mix until you form a soft smooth dough.
Form gently into a dough and shape into a disc. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C and line and grease a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin.
Once rested, roll the pastry thinly on a floured surface and line the tart tin pushing the pastry into the edges neatly. Use a fork to prick 4-5 wholes across the base to stop it puffing up while cooking. Line with a sheet of baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake the tart case blind for about 15-20 minutes until it has a light straw colour and is mostly cooked.
Remove the beans and parchment and return the case to the oven to cook the base for about more 5 minutes. Finally brush with a little beaten egg to cover the wholes and seal the pastry.
Leave the case to cool while you make the filling.
Whisk the eggs, sugar and lemon zest and juice in a bowl.
Melt the butter and add to the mixture, whisking as you go.
Grate the apple into the eggs too.
Fill the tart case with the mixture and bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until just set and golden on top.

Serve the tart dusted with icing sugar and with a snowball of gingerbread ice cream!

Rhubarb Sorbet and Ginger Treacle Tart

April 22, 2014 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

I really think this is one of the prettiest and simplest desserts that you can have this time of year. Nothing but some old stale breadcrumbs, humble hardy grown rhubarb and some sweet tangy ginger. Cold golf balls of frozen candy floss to top a pointy slice of warm ginger spiced treacle tart after the slow roasted spring lamb shoulder we devoured for Easter lunch.

I’ve always grown my own rhubarb letting it ripen naturally around the summer time into gangly red and green fingers of sweet and sour goodness. But Portobello market is bursting with the ‘forced’ type at the moment and I couldn’t resist bagging some of the leggy, blushing pastel pink stems for this killer sorbet.

Serves 12

Rhubarb Sorbet

800g forced, pink rhubarb, chopped
175g caster sugar
100ml water
1 lime

Mix the chopped rhubarb with the caster sugar and and place in a saucepan. Heat gently with the water until beginning to soften and simmer for about 5 minutes.
When tender, remove from the heat, squeeze in the lime juice and leave to cool slightly.
Puree until smooth, taste and adjust with sugar or lime (it should be a little sweeter than you like as the freezing with dampen this) and then churn in an ice cream maker for about 30 minutes. Alternatively, pour into a container and freeze, mixing every 30mins-1hr to break up the ice crystals until set.

Ginger Treacle Tart

Pastry

125g chilled butter
250g flour
Zest ½ orange
Cold water

Filing

200g white breadcrumbs (the staler the better)
400g golden syrup
2 eggs, beaten
Pinch ground ginger
2-3 balls of preserved stem ginger, chopped finely
½ lemon, zest and juice

Start with the pastry. Mix the butter into the flour in a processor or with your hands until you form a breadcrumb like texture. Mix in the orange zest. Add a spoonful of cold water, a small bit at a time and mix into the flour and butter until you can form a smooth dough. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling film and leave to chill for about 30 minutes or so in the fridge.
Grease and line a 20-22cm tart tin and preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the pastry from the fridge and leave to adjust to room temperature before rolling out on a floured surface to about the thickness of a pound coin. Line the greased tin pressing the pastry into the case. Chill the casing for about 10 minutes if you can.
Prick the base with a fork to stop it rising up when cooking and place a sheet of parchment on top followed by some heavy baking beans or dry raw rice. Push it right up to the edges to keep the parchment down.
Bake blind for 20-25 minutes until the casing if lightly golden and cooked. Remove the beans and baking sheet for the final 5 minutes to brown and cook the base.
Remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 160°C.
Now, warm the golden syrup in a saucepan until molten. Remove from the heat and add the ginger, lemon, breadcrumbs and stir to combine. Mix in the eggs making sure the mixture if not too hot first or these will scramble.
Pour into the pre-baked tart tin and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden and set.
Serve warm with the rhubarb sorbet and some slow roasted vanilla speckled rhubarb on the side or a good quality vanilla ice cream.

Thai Coquina Squash Soup

March 1, 2014 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

You don’t have to use a Coquine squash here – butternut or any other meaty variety will do- but the animated colour was just so bright and vibrant to resist. The sun was finally glowing today to mark the 1st March (already! where has time gone?) so it seemed appropriate to reflect this.

This soup is like a bowl of spicy chilli flecked lava with wonderful flavours. Butternut squash is the king of soup ingredients I think as it creates such a wonderful silky texture. Feel free to use half stock and half coconut milk here for a deeper coconut flavour and an even creamier texture. I didn’t purely as I didn’t have enough to hand.

NOTE: For both garnish and if using in addition to stock, use a thick good quality coconut milk. The cheap varieties in the ethnic sections of many supermarkets are always better value and are thicker and creamier.

Serves 4

1 large squash
1 onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli (medium hot or half a hot one…depends on taste), chopped
3-4cm piece ginger, grated
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 fresh Kaffir lime leaf
700ml hot chicken stock
1 lime
Bunch coriander
Coconut milk (to garnish or use 350ml stock and 350ml coconut milk. and half coconut milk for a creamier soup)
2 tbsp desiccated coconut

Heat a splash of oil in a saucepan and gently soften the onion for about 5 minutes.
Once soft, add the garlic, ginger, chilli and mustard seeds and fry for a few more minutes until the flavours have combined.
Meanwhile, peel and deseed the squash reserving the seeds. Chop into chunks and add to the pan and combine with the onion mix.
Add the stock (if you like you can use half stock half coconut milk) and the lime leaf and some seasoning and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15minutes until the squash is soft.
Remove from the heat and discard the lime leaf. Blend until fine and smooth with a hand blender. Add the juice from the lime and all but a handful of coriander and bend again.Taste to check the seasoning and keep warm.
Heat a frying pan until hot. Remove any pith from the reserved seeds and fry in a tsp of oil for a few minutes. Add the desiccated coconut and fry until toasted. Remove from the heat.
To serve, fill warm soup bowls with the soup, drizzle with some coconut milk and garnish with the toasted seeds and extra coriander.

I served mine with some warm charred flatbreads (see here) spiked with Nigella seeds and smothered in butter.

Moroccan Slow-cooked, Shredded Lamb Tagine and a Tuscan Red

January 1, 2014 Comments Off read Meat

Warming, spicy, comforting. Undertones of festive cinnamon and some punchy chilli. Sweet prunes, melting succulent slow cooked lamb and the freshness of lime all make this tagine one of my absolute favourites dishes! I once made this recipe when I catered for a 30th Birthday party for 70 people….needless to say, after repeatedly cooking up around 12 batches, my once favourite tagine recipe became a little hard to face again. However, enough time has passed and I couldn’t resist its tempting taste for my New Years Eve celebrations!

I give credit to the wonderfully wholesome and flavour laden style of Skye Gyngell for this recipe with a little adaptation from myself. I often serve mine, as recommended, simply scattered with fresh coriander on a creamy sweet potato puree. However, New Years Eve called for a glimmering jeweled rice salad and a tangy lime yoghurt.

NOTE: I’ve always used diced lamb shoulder for this recipe but this time I used a whole shoulder of lamb and cooked it on the bone for longer and shredded the juicy meat into the tagine sauce before serving. I highly recommend this if you’re willing to add a little more effort. If not, diced lamb shoulder works perfectly too!

Serves 6

1 small shoulder of lamb, or about 1kg diced lamb shoulder
3 red onions, chopped roughly
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3cm knob ginger, grated
Bunch of coriander, stems chopped, leaves picked for garnish
1-2 red chillis (depending on their heat) finely chopped
2 tbsp spice mix (made by toasting 1tbsp of each fennel, cumin, coriander, fenugreek and mustard seed with 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardamon pods and 1 star anise in a dry frying pan until hot, fragrant and beginning to pop. Grind in a pestle and mortar until fine).
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
1- 1.5 litres chicken stock
1 lime, juice only
200g prunes
Optional- Skye suggests adding a splash of maple syrup (about 70ml) and100ml of tamari at the end of cooking. However, I never had these to hand on my first attempt so I left them out- it still tastes delicious without so feel free to experiment. For my tastes, I think the prunes add enough sweetness as it is without the need for syrup!

Preheat the oven to 180.
In a large heavy bottomed casserole dish, heat a splash of oil. Season the lamb and brown the shoulder/pieces well in the pan for about 10 minutes or so before setting aside to rest.
In the remaining oil and lamb juices, fry the onion for about 5 minutes until soft.
Add the chopped garlic, chilli and ginger and cook for a further few minutes.
Add the spice mix, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves and cook out for a few minutes. Finally, add the chopped coriander stems and season.
Add the tomatoes and bring to the simmer. Add the lamb back in at this stage either in diced pieces or the whole shoulder.
Cover with about 1 litre of the stock or enough to cover. I find the amount of stock varies and can be topped up during cooking for a thicker tagine once it has reduced
Cover and place in the oven.If using a whole shoulder cook for about 2 hours. If using diced lamb, cook for 45 minutes.
After this cooking time, add the prunes and remove the lid. Cook for a further 1 hour for the shoulder or 30 minutes or so for the diced lamb. This really cannot be overcooked so allow to cook away for longer on a lower heat if you like. Just keep checking/adding more stock if it gets too thick. (Essentially, cook until the lamb is tender and the sauce has reduced to the desired consistency. Add more stock is to thick (I usually top it up as it cooks) or remove the lid to brown and reduce if too thin)
Once ready, add the lime juice and (if using the whole shoulder) shred the lamb meat into the sauce.
Scatter with the coriander and serve!

I served mine with:

Lime yoghurt– ½ lime, juice and zest, and some seasoning per 150g plain yoghurt)

Jeweled Rice – Cooked wild rice, diced spring onions, chopped coriander, salted cashews and pomegranate seeds (or see here for similar recipe)

WINE: In terms of a wine to drink with this tagine, all I had to hand was this (below) delicious bottle from Italy that I received as a gift that I have been too tempted to open for some time! A Tuscan wine made from a blend of Merlot, Cab Sauv and Sangiovese. Lamb and the typical dried fruits in this tagine went really well with the juicy Merlot flavours as would perhaps a Rioja of sorts.

Dark and Stormy Cupcakes

July 9, 2013 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

Cupcake versions of cocktails are always a crowd pleaser that receive oooo’s and ahhhh’s from those greedy alcoholic denying guests we all have. A Green & Blacks ginger bar packs a strong ginger punch so works perfectly. A modest bottle of honey rum (from an adventure abroad- use dark rum if not) has been tentatively perched on the pantry shelf awaiting its calling and was eying up the ginger like a beautiful model in a bar, so was ready to be called into action as well. Lime frosting for a final characteristic flavour with the chocolate addition makes me wonder why the famous cocktail- ‘Dark and Stormy’ doesn’t contain chocolate already…..happy eating….it will be!

Cupcakes (Makes 12)

100g Green & Blacks Ginger Chocolate
115g unsalted butter
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp ground almonds
150g self raising flour
1 tbsp Green & Blacks cocoa powder
2 tbsp golden (honey) rum
Pinch ground ginger

Icing

200g cream cheese/mascarpone
60g sieved icing sugar
2 limes, zest
Juice ½ lime

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin or cupcake tray with cases.
Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure it does not touch the water) and melt slowly then set aside to cool a little.
Cream the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl then beat in the eggs one by one.
Add the ground almonds and then sieve in the flour, cocoa and a pinch of ginger and fold in. Add the rum and melted chocolate and mix until combined.
Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the icing ingredients and spoon into a piping bag and chill in the fridge until needed.
When the cupcakes are cooked and cool, ice with the lime icing and add a grating of lime zest if you like! Serve…..perhaps with a ‘Dark and Stormy’ if you’re still feeling the need!

Thai Crispy Salmon

July 7, 2013 Comments Off read Seafood

This is a great way to serve salmon in the summer- wrapped in a crispy shield of filo pastry but juicy and pink inside. I’ve used a Thai style salsa inside but really it can take anything….chilli jam works well or even a spoonful of pesto. Served with some boiled Jersey Royals covered in a insulating blanket of melted butter; a scattering of diced sweet shallot; some feather like ribbons of chopped garden mint and a sprinkle of garlicky chives from the garden…summer!

Thai salmon (Serves 2, adapted from Delia Smith)

1 tsp grated fresh ginger
Small handful of chopped coriander
1-2 spring onions, chopped
1 lime, zest and juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 salmon fillets
2-4 sheets filo pastry
25g butter, melted
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Mix the ginger, coriander, spring onions, garlic and lime together in a bowl.
Lay one or two sheets of filo pastry (depending on the size of your salmon. If they are large then 2 may be a better option) on the work top and brush with melted butter. Place one salmon fillet at one edge of the pastry and top with half the Thai mixture. Roll up like a present and tuck the ends underneath. Brush generously with melted butter and scatter with sesame seeds. Place on a baking tray and repeat with the other salmon fillet.
Bake for 15- 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp. Serve!

Carrot Cake Ice Cream

April 5, 2013 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

What could be better than combining the forces of a good cake and its slutty partner in crime ice cream? This recipe is adapted from the Babel Restaurant in South Africa, Babylonstoren, whose ‘cookbook-come-brochure’, is to die for. As a spicy ice cream, they suggest serving it with chilli grilled pineapple slices, but hey, whats wrong with serving it with a slice of carrot cake….?

500ml double cream
180ml milk
180ml caster sugar
5 egg yolks
1 vanilla pod
125g carrot, boiled and grated
5ml ground cinnamon
2ml ground nutmeg and ginger
125g walnuts/pecans toasted and roughly chopped

Start with the custard base. Heat the milk in a saucepan with 90ml of the sugar and the seeds from the vanilla pod until just coming to the boil.
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl (a wide shallow bowl helps) with the remaining 90ml of sugar until combined.
When the cream is hot, tip a third of it in a slow stream into the egg yolks whisking continuously and vigorously to prevent it scrambling. Make sure it is all combined then add the rest and whisk together for a few minutes.
Tip the mixture back into the saucepan and place over a low heat stirring with a wooden spoon continually until the mixture begins to thicken and it coats the back of the spoon and leaves a mark when you run your finger through it. keep the heat low and keep stirring to prevent getting scrambled eggs….
Strain through a sieve into another wide shallow bowl. Whisk in the ground spices.
Peel about 2-3 carrots (depending on their size) and boil whole in water for about 5 minutes, until soft. Cool under cold water and then grate into the custard base and mix to distribute. Leave to cool and then place in the fridge.
Meanwhile, toast the nut in a dry frying pan for a few minutes or in a hot oven for 5 minutes and leave to cool.
When the custard is cool, churn in an ice cream maker for about 15-20 minutes until thick and beginning to freeze. Once it begins to thicken during churning, tip in the toasted nuts. Place in a container and freeze.

Triple Ginger Cake with Lime Icing

March 17, 2013 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

It goes without saying….if you don’t like ginger, turn away now. This has three different ginger kicks with a cheeky splash of rum for good measure. This icing is lovely and sharp in contrast to the ginger but replacing the lime for rum wouldn’t go amiss! (Adapted from Delia Smith)

4 pieces of stem ginger, diced
2 tbsp dark rum OR ginger syrup
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp puree/grated ginger root
175g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp molasses
225g self raising flour
1 tbsp ground almonds
2 tbsp milk
½ lime
150g icing sugar
Crystallised ginger to garnish

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a cake tin (about 25cmx14cm or so) with parchment
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale a fluffy. Add the 3 beaten eggs, bit by bit, until combined.
Stir in the molasses and the rum (or ginger)
Next sieve the flour and ground ginger and fold into the mixture
Add the almonds and milk and mix.
Finally fold in the pureed/grated ginger root and the diced stem ginger pieces.
Pour into the lined cake tin and even out. Cook in the preheated oven for about 40-50minutes until springy to touch and cooked. Leave to cool.
For the icing, mix the sieved icing sugar and lime juice until a thick double cream consistency. When the cake is completely cold, drizzle generously and randomly over the cake. Garnish with small diced pieces of crystallised ginger.