Posted in Ice Cream

Cherry Cardamom Ice Cream

Cherry Cardamom Ice

We’re over half way through Ramadan now and the tiredness and a bit of weakness is setting in. The hot days make for a tough fast, and it’s been hot almost everywhere. 

In Pakistan, there were experiencing a heat wave a right as Ramadan started and over 700 people died because of the heat. Many also tried to fast during the heat wave and were taken ill. If placed in life threatening situations, then we are allowed to break our fast or not fast at all. I’m not sure why then, especially during a heat wave, people thought it was a good idea to fast. 

Cherry Cardamom Ice Cream

The weeks have gone by pretty quickly and I can’t believe we’re almost at the end of the month. The very sacred last 10 days of Ramadan will start tonight. These last 10 days are the most important as far as increasing our worship goes. We try and pray into the night and increase our good deeds and charity. It’s a true test of faith because the last 10 days are quite hard. Definitely by this time we are tired of the early mornings and late nights. The fasting and the lack of water also drains the energy a bit and to amp up our worship when we feel totally drained is the true test. 

The month does seem to have gone in a blur. I haven’t felt at peace this Ramadan. My mind is in a scatter and and the feelings are flustered. Nothing seems gelled. It’s been hard to get to the Islamic Centre to join in the congregational prayers so I’ve felt disconnected. A lot of the holiday atmosphere comes from being with friends and family, and opening our fasts together. It’s been really just us at home, eating and then pretty much heading to bed.

I have been so preoccupied with work, writing menus, studying manuals, shopping and cooking. I’m so exhausted by the end of this that it’s hardly leaving any time for me to pray extra prayers or to pick up the Quran to read a verse or two. I’m missing out on the true spirit of the season.

Fasting brings out more than just the hunger pangs, it helps you be more grateful and more aware of others around you. You watch your actions a bit more closely and increase your good deeds. For me, my mind is so busy with other things, I’m missing out on all these feelings.

Cherry Cardamom Ice Cream

I haven’t even cooked anything festive. We’re eating leftover food because so much food is leftover when I cook one day or we end up eating out because the daughters have their own plans. 

I did host my dinner last Friday and as far as the food goes, it turned out well. The evening itself, well, it was a bit frantic. We had some energetic and vibrant littl’uns and by that I mean, naughty, very naughty. 

I have never felt so overwhelmed and out of control at my own dinner as I did that evening. It was just loud and everyone seemed on edge by the antics of these kids. We managed to eat and they left in one piece but that’s not how I like my dinners. I like my guests to eat in peace and enjoy their time at my place and feel like they’re pampered. I know I had no control over the evening, but I hope everyone enjoyed themselves despite the noise and drama. Well, it was a learning experience, that’s for sure!

On top of all that’s going on here at C and C headquarters, I’m trying to keep up with all this beautiful, seasonal produce. Our markets and farms stands are bulging with gorgeous, fresh Colorado local produce. It honestly feels so good to eat food grown here. I don’t have my own garden yet but back in Texas I did and one of the most fulfilling things was picking your own food from the backyard. I get the same feeling eating produce grown in Colorado.

Cherry Cardamom Ice Cream

 

I’m kind of torn between posting traditional Ramadan recipes and some summery seasonal recipes. This week I just had to post a summery recipe of local Colorado cherries grown out in the Western Slopes. I love cherry ice cream so what better use for local Colorado cherries. I added a touch of cardamom for some interest and boy, was it good! Sweet Colorado cherries, warm cardamom scent and flavour against a cold and refreshing ice cream. It was SO good. 

I made one batch of ice cream and split the custard between 8 Popsicle moulds and ran the remainder through an ice cream machine. I got about 4 generous servings out of the ice cream maker. 

The cherries are cooked a little to concentrate flavours and reduce the liquid so make sure to get a syrupy consistency with the cherries, I was impatient and so I had more liquid then I should have in the cherries. My ice cream was great though maybe a little bit too ‘icy’. We still had no problem finishing it off. 

Save Print
Cherry Cardamom Ice Cream

Rating 

Prep time: 

Cook time: 

Total time: 

Serves: about 1 qt.

Creamy cherry ice cream with a hint of cardamom.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups/475ml heavy cream
  • 1 cup/235ml milk
  • 5 egg yolks
  • ½ cup/100g sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 cups Colorado Bing cherries, pitted and halved
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, add the cream, milk and sugar.
  2. Heat on medium heat until the sugar dissolves, add the cardamom.
  3. Have the egg yolks in a large bowl.
  4. Once sugar dissolves and the cream and milk are hot, slowly add in a stream to the egg yolks being careful not to cook the eggs.
  5. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan and heat on low until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
  6. Remove the custard from the heat and pour into a clean bowl through a strainer to catch any cooked bits of eggs and lumps.
  7. Allow to cool in a water bath or place in the fridge.
  8. In a small saucepan, add the cherries and the sugar with a tablespoon of water.
  9. Allow the cherries to soften and the juice to thicken and get syrupy, about 10-12 minutes.
  10. Cool in the fridge.
  11. Once both the custard and cherries have cooled, it's time to freeze.
  12. Place the custard in the bowl of the ice cream maker and turn on.
  13. Run for about 30 minutes until the ice cream begins to thicken.
  14. In the last 10 minutes, add drained cherries and only four or five tablespoons of the syrup if there's a lot.
  15. Once the ice cream has thickened, transfer to a air tight container and freeze the ice cream for at least 4 hours or over night.
  16. If you want to use popsicle moulds, pour into the moulds and freeze.
  17. I made ice cream and popsicles, 8 popsicles and 4 servings of ice cream.
  18. The custard probably makes about 16 popsicles or a quart of ice cream.
  19. To unfold the popsicles, let them soften outside for a bit and then pull out carefully.
  20. If you run hot water, be careful, it will melt the ice cream quite a bit and you'll lose a lot of the popsicle in a melted puddle!
  21. Leave at room temp for a bit and they should slide out.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Cherry Cardamom Ice Cream

Hope your summer/winter is going well. What are you all eating? What’s your favourite summer/winter dish or food at the moment? 

I will check in next week for the end of Ramadan! Happy eating everyone! 

Blood Orange Sherbet

Blood Orange Sherbet

Yes, I understand quite well the untimeliness of this post, as most of us are still experiencing  stormy, snowy conditions and even a Polar Vortex or two. In fact, as I type this post on my computer, the snow is falling serenely outside of my window, erasing the tyre marks of the cars that have passed not too long ago. The footprints of the committed joggers have all been covered up again and still it falls; silently, beautifully and innocently. 

Blood Oranges

Of course, there was nothing innocent about it a few hours ago when I was driving my daughter to her babysitting job. Let’s just say, three lane roads became two lane roads for cars going slightly faster than a snail, and even then I had problems staying in my lane. I couldn’t control my 4×4 SUV that’s made for snowy weather! I was finally glad to be home, nice and warm enjoying a coffee and some…..crumpets 🙂

Blood Oranges

So, back to this sherbet. I know, I know, it’s totally inappropriate for these winter days but I couldn’t resist the blood oranges. They make my heart sing when I see their beautiful colour in all the dreariness of winter. I don’t know about you, but I can eat ice cream in spring, summer, fall and winter. Ice cream does not have a season in my books and in my house! Sometimes, I think we go through more ice cream during the winter months than summer. 

Blood Orange Sherbet

That being said, here is a Blood Orange Sherbet. Of course, considering blood oranges are in season now, this is really the only time we can make this. If you don’t want to eat it straight up, make a float out of it like we did or throw it into your daily smoothie. It is delicious either way.

Blood Orange Sherbet Float

Besides, the colour alone will lift your spirits and you’ll be just happy looking at it. So, whether you make it to just gaze upon when you’re feeling blue or actually eat it, it’ll bring joy to your senses regardless.

Blood Orange Sherbet

Save Print
Blood Orange Sherbet

Calories: 1933

Fat: 93g

Creamy and refreshing blood orange sherbet made with fresh blood orange juice and cream.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups/475ml blood orange juice, freshly squeezed and strained
  • 1 cup/200g cane sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
  • 1 cup/235ml organic heavy cream (double cream)
  • ½ cup/120ml, organic milk, whole or 2%
Instructions
  1. Place all the ingredients except the milk and cream into a bowl of a food processor and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
  2. Remove into a bowl and whisk in the milk and cream
  3. Place in the fridge until the mixture is chilled, at least an hour.
  4. Pour the mixture into your chilled ice cream bowl and follow the directions of your ice cream maker.
  5. Turn the machine on and churn for about 20 minutes or until the sherbet is like soft serve ice cream.
  6. Scoop out into a freezer proof container and chill until nice and firm.
  7. Serve as is, with fruit or on top of a float.
Notes
You need about 12-13 blood oranges and they are messy to juice! Thought I'd warn you since I made a mess :), it's worth it though.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Blood Orange Sherbet Float

Hope you’re having a great weekend, so far. The weather did throw a wrench in the plans but it’s nice to stay home and catch up on reading and recorded shows. 

Stay warm everyone, and have a great week!

Peach Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Sauce

peach ice cream

I would like to start by thanking everyone for the well wishes, prayers and happy thoughts! It has been a hard few days but all your wonderful comments wishing me a quick recovery are so appreciated. 

One advantage to my mobility setback was the chance to catch up on a lot of blog visiting and working through my DVR. I had quite a few shows to catch up on before the new season starts. My knee is much better, still a bit swollen but I can hobble along.

peaches2

In other news, I am sure you have all been hearing about the Colorado floods. It is incredibly sad to see some of my beloved mountain towns destroyed by the wrath of Mother Nature. The little towns of Lyons and Estes Park that we love to visit regularly, and walk their main streets and poke about in the stores, are under water. It is heart breaking to see the destruction. My most beloved Rocky Mountain National Park is closed to visitors right now. For us, the way to get to Rocky Mountain National park is through the towns of Lyons and Estes Park. The roads to and from these towns are washed away.

Never would I have imagined that I would see hurricane type rain and flooding in landlocked Colorado. I have been in a hurricane (IKE 2008) and the rain I experienced there is what I saw here the last 2 days. We were fortunate that we not affected by the flood or were at any risk of high water. There was a lot of rain and standing water, but our house is safe and so are we. I wish I could say the same about my friend who lives in Boulder who woke up to water in her basement. Thankfully, it stayed in the basement and didn’t rise any higher but it has been hard work for her to keep it pumped out and on top of it.

peach ice cream

My children happened to have rain days and were home for two days. It was nice to not have to bare the storm to get them from school and since my knee was also feeling a little better, I decided to break into my box of peaches. 

peach ice cream

Ever since the rain started, it has been chilly and overcast here, a perfect time to make ice cream 🙂 Honestly, I just had to make ice cream. My ice cream bowls have been in my freezer the minute summer reared its head, but nothing has emerged. I simply had to make at least one ice cream before autumn rolls around; feels like it’s almost here.

Peach seemed like a good flavour since I have peaches, lots of peaches and so I give you, Peach Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Sauce. The thing is, this ice cream took 5 peaches, I haven’t even made a dent in my box 🙁 

peach ice cream

The salted caramel sauce is optional. My husband loves caramel sauce so I made the sauce for him to drizzle on top. Peach is a delicate flavour so if you want to taste the peach ice cream, you can omit the caramel sauce or just go easy on it. He said he liked it both ways, with and without the sauce.

peach ice cream

Save Print
Peach Ice Cream

Serves: 1

Serving size: 10

Calories: 424

Fat: 22g

a delicate and luscious ice cream made with Colorado peaches and drizzled with a Pink Himalayan salted caramel sauce.
Ingredients
  • PEACH ICE CREAM
  • 1½ cups/355mL organic whole/full fat milk
  • 1½ cups/355mL organic heavy cream/double cream
  • ¾ cup organic cane sugar
  • 5 large organic egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 5 medium sized ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped
  • ¼ cup organic cane sugar
  • SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE
  • 1 cup organic cane sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • ½ cup heavy/double cream
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt, I used Pink Himalayan
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, add the milk and cream and gently bring up to almost boiling.
  2. In a large bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and beat together to mix.
  3. Once the milk comes up to a boil, add it slowly to the bowl with the egg yolks and sugar mixing well as you drizzle the milk in.
  4. Do not add to quickly or you will have scrambled eggs.
  5. Once the milk is added and incorporated with the egg yolks, add the mixture back into the saucepan.
  6. On medium low heat, heat the custard until thick and coats a spoon.
  7. Stir continuously and do not let it boil.
  8. Once thickened pour through a fine sieve into a bowl and chill until cool before pouring into ice cream maker.
  9. While the custard is chilling, make the peach puree that will be added into the custard.
  10. Place the chopped peaches into a food processor and pulse until almost a puree.
  11. Add the peach puree and the sugar to a small saucepan and heat on medium heat until thick and jammy.
  12. This will take about 15-20 minutes. You want about a cup or so of cooked peach puree.
  13. Let the peach puree cool.
  14. Once the custard is chilled and the peach puree is cool, combine the two together to make a peach custard base for the ice cream.
  15. Pour the peach custard into the bowl of a chilled ice cream maker and follow the instructions for your ice cream maker.
  16. It will take about 20 minutes for the ice cream to churn and then scoop out into a storage container to freeze the ice cream until serving time.
  17. SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE
  18. In a small sauce pan, add the sugar and water and heat on medium.
  19. Let the sugar melt and allow it to turn an amber colour.
  20. This will take some time, about 10-15 minutes.
  21. Watch carefully as the sugar can go from amber to burnt in seconds.
  22. Heat the cream in a small pitcher in the microwave and add the sea salt.
  23. Once the sugar turns a golden amber colour, add the cream carefully, it will splutter.
  24. Mix off heat until all the sugar is melted and he cream is incorporated.
  25. Pour into a heat proof jar and allow to cool.
  26. Pour on ice cream before serving if desired.
Notes
You could stir through some caramel into the ice cream, if desired. I left it on the side since my children don't all like caramel on their ice cream. The caramel sauce can also be used on other cakes, cookies and bread pudding. Store in the fridge.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

peach ice cream

 Hope you are all having a great weekend! We are just hoping to stay dry.