The Nudge

Why hello! 

It has been awhile, a long hot summer sort of while.

From conference talks (yes me!) regarding refugee integration in Malta to sewing projects like sword cases and Chinese calligraphy brush carriers! Exciting and busy times.. but it has also been a very hot summer and the ice cream making has been in FULL SWING, 

(had a goal of 11 flavours for the 11 weeks of summer ) this was reached his week!

So here goes, in no particular order, this summer's flavours 

Maltese honey and cinnamon

Fig (with a hint of cloves)

Maple and walnut

Dark chocolate and orange

Espresso with chocolate bits and toasted hazelnuts

Dark chocolate with raspberries

cardamon and date

Toffee 

Black sesame 

Green tea

 Ginger 

I needed a little nudge, you know that kind that gets you moving again, 

time to get back to the computer and the blog (thank you Isabel!) so here I am...and here is the Ginger ice cream recipe which I MUST share as it is so easy and sooooo good! 

Ginger Ice Cream

peel and chop into big chunks 1/2 cup of fresh ginger root

2 cups milk

1 cup cream

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

Directions: heat until almost simmering the milk, cream, chopped ginger and 1/2 cup of the sugar, meanwhile separate 4 egg yolks and whisk briskly, add in the the remaining 1/4 cup sugar just at the end. Ladle in VERY gradually the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking all the while, return the mixture to a pan on very low heat and stir continuously 7-10 min. until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, so as you can draw a line in it. Do not let it boil. Remove from heat, strain out the ginger and set the mixture in the fridge to cool for at least 3 hours before putting in an ice cream maker (churn for 20-25 min.).

Hope you have been enjoying your summer,

 I leave you with a recent picture of our youngest, 'Beppe' and his new word for this week- PIZZA! 

Amid the heat

Some places to put pencils and paintbrushes 

(thought it was about time to put some of those old cans to good use and I do so like oil cloth). 

Reversible headbands for the girls 

ohhh and a new Ice cream! 

Carol Jean I call it (after my mother who first introduced the glorious combination of 

dark chocolate and orange to me)

This recipe is much like Zanzibar (found here) except using 75 grams dark unsweetened cocoa, and the 3/4 cup sugar needs to be brown sugar, when you simmer the milk and chocolate add in one strip of an fresh orange rind (roughly two inches by half inch wide), a 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla and be sure to remove the peel before adding the cream. 

It is very good, the chocolate being dark, the orange a solid hint without being overpowering.  

Zanzibar ice cream

Named more for an ice cream  I remember loving as child then the exoticness it may allude to. 

Now I am not exactly sure if there ever really was a Zanzibar ice cream that I tried as a child but I seem to remember it and it was most certainly a dark chocolate type (I come from the midwestern state of Wisconsin known for it's dairy products, ice cream being one found in unusual abundance). 

Here is my version of the Zanzibar Ice Cream

  (or dark chocolate ice cream with a hint of mint)

2 cups full or 2 percent milk

3/4 to cup dark cocoa powder ( I used dark Perugina powder) 

(Picture shown) 

*of note, I am  not entirely sure if it is just dark unsweetened cocoa powder or perhaps something you make the thick hot Italian hot chocolate with. 

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar ( I used a tiny bit less than this) 

1 cup single cream

1 spring fresh mint

Heat two cups milk in a medium saucepan. 

Mix 3/4 cup cocoa powder with the milk.

add 3/4 cup sugar ( I used demurera but any plain sugar would do) 

* I like my chocolate ice cream to be on the dark and bitter side as I like to taste the chocolate so you may want to add a little more sugar).

Let the mixture heat just to a gentle simmer (then add one three inch spring of fresh mint) and watch closely so as not to burn for 2-5 min, stirring continuously. Then remove from heat ( also remove the soggy mint spring) and add the 1 cup single cream (in the US it may be safer to use double cream) (here single cream whips just like double cream, only difference I can see is single cream is a little less thick to start with and it is near to impossible to find double cream).
Separately beat 4 egg yolks till fluffy,  (should be ribbon like when you bring a whisk through).
Add the heated milk and cocoa mixture in a tiny smooth stream to the whipped egg yolks, and when completely combined bring the mixture back to the stove top and heat slowly till it thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, remove and let cool , then refrigerate for a few hours and lastly pour into ice cream churner (this recipe makes about 10 two scoop servings).

The weeks are galloping by at an unusual pace here, sorry I have not managed to write many posts or leave many comments. amid visitors and neolithic temple reading here I have been working on some sewing commissions. But here are a few tiny snippits of the week, 

The season of village feasts, Birgu (our close neighbour) had hers on Tuesday. The sound of fire works and marching bands have been a constant all week. 

Going out, and enjoying skirts ( I go through phases of forgetting to wear them) 

but ahh in summer heat they are the best!

Little creations- oil cloth bag for kids

At last!!

The recipe that I mentioned some days ago, the fig ice cream. Especially for you Guusje. Sorry it has taken me some time to get round to writing it down!  It is an original recipe so sadly I am not completely certain on the amounts I used.  I am also including a very dependable tasty strawberry ice cream recipe. 

 I have opened a little etsy shop!!! 

It is called The Caper Collection and can be found here,
I still have quite a few items to add but here are a few. 

To celebrate I would like to have my first give away! 

Who ever is picked can choose one of the following: an animal of their choice, one of the small purses, a make up carrier or the jewellery carrier. 

In your comment please leave your name, which you would prefer and your email address. I will choose someone in one weeks time.

Strawberry Ice Cream
400 grams chopped strawberries
100 milk
300 ml fresh cream
100 grams sugar
Directions: puree all ingredients together and pour into ice cream mixer.

Fig, Walnut and port ice cream
7 large very soft figs
50-100 grams toasted walnuts (chopped)
300 ml fresh cream
100 ml milk
orange rind
100 ml port
pinch cinnamon
Directions: Simmer lightly in a covered pan the figs in the port ( fork some holes into each of the figs). add in sugar, orange zest (around 1/2 tsp) and the pinch of cinnamon. Let cool and then scoop out the fig insides and add to the liquid, remove the peels. Gently pour in the milk and fresh cream. Lightly stir and add to the ice cream mixer, add the nuts just as the ice cream is getting thick. Obviously this is according to your own taste so feel free to increase or decrease amounts of orange rind, sugar and figs. This was my first time making this ice cream, sadly the Bajtar Tal San Gwann figs are finished so I will be trying it with a different sort of fig when the new kind are in season at the start of August.

Nothing like necessity

to make you try something new. Can officially say that I am back on the ice cream kick again, this time its fruit sorbet. We had six kiwis I had forgotten about in the fridge and they were just at that soft sort of mushy point that no one really cares to eat, this combined with the fact that I have not been able to find any fresh cream in the small shops in our area combined with the nagging desire to make some new ice cream. So that's what led me to try out making a kiwi sorbet. I followed a great (Jamie Oliver tip) which he used in a lemon sorbet recipe, that being that once you have dissolved the sugar in the boiling water add in a table spoon or two of marscapone, it slowly dissolves and makes for a very creamy sorbet texture. Am very happy with the result. Really refreshing. Next time I make it I would double the proporions, this made only a small pint of sorbet.

Kiwi Sorbet Recipe

6 kiwis (scoop out the insides and puree)

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

2 Tablespoons Marscapone cheese

A small squeeze of a lemon (to bring out the tang of the kiwis)

First Boil the water and sugar (just enough to dissolve the sugar) then add in the

marscapone, let this cool. Next scoop out the inside of the kiwis and puree, add in the

sugar mixture and about a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Pour into the ice cream

mixer and your done. I am guessing you can do this in a freezer container - stirring it

every few hours for a similar effect but have not tried.

I was on a bit of a it's-hot-and-we-need-some-cool-desert sort of kick and made this second ice cream that we will be taking to Birkirkara today for the St. Helena Feast.

That is a fresh peach and prickly pear (cactus fruit) ice cream. I have been determined to try and make something with the prickly pears, they have an odd texture but have such a nice gentle taste, in the end I ended up using peaches (very ripe and bruised) with some local prickly pear liquor and did this time find some single cream. Here is the recipe (quickly before I forget myself).

Peach Ice Cream

6 very ripe peaches

1/3 cup sugar dissolved in 1/3 cup hot water

250 ml single cream

3-4 tablespoons prickly pear(cactus fruit) liquor pure all together and wirl away in the ice cream machine

Makes a creamy delicate ice cream, like the kiwi sorbet it would go well after Sushi.

Publish Post

Last but not least, a photo of the fig ice cream, recipe featured on a previous post.

On the Road

Happy to say that school has finished for us all, so very very relieved to have handed in the last of my assignments. By in large I am happy to be returning to my other role as mum of three crazy youngins and a 13 going on 31 year old husband. If anyone is interested here is a link to the website we (my coauthor Brian Gauci) and I created as part of our final project (The Colours of Malta). It's mainly an educational website relating to cultural diversity- a pdf version of the research paper is in the authors page should anyone out there be interested in multiculturalism in Malta.

We have left our wee rock in the Mediterranean on holiday and are now enjoying some Midwestern goodness....local specialities like bratwurst, seasonal beers such as my old favourite spotted Cow or the Solstice wheat beer variety brewed in New Glarus and of course some pride of Wisconsin - ice cream.

Have come across some music to share (after some time) if you like Norah Jones you may like this...Melody Gardot .

Not to be forgotten was a lovely all too short visit to one of my favourite cities- Brighton, (while on route to the states a little over a week ago). It was such a treat, seeing old friends, picnics in the park, almond croissants and Milano cappuccinos at Carluccios and a lunch at Bills (featured above).

Backpacks and library cards

Immersed in Constructivist theory and ECDL ( a computer literacy kind of course) one i have to take unfortunately... these timed exams are a wee bit stressful. Found myself up on Saturday night at 3 Am (only time to study in peace in the house is in the middle of the night)- going over mail merge- how sad is that! Feel well acquainted again now with Microsoft word, Access and tomorrow it's power point- things have changed a bit since I was last computer savvy- feel like an old fuddy duddy at moments among some of my younger classmates.

My son seems to have turned a corner- really a little boy now- bony and paying attention to every detail... today for the first time ever he looked at me ( I was telling him why we must all wash our hair) and said "I think your lying to me mama"  and yes I may have been exaggerating the truth as regards bugs liking to live in dirty  hair but it really struck me. My littlest child is now walking, seems so surreal that only a year ago now I was waddling around Winchester feeling as big as a whale and wondering just when she would finally decide to come. and the middle child .. spicy as ever.. I dread the teenage years .. what a confident attitude she has..... where on earth did it come from?! 

Apart from lectures all day long,  every day the week has been highlighted by some wonderful dish my husband has cooked up and today (after having it rattling around in my brain for weeks) I ounce again made ice cream- this time a Moorish mix-cardamon with dates and walnuts.... really came out well.  Very creamy and well balanced -was pure luck- better write down the amounts I used quickly before I forget them. 

Other ponderings of the week   

- why is it so many students at the University here are carrying fancy leather purses and wearing high heels???!! Such a far cry from the back pack slugging bike riding university days I remember. 

- An interesting little thing suggested by a lecturer of mine - worth it's 8 min. 

Did you know 2. 0.

- Have been catching up on the ole podcasts (what with the traffic jams every morning) 

Radio 4 global news, NPR News and Notes and Radio 4 Friday Night Comedy ... 

- Malta has an 'Indian summer' well into October- it's around 25 here during the days lately. 

Went a little wild

With the ice cream maker that is- was a little excited what with eggs, cream and dried figs in the house- made an ice cream with figs, walnuts and chocolate (note the figs were cooked down in orange juice with a wee bit of cinnamon till carmely). Yes, I strayed from the usual keep it simple approach so it is one rich desert. The chocolate was a nice very dark Italian sort- just some small shavings (love the choices at the stores here). A photo to follow once we serve it up tonight!  

--- texture and taste turned out really well- just in case anyone out there is into making ice cream will write down the recipe as I am sure by tomorrow I will forget what I did. 

Fig and Walnut Ice cream

2 eggs yokes

3 Tbs sugar

mix with a whisk

add 400 ml of single cream

200 ml whole milk

add pinch of cinnamon 

set in pan and let simmer 3-4 minutes

set aside to cool 

 chop 3-4 dried figs

add with 100 ml water

juice of half an orange

1 tbs sugar (could do without it but this is the version I made)

cook down till there is a syrup (15-20 min)

set aside

when milk mixture and fig mixture is cool start up the ice cream maker- add the cream mixture and the figs then a small handful of chopped walnuts and a small handful of finely chopped dark chocolate. 

Lord I love naptime

Two shirts made while quiet time was in session yesterday, very gratifying. 

We are nearly settled on which ice cream machine to buy- oh boy!! Summer sun around the corner and some fun recipes to try- am eager to do something with figs... maybe figs and orange rind ... hmmm. endless possibilities really. Still a few busy weeks lie ahead - packing, selling off all the furniture, working on my Maltese and  goodbyes etc.