Summertime Sorbet = YUM TIME!

First scoop of homemade sorbet was GOOD! 

A lot of people in my neck of the woods find themselves buried in fruit come Summer time.  Strawberries from March through the middle of June, peaches from late June through August and lemons as the weather cools off at the tail end of August.  We are truly blessed to have such a bountiful supply of fresh produce and don't get me wrong, I appreciate not having to pay high prices for good food.  But you can only can and pie so many fruits before your family (and friends) begin to look away when you enter the room (*whisper whisper* "She's bringing another cobbler!").

Fresh sorbet!

  One thing at least my oldest son and I can agree on is that smoothies are good ANYTIME of the year, as many times a week as my blender can handle.  Our favorite combo is 60-70% strawberries and 30% other fruit (and vegetable when I can sneak it past him).  Even more so, we agree that sorbet is the bomb-diggity, especially when the clock ticks 9pm and it's still 95 degrees out.  Finding myself with an abundance of swiftly-ripening peaches, I turned to the internet for a good recipe I could throw into my little blue ice cream maker and up popped this jewel.  When I'm not fruiting it up, I'm an avid baker so I always have at least five pounds of sugar tucked away in my baking supply shop (the pantry) and if you like sorbet, so should you.  Now all you need is ripe fruit and shazam!  It's SORBET TIME!

Pretty flecks of REAL strawberry and peach amid ripe bananas

Lastly, the best fruit for any preparation is the kind that smells of what it is.  I spend a lot of my time sniffing through the fruit section at my supermarket, huffing strawberry fumes and pineapple exhaust.  If it don't smell good, it ain't gonna taste good neither!

Gotta have a little help when you make sorbet, donchaknaw?

~ The Recipe ~

Adapted from Curtis Aiken's Peach Sorbet found on Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/curtis-aikens/peach-sorbet-recipe/index.html) because I only like to make what I'm going to use (even simple syrup).

Ingredients:

1 c roughly chopped strawberries, frozen*
1 c roughly chopped ripe peaches, frozen
1 large ripe banana, roughly chopped or broken into chunks
1 c sugar (or half a cup of Splenda)
1 c water
Splash of juice (I used orange, but whatever you've got on hand is good)

Place half of each fruit into jug of a blender.  Bring water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan; cook for about 5 minutes until all sugar is disolved and has thickened slightly.  Pour hot syrup over frozen fruit, cover and blend until pureed.  Add rest of fruit and splash of juice and blend until the consistency of a smoothie (add just enough juice to break down and loosen fruit).  Scoop a bit off the top and try; should taste a little too sweet and won't run off spoon.**  Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions (mine took about 10 minutes and actually got so thick the mixer stopped).  Remove to air tight container and freeze for at least 1 hour or until scooping consistency.  

* Freezing the fruit, instead of using fresh, helps this sorbet come together quickly, allowing for less time spent waiting for the final product.  Eating is the objective here, isn't it? :-)
** Tastes buds become slightly desensitized when eating cold foods, so making your soft mix "too sweet" will give it a better mouth feel and flavor when you go to eat it.

Serving suggestions: Straight up, scooped into a pretty bowl with a spoon on the ready.  Or if you're feeling breakfasty, try a sorbet mimosa: 1 champagne flute, your favorite bubbly and a scoop or two of this sorbet.  This idea is making my mouth water! :-)

p.s.  I've just enjoyed my first scoop and I've gotta say i really like it.  It's like an uber thick smoothie; there's still quite a bit of texture because I didn't blend it down all the way (which I prefer).  After about an hour and a half, the mix was still soft, so I took a fork and whipped it up a bit, to incorporate the frozen outer layer with the still gooey center.  Will try a scoop in an hour or so and let you know how that goes.

Pandan coconut waffles

This is a recipe for my friend Maggie, who also lives in a city that does not have these readily available to the masses at the local Grand Century/Asian strip mall (although her neck of the woods is a bit more dense in the Asian population) :

Adapted from an entry on Typology Central ( http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/home-garden-cooking/22639-i-m-drooling-right-now-pandan-coconut-waffles-recipe-inside.html 

)

This is a very simple yet satisfying recipe for Pandan Coconut Waffles. There are a few variations that you can adjust once you get the gist of it. I have a very picky eater in the house so he approves this one. So here it is, enjoy!

You can get pandan flavour in a bottle at any asian grocery store such as H-mart or Hong Kong market etc..

2 cup cake flour (you can use all purpose flour, but not self rising)
9-10 TBSP sugar (can vary depending on your sweet tooth)
1/2 TSP salt
2 TSP baking powder
3 eggs (separating the yolk and the egg white)
1 whole can coconut milk
1 stick of unsalted butter (melted)
1/2 TSP pandan flavoring
Butter spray to keep the waffles from sticking to the maker, even though it may say non-stick, don't take the risk of having to scrub later...

Directions

Turn on your waffle maker so it'll be hot and ready!

Dry Ingredients
Mix the cake flour or all purpose flour in a bowl along with salt, sugar and baking powder. Stir it evenly, if you're using cake flour, which is extra fine, you don't need sifting. Set aside

Wet Ingredients
Mix the 3 egg yolks in a bowl with 1 can coconut milk, melted butter and panda flavoring. Stir evenly and set aside.

Either using an electric hand mixer or bring out your fancy KitchenAid mixer, using the whisk, beat the egg white on Med/High until it turns into a white stiff consistency, almost like whipped cream. Do not over beat. This is what will make the waffle very light and airy  Set Aside

Now, with the dry ingredient bowl, slowly add the wet ingredient in and stir gently with a spatula. Once the wet is completely mixed in, slowly add the egg white by folding it gently. DO NOT STIR at this point, you just want to fold it in by pushing the spatula to the very bottom of the bowl and push up then fold over until all the egg whites are folded in.

Now it's ready for the waffle maker. I'm sure you can handle it from here.

Challah at yo' baker! Finally, a good, light loaf of egg bread

I'm sure I did this wrong, but here's my attempt at a six strand braid.  Looked like it worked... kind of.  

There's something about a fresh, fluffy, hot loaf of home made bread that makes me want to get up and dance.  Even more so, I LOVE the process: blooming the yeast, shaping the dough, watching said dough transform from pale and smooth to golden and glossy.  I'll admit, it's a long process that takes time and patience, but if you're into baking in any capacity, you won't regret putting forth just a little more effort than usual.  Faintly sweet, light, airy and everything anyone would want from a loaf of good ol' egg bread, this challah (or challot, if you decide to make more than one!) will find your hot little hand raiding the bread box for the very last crumb.

More good news about this bread?  It's just as fantastic 2, 3 and 4 days after baking as it is fresh out of the hot box.  It's moist, but not dense.  Chewy, but not tough.  I just luuuuurrve it!


Warning to all bubbes and challah purists: this recipe is adapted from a Jewish cookbook and, as such, was written to make a traditional loaf.  I prefer a flakey/tender crust, so I used melted butter instead of an egg wash.  Also, I don't braid my challot, I roll it around, form it into a loaf and slap it into a couple of greased loaf pans.  To each his own, I say!  If you know you like something a certain way, be your own chef/baker.  With that said, here we go!

Adapted from "Jewish Home Cooking" by Arthur Schwartz

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (Gold Star brand from Smart and Final is cheap and fantastic)
1 c warm water - no more than 110 F
1/3 c granulated sugar
4 1/2 - 6 c all purpose flour
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 c canola oil
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter, melted

My tool box (again, to each his own...):

Kitchenaid stand mixer, fitted with dough hook
1 c glass liquid measuring cup
1/4 - 1 c dry measuring cups
1/4-1 tbsp measuring spoons
Rubber/silicone spatula
Dough scraper (silicone) - aides greatly in gathering all of the dough from the sides of the work bowl
Flimsy paper plates (the cheaper, the better)
Silicone baking mat (like a Silpat)
MOST importantly: muh clean and nimble little hands!

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast and water; stir to combine.  Add sugar, stir to combine, then add 1/2 cup of flour.  Mix again.

Stir in eggs until well incorporated then stir in one more cup of flour until moistened through.  On medium-low speed, beat in the oil and salt.

Beat one cup of flour in at a time until dough starts to pull away from sides of work bowl but is still very sticky, should take an additional 2-3 cups of flour at this point.  At this point, it's all about feeling: if the dough is too wet, it'll stick all of your hands when you try to remove it from the bowl.  Beat in 1/2 c additional flour until the dough starts to climb up the dough hook and pulls completely away from the bowl.

Remove every last bit of dough from the work bowl, form into a rough ball and dip into extra flour.  On a lightly dusted work surface (I lined my tile counter with an extra large silicone baking mat), knead the dough until it springs back at you if you poke it, no less than 10 minutes (this goes a lot quicker than you think, so work it!).  Pull dough over itself until a smooth ball is formed and place in your biggest well oiled bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rest in your fridge for at least 3 hours, at best over night.*  Dough should be double, if not triple its original size.

After the dough's done taking a nap and is still ice cold**, you can either split it evenly into 3 balls, roll them into snakes and throw them into a standard braid, or you could be lazy like me and split the dough in two and slap it into well greased glass loaf pans.  Either way, let the shaped dough rest, loosely covered with a clean dish towel, at room temperature for  at least 40 minutes.  Some where close to the middle of this time, set your oven for 350 F.

When dough has doubled its size, it's fully risen and ready to go.  Bake for 20 minutes, rotate all exposed surfaces with foil and bake additional 20 minutes or until you get a hollow sound when the top of the loaf is tapped.  De-pan and enjoy immediately with a pat of butter or skip the formalities and rip into that loaf like you've never had bread before!!  Enjoy!!

*If you are in a hurry, you can allow the dough to do this first rise in a warm, draft free place (my garage is plenty warm enough during the summer months) for about an hour or so.  The cold rise allows the glutens you've developed via kneading to super relax, which will in turn produce a SUPER airy and light inside and crisp flakey crust.
**I found that the dough kept its shape and was easier to work with when formed straight out of the fridge.