TC: Coconut Ice Cream

My partner for this months Taste and Create was Nicole of For the Love of Food. I actually did three recipes from her blog and have another couple I just didn't have time for. Her recipes are just what I like simple and good.

The coconut ice cream was the first thing that got put on my list. Indra and I both love coconut and I have been playing with my new ice cream machine looking for a good recipes. Coconut Ice Cream with Toffee chips definitely fits the bill.

Coconut Ice Cream with Toffee Chips

Ingredients:
1 Cup 2% Milk
8oz unsweetened Coconut milk that is creamy (we use Aroy-D 100% Coconut Milk original)
2 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
1/8 Cup sugar
1 1/2 Cups sweetened Baker’s Coconut
1/4 Cup toffee chips
2 tablespoons alcohol(I used brandy)

Directions:
Make sure all your ingredients are extremely cold before beginning - when I made this recipe I had the chips and baker’s coconut in the freezer and the milk, coconut milk, and cream in the refrigerator.

No cooking is required, simply pour the cold liquid ingredients in your mixer with the sugar and wait until it is starting to thicken and then add the brandy, coconut and chips. Once it has finished churning put it in the freezer for at least an hour to firm up. (the alcohol should keep it soft enough to scoop.)

Temper's Take:
This was good, Indra even agreed. We liked the texture and the sweetness level was just right. It was perfect for a hot Texas Day.

We would have liked a more pronounced coconut flavor but that is something I can play with in the future.

TC: Carmalized Apples

My partner for this months Taste & Create was Veronica of La Recette du Jour. Her blog is the kind I can only dream of, great recipes that Indra would never eat. I really wish this challenge had come in about 2 months when I wasn't in the middle of tax season. There are so many recipes I would have liked to have chosen. But time and stress made me choose something simple, and it doesn't get much simpler then Caramelized Apples.

Caramelized Apples
A quick dessert, based on a medieval recipe.

Apples
One-day old bread
Lemon juice
Sugar
Butter

Allow about one apple (eating for preference) per person. Peel and core them, and chop into 1/4 inch dice. Drop the pieces into a bowl as you go along, with sugar to taste, and a little lemon juice to stop them going brown. Cut a similar quantity of stale white bread (crusts removed) into dice as well.

When you are ready to eat, melt a good quantity of butter in a heavy frying pan and throw in the apples along with the sugar. Cook briskly, stirring about, until the apples are brown round the edges and the butter and sugar are starting to caramelize. Remove the apples to a plate. Put the bread cubes into the pan and cook, tossing them so they don’t burn, until they are crisp. Then return the apples to the pan, mix everything together, and serve instantly, on their own or with cream or ice cream.

If you get this right, the apples are soft and the bread is crunchy, with a lovely caramel sauce.

Temper's Take:
Well I did it right and this was a great breakfast treat. I flambe'd it for fun (and to reassure myself that it really does take two people to photograph flames) and I didn't whip any cream (I really wish I had). I considered adding some cinnamon to the bread but really it didn't need it. This is definitely going on my make it again list. Probably when I am stuck for a quick dessert for company, or a treat for us.

Taste and Create: Hokey Pokey

For this month's Taste and Create I drew Stef at Cupcake Project, under normal circumstances this would have meant cake, or rather Cupcakes! but with everything else I was doing for the holidays that wasn't happening. What I did choose fit in perfect with the rest of my holiday baking.

Hokey Pokey is brittle, honey comb candy and about a dozen other names that spell delicious (and easy). I opted to add nuts (I had a bunch left from other projects, and hey who doesn't like nuts?) dipped a few in chocolate and then hoarded the results. Hey look! after 30 some yrs of not even making good fudge I made candy! Its a Xmas Miracle!

Hokey Pokey by Nigella Lawson

1/2 cup sugar
4 tbs golden [dark corn] syrup
1 1/2 tsp bi carb [baking] soda

Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You can't stir once the pan's on the heat.
Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt and then turn to goo and then a bubbling mass the color of maple syrup - this will take 3 minutes or so.
Off the heat, whisk in the baking soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of baking parchment or greased foil.
Leave until set and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.

Temper's Take:
I know the recipe says whisk but nuts and whisk don't mix. This was my only issue, other then some minor teeth sticking and washing the darn pot. This recipe is a keeper. :)

Taste and Create: Chana Dal Parantha

My Partner For this month's Taste and Create is Simran of Bombay Foodie. Her blog has a wide selection of Indian food with the occasional cookie or other treat thrown in. Not surprisingly I was totally unfamiliar with alot of the dishes and ingredients. I still found plenty of things that appealed to me (and I wouldn't be to scared to make). I will admit it was a tough choice the Lemon and Mint Cooler looked like it would really hit the spot and the Biryani intrigued me. But I choose to go with the Chana Dal Parantha. I have been eyeing different versions of this ever since I started browsing food blogs. So I decided now was my chance.

I am pretty sure what I made doesn't qualify as a Roti Mela (not being real sure what that is exactly, I can't be positive) but it is close enough for me.

Here is the original recipe:

To make the parantha, boil 1/2 cup split yellow lentils until al dente. In a bowl, mix the lentils, one small onion chopped finely, a tbsp of chopped coriander, salt, garam masala, red chilli powder, cumin seeds and anardana (dried pomegranate seeds). Mix well to make your filling.

Knead one cup whole wheat flour with enough water to make a firm yet pliable dough. Let it rest for a while.

Take a small ball of dough (roughly the size of tennis ball) and roll out to a thick disc. Place 2 tablespoon of the filling in the middle of this disc. Gather the side and bring them together to form a filling-stuffed ball. Toss the ball in dry flour to prevent it sticking and roll it out to a thin parantha.

Heat a griddle and place the stuffed parantha on it. Cook for around half a minute, then flip over. Spread ghee over the parantha, flip back again and apply ghee on the other side. Cook the parantha on both sides until its golden in color. You will notice that chana dal will absorb a lot more ghee than any other parantha, making it sinfully rich yet delicious.

I of course changed it all up and had more of a southwestern parantha then an Indian one.

1 cup flour with enough water to make a firm but pliable dough (mine was a soft dough, but close enough)

For the filling I used
corn from a left over ear of corn on the cob.
chopped carrots
chopped onion
chopped garlic
left over sweet potato fries
chipotle powder
garlic salt
pepper
cumin
corriander
caraway
threw it all in the food processor to get rid of the big chunks and boy did it smell good.

I made my dough balls walnut sized and they rolled out beautifully. When I fried them up I didn't read the recipe right and used way to much butter. They were as good as I expected but something was missing.

So I sauteed up the left over filling and ate it like a taco with a little chipotle sourcream and it was devine. (chipotle sourcream is chipotle salsa and sour cream heated together until bubbly, then served right away as a sauce or cooled and used in place of sourcream.)

Would I make these again? With out a doubt. Next time there will be less butter though, and maybe some cucumbers and tomatoes in yogurt to go with them, and maybe something green.