3-2-1 Sorbet ! Hay Hay It's Donna Day !

It is that time again for another round of Donna Hay inspired creations known as "Hay Hay It's Donna Day" masterminded by Barbara of Winos and Foodies. The winner from last month, Laura, from the magnificient blog Eat Drink Live has chosen sorbet as the theme for July. How fitting! Not to mention that my ice cream maker seems to be churning nonstop these past couple of weeks!

The "3-2-1" part of the title needs to be explained, otherwise the sorbet you see in these pictures does not make any sense at all. As usual, when Laura announced the theme I could not make up my mind. I was thinking of mango, lychee, peach, strawberry, rapsberry....the list goes on. Finally after a week of churning flavors in my head, I decided I would make two, plate them up and let friends decide which one they prefered. One evening I made a lemon sorbet and an apricot sorbet, turn the ice cream maker on and let it do its own little dance. I could not help but try them and I swooned....they were awesome. "Oh dear! How to decide?" I thought. I was glad friends were going to do it for me! The next day, I served one scoop of each in separate bowls and drizzled both with raspberry sauce. I watched guests take a spoon of the lemon, then the apricot, then back and forth for a few times until they all combined both in one bowl and started mashing them all three together. When I timidly asked their favorite, they all showed their bowl and said "that one!"...The one they had created by churning together lemon and apricot sorbets with raspberry sauce. So you see, 3 elements became 2, made up 1: Lemon-Apricot-Raspberry Sorbet. I am telling you, along with 6 other people that it totally rocks!

For the recipe, I used the one posted on her blog from Donna Hay. It is easy and straightforward and give the silkiest sorbet ever. I have not tried to remake the sorbet by mixing all the ingredients prior to their churning in the ice cream maker. Mine is not big enough to accomadate both quantities. It does not take much longer to do both flavors and freeze them together or separately. Each is delicious on its own, but combined...hmmhmmhmm...Divine! The decoration is simply some caramel sesame tuiles: big drops of caramel sprinkled with sesame seeds and left to dry.

Lemon Apricot Raspberry Sorbet:

For the lemon sorbet:

3/4 cup 150g caster (superfine) sugar
1 cup 240ml water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest

To make the basic syrup, place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat and stir without boiling until sugar is dissolved.
Increase the heat and bring to the boil for one minute. Set aside to cool.
Combine the lemon juice, zest and sugar syrup, place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions or the instructions below for a thick and scoopable sorbet. If you don't have an ice-cream maker, place the juice and syrup mixture in a metal bowl or cake tin, cover and freeze for an hour or until just beginning to set at the edge. Beat with an electric hand whisk and return to the freezer. Repeat three times at hourly intervals or until the sorbet is thick and smooth.

For the apricot sorbet:

3/4 cup 150g caster (superfine) sugar
1 cup 240ml water
2 1/2 cups apricot puree

To make the basic syrup, place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat and stir without boiling until sugar is dissolved.
Increase the heat and bring to the boil for one minute. Set aside to cool.
Combine the fruit puree and sugar syrup, place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions or the instructions below for a thick and scoopable sorbet. If you don't have an ice-cream maker, place the fruit and syrup mixture in a metal bowl or cake tin, cover and freeze for an hour or until just beginning to set at the edge. Beat with an electric hand whisk and return to the freezer. Repeat three times at hourly intervals or until the sorbet is thick and smooth.

For the raspberry sauce:

1 pint fresh raspberries or 1 1/2 cups frozen
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 Tb. water

In a medium saucepan, combine the raspberries and sugar. Cook over medium low heat until the fruits release their juices. In a separate ramequins, dissolve the corstarch with the water. Slowly add to the raspberries and continue to cook until the mixture is thickened and does not appear cloudy anymore. Let cool and refrigerate.

To make the Lemon-Apricot-Raspberry Sorbet:

In a large bowl, combine equal scoops of lemon and apricot sorbets, drizzle with raspberry sauce and smash, mash, beat, churn until it comes together. Do not worry if some small chunks remain of each sorbet, they are like little pockets bursting with flavor.

Check out Laura's blog around July 15th for the round up and voting instructions.

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Nectarine and Banana Crumble

You know that Georgia Peach Ice Cream I was tempting you with the other day?....Well, it goes really well with a warm nectarine and banana crumble! Sounds like an awkward combination but I am telling you, it works! I have to add that we have eaten this with pretty much any kind of ice cream, from peach, banana, vanilla to chocolate and my favorite was salted butter caramel, but that will be for another post...if I can save enough for a picture!

I know a crumble is not a typical summer dessert but my friends in the Southern hemisphere might appreciate a little comfort food. The rest of us can have a perfect excuse to dish out more ice cream just to cool things off!
The beauty of a crumble or a crisp is that you can change and substitute the fruits at will, and play with the topping ingredients. I chose walnuts in the streusel topping, but I also think that coconut or almonds would work quite well.

Nectarine and Banana Crumble:

Serves 4

Filling:
4 nectarines, pitted and cut into small pieces
2 bananas, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
2 Tb lemon juice
2 Tb cornstarch

Streusel topping:
1 stick butter, cold
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the filling: in a large mixing bowl, combine the fruits and the rest of the ingredients. Toss well, but gently not to break the bananas too much.
Divide between 4 ramequins, place the ramequins on a baking sheet as the fruits are most likely to release their juice, causing a spill. Set them aside while your prepare the topping.

For the topping: In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, walnuts, add the butter cut in small pieces and mix with your fingertips until you get coarse crumbs.
Divide evenly among the 4 dishes.
Bake at 350 until for 20-30 minutes.

Update: It looks like the good folks of Blogger have named me "Blog Of Note". I am sincerely touched and for all new readers, well, I hope you hang around a little and get your virtual fill of sweets and sugar! Thanks for visiting!

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Georgia Peach Ice Cream

Well these georgia peaches
Son they know their way around
They can take your money, son before you get sight of town
Well they talk a little funny, but they look so fine
Nine out of ten of them gonna sell you a dime
I think they’re cute, think they’re cute as they can be
Talkin’ about a funny talkin’, honk-tonking georgia peach

Well, peaches, peaches
Love them georgia peaches
Well, peaches, peaches
Love them georgia peaches

Excerpt from Lynyrd Skynyrd's Georgia Peaches

Yes, I know that me and the boys from the band were not talking about the same kind of peaches, but I could not help myself and kept humming the tune while peeling the fruit to make this ice cream.

When I got to the farmer's market this morning and found a bounty of gloriously fragrant and yellow Georgia peaches, I knew some would end up in a cake, some cut up on my salad and some would turn out into an ice cream. It has been so hot and humid the past few days, we keep filling up on frozen fruits and icy cold smoothies while the ice cream machine is dying from boredom. I just was not that inspired until this morning. Oh sure, I could whip up some of our favorites again, but we are craving light, fresh and if possible incredibly tasty and there is nothing fitting the description better than a Georgia peach.

There is not much to add, other than giving you the recipe, and urging you to make it with fresh fruit and not frozen or canned are we are here in the US in full peach season. The base is a light custard and a little lemon juice or crystallized ginger can really perk it up.

Peach Ice Cream, adapted from Cuisine at Home (thanks Lisa for my birthday present!)

Makes 5 cups

2 cups fresh peaches, skinned, pitted and diced
1/4 sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split in half or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Macerate the peaches with the lemon juice in a saucepan with the lemon juice and sugar for about 10 minutes or until syrupy. Simmer over medium heat until the peaches are soft for about 5 minutes. Let cool completely.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and pale. In the meantime, heat the milk, cream and vanilla bean until steam rises. Gradually add the hot cream to the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent them from scrambling. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the cream coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 8 minutes.
Strain the cream and let cool completely. Stir in the peaches. At that point I used an hand-held mixer to puree some of the peaches and leave chunks into the base. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maer according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container and freeze until firm.

It is so good that I am taking it to Meeta's Monthly Mingle. She is on a well deserved vacation, so check back after the 7th of July for a cold and creamy ice cream round-up.

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Waiter, There Is Something In My Nutella Ravioli...!

Yes, I know…it may sound weird but they were utterly delicious! What prompted me to venture into the world of dumplings, ravioli and other dough wrapped around a filling was this month’s installment of Waiter, There’s Something In My…Dumpling, hosted by Johanna from The Passionate Cook. The directives were very generous with the definition of "dumpling" so it enabled your little Tartelette to go ahead and make one of her favorites: Toasted Hazelnut Ravioli.

It all started one winter weekend that we hosted a crepe party with our neighbors and I made my favorite crepes by filling them with Nutella and smothering them with a Frangelico Caramel Sauce. After the guests were gone and our plates licked clean, I started looking for a way to make sweet ravioli. I have made pasta dough before, painstakingly rolling it out by hand since B. said no to a pasta machine (he likes his countertops bare…like that is possible with a baker in the house!!), so that process was not new to me. I love toasted and grilled everything and very often end up toasting leftover savory ravioli and topping my salads with some and some cubed mozzarella and freshly cut basil..yumm..But I disgress, this is a sweet blog after all…

The sweet ravioli dough comes together very fast in a food processor and beside the rolling (very thin) part, it is a cinch to make. I thought about serving them with a dark chocolate ganache on the side, but after everybody had a couple of bites, the general consensus was that the Frangelico caramel sauce was quite enough. It is a multi step recipe but the dough needs to rest for a couple of hours and up to one day. You can make it, roll it out, fill and boil the ravioli later on and toast them right before serving. They are great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and more caramel sauce drizzled on top!

Toasted Nutella Ravioli:

5 oz. semolina flour
1 ½ oz almonds
1 oz flour
1 oz. sugar
1 egg
¼ cup to 1/3 cup milk

Put all the dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add the eggs and ¼ cup milk and pulse until the dough comes together. If it does not seem smooth, slowly add the remaining milk, one tablespoon at a time, until soft and smooth but not sticky. If your dough seems to wet, you can add some flour, one tablespoon at a time until it becomes a little dryer. The dough is versatile enough to let you play around until you get it to the right consistency.
Place it a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to one day.

When ready to use, roll it out very thin on a lightly floured surface. If you have a pasta machine, I’ll let you decide the setting since I am not familiar with them, but it want the dough to be paper thin. Cut out rounds with a cookie 3 inch cookie cutter, fill with a heaping teaspoon of Nutella. With a pastry brush, lightly brush some water around the edges, place another round of dough on top, smooth out any air pocket and seal gently with your fingertips.

Boil the ravioli like you would fresh savory ones, about 5 minutes, drain. At this point you can layer them in between sheets of parchment paper and refrigerate until you are ready to toast and plate them.

For the sauce:
Melt together 2 Tb. butter, 2 Tb brown sugar ad 2 Tb Frangelico until the sugar melts and the sauce becomes thick. Set aside.

To assemble:
Melt some butter in a sauté pan (or coat with cooking spray) and toast the ravioli until golden brown. Plate them and drizzle some caramel sauce over and enjoy!

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Got Bagels?

If you don't, be sure to stop by my house because we have more than we can wrap our stomachs around. Part of it is my fault, part is due to this month Daring Bakers challenge. Our mission given by Jenny and Freya was to make Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels. They were honestly good and since I made mini ones, twice, I ended up with a bunch...

Funny thing is that I had never had a bagel prior to moving to the US. I am sure you can find them in France but my catholic provencal background probably shunned me from knowing this delicacy. I made up for lost time, believe me! I love how versatile they are. We eat ours with sweet spread sor breakfast, pile halves with pizza topping, or use mini ones with snoked slamon and mascarpone for little munchies with friends. I like having a bagel around the house even if I won't eat all of it...it's bumpy smooth belly brings me comfort...I know I am weird...but if you know me you kow I am also the one who makes bread like crazy just for the smell and feel of it, even if I don't eat that much.

Toppings (I had 32 mini ones and free time so I played around), left to right, back to front:
Herbes de Provence, poppy seeds, bacon, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, coarse demerara sugar, cheddar cheese and maldon sea salt.

Our challenge was to follow it without changes so we could all compare notes. Seems like we all pretty much experienced the same things. For more reports, you can click on the side bar blog roll for Daring Bakers. All this to say that I had a blast making these and would make them again. Actually I did make them twice, just to see if the recipe would end up differently if halved. A few observations to keep in mind if you decide to try them: the dough was wickedly rising fast and high. Kneading does not take that long, about 8-10 minutes but do not skip this step. It's good for the nerves and it really helps the texture of your bagels in the end. When the time comes to shape your bagel, divide the dough in half and refrigerate the batch that you are not working on. The recipe mentionned that the bagels would sink to the bottom of the pot and then rise and float in the water. My first batch yielded about 32 mini ones, and only 10 sank, the rest nagged me by floating their little merry way ... Floaters or sinkers, they still tasted the same. I used all of the flour measurement, kneaded appropriately, respected rising times and still floaters. Same issue when I made them again a couple of weeks later and halved the recipe. I decided to go for the poke method to form them, and I had to push a rather large hole in the middle as the bagels had a tendency to swallow it back up upon their rising before their little trip in the water.

Thanks Jenny and Freya for a fun challenge. I will keep the recipe and make it again with some tweaking....I still want to make my bagels sink!

Since we eat them mostly at breakfast and since we are a mostly sweet household, these are some of the spreads we have with our bagels: mirabelles jam (yellow plums), cherry preserves, coconut honey and wildflower honey. Since I have so many bagels, I have been using them for mini sandwishes also with a spread of chive cream cheese, sprouts and some turkey slices.

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Craving Grandma's Apricot Tart

I have been craving my grandmother's tart ever since I saw the first apricots at the store a few weeks ago. Well, actually I crave it all year long and while it is quite good with quality canned apricots, there is of course nothing like fresh, velvety and fragrant ones. We don't really need a reason to indulge in our cravings. By definition, giving into them is giving into reckless abandon of our senses and indulging in what brings us comfort and joy, as temporary as it is.

When Jennifer announced this month Sugar High Friday, my brain started racing towards many a childhood favorites (and made me wonder if I did not live in a state of perpetual craving), before the only obvious dessert was Mamie Paulette's apricot tart. It would also give me the opportunity to spend some time with my memories of watching her make the dough and filling countless times with the same love and care.

Then a few days ago, Ivonne wrote about her Nonna Pia and shared fond memories of her life and approach to cooking. I think that Paulette and Pia would have been great friends if given the chance. They both had six children and both knew how to turn the simplest ingredients into scrumptious dishes. I left Ivonne a comment mentionning Paulette's apricot tart and she emailed me suggesting that I post about it and share my memories. She also threatened to bug me until I did...! Well, here it is my friend!

I have talked about my grandmother many times before, always mentionning her apple or apricot tarts and always making something else. Her tarts were so simple, yet so absolutely delicious that she knew to keep us happy by always having one ready. My grandparents' house has always been the place of gathering throughout the week and especially on sundays. Four out of six children ended up living within close proximity and thus started the sunday tradition of "coffee and tart" around three in the afternoon meaning if you cannot come for lunch, try to make it for dessert. Even as a teenager and young adult, I would always try to make it for tart...especially if a paper or thesis was calling my name!

There was something so soothing and comforting in seating down with her and my grandfather to sip coffee, talk about the family, the neighbors, their garden, and eat pie.

There is even a funny anedocte associated with her apricot tart. At some point her eyesight got worse and worse, and she often made two pies, freezing one in case she would be too tired one weekend to make a fresh one. We were all gathered at the dinner table one sunday evening and when dessert time came, she asked me to go fetch the tart warming up in the oven (you know, so that the ice cream on top melts faster!). I came back trying to hold the tears of laughers streaming down my face...she had mistakingly put a quiche in the oven and not the tart.... ! Everytime I make quiche or tart, I think about that day and immediately look up at the sky and whisper "Love you Grandma".

Apricot Tart

Serves 6-8 (I made individual one for pictures)

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup chilled (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in pieces
2 Tbs ice water
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Place flour and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the ice water then the egg yolk, processing just until the dough holds together. Do not process for more than 30 seconds.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form into a disc. Wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

Preheat oven to 350F and blind bake the tart shells: roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, lay into tart shell, cover with parchement paper or foil, pour dry beans or pie weights on top and bake fro 15 minutes. Let cool before proceeding with the apricots.

Filling:

8 to 10 apricots, halved, pitts removed

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup creme fraiche (sour cream can be substituted)

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

slivered almonds

Whisk the sugar and the eggs until pale. Slowly add the milk and creme fraiche and whick until combined. Add the extracts and ground almonds and whisk one more time. Slice the apricots, lay them in the bottom of the tart. Slowly pour the batter on top. Sprinkle some slivered almonds on top and bake until the custard is set and the tart is golden brown.

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