Raspberry Ripple Semifreddo

I have never ever made any kind of ice-cream dessert before, and with the humid days we've been experiencing lately, this dish practically leaped of the page at me.

Semifreddo I already know means 'semi-frozen' so I don't think it's technically an ice-cream. According to wikipedia it 'has the texture of frozen mousse because it is usually produced by uniting two equal parts of ice cream and whipped cream.'

The ice-cream portion of making this dessert was to create the custard by whisking the egg yolk, vanilla and sugar over a bain-marie so that the eggs start to cook. Doing this will give the eggs air and make them all nice and light and fluffy. Once that's cooled fold it into some freshly whipped cream and into a freezable container, leaving a portion out for the raspberry puree. Mix the puree with the rest of the custard, ripple through the container and freeze for a few hours, preferably overnight.

I made sure we had an alternative dessert on the day I made this as I knew it wouldn't be ready and hubby would still want to eat it.

It was divine. And still is, as I'm going to finish it off within minutes of publishing this post. I did unfortunately over whip the cream, but only by a little (didn't turn it into butter of anything silly like that) so it didn't completely incorporate with the custard and there are little chunks of cream dotted throughout the semifreddo. But actually, I like it. Ideally, they wouldn't be there, but they don't ruin the dish either.

It's good to now know how easy it is to make semifreddo, and how damn cheap it is! Especially since we always have an abundance of eggs. I think it might just replace Bulla in this house. I later froze the leftover egg whites and intend on using them to make one of the meringue based desserts from this book as well.

Waste not, want not.

Here, porn for your taste buds....

Seriously, go make some yourself. :)

Progress so far....

So today while menu planning for the week I decided to check my progress with my challenge.

I went through and added up all the recipes I've already cooked out of the book. To date I've made 30 recipes!

Sounds great, right?

But I noticed that a lot of recipes didn't have my tick next to them. And I mean, a lot.

In total there are.....195 recipes in the book!!!!! And I've only done 30!!

Thinking I'd better pull my finger out! I gave myself till October next year (I think that's when my 1001 days expire) to cook them all and I've only done 30!

Hubby, all that healthy eating you've been planning on doing...sorry. I'll go out the window. Just start running...

Anyone want to come over for dinner?

The only thing that holds me back on some of the dishes is the fact I live here. I mean, where am I supposed to get vine leaves in Dysart?!? There are a few ingredients that I'll need to source and get delivered I think. Probably by my parents. Good thing they like to visit.

So today I've included 4 recipes in this weeks menu and if I get off my butt in the next half hour I'll make another one for my lunch.

Hope you're ready for the food onslaught!!!

Chicken and Haloumi Skewers

This recipe is actually titled 'Chicken, Haloumi and Preserved Lemon skewers', but good luck finding preserved lemon in Dysart!

I love the dishes you can start preparing earlier than dinner time. Makes life a little easier with two kids. I started marinating the chicken and Haloumi in the lemon juice and oil mixture about an hour before cooking time, then off to bath the ratbag.

I only recently discovered Haloumi when I attended a cooking workshop held here by the winners of the first series of My Kitchen Rules. They cooked these awesome Lamb and Haloumi skewers. Then you couldn't buy Haloumi here for the next month with all the people trying it out for themselves. I saw it in IGA last week so was excited to try cooking a cheese that won't melt for myself.

Hubby started eating the dinner that night and was wondering why the chicken was squeaky before I explained it was actually cheese he was eating!

The skewers were really nice. The chicken made tender from its lemon juice bath. We ate them with quinoa for a nice healthy dinner. They were easy to prepare and will probably be made again for our next BBQ.

No photo, sorry. Completely forgot. How about you go buy the book and make some for yourself. :)

Honey Jumble Cakes

These cakes were meant to be cooked in a friand tin, but alas, I don't have one. So instead, I made Honey Jumble Muffins...

I love simple recipes. A bit of flour, a few eggs, melt some honey and butter and combine. Simple.





The muffins turn out so soft and moist from the half a cup of honey in the batter. The honey surprisingly isn't as overpowering as I'd assumed it'd be. Next time though, I'll substitute the 70g of butter for Macadamia Nut oil. A bit kinder on my hips.

Impatient as always, I iced them too early and it lovely honey based using melted everywhere, but still tasted as good. They were still soft and moist three days later in the fridge. How they lasted for three days without being inhaled first, I don't know!

Meringue covered Lemon Muffins

It's been a little while since I cooked from this book, so when looking to satisfy my sweet tooth the other day I found this lovely recipe.

It reads like a classic Baked Alaska, muffin hollowed out and filled with ice-cream before being encased with smooth meringue and baked till golden....without the flambé alcohol.

The muffin is a simple lemon muffin recipe, but surprisingly really nice on its own. So nice that I've since made the muffins on their own a few times since. Once baked, the top of the muffin is hollowed out and filled with vanilla ice-cream before being placed into the freezer to set. You want the ice-cream quite firmly set before covering as you're placing it in the oven and don't want it to melt everywhere.

A basic meringue mixture is used to cover the muffins. Donnas secret ingredient of white vinegar helps stabilize the whites. Don't forget to rub a bit between your fingers to test the sugar has been dissolved. Completely cover the frozen muffins, leaving no gaps at all with the meringue before baking till golden.

I've never made this before and was a bit apprehensive about cooking ice-cream in the oven, but figured its a popular dessert and must work. I was excited to crack the meringue and see how it fared. The ice-cream hadn't melted! It was understandable soft, but still there. Yay!!!!

I think if I were going to make it again I'd have to try the flambé.

Lamb Rack with Sweet Potato Mash

There is one main reason I loved this dish.....my son ate it!  Getting him to eat meat is like getting blood out of a stone. I offer every night with hope, but it ends up most likely in Hubby's belly instead of Noah's. So when he picked up a cutlet and started gnawing at it, sucking off the meat, I just about cried.  The recipe is simple, the rack coated with oil and cumin and baked till already.  Mash of sweet potato (I added white potatoes to bulk it out a bit), cream and coriander (works do well!) is a fantastic compliment to the lamb.  For our dinner I added some easy greens, which I'm proud to say Noah ate as well!  Now, if lamb wasn't so damn expensive, I'd make this every night!  Check out this post on The Strands Of Me for some photos!

Beef, Onion and Red Wine Pie

While it's still cold out here I thought I'd take advantage of the weather and use the oven to warm the house. I don't honestly think I've ever made a savory pie and had a craving for hearty, homemade food.

Beef, Onion and Red Wine pie. Ok, I cheated and used 'Alcohol Removed' red wine. I know when cooking there's no need to, but I couldn't be bothered dealing with the look I'd get, as a pregnant woman, buying wine from the only bottle-o in town. Even if I explained it was for cooking. Then I'd get the 'yeah, right' look. When I saw the bottle in IGA - problem solved!

For a pie, it's quite quick. Cooking beef, onion, garlic then adding stock, thyme, a bay leaf, wine and water. Season and let simmer. I love those 'walk away and forget about till the timer goes off' type recipes. Easy peasy.

While the mixture cooled I defrosted some shortcrust and puff pastry that everyone keeps in the freezer. I lined my newly bought pie tin (I had somehow managed to keep from Noah as he LOVES to play with everything in my kitchen) with shortcrust. Poured in my now warm beef mixture then topped with puff, pressing the pastries together. A good brush with some beaten egg and into the oven for another 'set and forget' timeslot.

The result:

A very yummy dinner! Another to be tagged and made again!