Malted Banana Ice-Cream

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As I sit here, on standby (FML, as the youngsters seem to be saying these days), I realise that it is the first of the month.


Will July be when I start blogging with the increased frequency that I used to? Will I go back to being the kind of nice, friendly blogger who comments on others' posts and engages in conversations on Twitter and Facebook? Well, we can hope. There are going to be big changes coming up anyway, so you never know!

I am freshly back from holiday, and suffering from the associated exhaustion that such a state entails. Am I the only one who thinks we should be entitled to a post-holiday holiday to get over the first? Maybe it's my age (I turned 32 last week).

I spent a week in Malaga, visiting a former flyer friend who just opened a hotel in the old town there. In actual fact, he was in Ibiza for most of the time we were in town, but nonetheless, I took the opportunity to eat as many local treats as one possibly can without the help of a guide (I manage that rather well!) and am going to try to rustle up some of them for these very pages.

One of my favourite finds was a local heladeria, which had such wonderful ice-cream I can hardly bear thinking about it. Thus, I have been in full chilled dessert making mode since coming back home. I have turned out fairly decent strawberry gelato, but the way I do it uses raw eggs and I know what you lot are like about raw eggs in food, having received a raft of emails about leaving them out when I shared my Alphonso mango tiramisu recipe years ago. So I am giving you an egg free malted banana version (which is inspired by a dessert let down I had recently in Bill's - does anyone ever come away from there feeling satisfied? I find it all style and no substance). You don't need an ice-cream maker: this is no churn. Hurrah.

Enjoy.

Malted Banana Ice-Cream

You will need:

1 tin of condensed milk (397g)
300ml double cream
2 ripe bananas, mashed
4 tbsp Horlicks, or other malted milk powder
2 tbsp vodka (optional, but keeps texture smooth during long storage in freezer)

1. Whisk everything together until thick and airily creamy. Freeze. That's it.

Lemon Ice-Cream

I haven't died. Honest. I don't even know where the time has gone, it's been almost a month.

Must try harder. (It used to say that on my school reports too, as well as 'talks too much', though I like to think I have turned that one into a professional advantage...)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention (just as I forgot to update) that the good people at Taylor Wimpey announced their winners for the competition I judged. You can see the results here.

Now. I remember not so very long ago, or so it seems to me, spending a week making ice-cream every day and telling you all about it. There'll be a link to what I'm talking about on the left... Yeah, just click on the photo of a mini-sundae with a gingerbread heart and you'll get there.

(Wow, I really was going for it wasn't I? Haven't made a gingerbread anything in forever!)

I'm not saying that I haven't made any frozen delights since then, but I don't recall actually sharing any recipes, and sharing is important to me; I am a giver. I know it looks like I only take, but I assure you, at least 15% of the time, I am giving. Aggro mostly, but still. You need to try this recipe.


You will not need an ice-cream maker. But you will need some limoncello, or sufficient creative ability to think of a substitute for some. Can I be annoying and nip that creative streak in the bud? I suggest gin. Then you'd have lemon and juniper-scented gelato and can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't be happy with that?

Exactly.

Because I have one, I used my stand mixer to make this. But, no word of a lie, this could easily be done by hand as well. So I am allowing you the freedom of choice, which frankly, is more than you'd get from most bloggers out there. Don't say I never think about you lot, my 'end users'.

Also, I loved the extra kick of lemon you get from using the extract. I have nothing against my zester or fresh lemons in general, but as a good friend of mine once said, 'The fact is, sometimes lemon flavoured things aren't lemony enough.'

My sista ain't wrong.

Lemon Ice-Cream

You will need:

1 tin of condensed milk (397g)
300ml double cream
finely grated zest of one lemon
2 tbsp limoncello (or gin, see above)
1 tsp lemon extract (I used Nielsen Massey)

1. Whisk everything together until thick and airily creamy. Freeze. That's it.

Peach Ice Cream

Sometimes I just prefer the unstaged, 'quick-get-the-camera!' pictures. You can't fake dripping ice cream!

Not wanting to be labelled a flirt who doesn't follow through (see here), I have made some ice cream to go with the sunshine.

It's actually, I suppose, technically not an ice cream, since I didn't make a custard base, but I was remembering the beautiful glittering raspberry kulfi I made a year or so back and wanted to recreate its ease of execution. I mean, the sun is shining: am I really going to be stirring hot cream into eggs and sugar today? No, reader. I am not.

I decided to forgo the evaporated milk that made the kulfi so ridiculously quick to make, despite having a tin on the shelf. It is earmarked for macaroni and cheese when friends come over (I'm doing my bit to make trashy food trendy). No, this ice cream was made with a big tin of peaches and a tub of double cream. More fat, but no tin opener required. Sometimes there has to be a trade off.

I just want to tell you, before moving on to more pressing matters, that this ice cream is wonderful. It is peachy and creamy smooth, and although you can't really tell in the pictures, not a uniform orange blossom colour, but a pale, Spring-like apricot hue, shot through with flecks of sunny, orange peaches.

I must say, having read that last paragraph back, I am glad I went for cream. You can't wax lyrical like that about Carnation, however quick the recipe.

Now: we move away from food, and on to night club DJs. Yes, really.

I have a bit of a thing about garnishing with rosemary flowers. So pretty.

I recently went out. It's not something I do often, but I'm not dead yet and occasionally feel the need to dance somewhere other than my kitchen.

To all intents and purposes it was a good night; we danced, drank shots of vanilla vodka (home made, I'm not a teenager) and ended up eating falafel at 5am. I'm pleased to say I can still do it. I may have crow's feet, but I can all night with the best of them once in a while.

Now. Here's the thing. It was an Eighties night - had to be, otherwise I wouldn't go - but the DJ wouldn't play my request. I wanted Kim Wilde (follow that link - truly wonderful), but didn't get it. Am I right to be annoyed?

I see it like this: you pay your money to get in, and the DJ is supposed to play music you want to hear. Where do they get off on telling me 'no'? I'm a customer!

Perhaps I am overreacting, but I was really cross. Especially when he followed this song with this one (!). Frankly, that man can't call himself a DJ at all. Have some respect for the greats.

I've lost track again. Forgive me.

Peach Ice Cream

You will need:

1 large tin of peaches in syrup (mine was 470g)
300ml double cream

1. Blend the peaches and syrup to a smooth purée in blender, or push them through a sieve if you favour hard work.
2. Whisk in the cream.
3. Pour this mixture into your ice cream maker and churn until frozen. Keep in the freezer, but take it out about 30 minutes before serving to ripen.