a few of our favourite things

Libby: I've recently re-discovered ice cream-in-a-cone. It's the perfect sweet finish to a summer barbecue - it's easy (if you buy the ice cream), inexpensive (as ice cream seems to go further when served in cones) and best of all... no dishes. Stay away from those horrid orange wafer cones though - I like the "Select" brand waffle cones from Countdown and Pam's honey waffle cones.

Miriam: My brother David requested this Heston Blumenthal Christmas Pudding for Christmas. Apparently these were a must-have in the UK and a black market developed with puddings selling for up to 15 times their RRP. I purchased this one at Nosh for a more modest $50. The pudding has a candied orange in the center, which adds a lovely moistness to the whole pudding, with the orange juices/oils running throughout the pudding. Although I found it a bit sweet for my liking, it certainly was worth a taste and a little goes a long way so lots of us were able to indulge in a sample.

a few of our favourite things

Libby: I didn't think I liked boysenberry ice cream and then I tried it on a stick, covered with chocolate and found its really rather delicious. These Kapiti ice creams are sold separately or in boxes of about six at the supermarket, in a slightly smaller size. It can't be easy being up against the Magnums and Memphis Meltdowns in the ice cream freezer but I hope these do well so they're around until at least the end of the summer.

Miriam: My brother gave me this sauce by I Love Pies as he really rates it. We had a party in the weekend. This sauce was too precious to go with the sausage rolls served at midnight but it was much appreciated the following day.

Becs: Potted meat is something I have grown up with, and if I hadn't I doubt I would be so appreciative of it - beef topside steak is simmered for an hour or two in a preserving jar along with butter, salt and anchovy sauce, then pureed, pressed into pots and sealed with a layer of butter - rather an acquired taste. Not so far removed from pate or rilettes if you think about it?! Nanny used to make it, and Mum makes it from time to time, but now one of the stalls at the Christchurch Farmers Market has added it to their range (they sell traditional pork pies). So potted meat on toast can be enjoyed regularly!

a warm pudding for a cold night

Ginger Parkin with rhubarb & spiced syrup

I hadn't heard of parkin until I came across this recipe on the Guardian website. Parkin is a gingerbread cake traditionally made with oats and molasses that originates in Northern England. The recipe I used didn't have molasses in it, just lots of brown sugar, golden syrup and a little bit of treacle. I didn't use treacle as I didn't want to buy a whole tin of the stuff for one recipe so just used extra golden syrup and a bit of dark muscovado sugar.

I was very tempted to buy an ice cream maker just so I could make the accompanying rhubarb ripple ice cream. But instead I served the parkin with vanilla ice cream and roasted rhubarb. Tart rhubarb is just what this dessert needs: with all that golden syrup it's very sweet. I'll try making the ice cream with Bec's deluxe ice cream maker when in Christchurch sometime.

I also improvised with the "hot spiced treacle" and melted a little bit of golden syrup and added a couple of pinches of mixed spice.

The parkin had an interesting texture - dense and quite chewy. It wasn't as moist as I expected but apparently it gets better with age. The recipe says for the best flavour, keep in an airtight container for three weeks so I will report back on its keeping qualities in a few weeks!

instant 'ice cream'

A few weeks ago Miriam posted about the delicious banana ice cream sold at the Rotorua night market. The other day Libby came across this website that shows how to make the same instant ice cream at home using a food processor. Intrigued (and admittedly, slightly unconvinced) we made a batch immediately, as I had some sliced banana in the freezer ready for a spontaneous smoothie fix.

The 'recipe' couldn't be easier. Just slice up a bunch of ripe bananas, put them into the freezer for a couple of hours, then into the food processor for a minute or two, which will result in the dramatic transformation into this...

Super creamy, instant, and oh-so-delicious banana 'ice cream'. If you own a food processor this is a must try, I shall definitely be buying some ripe bananas to slice and freeze to ensure that banana ice cream is never more than a few minutes away. I think it would also be really nice with frozen berries blended in too....or chocolate or caramel sauce swirled through...

(Perhaps I am stating the obvious here but it's rather essential to ensure your bananas are not frozen solidly, as in this state they resemble bullets and your food processor will not appreciate it - I partially defrosted the prefrozen banana in the microwave for about a minute...after initially and unsuccessfully attempting to process them!)

frozen & fruity

Here in Christchurch we had some beautiful hot days over Christmas, which inspired me to haul out my ice cream maker and churn up some frozen treats. An ice cream maker is one of those pieces of kitchen equipment that seldom earns its keep...I bought my commercial style one a couple of years ago when I was selling puddings at the farmer's market and had visions of selling ice cream during the summer.


Given the cost of my machine it would be fair to say that the cost per batch of my homemade ice cream is still on the high side, but since making some lately I was reminded of how easy it it to make, especially when not using a custard based recipe which is more fuss. There are some really cheap machines on the market now too, which certainly do the trick.

The first ice cream is boysenberry, but you can use the recipe with any berries you like, or a mixture is good. I haven't tried making it without a machine, but it would probably work well too if you froze the mix and placed it in the freezer, removing after a couple of hours to beat some air into it.

Easy Berry Ice cream


500g berries
250ml milk
1 1/4 c sugar
250ml cream

Place berries and sugar in the food processor and mix until smooth. Pour in combined milk and cream mix and pulse until well blended. Pour into an ice cream machine and churn as per usual.

Another easy recipe we made was banana frozen yoghurt, delicious topped with chocolate sauce, but also really good on its own as a reasonably healthy treat. Banana flavoured foods are often quite fake tasting, (with the exception of Cyclop's banana yoghurt - so good!) so it is a nice thing to make yourself. This mixture froze really solidly so is best eaten freshly churned. It would work well poured into moulds to make ice blocks, or scooped into a smoothie with berries and banana.

banana frozen yoghurt (from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion)

300ml greek yoghurt
350g banana, mashed
juice of 1 lemon
100g sugar
100ml water

Combine sugar and water and boil until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes, you should have about 1/2 cup of sugar syrup, cool. Place banana and lemon juice in the food processor and blend well until smooth, add the yoghurt and sugar syrup and blend again briefly to combine. Pour into ice cream machine and churn as per usual.