Week 22: Orange Ice Cream

I just bought an ice cream maker the other day, and of course it had to be tried out as soon as the freezing element was cold enough!

The Recipe
3-4 egg yolks
60 g sugar
2 1/2 dl yogurt natural (~1 cup)
Juice from 1 orange (~1dl)
2 tsp orange zest
50 g dark chocolate, chopped
2 1/2 dl cream
2-3 egg whites

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and frothy. Add yogurt, orange juice, orange zest and chocolate.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream. Carefully mix it together with the orange-egg yolk mix
In another separate bowl, whip the egg whites. Carefully fold it into the cream.
Pour mixture into ice-cream maker and proceed according to machine instructions. I gave it about 45 minutes.
Transfer to freezer-proof tubs and freeze until completely solid (although do have a taste before then! 45 minutes is long enough to wait :) )

If you don't have an ice-cream maker, put it in the freezer straight away, and stir regularly for the first 4 hours.

The Verdict
GELATOOOOOO!!!!! :-D This was AWESOME! I'm so glad that my first try ended up so delicious :) I may do without the orange zest next time though - or at least grate it more finely. DH also suggested chopping the chocolate more finely. I liked the bigger pieces, but I do see what he means :)

But all in all - YUM! This was lovely :)

Week 21: Strawberry-Melon Smoothie

The Recipe
2dl yogurt natural or A-38
125g frozen or fresh strawberries
250g melon
30g sugar

Put everything in a blender or similar and run until smooth.

The Verdict
At first taste I absolutely loved it, but after awhile I started thinking it had undertones of banana. I can't STAND banana, so that was a real dealbreaker for me. I tasted some of the melon on its own afterwards, and I think it had gone overripe, which must have caused the banana-like taste, so it would probably have been excellent with a better melon.

Week 20: Mashed Potato Patty Cakes

The Recipe
(makes 4 patties)

1 egg
1/2 tsp onion powder
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

PLUS EITHER
2 cups leftover burning love

OR
2 slices bacon
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

IF USING BURNING LOVE:
Mix the burning love, egg, onion powder, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Add cheddar cheese.
Form the mixture into 4 patties. Melt some butter in a pan over medium heat and pan-fry the patties until crisp on each side - about 4-5 minutes per side.

OTHERWISE:
Cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove from pan, leaving the bacon drippings in the skillet.
Mix the mashed potatoes, eggs, onion powder, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl; stir in the crumbled bacon and Cheddar cheese.
Form the mixture into 4 patties. Reheat the bacon drippings over medium heat, and pan-fry the patties in the drippings until crisp on each side, about 4-5 minutes per side.

The Verdict
Sooooo good! I love mashed potatoes, and this is a terrific way to use up leftovers. Definitely something I'll be making again. I made these for brunch which worked out extremely well, but they could easily be used as lunch or a side for dinner as well.

Week 19: One Pot Wonder

The Recipe
150g bacon
12 ounces linguine pasta (couldn't find any, so I used spaghetti instead)
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid
1 onion, cut in thin strips
4 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, cut in thin strips
1/2 squash, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp dried oregano leaves
4 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch (about 10 to 12 leaves) basil, diced
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Cook bacon in a large stock pot until almost done. Add pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, bell pepper and squash. Pour in vegetable broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil.

Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated – I left about an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot – but you can reduce as desired .

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add basil leaves and stir pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot evenly throughout the pasta as you are serving. Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.

The Verdict
I had a bunch of asparagus from the garden, which I thought I might as well add as well - worked very nicely :)

The liquid did not evaporate at all! So this ended up more as a stew than a pasta dish. Never mind - it still turned out absolutely delicious, and is definitely something I'll be making again.