Tuesday Lunch at Home

Yesterday my body and mind were both trashed after 7 hours of teaching! If only I had the chance to perhaps do some chat online and reply a few pointless emails like how I did before at the deskjob where the computer screen was the permanent frame for my lenses during those 7 hours. Therefore I think I deserve a lazy Tuesday at home with some simple lunch.

Lunch Menu

– Farfalle with spicy tuna and sundried tomatoes
– Semi-strong latte
– Low sugar (that’s what they like to call it in the packaging) mango Ice-cream / gelato hybrid

* All homemade from scratch except ground coffee beans & canned spicy tuna (yes i’m guilty)

What’s lacking

– Fresh salad
– A lunch companion ( I’m sure I read somewhere it is healthier to have lunch with someone other than yourself)

Ice-cream / Gelato Hybrid – The Story Behind It

My recent kitchen gagdet purchase was an ice-cream maker spurred by my also recent fascination with gelato. What’s better than being able to make fresh gelato at home.

Attempt #1

After consulting Professional Chef, Delia Smith, Professional Baking and countless websites, I finally settled on coffee ice cream. Ahh, the first tasters….always loved their generosity, what I would like to think of them but probably more of greediness than anything else. Cringing faces at the first lick caused by an overdosage of sugar. But I followed the measures accurately. Its definitely the scale’s fault – when it changes from a clean white colour to a yellow mustard finish, it must also have lost its accuracy!

Tip of the day : Never attempt to be Mr or Ms Smartypants with scaling. Never substitute the scale’s bowl with others and then mess around with the zero needle. In the hype of attempting a new recipe, the accuracy of your eye sight and the math whizz in you usually won’t work hand-in-hand.

The churned ice-cream took a long time to freeze, and when it did, the texture was somewhat like just frozen juice.

Attempt #2

After having my father relentlessly telling me about the lost art of making durian ice-cream, I servantly put on the apron attempting to reignite the lost art. The durian : Creamy in texture, pungent smelling so not much flavouring required. Given my father’s lack of fascination with cream, I decided to substitute the cream entirely with milk. My train of thoughts in that decision also involved “durian is creamy, so shall use no cream” at some time. For those who are alien to durian, think of a pomenagrate but big sharp green thorns, 5 times in size and substitute those red seeds with yellow avocadoish in texture around the size of half your palm. You can smell durians 20.5 times further away than pommies.

Results : When the ice-cream had frozen, it become sort of an icy sorbetish texture which I attribute to the lack of cream in the custard.

Tasting Feedback : “Its so smelly, please keep it away from me”, “Taste just like durian + ice, blended and frozen”

Despite the comments, it seemed to be a little more popular at home than the earlier coffee ice-cream. Must be the familiar local stinky flavour.

Attempt #3 : Mango Ice-Cream

Having done my research for gelato, it seems that the only major difference between ice-cream and gelato making is that gelato doesn’t incorporate air during the churning process. Also after that episode with the durian, I decided to reintroduce cream. What I also did to ensure the ice-cream maker doesn’t overheat and just stop before the churning was complete was to chill the custard and mango puree (with emphasis) THOROUGHLY.
Brilliante!

Now it should work – less sugar, don’t forget cream and chill the ingredients. One last tinkling, no air for gelato. But there’s a big hole at the top of the ice-cream maker. Ting! Just cover it with a heavy cloth to stop air from going in. And that’s what I did.

Result : Lovely soft & smooth texture, no overpowering sweetness, overdose of mango (good!)
Texture : Good when frozen, except a little icy – could be due to no sieving properly the mango puree.

Note – I’ve been eating this ice-cream everynite :)

Recipe for Attempt #3

3 egg yolks
350ml fresh milk
200ml cream
Sugar to taste ( about 2 molehills palm size )
Big ripe mango – pureed

Mix mango puree with half the sugar.
Whisk egg yolks with other half of sugar.
Scald the milk and pour gradually to whisked eggs – eggs might cook if u do it at one go (Patience required)
On boiling water, stir the custard until it thickens (More patience required)
– I notice that there’s a point where you can let the custard thicken, when you pass it the eggs will cook
and curdle. You don’t want that to happen.
Submerge in ice water immediately to cool mixture then add cold cream.

Freeze custard and mango puree about 15 minutes (for speed chilling)
Mix together and throw them into the ice-cream maker.

Enjoy!