Please don’t think I am one of those nutters that eats wasabi like avocado. I can’t really tolerate the stuff as I find it the equivalent of getting a a gigantic vacuum cleaner on my sinuses. In fact I usually request my sushi sans wasabi so much is my loathing of the innocuous looking stuff. However a visit to Samurai cafe in Balmain a while ago brought us face to face with wasabi ice cream. I didn’t want to try it but I did and it was so mild with only a small tingle at the end that I actually liked it.

I’ve used a cream based crème anglaise base -I do have an ice cream maker but with the insane amount of baking and freezing I’ve been doing, it would take a minor miracle to clear the necessary space in my freezer for the mixing bowl to freeze.

And of course I love my Nigella measuring spoons which are so beautifully crafted and ergonomic that using them makes me endlessly happy (ok I’m easily satisfied). The spoon measurement that I’ve used is the “pinch” size. I’ve given a recipe for a half portion as I do realise that it’s not to everyone’s taste. I don’t want people asking me what on earth to do with a sinus clearing ice cream to which I wouldn’t have the faintest idea as I usually give it to my wasabi loving husband.

Click here to read the full story

Aren’t Mangoes the most summery fruit you could think of? OK aside from perhaps Pineapples but even the look of a Mango resembles that of the sun. So in an effort to survive the hot Australian weather, I decided to make a Mangoes and Cream ice cream. I had the backing of my husband, a fervent mango lover from way back, who would tell me every day while the mangoes were ripening on the windowsill that “Today is the day!”. I ignored his pointed comments and waited until they were actually ripe.

My ice cream maker is the most used gadget this summer, for not only can it help make friends and influence people, it allows me to keep my husband happy with an array of frozen goodies. And believe me, mentioning it to guests will induce childlike squeals of happiness in adult or child, especially once they’re slurping down some freshly churned ice cream.

One of my favourite ice cream bars is the Weiss Mangoes and Cream bars and this is my effort to replicate the lovely flavour of these. If I weren’t trying to make it like those bars, I’d probably swirl through a bit of thick but still slightly runny mango syrup right at the end before I set it in the freezer just because I find those luscious fruit swirls irresistible. I made these with slightly less sugar although if you like your ice creams very sweet you could certainly add more. It would also depend on how ripe and sweet your mangoes are so doing a taste test before churning wouldn’t go astray and it’s hardly a hardship. As for the Mermaid on the side of the cup? That’s how I’d like to be, arms resting on the side of a pool round about now.

Click here to read the full story

I won’t lie. When I saw this recipe, all 18 pages of it I wasn’t happy. I may have even sworn. December is a busy enough time as it is without making a dish that has 6 elements to it. There was absolutely no way I could make this before Christmas with my packed schedule so I shelved this for a New Year’s Eve celebration. A few days before NYE I made it with some help from Angela from A Spoonful of Sugar who coaxed me off the window ledge so to speak. She also gave me the inspiration for the Ispahan themed buche.

I should have taken the opt out option for this one in hindsight but the idea of an Ispahan buche was too tempting. What I didn’t count on was the mousse part, usually a fairly easy item to make causing a lot of trouble. I used the 1/3 cup specified and it turned into something like scrambled eggs. I then asked on the website and someone else said that 1/3 of a cup worked fine but I just can’t see how what I had would have worked in any way. I made another version of the ganache but I don’t think this was ideal so I can’t comment on the ganache insert recipe below as I didn’t try it.

Another element that I had trouble with was the icing. I didn’t have any gelatine leaves left (and I certainly wasn’t in the mood to track down some more) so I wasn’t sure how to follow the recipe to use powder even though the recipe specified that powder could be used. I dissolved the gelatine into the almost boiling milk and glucose syrup (I didn’t want to dissolve it in water in case it introduced too much water into the icing) but by the time the gelatine powder had dissolved, the milky mixture was too cold to melt the chocolate and butter so it had to go back on the stove. I also waited until it coated the back of a spoon but it was still too runny then too.

Then there was the drama about the acetate, I wanted a dome shaped buche so I read that you simply line the loaf tin with the acetate and that’s all you need to do. Apparently not, as mine turned out as a loaf shape and whilst I tried lining the sides, some mousse seeped out (as well as some raspberry puree). This was exacerbated by the mousse being runnier than normal as I’d tried to save it from the recipe error before.

Would I recommend making it? Sadly, probably not. Well I think most of the elements are delicious by themselves, especially the feuillete which I could happily eat by itself in bucketloads but the overall production was it was far too stressful for me to wholeheartedly recommend, especially if you don’t have the help of a dishwasher (I did 6 sinkfuls of dishes for this). However it is spectacular looking I will admit (well other people’s buches are anyway) so I’d save this for when you a) have 2 days in which to prepare it and b) when you have someone helping you out. And when you have a lot of patience. A few days after I tried this and I found that when thawed, the log was divine, ambrosial, perfection. So does this mean there’s another version coming up next year? Who knows…time has a way of dulling memories

Click here to read the full story