Summer Lovin'

This summer, in Canberra at least, hasn't exactly been a quintessential summer. Too much cloud, too much rain, a blanket is still required to sleep at night, and even worse a jacket is often required when heading out to Pub Friday.


So, when we had about 5 days in a row of sticky, humid, heat I took advantage of it. I made ice cream, granita, and gelato - the only thing I didn't make was sorbet! (to which I have added lemon sorbet to my list of things to make). I also hung out at the pool in my apartment complex, but I am ashamed to say that my legs remain lily-white, a fate that I fear will endure into the near future.


The sunshine also woke up my strawberry plants, and eversince I've been picking a handful of teeny, tiny berries daily.

Ice cream and gelato aren't too hard to make without an ice cream machine, it just means that you have to be vigulount with beating the mixture as it initially freezes, 2 or 3 times every half an hour or so, otherwise the mixture forms ice crystals and won't produce that creamy, silky texture.


My personal favourite was the balsamic strawberry ice cream, but then I go to Macdonald's purely because I have a soft spot for strawberry thickshakes. This ice cream had a sweet, tangy flavour, was just delicious, and easy to make. Basically I macerated about 400g of strawberries with 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar for 20 minutes, then bitzed it in the food processor and chilled the mixture for 2 hours to allow it to macerate some more. I then whipped 3 cups of cream to soft peaks and folded the cream into the berry mixture. The next obvious step was to place the mixture in the freezer, blending the mixture every half an hour or so (when the mixture freezes at the edges), repeating the process 2 or 3 times, then allow to freeze completely.


The favourite of my friends has been the chocolate gelato and it was a close second for me too. For this one, I pretty much made a dark chocolate custard mixture. I was tossing up between the chocolate gelato or a cinnamon gelato, but chocolate won. (And, as with the lemon sorbet, the cinnamon gelato is on the list to make in future).


We were all a fan of the cafe granita, it tasted like an icy cold, slushy-like iced coffee, especially with a dollop of coffee cream. Next time, I will make sure I have some choc-coated coffee beans to scatter on top. Oh, and some waffle cones for the ice cream and gelato ;)


Alas, the warm weather is hiding again. It's Sunday, cloudy outside and I'm rocking at home in tracksuit pants and a jumper. I'm waiting for the rain the start, as the clouds look ominous. Perfect napping weather though.