Sweet, creamy, nutty and salty, this ice cream is a hit! I always make my custard with milk, which makes it lighter, and there is the option to mix the custard with more milk instead of double cream at the end for an even lighter ice cream.
Easy natural tomato preserves
Want to preserve these wonderful tomatoes from your garden or the one you bought and loved so much? This is so easy you won’t believe it. I am using here the cherry tomatoes we grew in our garden. After the amount I eat when I come back from work I am still amazed at how many pots of preserves I managed to make, and the season is not over yet!
Home grown equals great flavours, and these cherry tomatoes are sweet and juicy. But as for fruits, the more you cook tomatoes the more you loose these great flavours. Even though tomatoes are fruits, they have far less sugar than “normal” fruits. This is a problem for preserving in itself as sugar is the main agent causing the death of the micro organisms that would otherwise grow on your jams (for the scientists, adding extra sugar or salt will create a high osmotic pressure with the low salt/sugar concentration inside the bacteria cell, and it will basically suck out all the water from the bacteria cell and dry it to death- charming and efficient). If you want to preserve your tomatoes for a long time (more than 6 months), you should dehydrate them by heating them up in a pan and reduce the juices as much as possible. THEN fill your clean jars and sterilise them, so you are technically cooking them twice and this will cause a dramatic loss in flavour.
Strawberry Jam
No foraging this time, but cheap and delicious strawberries from the Goodge Street Station man. He is there everyday of the week, selling his very good fruits for much cheaper than at the supermarket. For Strawberry Jam making, I go old-fashion and use my Grandma’s recipe. She does her jam with her own strawberries and this technique is the best way to conserve the colour and the flavour of these gorgeous summer berries. You can also use this jam to make wild Cherry Plum jam. This jam recipe doesn’t use any added pectin and the end product is a thick dark pink strawberry jam that can be spooned onto freshly toasted sourdough bread. I might have to go and have another one of those right now…. Continue reading
Noémie's kitchen 