Cactus Sorbet

Prickly pear fruit is amazingly magenta.

 

The entire plant is edible, actually. Well, not the prickly parts, but the paddles are; they're called nopales. Those are more of a dinner thing though, and this is dessert.

(and yes, I know this post is a little late, but my lab report was not)

Prickly Pear and Coconut Sorbet

• 4 prickly pear fruits (aka tunas)
• 1 tin coconut milk or cream
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 c sugar

 

Yup, that's it. I know, I know ths sugar is missing. Five ingredients and I still couldn't get them all in the shot.

First thing you have to do is wash the tunas. Wear gloves. Seriously.

The spines have been removed, but there are tiny, hair-like fibres on them still, and those things are practically invisible and are an annoying pain in the thumb if you get one stuck in you.

Keep the gloves on as you cut away the skin.

You're left with red, juicy, flesh that tastes mildly berry-like. Sweeter though. There's none of the berry tartness to these.

Chop them and toss them in the food processor to mash them.

Next we have to get rid of all the seeds. I suppose you could cut the fruit and pick them out one by one, but they're small, round, slippery, and throughout the entire fruit.

Better to sieve them out.

A coarse sieve will work okay. A finer sieve will work better, but takes longer. If you've got the patience (I had all day, but ran out of patience) go for it.

Combine the berry mash in a pot with the vanilla, lime juice, and sugar.

Bring it to a boil then turn the heat down to medium and let it go until you get this sort of pink foam on top:

Combine the sweetened, reduced berry mash into a bowl with the coconut milk.

Now is when you should use the ice cream maker, if you have one. If you don't, and I don't, you can still do this, you'll just need to pay attention to it for a few minutes at a time for the next little while.

Pour it into a pan and put it in the freezer. After about 45 minutes, take it out and give it a stir, then put it back in the freezer.

After about 40 minutes, do it again. Then 35... then 30...

What you're doing in the stir part is breaking up the ice crystals that are forming. That's what the paddles in ice cream makers do. At first, it takes a while to get the water in the sorbet to freeze (hence 45 mins) but once the crystals are there, they propagate quite nicely (hence the reduction in freezer duration each time).

So, yes, it will take a bit of time, but if you've got a Sunday afternoon for puttering about the house, it's an easy thing to add to the putter.

And you get a beautiful coco-berry sorbet out of the deal.

And you can tell the kids they're eating tuna ice cream!

Even better with chocolate sprinkles.

What's your favourite pink food?

French but not Fried

And you thought I was nuts making a whole crock pot full of caramelized onions.

 

One of the best ways to use up those deliciously dark alliums is in soup. Particularly one that also uses up stale bread.

French onion soup seems like a treat a lot of the time. It's usually in the realm of restaurant fare only, which is strange given how easy it is to make. Particularly if you make the components in the crock pot and then freeze them until you want soup.

A few weeks ago I dumped a frozen pound of stewing beef into the crock pot, covered it with water, and let it cook while I was at work all day. I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I got home, but I figured the meat would be ready, at least.

Turns out, I also ended up with a crock pot full of beef broth. Well, into the freezer with that!

Really, if you don't know what to do with something, toss it in the freezer. You'll find it one day and be totally inspired. And if you tend to forget what's in there, you can always keep a list on the door.

So, I had a few things in the freezer, and I wanted something fancy looking for dinner.

French Onion Soup

• 3-4 cups beef broth
• 1/2 c white wine (if you want)
• a sprig of thyme
• a bay leaf
• black pepper
• about a cup of caramelized onions
• a few slices of stale-ish bread
• ementhaller or swiss cheese

You can use some kind of already prepared broth for this if you'd like, but please simmer it with the herbs for at least a few minutes. I mean, you have to bring it to a boil anyway, you might as well toss more flavour in at the same time.

Get your oven broiler going and slice the bread if it isn't already.

But before you do, move one of the racks up. I prefer to use the second highest spot.

Combine the broth, booze, and herbs in a pot, and bring to a boil.

Exactly half a cup. I don't need to measure.

Let them simmer for asshort or as long as you'd like. I suggest about a half hour. The onions will need that long to thaw anyway.

Once the onions are thawed and the broth is hot and simmered, divide them up between your bowls.

Dinner for two in Corningware. I do have some oven proof bowls that were leftovers from the restaurant my parents owned, but they were smaller than the ramekins, and I wanted lots of soup. Any oven proof dish will work. And the look of the bowl won't change the flavour of the soup. I dare you to make it in a loaf pan.

Trim the bread slices to fit the bowl as best you can and lay them out on a baking sheet. Toast each side under the broiler for a few minutes. Just golden. You can do this in a toaster, but I wasn't sure about the size and shape and didn't want to have to go digging in there with a fork.

Have your cheese ready to go. Grate it if it's a block, or tear it if it's slices. We had slices because we'd just made another epic sammich.

Set the toasty bread on top of the soup, cover it with cheese, and put it under the hot broiler right away.

In no time at all the cheese will be a gooey golden lovely coat on top of the bread that's already half soaked with delicious beefy oniony broth.

And dinner is served. And since that bottle of wine is already opened... may as well pour yourself a glass.

Have you ever served soup in a loaf pan? What kind of serving dish have you had to improvise?