100 square metres

Strawberry Hazelnut ice cream.

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:55:58 +0200

A few weeks ago, I got The Flavour Thesaurus. It’s a cooking book, but not a cook book. It lists ingredients by their flavour and then lists what goes well with it. And I read about strawberry and hazelnuts being a combo that allow “the fruit’s flavour to shine in a way that chocolate rarely can.”

And I knew just what I wanted to do: Strawberry-Hazelnut ice cream. One recipe that was a strawberry and hazelnut flavoured ice cream came up… but it used the hazelnuts pureed into a nut butter, mixed with strawberries. The oils in the nut butter froze incredibly hard and turned into a crumbly frozen mess, albeit a tasty one.

So I took a new approach, combining David Lebovitz’s Gianduja Gelato recipe (from The Perfect Scoop) and this strawberry ice cream recipe from epicurious. And there were lots of steps. And often I skip steps, but not this time. I did every. single. step.

And the results were just what I wanted.

Strawberry hazelnut ice cream

180 grams (1.5 cups) hazelnuts, roasted, skins rubbed off, finely chopped in a food processor
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
1.5 cups (375 ml) heavy cream
150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
500 grams (3-ish cups) strawberries

Roast your hazelnuts and rub them in a dish towel to get the skins off. Pulse a few times in the food processor to get them finely chopped.

In the mean time, heat up your milk, cream, salt and 1/2 cup sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Once there, pour your hazelnuts into the milk mixture and let it steep for an hour.

As the hazelnuts steep, hull your strawberries and puree them in your food processor. Strain the puree through a mesh sieve and set aside.

Combine the last quarter cup of sugar and the egg yolks in another bowl. Whisk together until well combined.

When the hazelnuts are done steeping their delicious deep roasted flavour into the milk, drain them through a mesh sieve. Press on them a few times to really get the last juices and as much flavour as you can out of them. Toss the hazelnuts and put your hazelnut-flavoured milk back on the stove and warm it up but don’t let it boil. When it’s almost at the boiling point, get your whisk ready and slowly pour in a cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper it. Once the whole cup is mixed in, pour into your saucepan on the stove and heat up, stirring constantly, until the custard starts to thicken.

Remove from stove and stir in your strawberry puree.

Cool in fridge for at least two hours and then follow your ice cream maker’s instructions for the rest.

It’s really, really good.

T-1 TO BEY-DAY!

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:01:22 +0200

T-1 TO BEY-DAY!

The freckles are back.

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:34:18 +0200

The freckles are back.

Touristing.

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:21:13 +0200

Touristing.

May flowers.

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:42:00 +0200

May flowers.

My Mother’s Day card.

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:00:56 +0200

My Mother’s Day card.

coffeemakescreative: Coffeemakescreative X Fab! For a limited...

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:43:15 +0200

coffeemakescreative:

Coffeemakescreative X Fab!

For a limited time of 7 Days, you can now get my Smoking Futura prints for your walls!

My friend made something that’s for sale over at Fab.de. Check it out!

Luisa outfit if the day.

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:32:30 +0200

Luisa outfit if the day.

Josh told some coworkers about how I poach eggs. I cheat. This...

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:39:00 +0200

Josh told some coworkers about how I poach eggs. I cheat. This is how I cheat.

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Thu, 16 May 2013 21:06:52 +0200

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Cottony snow from the chestnut trees in Volkspark...

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:59:36 +0200

Cottony snow from the chestnut trees in Volkspark Friedrichschain.

Two dinners that were easy peasy but felt fancy schmancy

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:04:00 +0200

Duck breast, scored, seared fat side down for 8 minutes, flipped and cooked for another 4 minutes, then loosely wrapped in foil and placed in an oven preheated to 280 F. While it sat in the oven, I made a honey mustard vinaigrette and washed some mixed salad leaves and also reduced 1 tbsp of honey and 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar in the pan I used to cook the duck breast. Duck breast out of the oven, juices in with the sauce. Cut in strips, covered in my glaze, laid on salad. Served with baguette.
Green asparagus, steamed. Eggs, poached. Served together with yesterday’s baguette, bits of fresh dill, salt, pepper and raspberry-balsamic reduction.

"Feeding people is an exercise in generosity. It takes time to prepare a menu, gather friends, shop..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:40:13 +0200

“Feeding people is an exercise in generosity. It takes time to prepare a menu, gather friends, shop for ingredients, clean the house, set a table, and clean it up. It costs money to buy food and all accompanied ingredients. Entertaining, be it for four or seventeen, takes time and money. I enjoy feeding people. I like making food, serving in that way, as an act of love and nourishing people I care about. That is why I cook. Not for myself, I am happy with hummus toast, but because my skill feeds someone elses need to be fed, to feel taken care of. I want to give that.”

- Sara Forte of Sprouted Kitchen

(via the-partisans)

I found a book about my hometown at my Oma’s house....

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:48:07 +0200

I found a book about my hometown at my Oma’s house. Bangdaddy here was the postmaster. I can’t make this up.

When I can't wait for my best friend to visit

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:04:50 +0200

whatshouldwecallme:

relevant. Trudy is coming on Saturday!

The easiest shut down of all time

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:07:14 +0200

Guys outside the local pub in Omatown: what! Going home already?
Me: yep. The kids are waiting.
Guys outside the local pub in Omatown: oh. Well, ok.

Photo

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:12:36 +0200

Yesterday, I survived my first train ride with two babes....

Thu, 09 May 2013 06:52:10 +0200

Yesterday, I survived my first train ride with two babes. Survived isn’t even the fair word to use. It was a huge success. It was almost easy. Luisa didn’t nap, but we still had a good time. Mateo snoozed. There was colouring and new books and stickers and a picnic complete with a “tablecloth” made with two colourful napkins. I was most relieved that Luisa didn’t insist on running up and down the train car and sat very nicely in her spot. I even heard a woman on her phone comment how good my kids were. It was definitely a proud mama moment.

Photo

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:51:00 +0200

My new sounds:

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:47:36 +0200

My new sounds: