Frozen Kefir Custard

Hot Weather Treat

The weather here in Oregon has been unusually warm lately. So I have been craving something cold and sweet. Since there is no one here to help me drink the kefir, I decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and use some of the abundant kefir to make frozen custard. When I was a kid we used to hand-crank our ice cream. I must admit that having an electric ice cream maker is much easier – and it makes just enough for me to eat and share with the neighbors.

Ingredients and instruction (Print Recipe Here)

Equipment needed: Ice cream maker

• 1/2 cup cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 1-1/2 cups kefir
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 Tablespoons sugar

1. Bring the cream and sugar just to a boil in a small saucepan.
   
2. In the meantime, stir the egg yolks and vanilla together.
   
3. Slowly pour the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks while whisking. Allow to cool.
   
4. Pour the kefir into the  egg yolk and cream mixture. Cool off in the refrigerator.
   
5. Put the cooled down mix into the ice cream maker and turn it on.
   
   
   We used to fight over who got the paddle when the ice cream was done. Somehow the ice cream stuck to that tasted better…
6. Enjoy with fresh fruit or just plain.

 

In case you are interested here is the setup I use to make the kefir. I may have let this batch ferment a little too long but it still tasted good.

And here are the kefir grains

I am a big fan of home made kefir. I really like the sourness and the health benefits. We use it in our morning smoothies and I enjoy drinking it plain. Looking forward to Nipponnin getting home this week.

Got a few tomatoes from the garden,

Canneles

Breakfast of champions?

Well, Nipponnin Is off in Hawaii helping with the grandkids. Not sure if you noticed any of my sense of jealousy in that bland statement. But it is there. Just a little. So, she gave me a recipe and instructions to make this and post it for all of you, her faithful readers. The wikipedia entry for this makes it sound less delicious than I think it is, but I guess beauty is in the eye (or taste) of the beholder and all… And it did give me permission to eat these for breakfast. It is one of my favorites. Besides, this gave me a good excuse to buy a pan. It needs to rest in the refrigerator for 24 – 48 hours so plan ahead.

Recipe and instructions (Print recipe here)

Equipment needed: Cannele molds

• 4-1/4 cups of milk
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 extra-large egg yolks
• 1 extra-large egg
• 2-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups unbleached pastry flour
• Nonstick cooking spray

1. Bring 2-1/2 cups of the milk and the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
   
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, the egg, sugar, vanilla and the remaining milk. Whisk in the flour.
   
   
   
3. In a steady stream add the milk mixture from step 1 – whisking to combine.
   
4. Pour the batter through a fine sieve into another bowl.
   
5. Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.
   
6. Heat oven to 400 F. Spray molds with cooking spray and place in freezer for 20 minutes. Place molds about 1-1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
   
7. Remove batter from refrigerator and whisk gently. Fill each mold to 1/2 inch from the top. Bake until they slip easily from the mold and are evenly browned, 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours.
   

The figs loved the hot weather so we had more than we could eat. I made a few bottles of jam. Love it with fresh bread.

Nipponnin will be back in a couple of weeks. She is still posting her #todaystapas on Instagram, so please look her up there to see what she is up to.

Lemon Pots de Crème

Borrowed recipe from fine Cooking

My husband and I love custard dessert, especially Japanese style ‘purin’ but the French custard recipe from ‘fine Cooking’ sounds great and worth a try?

Very rich and creamy…10 egg yolks? Holy macaroni! That’s a lots of des oeufs! (eggs) Kidding aside, lemon somehow cuts down the strong yolkiness…what? That’s not a word?

Warning – this is not low-fat dessert! Not even close. Luckily, we had dinner guests that day.

Ingredients and Instruction for 9,  4 ounce ramekins (Print recipe here) 

Necessary equipment : 6, 6 –oz. ramekins or 9, 4 oz. ramekins, instant read thermometer, fine sieve, foil (large enough to cover the roasting pan)

• finely grated zest of 4 lemons
  
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar divided in 1/4 cup each
• 3-1/2 cups heavy  cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved (or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)
  
• 10 large egg yolks
• Sweetened whipped cream for garnish (optional)

1. Getting ready - Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Place ramekins in a large roasting pan or baking dish with high sides.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the sugar. simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the vanilla seed and pod (if you’re using vanilla extract, do not add it yet) and bring to just below boiling. Remove from heat. Set aside.
4. Heat oven to 325F. Boil a large pot (kettle is easier to use) of water for water bath. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with last 1/4 cup of the sugar until smooth. Gently whisk a ladleful of the hot cream (step #3) into the yolks. Pour this yolk mixture back into the pot of cream mixture and whisk.
   
5. Cook slowly, stirring constantly at low heat until the mixture reaches 170F on an instant- read thermometer, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the reserved lemon syrup (step #2) and strain immediately through a fine sieve. If you’re using vanilla extract, stir it in at this point.
6. Divide the mixture among the ramekins in the roasting pan. put on the oven rack then pour enough boiling water into the pan so that it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Loosely cover with foil on top. Bake for 25 to 45 minutes until the custard is set but the center responds with a firm jiggle when you nudge the ramekins, and the center of the custards register 150F to 155F on an instant-read thermometer.
7. Let custard cool to to room temperature in their water bath. Remove the custard from the bath, cover them with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Garnish with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream and maybe some fruits. Bon appétit!
    

Last week in our kitchen…Rats! I forgot to take the just-out-of-the-oven picture…the no-knead French Baguette recipe from Color your recipes we liked! 

April 2nd of Today’s TAPAS Instagram post was Pon–de-ring, the best selling donuts at Mister Donuts. On this day in 1971, 1st. Misudo (nickname for Mister Donuts) was opened in Osaka Japan. #todaystapas

My husband  and I can’t wait to have the real thing soon!

Mash

Baked Sweet Potato

Strolling up the hilly Gerbera Street in Jiyuugaoka (自由が丘) for 10 minutes, a pastry shop Mont St. Clair was in our view. It was a tad smaller than I imagined but that in no way squashed my anticipation of what I was sure would be an amazing array of pastries to see. That was June of 2009. My voracious appetite to discover pastry shops drove me to this store. My husband was a willing partner in this search. 

Hironobu Tsujiguchi (辻口博啓) operates this store and twelve others. He was born in Ishikawa prefecture, the son of the owner of a Japanese pastry shop Beniya (紅屋). He could have followed in his father’s foot steps if not for a strawberry shortcake he had for the first time at his friend’s birthday party. His training  to become a pastry chef started right after graduating from high school. He won numerous and prestigious awards. He appeared on many variety/talk television shows – he beat iron chef Masahiko Kobe in Iron Chef in February of 1999, secret ingredient – Banana! He teaches Super Sweet cooking School on line as well as on-site in Jiyuugaoka. I’m short on space to list all his accomplishments though, I have to mention that in 2004, he opened a Japanese pastry shop ‘Waraku Beniya’ (和楽紅屋) to revive his father’s store which folded in 1985.

Sweet Potato is a familiar sweet to Japanese. I have not yet seen it in the US market. I followed his method almost entirely from his cook book ‘Sweets Done Right’ (ちゃんと作れるスイーツ). The only difference is that I mashed sweet potato all the way then strained it through the mesh to make it ultra creamy. Anyway, that’s how I dealt with the sweet potato that was getting new shoots.

Ingredients and instruction. Make approximately 8-2inch cups.

Equipment: food scale, sieve, 8-2inch diameter (Wilton) party cups or 4, 2-1/2inch cups (available in craft store). Pastry brush

• Sweet potato 400g cook and peel skin. I wrapped in foil and put in the oven for about 1-1/2 hour. You could also steam whole then peel the skin. Roughly mash it while it’s hot.
  
• Butter 80g softened
• Granulated sugar 50g
• Honey 20g
• A pinch of salt
• Egg yolk 30g about 2 eggs. Beat well
• Rum flavoring 1/2 teaspoon or if you are using real rum 6g

1. Put butter and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk well until color gets light and creamy.
   
2. Add honey and continue to whisk
   .
3. Add salt and mix well.
4. Add egg in three parts and continue to whisk.
5. Add rum and mix. Heat oven to 340F at this point.
6. Mash sweet potato with potato masher until it is like paste. Do not over mash if you like some texture. If you prefer smoother texture strain through a sieve.
   
7. Combine mashed sweet potato and butter/egg mixture using a spatula. Do this with a quick and light motion.
8. Fill potato batter into a piping bag with large star tip. Pipe out into each cup - this is optional process - Simply spoon out and use butter knife to make a mount.
   
9. Brush with mixture of 1egg yolk plus 1 tablespoon water for shine.
10. Place filled cups on cookie sheet and bake for 25minutes.Plain looking sweet potato needs some dressing up to do. Here I topped with whipped cream, chopped chestnuts and sprinkled with cinnamon.

 

We participate in beautification of our city park last Saturday. WERK Day is in it’s 13th run. Volunteers were treated to a pancake and omelet breakfast then divided into 5-6 groups for bark dusting, gravel paving in the dog run section or poison ivy and other noxious species removal.Memorial Park is the largest park in our city.

Here is my husband shoveling gravel into the wheel barrow.

City gave each of us the lovely orange t-shirts…and free coupon to Wendy’s.

On the home front, we have our own beautification task to do also. Honey, can I volunteer to take a nap? The golden chain tree in our back yard is in full bloom. The vibrant yellow color lasts only for a week.The enjoyment was shared with bees too.The fig tree looks promising.I’m sure I didn’t plant the strawberry there. Over thriving strawberries delight my husband.

That evening my husband took me to Urban Farmer Steak House in downtown Portland for early Mother’s Day treat. We split the wagyu rib eye steak yet it was still too much! The food was great and  the décor sooo urban chic!

Super moist petit cakes arrived just in time for Mother’s Day from Japan. The gift is from my son and daughter-in-law.

And bouquets from my husband and my daughter.

Striking peony like multi-layered petal roses. Ahhh..nice to be pampered.Thought about my late mother all day… filled with gratitude.