Avocado Frozen Custard

I've only recently warmed up to eating avacados.  In the interest of venturing out further, I decided to make some avacado frozen custard.  You can see my husband loved it, even before it was frozen!

Here's the recipe from Fine Cooking:

Yields about 1 quart
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 Tbs. loosely packed finely grated lemon zest
1/2 Tbs. loosely packed finely grated lime zest
2 medium firm-ripe avocados (6 to 7 oz. each), pitted, peeled, and cut into large chunks
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the milk and sugar over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it just comes to a boil, about 4 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with several inches of ice water. Put a smaller metal bowl in the ice water and set a fine strainer on top.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. Pour about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens slightly, enough to coat the back of the spoon, 4 to 8 minutes. Immediately pour the mixture through the strainer into the small bowl. Stir in the yogurt and zests and cool the custard completely by stirring it over the ice bath.

In a blender or food processor, purée the avocado with the lemon and lime juices and about 1 cup of the cooled custard until smooth. Fold the avocado mixture back into the custard. The mixture should be thick, creamy, and pale green. Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the frozen yogurt to an airtight container and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours.

nutrition information (per serving):
Calories (kcal): 240; Fat (kcal): 13; Fat Calories (g): 110; Saturated Fat (g): 3.5; Protein (g): 5; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 7; Carbohydrates (g): 29; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 1.5; Sodium (mg): 45; Cholesterol (mg): 115; Fiber (g): 4;

From Fine Cooking 103, pp. 49
December 30, 2009

     
Click here to download:
Avocado_Frozen_Custard.zip (6105 KB)

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Making Compound Butter from Scratch

I shook the cream until the fat separated to leave me with butter and buttermilk.  I finally decided to use my quarter cup of homemade butter to make a compound butter with sesame oil and ginger.  We'll try it tomorrow night on some salmon.

     
Click here to download:
Making_Compound_Butter_from_Sc.zip (1269 KB)

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Ordering the fish

Not something I do unless it's halibut or salmon. Today, though, I had garlic fish (mahi mahi) at a thai restaurant before going to the airport. Quite tasty.
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Lilikio Quark Gelato

Half lilikio (http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/lilikoi.htm) & half pineapple. A quintessential Hawaiian treat; only second to shave ice.
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Enjoying the fruit of my labor, literally

     

Pomellos are one of my favorite fruit. I like the slightly sweet grapefruit flavor. They are widely expensive in Anchorage so I took advantage of my location & bought two. The downside is it takes some work to enjoy the tasty insides, the skin is thick & the pith plentiful. Oh, but the reward so wonderful.
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Goat milk

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Green Olives

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The seafood mix

   
Click here to download:
The_seafood_mix.zip (3849 KB)

I've been intrigued by the sea food mix at one of our local grocery stores for quite some time.  I seem to walk by it on almost every trip to the store and even from time to time pick it up and peer into the clear plastic window.  So, when I ran across this recipe from Self.com, although not exactly the same ingredients, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally buy the seafood mix and give it a try.  I simply substituted 3/4 of the bag for the seafood called for int he recipe.  The results were quite tasty.

Thai Seafood Hot Pot

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 oz dried rice stick noodles
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 shallots, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
  • 1 cup light coconut milk
  • 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • Zest of 2 limes (about 1 tbsp)
  • 1-2 Thai red chiles, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 stalk of lemongrass, minced
  • 6 sprigs cilantro, plus more for garnish
  • 2 sprigs basil, plus more for garnish
  • 1/2 cup canned straw mushrooms
  • 12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 4 large sea scallops, cut in half
  • 1 cup frozen calamari rings, thawed
  • Juice of 1 lime

PREPARATION

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Stir in noodles; remove from heat. Let stand until noodles soften, 7 to 10 minutes; drain. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook shallots, garlic and onion until soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add stock, juice from tomatoes, coconut milk, vinegar, fish sauce, lime zest, chiles, sugar and lemongrass. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add cilantro and basil; reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 minutes. Remove garlic, cilantro and basil from pot; add tomatoes and mushrooms. Return to a simmer. Add shrimp and scallops; cook 2 minutes. Add calamari and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Divide noodles among 4 bowls; top with broth and seafood; garnish with remaining basil and cilantro.

 

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Smoking meat in the oven

After waiting the 7 days for the meat to cure, today I got to smoke it, the last step to making bacon.  Not wanting to tend a grill with temperatures in the lower single digits, I decided to try it in the stove.  I'd say, given the fact that I stayed warm, that it worked well.
Smoking supplies - check!

 



Ready to go into the oven

 



Freshly cool-smoked

 



Nom nom nom

 



We did not eat all of it right away.
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Graham Crackers

Made graham crackers tonight for the first time.  The recipe came from the same book that had the instructions to make bacon.

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About

Patrioticandromantic.com started as a wedding website, but since we had the domain name and the wedding has come and gone, we've now merged it with our work-a-day-world blog, Northwardbound and here we are.

Today I Tried is simply what the name implies, a log of new and challenging experiences. It's open to posting from anyone, so tell us what you tried today.

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