Memories of childhood Saturdays and a recipe for dairy-free ice cream

What were your Saturdays like when you were a child? Mine would always begin with my sisters and I huddled under duvets on the sofa, chomping on bowls of Rice Crispies with milk and giggling at Saturday morning cartoons.

They would end with mass. It never mattered how much we resisted that weekly trip to church, we’d be washed, scrubbed and dressed in our Sunday (or in this case, Saturday) best before being dragged reluctantly along to the service.

Our parents did try to sweeten the deal though. In an attempt to ensure that we didn’t fidget or fight during what often seemed like a never-ending service, our parents would promise us the ice cream of our choice from the shop across the road from the church once mass was over.

Peering into a freezer full of ice cream, trying to decide between a Feast, Cornetto, Freaky Foot or Tangle Twister became the Saturday night ritual of my childhood and I still associate ice cream with a treat.

It’s a treat that I’ve been unable to indulge in since I started to follow the OMS diet. And boy have I missed it!

Despite the fact that there has been a huge growth in free-from foods, I haven’t been able to find many ice creams I can eat.  A lot of dairy-free ices are made with coconut milk and because of its high saturated fat content, that’s not an ingredient for me.

Lately though, I have been hearing good things about ice creams made with frozen bananas. So last week I decided to experiment.

I must admit that my hopes weren’t high. Bananas may be sweet but I couldn’t see how they could also be creamy…

However, there’s magic in these ingredients. Combined, they create a flavour, a texture and a melt-in-the-mouth deliciousness that's just like ice cream. 

And you don’t just have to take my word for it. My partner Richard (who hasn’t had to abstain from regular ice cream like I have) likes this ice cream too. In fact, he said it might just be the best thing I’ve ever made.

So there you have it: it’s possible to combine five simple dairy-free ingredients to create a truly decadent treat – one that I think even my childhood self would have liked!

Sharon's mint-choc dairy-free ice cream

This makes two moderately-sized ice cream portions. If it's the sort of evening where you want to sit on the sofa, watch TV and gorge on ice cream, you're going to need a lot more!

3 frozen bananas

3 tablespoons cocoa powder 

2 tablespoons almond milk

1 tablespoon date syrup or sweetener of your choice 

4 mint leaves

• Peel and chop the frozen bananas. I find this easier to do if I chop the bananas into two-centimetre/one inch thick slices first. Your fingers will get cold though so it might be a good idea to wear a pair of rubber gloves to avoid the chill factor!*
• Add the chopped banana slices and the other ingredients to a food processor or liquidiser. 
• Blitz until smooth and enjoy. 

I'm planning to experiment with more flavour combinations in the next few weeks. I'm thinking chocolate and raspberry and rum and raisin. Do you have any other suggestions? What's your favourite ice cream flavour? Or what was your favourite ice cream when you were a child?

* In response to this post, smarter people than me have said that they peel, slice and bag their bananas before they go in the freezer. I'll be doing this from now on to avoid frozen fingers!

So, you don't like plum pudding? Never fear for Sharon is here...

There are only six days to Christmas and most of you will already be licking your lips at the thoughts of dinner. But what of those of you who don't find the prospect of a turkey dinner followed by plum pudding so appetising? What are you going to do?

This is where I come to the rescue. Because I am one of your tribe, particularly when it comes to the sweet treats of the festive season.

I don't like dried fruits. I find them overwhelmingly sweet and as a result, Christmas cake, plum pudding, mince pies and all sorts of other specialities of the Christmas season are off the menu for me (although I must admit I enjoyed these when I made them for my boyfriend last week).

Instead, I prefer my festive fancies to look more like this:

A layer of crunchy hazelnut meringue, a decadent chocolate cream and whipped cream offset by tart raspberries - could there be a better dessert?

This dessert is adapted from a recipe by Delia Smith. Here's what you need to do if, like me, you plan to treat yourself this Christmas.

Ingredients:
110g/4oz hazelnuts
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
4 large egg whites

140g/5oz dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
400ml double cream
160g/5 and a half oz raspberries (I use frozen raspberries at this time of year)

One baking tray measuring 10x14 inches (or 25.5 x 35cm), lined with baking parchment

• Preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F/gas mark 5.
• Toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet at the top of the oven for 6 minutes. You want them to look like this:
  

• Cool and grind in a food processor until finely chopped. Be careful not to overprocess or they will turn oily. What you want is something that looks like this:
  

• Whisk the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until they form soft peaks

• Whisk in the caster sugar a little at a time.
• Fold in the ground hazelnuts using a metal spoon.
• Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared tin.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes.
• Cool and then turn out on to a piece of parchment paper that is slightly larger than the roulade and gently ease away the lining.
• Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
• Whip the cream and divide it between two bowls.
• Reserve four tablespoons of chocolate for decoration and add the rest to one bowl of whipped cream. Spread it over the meringue to within half an inch or one centimetre of the edge.

• Spread the whipped cream over the chocolate layer:

• Then stud with the raspberries, like so:

• You now have two options. If you're confident of your roulade-rolling skills, you can roll this into a swiss roll shape. You do this by placing the meringue so that its long side faces you. You then use the paper to assist you in rolling the meringue to form a long log shape.
• You're not supposed to worry about the meringue cracking as it's all supposed to be part of the charm. But my meringue always seems to crack a little too much. So, I usually just skip the rolling part and simply drizzle this flat (but no less delicious) confection with my remaining melted chocolate.

(My latest - not so successful - attempt at rolling a roulade)

• If you're braver and more skilled than me and succeed in rolling your roulade properly, all you need to do is make sure the seam is at the base of the roulade and drizzle it with chocolate. Then, stand back and marvel at the beauty of what you've created.

With this as your dessert, you're guaranteed a very Merry Christmas. 

Blackberries and apples: the stars of the season

I used to take blackberry picking very seriously when I was a child. As soon as the season started, my two sisters and I would go blackberry picking with the neighbour's children and it was a matter of family honour that we would pick more than they did. We would fight our way through thorny brambles to reach the juiciest specimens, clamber down steep riverbanks to reach out-of-the-way briars and arrive home, scratched and bloodied but victorious, clutching buckets overflowing with purple berries.

I went blackberry picking for the first time this year at the weekend and was a little disappointed with my haul. It seems as though the blackberries of West Kerry are slow to ripen this year. 

Perhaps it's because we haven't had enough sunshine but the brambles aren't very heavy with fruits and had I presented my pitiful bowl of blackberries to my sisters (not to mention my neighbours) all those years ago, it would most definitely have been scoffed at.

Nevertheless, it was still enough to make a delicious blackberry and apple crumble. Blackberries and apples are two of the stars of the season and they are certainly the stars of this recipe - one you should all make before blackberry season is over for yet another year.  

This recipe feeds six generously.

Ingredients:

250g blackberries

600g bramley apples or other cooking apple

The juice of half a lemon

80g to 120g of golden caster sugar (depending on how sweet you like your filling to be. I prefer mind slightly tart.)

125 cold, unsalted butter, cut into chunks

200g plain flour

100g golden caster sugar

A pinch of salt

75g porridge oats 

A baking dish (I used a rectangular one measuring 20cm by 28cm) 

• Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/350 F/Gas Mark 4.
• Place your blackberries in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes to remove any dirt or insects. Drain in a sieve or colander.
• Core and peel the apples and cut them into chunks. Place them in a bowl and toss them in the lemon juice, which will prevent them from discolouring and also add an extra level of flavour.
• Add the blackberries and sugar and mix together.
• Place in a baking dish. 

• Place the butter, flour, sugar and salt for the crumble mixture in a large bowl and combine by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers. Rub, lift and drop the mixture until it has the texture of breadcrumbs. (If you're lucky enough to have a food processor, it can do this step for you.)
• Once you've achieved the correct texture, stir in the porridge oats.
• Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit. 

• Cook in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes until the crumble is golden on top. 

• Serve with cream or ice cream.  

My haul of blackberries may not have been enough to impress my competitive childhood self (or my siblings or indeed my neighbours) but what I did with it certainly was. 

Excuse the erratic lighting in these pictures. It was still light when I started making the crumble but dark by the time it had finished baking. That's autumn in Ireland for you!

Clafoutis: a delicious dessert (with a cherry on top)

My boyfriend arrived home with cherries at the weekend.  Lots and lots of cherries.  So many cherries that even after we had gorged on them, we still had lots left over.

So, I decided to make cherry clafoutis.  I used to love eating this simple dessert in France but what I didn't realise was just how simple it was to make.

I started with a recipe from Kerstin Rodger's Supper Club, added in some modifications from Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and came up with a dessert of custardy deliciousness that was perfect served with some cream and a drizzle of leftover juices.

Here's what you need to make it:
500g cherries, stalks removed. (Traditionalists leave the pits in the cherries for extra flavour. I didn't but the choice is yours.)
60ml kirsch or brandy
40g caster sugar

4 eggs
60g caster sugar
300ml milk
300ml cream
50g plain flour
A 25cm (10in) square ovenproof dish (or a dish of equivalent size)
Butter to grease the dish

• Place the cherries in a bowl.  Sprinkle over the 40g of caster sugar.  Pour over the alcohol and mix. Leave to sit for one hour. 

• When the hour is almost up, preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/350F/Gas Mark 4.  
• Grease your ovenproof dish with butter.
• Strain your fruit, reserving the liquid, and lay it in the bottom of the dish. 

• Whisk the eggs and add the remaining 60g of caster sugar.  Once mixed, slowly stir in the flour.
• Finally, add the milk and cream and whisk again.
• Pour the batter over the cherries. 

• Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the batter has set.  Check by shaking the dish a little.  It should wobble but hold its shape. 
• If you want, you can brush the top with the leftover Kirsh when it leaves the oven. And now comes the hard bit: allow your clafoutis to rest for 30 minutes before serving it still slightly warm. 

I had mine with a little cream with some of the leftover Kirsh drizzled over it.  Sweet cherries, custardy batter, softly whipped cream and the decadent booziness of the cherry brandy: just as with the cherries themselves, I couldn't stop eating it.

Vive la France. Mangeons de la tarte tatin!

 Today is Bastille Day and it feels appropriate to celebrate with something French.

I used to live in France and many memories of my time there are of its wonderful food. The garlicky scent of snails wafting past me in a restaurant; queuing for Poilane sourdough bread in the mornings; a friend's mum demonstrating just how stringy the perfect aligot ought to be; choosing the freshest baguettes, the runniest cheeses and vegetables still encrusted in earth at Richard Lenoir and Rue de Grenelle markets in Paris...

I could go on (and, to be honest, I already have) but I'll stop there.

Instead, I'll share a recipe from Kerstin Rodger's Supper Club (a book I loved, as you'll see here). Tarte tatin is one of those quintessentially French recipes and there are many different versions. This is one of the best I've tasted and I can't think of a better day to celebrate Bastille Day.

Ingredients:
Juice of two lemons
1kg (about 8 to 10) eating apples, such as Cox, Russet or Braeburn *
125g to 175g unsalted butter, softened
125g to 175g caster sugar
4 to 6 star anise
200g puff pastry, rolled to a disc the same size as your frying pan
Cream or ice cream to serve
You will also need a pan with a handle that can go in the oven.

* My frying pan wasn't big enough to take this amount of apples.  I only used half and adjusted the other ingredients accordingly.

Squeeze both lemons into a large bowl.  Peel and core the apples and then slice them before putting them in the bowl of lemon juice to prevent them going brown.

Smear the butter generously over the frying pan, including the sides.  Sprinkle the sugar over the top in a thick layer.  This will become your caramel so if you'd like it to be extra caramel-y, use more butter and sugar. 

• Remove your apple slices from the lemon juice and embed them in the butter/sugar mixture.  Pack them in as tightly and as attractively as you can.  Tuck in the star anise too.  

• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius/425 F/Gas Mark 7.  
• Put the frying pan over a medium flame on your hob and keep an eye on it while it caramelises.  Kerstin says this will take up to 15 minutes but I found it took longer, more like 25 minutes.  Perhaps my heat was too low.  But what you're aiming for is a deep golden caramel colour like this:

• Once you've got this far, you need to let your pan cool before you place your pastry on top of the apples.  Tuck in the edges and don't worry if you've got extra pastry in places.  Imagine how good it will taste once it's dripping with caramel!

• Place the pan in the oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry has risen.
• The tricky bit comes once you take it out of the oven.  Find a plate that is larger than your frying pan and lay it over the top.  Holding the handle firmly and keeping the plate pressed tightly to the pan, flip it over.  The plate will now be on the bottom and the frying pan on top.  Lift the pan off to reveal a golden, caramel-encrusted apple tart.  Don't worry if some of the apple slices become displaced.  You can always prod them back in place using a fork.
• Serve hot with a scoop of cream or ice cream. 

So, there you have it: a tarte that is sweet and caramel-y, gooey, fruity and delicious.  It's also inexpensive and easy to make.
Happy Bastille Day!