urban odds & ends

After I red the announcement that my lecture dropped out yesterday, my plan to eat at our cafeteria was messed up. For this reason  I raided our pantry with the result of a can of chickpeas. With fresh parsley and a zucchini at hand, I decided to make a salad as I like chickpeas even more cold than warmed up. Combined with a nice yoghurt tahini dressing and some spice adjustments I nourished a really comforting and delicious meal.

Chickpea Zucchini Salad serves 2 as main and 4 as side dish

1 medium zucchini, cut into thin stripes
500g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small bunch parsley, chopped

Dressing

3 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp tahini paste
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp za'tar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
salt & pepper

Heat a large pan over high heat. Add a little oil and add the zucchini stripes and toss until fully coated with oil. Roast until golden brown, it's no problem if there are black burned spots on some points. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine chickpeas with dressing and mix well. When the zucchinis have cooled a little add to the salad and stir until nicely coated with dressing. Adjust seasoning to taste.

I served mine with pita bread and greek yoghurt seasoned with salt and pepper.

If you don't have sumac and za'tar at hand, a good substitution for sumac is a little lemon juice. Za'tar is a blend of arabian thyme, sumac, sesam seeds and salat. Instead I would throw in some common thyme leaves and a little more lemon juice.

With plenty of my homemade yoghurt in the fridge and my new ice cream maker smiling at me I combined both incidents to a completely delicious ice cream. It's the first time I made ice cream with a machine and I had never such an amazing creamy result. Whilst heating up the sugar and heavy cream mixture I remembered the lavender which I bought recently, so I threw a spoonful of it in and so the yoghurt lavender ice cream was born. The alcohol is used to enhance the creamy consistency and it gives a nice bang to the ice cream too ;) But it's up to you if you go alcohol-free since there might be children around. And a notice for using lavender: don't use too much since lavender could cause headaches in higher concentrations!

Next time I'm going to substitute orange or lemon zest for the lavender. So an orange liquer like Cointreau or lemon liquer, maybe Limoncello could work very well with it.
Ooooh I see, this will be a nice summer romance with me and the ice cream maker... or a love triangel with me the ice cream maker and our barbecue ;)

Yoghurt Lavender Ice Cream yields ~ 500g ice cream


300g yoghurt
200ml heavy cream
100g sugar
1 tbsp lavender
1 tbsp brandy

Heat heavy cream and sugar on medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved, add the lavender and let it simmer around 5 minutes occasionally stirring and allow to cool completely. You can pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and discard the lavender, but I'm a lazy person so I skipped this part. When cooled completely stir the cream with the yoghurt until well combined.


Next Step Using Ice Cream Maker

Pour in your ice cream maker and follow the instructions according to your machine. Pour in a container and store in the refrigerator until use.


Next Step Without Ice Cream Maker

Pour in a container and freeze in the refrigerator. Stirring the mixture every hour until completely frozen.

Since I'm enthusiastic about homemade food, especially of basic food, I was thrilled to find a recipe for homemade yoghurt in my new Moro cookbook . Meanwhile the first batch is almost gone and I'm planning to make the second one with a different style of yoghurt culture. Making your own yoghurt is very easy and satisfying. I ate my yoghurt this week plain, seasoned with cinnamon and diced apples and, with rhubarb in season, a rhubarb compote (see recipe below). Today I made a batch of yoghurt lavender ice cream with my new ice cream maker - absolutely delicious. Of course the recipe will follow as soon I screened the photos ;)


Homemade Yoghurt yields 1kg yoghurt
adapted from The Moro Cookbook

2 litres full-fat milk
300ml double cream
150g live yoghurt

Place the milk in a large pot, making sure there's still a little room upwards. Bring to boil, turn the heat to a simmer and reduce by a third. It's important to stir constantly to prevent the milk sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Remove the pot from heat and transfer the milk to a bowl. Stir in the cream until well combined. Allow to cool until you can hold your finger in the milk and count to ten, then add the yoghurt and stir well. If the milk is too hot the bacteria may be killed. If it is not hot enough it will take a lot longer to set. Cover with clingfilm and leave at room temperature for about 8 hours or over night, until set. The yoghurt will keep in the fridge for seven to ten days.

Rhubarb Compote 2 servings

4 stalks rhubarb, cut in 1cm long pieces
100ml water
2 tbsp sugar

Place all ingredients in a small pot over medium high heat. Let it simmer until the water is almost evaporated and the rhubarb is soft. Allow to cool completely. Put yoghurt in bowls and spoon the rhubarb compote over.