It's a rainy old weekend here which means an excuse to wear your favourite cosy pants, watch 5 seasons of a TV series and try some delicious noms. Like a couple of the desserts from the recent NZ Kinfolk Gatherings, maybe?
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From the Wellington event, we have the big hit of the night, the beetroot and raspberry ice cream (created by event host Unna of
The Forest Cantina). And from the Tauranga event, hosted by stylist Shaye of
On My Hand, whip some sweet little beetroot meringues, crafted by Danielle of
Spongedrop cakery.
Click the View Recipes link below...
Beetroot Meringues
180g egg whites (roughly 5 eggs)
400g caster sugar
10g Fresh As beetroot powder
This is a Swiss meringue, meaning the egg whites and caster sugar and warmed over a bain-marie. Bring a small amount of water to simmer in a pot. Place a bowl containing the sugar and egg whites over the pit of simmering water and whisk gently until the sugar is completely melted. Remove from the heat and beat until you have a cool, glossy white, fluffy meringue. Add the vegetable powder and fold to combine. Pipe or dollop blobs onto trays lined with baking paper. Bake for one hour, then turn the oven off, leaving the meringues inside to continue drying for at least two hours (even better, overnight). Store in an airtight container.
Beetroot & Raspberry Ice Cream
1kg beetroot
2 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups cream
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon Heilala Vanilla paste
9 free range egg yolks
¾ cup FairTrade unrefined sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
Before you begin, make sure if you have one, to freeze the inside container of the ice cream maker.
Juice the beetroot in a juicer, reserving the flesh (or grate the beetroot and squeeze the juice from the flesh through muslin or cheese cloth to extract juice – wear gloves!) Put the juice and the frozen berries into a pot and cook over a medium/high heat to reduce the liquid. Cook for around 40mins or until it has reduced to about ¼ cup, so you have a nice concentrated liquid. During the cooking time, skim off and discard any scum that comes to the top. Sieve the liquid in batches to remove seeds from berries. Set strained liquid aside to cool.
Put the reserved beetroot flesh into a pot with the cream and the milk. Heat the beetroot, cream and milk until hot but not boiling. Set aside to ‘infuse’ off the heat, covered for 1 hour. After 1 hour, sieve the liquid and discard the beetroot. You should have around 3 cups of liquid that you need for the ice cream. Put the strained liquid back on the heat, add the teaspoon of vanilla pasta, and warm over a medium heat, but do not boil.
Beat the yolks and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a hand whisk, until they are light/pale and thick. Temper the egg yolks by pouring in a little of the warm beetroot cream/milk liquid whisking so it won’t scramble the egg, then add the rest of the liquid, then return the liquid to the pot and stir over a medium heat. Cook until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over cook or your mixture will taste ‘eggy’. If you dip a spoon into the liquid, and it doesn’t drip off but coats the spoon, its done. Remove from the heat.
Add the beetroot and raspberry liquid and the lime juice into the custard and mix well. Pour into a container, allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight. If you allow the mixture to go completely cold before churning, your ice cream will have such an amazing texture and creaminess.
The next day churn the custard in an ice cream maker for around 30-40minutes (depending on the brand of your ice cream maker). This will turn the custard from runny to thick and almost sorbet like, but it still needs to be frozen. Return to a clean plastic container and freeze until firm (overnight) This recipe can be made up to 2 days before you want to serve. But because there are no additives or preserves, it is best eaten as soon as you can! There are also ways of making ice cream without an ice cream maker, which you can search online for step by step instructions.
~ Enjoy!
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