roasted banana ice cream with dulce de leche

Two weeks ago, in a moment of midnight weakness, I ordered an ice cream machine, mainly because I'd just found this recipe for roasted banana ice cream. Bananas roasted with brown sugar and butter until all their sweet goodness comes out in a sticky syrup; no eggs or cream required, because the consistency of the bananas themselves does all the work; and, as a final touch, globs of dulce de leche stirred in. The result is a complex caramel flavour, not too sweet, and worth buying an ice cream maker for.

roasted banana ice cream with dulce de leche

adapted from Mike's Table

3 ripe bananas

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp butter

1.5 cups whole milk

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup dulce de leche (optional)

* You will need to begin this recipe a day before you plan to eat it.

Preheat oven to 400ºF / 200ºC. Slice bananas into coins. In a baking dish, mix bananas with brown sugar and butter, and bake for 40 minutes, stirring once. Allow to cool slightly.

Scrape the contents of the pan - bananas and sticky caramelized syrup - into a food processor or blender. Add milk, sugar, lemon and salt and puree until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.

Once the mixture is cool, churn in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions for between 15 and 20 minutes.

After churning, mix through globs of dulce de leche. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze overnight to achieve the right consistency.

sun-dried tomato & almond pesto

Today was the first day it's felt like autumn in Austin, and if I've ever felt like falling to my knees and kissing the now-less-infernal earth, it was this morning. This sun-dried tomato and almond pesto has been my go-to meal in the busy, hot first weeks of semester, and I think it'll last well into the cooler months. It's seasonal transitional kind of food - a little bit comfort and a little bit light. The ingredient proportions are open to experimentation; these are the ratios I prefer, and I like this with very little garlic. If your sun-dried tomatoes are packed in oil, you might want to use that instead of (or along with) the extra virgin olive oil.

sun-dried tomato & almond pesto

60g whole raw almonds or ground almonds

150g sun-dried tomatoes

40g freshly grated parmesan

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

handful of basil leaves

1 small garlic clove, or less, crushed

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

If using whole raw almonds: place a small pan over medium heat and allow to get hot. Add almonds and toast for a few minutes until they brown, but don't blacken. Remove from the heat and grind in a spice grinder or blender.

If using ground almonds: place a small pan over medium heat and allow to get heat. Add almonds and toast very carefully for approximately one minute. Remove from heat.

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and process to your desired consistency. I like a smoother pesto for these flavours. Check seasoning and serve with pasta and parmesan.

honeydew popsicles; or, how to survive August in Texas

A steady diet of popsicles is the only way to survive August in Austin, and I speak with great authority, since it's now the end of August and I've survived. I love anything melon flavoured; I love these popsicles, which are sweet and simple. I love my friend Kate for modelling them for me, and for still being my friend when I told her that Australians call them iceblocks.

I bought this popsicle mould, which I like because it uses wooden popsicle sticks. I wanted that summery nostalgic woody popsicle stick flavour; it feels essential to me. And you can compost them afterwards, or put them to other uses, so that you don't feel too hedonistic about it.

Also, I can't believe it's been five months since I lasted posted. Can five months really go so quickly? I spent most of my summer at home in Sydney (where it was winter), and another chunk of it driving around the gorgeous American south west. Photos to come. I'm happy to be back in my little kitchen and cooking again (that is, I will be when it gets cool enough to consider turning my oven on).

Honeydew Popsicles

adapted from Martha's honeydew agua fresca recipe

makes 8-10 popsicles

the flesh of one ripe honeydew melon, seeds removed

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

In a saucepan, add sugar to 2 cups of water and place over a low heat, stirring continually until the sugar dissolves. Remove the sugar syrup from the heat.

Using a blender or food processor, puree the honeydew in batches until smooth. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl or jug. Pour the honeydew into the sieve and strain into the bowl. Press on the pulp to extract more juice. Discard pulp.

Mix lime juice with the cooled sugar and water. Add slowly to the honeydew juice, testing for sweetness, and stop when you've reached your desired level. Adjust lime juice if necessary. The sweetness of the popsicles will depend entirely on the sweetness of your honeydew. I only ended up using half of the sugar syrup (I refrigerated the remainder to make more popsicles with) but I want to make sure you have a flexible amount to work with.

Pour honeydew mixture into popsicle moulds. Leave in the freezer for approximately 2 hours, or until the popsicles are semi-frozen (this amount of time may depend on the effectiveness of your freezer), and then insert the sticks/handles. Freeze for another 6 hours or overnight before eating. You'll need to run warm water over the popsicle moulds to extract them.