Showing posts with label lime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lime. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Coconut-Lime Semifreddo


Man, I am behind on everything lately. Well, behind on Cucina posts, and behind on my "52 Weeks of Pancake" series on Flickr (contrary to what you might expect, not food-related).

Back when it was blazing-hot and The Bachelorette was still on (yes, I know, for shame), our friend Jessica invited the gals over for, what else, The Bachelorette - and some delicious eats. She had sangria made with rose, peaches, pears, etc.; salad with tzatziki dressing (best idea ever); slices of french bread, baked with slices of brie and topped with a sweet onion chutney; and this, coconut-lime semifreddo. Pretty damn impressive menu, right? I wanted to make everything - and so far, I've made this!

It's kind of a fascinating dish to make. I mean, it's like ice cream, but it's not. And even on that super-hot day when she made it, it hardly got melty. So it's a nice alternative to ice cream, in that season.

Her semifreddo turned out better than mine, I admit - I had a few spots where I didn't mix the condensed milk in quite enough and those spots got a tad sweet. Overall, though, it was delicious - a really yummy, different, refreshing, and impressive-looking dessert.

By the way, this makes enough for entertaining - you eat it in thin slices, and the recipe makes a bread-sized loaf. It was pretty hilarious making it for just Joef and myself.

So, here is Jessica's recipe:
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon finely-grated lime zest
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 ripe mango (the riper, the better)
Line a 4 1/2-by-8 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper (I used aluminum foil - it works, but it's less than optimal - your semifreddo will come out crinkly). Toast coconut flakes by putting them in a frying pan over medium heat and tossing occasionally until they just start to get golden brown. Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut and condensed milk and bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lime zest and salt. Place saucepan in bowl of ice water and stir until mixture is cool, 4 minutes.

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat cream on high until stiff peaks form, 2 minutes. Gently fold whipped cream into the coconut milk mixture. Pour into loaf pan; evenly sprinkle coconut on top. freeze until firm, 6 hours (or covered up to 3 days). Let sit 20 minutes before serving (it's better this way, believe me). Invert onto serving platter. Layer mango on top. Enjoy!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Chile Chicken with Lime and Coconut Milk


(adapted from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Man, I am not doing so well on this whole blogging thing lately, am I? Somehow I've been having trouble coordinating the new recipe lookup with grocery shopping...and now I feel like I'm repeating myself from a previous post...rut, anyone? Well, this one snapped me out of it a bit. The best part is that I think it gave me a hint as to how to prepare one of my favorite restaurant dishes - a coconut curry that I've only been able to find at a Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Grand, in St. Louis (stay tuned for that one).

This was really good and really simple. All the ingredients just get thrown into a pan and left for awhile, and then you eat! It was so good that I actually enjoyed eating it with brown rice. Now that's a testimonial.

I think next time I'd either leave out the limes, or I'd certainly remove them before serving. And if the grocery store hadn't been out of lemongrass, that would've been a great addition. Even with that, it was tasty, satisfying, and a nice change of pace - especially with how little effort it required.

So:
5 chicken drumsticks (or equivalent chicken parts of your choice)
2 cups coconut milk (about 1 can)
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp salt
1 stalk lemongrass (optional, but preferred)
1/4-1/2 lime, slice in rounds
2-4 dried hot chiles (DeWitt calls for Santaka; I used tien tsin), crushed
Combine all of the ingredients in a large pan, spooning the sauce over the chicken. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked and tender. The sauce will thicken. Remove limes and serve over brown rice.