Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Dannon Has Nothing on Me!



Over the weekend I made my second batch of yogurt and I'm completely hooked! It's too easy. I say "too" easy because I don't eat that much yogurt...until now! I am still mixing corn and lime, with a pinch of salt, for a savory snack but it is summer and the fruit abounds.



Last week I made some yogurt cheese with 1/2 of the first batch with the intention of making frozen yogurt....I did. I picked up some nectarines from the FM, a variety named "Spice Zee", and like the name describes they have a spicey flavor that reminds me of Fall. I cooked these with a handful of black Mission figs with 1/2 sugar for about 5 minutes in the PC and then took the lid off and reduced it further until it was the thickness I wanted.



I used my immersion blender to make more of a puree and then I removed 3/4 of the fruit from the pan and portioned it so I could freeze some. Since the theme was "Fall fruit" I added about 1-2 tbl balsamic vinegar to the remainder. Cooked off the vinegar and voila....kind of an grown up blend. My plan was to use it in the frozen yogurt and not sweeten the yogurt but to add the cooked sweetened fruit for a tangy/sweet taste. I did. It was great! But I had so much fruit leftover!



I mixed some of the fruit puree in a serving of yogurt for dinner last night and zowie! It was so good I started thinking about all the differnt kind of flavors I could come up with. Anyone who has bought flavored yogurt at the market knows the usual. vanilla, blueberry, lemon, stawberry, peach, etc. but I doubt you'll find "Spicy nectarine and fig" flavored yogurt. The possibilities are endless. Fruit combinations as well as adding things like ginger or cinnamon, lemongrass, etc. Dannon has nothing on me!



I haven't made any fruit compotes or desserts with cooked fruit all year. It used to be one of my favorites, to cook fruit in wine, and I hope to be making tons of chutneys before the end of the year. I'm all motivated to make and freeze more fruit purees before the season is over. What kinds of combinations sound good to you?

4 comments:

Maribel said...

You're killing me! Good thing it's a long weekend coming so I can have a go at making yogurt.

Maribel said...

if you make frozen yogurt, I wonder what adding peanut butter to it would do? Like Reese's PB ice cream?

As for fruit, you know how I love Mango...cooked down and condensed would mean a lot of flavor in small amounts.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Maribel,

the goat milk yogurt was a bust...I'll give you the details when I see you.

And you had to mention PNB...you had to go there?

Here's the thing about making fro yo, or ice cream with adds, you don't add them until the last 5 minutes or so. I would think that PNB would have to be thinned out in some way. Maybe making a sauce first with PNB, cream and sugar? I'm just guessing. Did you know that the PNB in Reese's cups has chocolate in it?

At first I thought you meant cooked down with condensed milk! That would be bad either!

Maribel said...

PNB is king.

Too bad about the goat milk. Can it be salvaged to cheese?