Kiwi-Lime Sorbet

There is quite possibly nothing easier or more refreshing than sorbet. Traditionally served to cleanse the palate between courses, I think this one is perfect on its own served as a light dessert.

I learned to make sorbet in school using a slightly complicated method of floating an egg (in shell) in the liquid mixture, adding sugar, and stirring until it dissolved, until a dime-sized portion of the egg was the only part exposed above the mix.

This method is far easier and almost foolproof.

Kiwi-Lime Sorbet
Serves 4 for dessert or 8 as a traditional sorbet

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
6 medium-size kiwi - peeled
1 cup freshly-squeezed lime juice

Make a simple syrup from the water and sugar: Combine sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and cook, stirring continually, over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for another minute and remove from heat.
Puree kiwi in a blender until very smooth - add lime juice - this should make 2 cups of kiwi and juice. Add simple syrup and stir well.
Pour the mixture into a shallow pie plate or 9x9 pan. Freeze for 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, scoop the frozen outer ring of the mixture into the center of the plate. Freeze again. Check every 30 to 40 minutes, stirring and scraping each time, until frozen. Freeze for an additional hour before stirring one last time at service time.

Lime Cupcakes

A couple friends of mine had a KitchenAid mixer that was given to them by their aunt. Neither of these girls wanted it (can you imagine?!) so they asked if I would like to take it off their hands. Would I? I don't think I will ever be able to afford a KitchenAid mixer in this lifetime, so I accepted and tried not to squeal like a schoolgirl.

Once I had my hands on it, I needed to use it. It's like a clean sheet of paper and a new pen, you MUST create - it's simply not possible to leave it alone. So, I created. Nothing fancy or fabulous, but I can tell you this; icing was never so easy to make. These cupcakes are so easy that I feel a bit guilty posting a recipe for them.

Here is the 'recipe' (and I use that term very loosely here) for these fabulously delicious (because, they really were) cupcakes.

Lime Cupcakes
Makes 12

1 box (oh, yes I said BOX - close your eyes and get on with it) white cake mix
2 whole eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 1/4 cups water
zest of one lime
juice of one lime (2-3 Tablespoons)

Icing:

3/4 cup butter - softened (1 1/2 sticks)
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
powdered sugar (3 -4 cups depending on how much juice your lime holds)

Mix up the BOXED cake mix with the eggs, oil, water and first lime - zested and squeezed. Pour into muffin tins, lightly greased or set with cupcake wrappers. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and springy when touched in the center. Let cool.

Beat the butter until fluffy and add zest and juice from the second lime. Pour in powdered sugar, a cup at a time, and keep beating until icing forms and is of a nicely spreadable consistency. Frost cooled cupcakes.

I bet you're wondering why I used a white cake mix and then adulterated the thing with whole eggs? Well, BOXED yellow cake mix tastes very different than white mix, which I like better, BUT I wanted a bit of color to these so I added the egg yolks as well. There you go - whip some up and enjoy!

Tostones

I live in an area that has a heavy Hispanic influence, and as such I've had the opportunity to try many foods that I may never have had a chance to shop for much less eat.

Plantains are one of those plentiful-around-here foods, but I'd never cooked with them. After the final episodes of season four on Top Chef, I finally decided to give them a whirl. On the next-to-last episode of Top Chef, the chefs were given the task of coming up with frituras (or fried snacks) using plantains. I watched with interest and a bit of excitement, storing away the many uses they conjured up for the green banana look-alike.

One thing that two of the chefs did was to make tostones. They are, simply put, fried green plantain. I was intrigued, so I did a little reading about tostones and then went shopping to make my own version of an appetizer tostone.

What I found when I was reading were several recipes calling for dipping the plantains in salted water between fryings (they are fried twice), but I also found many Puerto Rican cooks debunking that notion. I decided to go with the cooks' idea and keep from the risk of having oil popping everywhere once the water-dipped plantain hit the hot pan. The result was fantabulous.





Tostones with Chorizo, Cilantro and Lime
Makes 24 appetizers

2 large green plantains
12 oz. chorizo
1 bunch fresh cilantro
several tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt to taste
oil for frying

Slit plantain skins and peel. Cut each plantain into 1 inch chunks - diagonally if you like - about 12 for each plantain. Heat oil over medium-high heat and fry each slice of plantain until lightly browned. Remove from oil and drain well.

Place each plantain between waxed paper or parchment and press down with a saucer until slices are 1/4 inch thick. You can also use a tostonera, a special press made just for tostones Put each slice back into the oil and fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove to paper toweling to drain well. Salt immediately.

When all tostones are fried, slice chorizo into 24 thin rounds and fry in the same oil until just lightly brown. Drain well.

Top each tostone with a cilantro leaf, a slice of chorizo and drizzle with lime juice.

Ready, Set, Cook! #35

Our ingredients today were inspired by my Sunday Dinner post this week. Chicken again...it's so versatile it's hard NOT to use it! So, click the button above for rules of play, and GET COOKING!

boneless skinless chicken breasts
mango
lime juice

See you next Tuesday with submissions!