Time to cool off

  We've spent enough time together that I can tell you about things other than food and motorbikes, such as what the doctor told me today. I've been experiencing neck pain for a while and recently it got so bad I took it to the next stage, a visit to a neck specialist. An MRI was arranged and I went in today for the results. Just for fun, you can see them below. I had no idea what I was looking at either but the short version is that age has caught up with me so the disks in my neck are not as robust as before and are starting to squish and bulge. Hence, ouch. It's treatable so I'll keep you updated with progress. In the interim, let's talk weather.

  You'll have noticed the unusual sensation today that precipitated the removal of garments. It's called summer and if you don't hurry up you'll miss it. Food wise, your diet will naturally shift to more appropriate fayre and that's what we'll be looking at today. Salad, as you'll expect, will be the topic most likely to be discussed but I've a better idea.

  Ice cream. (Did I just hear a sigh of relief?). If you're not the proud owner of an ice cream maker, stop reading this immediately so you can go and buy one. Let me know when you've... Wow! That was quick, but worth it. You could put the mix straight in the freezer and stir it every twenty minutes but it's a real pain in the bollocks so well done. Now let's talk recipes.

  The fun thing, especially if you've got keen to cook minions underfoot, is that pretty much anything can be dumped in the machine and churned. However, there are three tips I have for you. Firstly, if you want nuts or chunks of anything in your frozen dessert then stir them in at the end, the goop that comes out of the ice cream machine is soft enough for you to do this. Second and very importantly, the taste of the unfrozen mix has to be over-flavoured. To get an idea of what I'm on about, get a scoop of ice cream from your freezer and leave it on the side for an hour until melted. Now get the tub out of the freezer and taste both the melted and frozen. Cold food doesn't taste as strongly, (think chocolate from the fridge vs room temperature). 

  Finally, if there's a high fat content, it'll be nice and creamy. If you're not too concerned about your health then stick in a bunch of double cream. If you are, then nuts, coconut milk, avocado etc. will help but as usual, I'll suggest you fuck about and try different things and see what happens. And remember, you'll have to really screw it up for it to be inedible. To get you started with a bit of inspiration, let me tell you what just came out of my ice cream machine and got put in my freezer. Using my stick blender, I blitzed dates, toasted, flaked almonds, coconut milk and double cream till it was totally smooth. It is so delicious, it's totally taken my mind off my aching whatever it was.

Kirk out

Chefsebastian.com