Sunflower said:
Thanks Piccolina. I've got some frozen berries, I'll try the yogurt & berries for dessert tomorrow night (we're going out tonight).
Are all angel food cakes low fat? How do you make a raspberry puree?
I still have to discover the tast of figs. Never had them before. Are they available in super markets?
What's carob? Do you have any recipes?
Hope you don't mind all these questions... i am totally new to the world of cooking
but LOVING it.
Hi Sunflower, you're very welcome. I (we!) don't mind questions at all, that's what this forum is here for
Let us know how your frozen yogurt turns out. Ever since I wrote out the frozen yogurt recipe I've been craving it big time, so I think I'll whip up a batch this week too. (If you have any frozen peaches by chance, those are so awesome as a FY flavour!)
I don't think that all angel food cakes are lowfat, but most of them are lower in fat than many types of cakes that use lots of whole eggs, oil and potentially "fatty" things like nuts and chocolate.
This is my TNT raspberry coulis (a pureed sauce without seeds) recipe (you can use it with any berry that has seeds).
Fresh Raspberry Coulis
2 cups fresh or thawed frozen rasberries
1/2 cup granulated (caster) sugar, or to taste
In a mixing bowl puree the raspberries and sugar together until they are as smooth as possible. You can do this by hand with a mixing spoon or even in a food processor if you like.
Next place a large, fine mesh sieve over a large bowl and spoon some of the raspberry puree onto the sieve. Press the fruit through the sieve with mixing spoon. This will leave the seeds behind and the raspeberry juice and flesh will fall into the bowl.
Transer the seedless coulis to a sauce boat or other pouring container and discard the seeds. (If you like you can heat the mixture up at this point, over medium-low heat in a heavy bottomed sauce pan for a couple of minutes, stirring often.) Serve over anything you like! Extras will keep in the fridge for seveal days or you can freeze the finished coulis for months.
The availability of frsh figs really seems to depend on where you are located (big town VS small town, which country, etc). Figs tend to come into season in the early summer and then again from Septemeber to Novemeber (though I've heard that if you're lucky you can sometimes find South American figs in the winter). But some large super markets and produce shops may stock them year round. If you happen to see them, I really suggest that you pick up a couple and try them (they are best whenthey are soft and ripe).
Carob is a chocolate alternative that is dervived and created from the seed pods of the carob tree. The seeds are ground and can be used (often) instead of cocoa powder or chocolate. Both the colour and taste are very similar to cocoa, but carob does not have any caffeine, and is naturally a bit sweet, which means that you can use less sugar in your recipes. You can find carob in chips (like chocolate chips), bars, and powder at most health food stores and some bigger grocery stores. I've found that it does not melt quite as well as chocolate (it tends to get grainy), but otherwise it's a great chocolate alternative for things like brownies and hot cocoa. Here is a link to a bunch of carob recipes.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,carob,FF.html
Have fun and experiment with these types of desserts