I love a short-cut. Particularly when it ends with ice cream and has been handed down from my grandmother, Mama. She was a lady to the end. Always wore a hat and gloves, even when she used to escape from the nursing home, and police would head straight down to the racetrack to pick her up. 

They knew where to find her, and most of the time, she’d forget to get dressed, or undressed. She’d be placing bets in gloves, hat, and a nightie. Or 6 layers of clothes. And she’d make the constables wait until she’d finished her betting. She was a one-off.

Mangoes are peaking right now, so dive into that. As a kid growing up in Queensland, my brother and I used to don bathing suits, and sit in the bath to eat the mangoes that covered our back yard in summer. Two big mango trees dominated our rear landscape. As soon as I smell mango even now, my mind flips back to the bath and juice running down to my elbows. 

CHEAT’S ICE CREAM

 

Ingredients:

2 cans of condensed milk

300 mls thickened cream

4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice

Method:

Refrigerate the condensed milk, the lemons or limes and the cream overnight so they are all as cold as possible.  Chill the mixing bowl as well. (I use ice, roll it around, tip it out and dry the now chilled bowl. Take out the citrus and juice it, making sure you’ve got 4 tablespoons of juice.

If you really like a citrus taste, peel and finely julienne the rind of one fruit, and set aside before you do the juicing, to mix with the ice cream mixture.

Put the condensed milk into the chilled bowl and beat it with the citrus juice until it’s light and frothy. Add the cold cream and continue beating until the mixture is the consistency of whipped cream.

Fold in any fruit flavouring you wish to add, pour into a container and cover and freeze until solid.

This basic mixture will take up to 500 ml fruit puree.

Now for the options: 

Mango: Slice off the cheeks of two mangoes, cross-hatch down to the skin, then scrape the segments into the cream mixture. Top the icecream with mango slices to serve. And to make a delicious and special ice cream cake, First crush 250 grams of digestive biscuits, and mix with 100 grams of melted butter. (Add 50 grams of crushed mixed toasted nuts for a bit of extra szhoosh). Top with a cashew praline.

Praline: Add coarsely crushed nut praline when the mixture’s half-frozen

Plum: Add 500 grams sieved stewed plums with 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Apple: Add 300 mls apple puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 ½ tablespoons coffee essence and 2 tablespoons raisins – and for this mix, leave out the lemon or lime juice.

Chocolate: Melted white chocolate and cream, or dark chocolate, cream and nuts. Again, leave out the citrus juice.

Are you a mango fan? Or just ice cream? Any memories of fruit and childhood you’d like to share? Please do.

Chrissie