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Recipe Thu Jul 17 2008
Cooling Summer's Heat from a Hot Kitchen
Whenever I step from my air conditioned bedroom in to my steamy hot kitchen, thoughts of cooking often yield to blending shakes before I can stop my hands from dropping slices of frozen bananas into a blender whirling around cold soy milk.
I cannot stress frozen bananas enough. They blend up with soy milk into a thick, cold and smooth shake. The secret to extreme thickness is to drop slices of frozen banana into the loud, roaring monster that is your blender running on a low or medium speed. Pause between every few pieces, waiting for the beast to crunch through the frozen chunks. Then, when the blender's screaming yields to a solid roar, give it another few pieces. Do this until the blender can't take any more, until the shake is so thick you can barely see the liquid pulling into a swirl at the top. (Peel and slice the bananas before freezing them).
Blend all other ingredients with the soy milk before adding the bananas, so that you have a good thorough mix before the bananas thicken it so much that it won't move. Here are some of my favorite combinations:
• Pistachios Cardamom or Chocolate Peanut Butter
• Fresh figs, blended with frozen bananas and soy milk, give off a rich sweetness, with a deep flavor that nothing else quite matches.
• If you can get your hands on some mango avocado sorbet, or perhaps just mango, it goes brilliantly blended with just enough soy milk to make a thick cold slush - no bananas needed.
• And here's something completely different: Lemon Basil Sorbet.
Gemma / July 17, 2008 10:19 AM
Gorgeous pictures!