F I G and H O N E Y G E L A T O AND Lemongrass Ginger Ale

One of the fruits that I miss dearly from back home is fresh, juicy, luscious fig! The others being guava, custard apple and chikoo! My standard for these fruits is exceptionally high, only because we had these trees at home and nothing can beat the joy of eating a fruit right off the plant ;) Of course, as a kid I never envisioned that these golden moments would become just a distant memory!
Anyway, back to the fig....
The beautiful conglomeration of colors,
the sweet, smooth and plump flesh,

the delicate velvety peel,
the crunch of seeds within.....
what's not to like?

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So, what do you do if you like something and can't lay your hands on it? Go to the next best alternative is what I did, got the dried ones :) I like the black figs for their gorgeous taste and absolutely breath taking color! Fig Shake makes a regular appearance at my place, could ice cream and gelato be far behind ;)

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F I G and H O N E Y G E L A T O
a must for fig lovers..........
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1 heaped cup dry figs chopped fine
1/2 C milk
2-3 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar, this is on the lower side (but tastes perfect to me), please adjust as per taste
a pinch sea salt
1/2 tsp orange zest
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1. To plump up the dry figs, layer finely chopped figs with about 2tbsp water and the sugar that you will be using and let soak 4hrs or overnite. It can be done without soaking too, just takes longer to cook.

2. In a sauce pan heat figs sugar mixture till thick and the figs melt and the mix is bubbly.

3. Remove from heat and stir in milk, honey, orange zest, mascarpone and salt. Chill about 30 mins in the refrigerator and then freeze till set. I just froze it in a steel container with a fitted lid. You can use your ice cream maker if you have one. It froze within an hour on the quick freeze shelf of my refrigerator. If the mix is too coarse, you may blend it as per your liking.

4. For the gelato, the consistency is a little on the smooth side as compared to ice cream. The difference between ice cream and gelato is that cream is not added to the gelato.

5. Enjoy Fig and Honey Gelato, it is quick to make and tastes out of this world ;) So if you are a fig lover, a mascarpone admirer or, what the heck(!) just like to indulge in good food, get to your kitchen and start cooking. If you are at err... work, take a print out and get to it as soon as you reach home, yes it is THAT good :) I would like to submit this to the Tasty Tools event, microplane being the selected tool. Recipe adapted from here.

I'm glad I'm just about to make it for Sig's MBP-Mixed Drinks event with Lemongrass Ginger Ale! Lately I've not been able to get to the events ;)
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Lemongrass tea is absolutely my favorite kind of tea :) Back home lemongrass used to grow wild in our backyard, now I've to pay dearly to get about 4 stalks of this herb! When I saw this Lemongrass Ginger Ale at Jaden's I knew I had to try it, though it was peak winter!! Try, I did and it was beautiful, just as I had expected. I might have gone a little overboard on the ginger, 'coz that took over the flavor. You can adjust the sugar as per your taste.

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Enjoy, summer is not too far away........