summer & heat … lemons & ice cream!

My better half & I: we are back home. So I’m back on my blog.

For 3 weeks we lived in France – holidays in Brittany. While it was about 20-25° C as expected for beginning of June, temperatures skyrocketed up to 35° C during our last week. When back home – surprise! – the next heat wave approached … So I decided that we’ll need ice cream … to survive. I thought about a simple, fresh & refreshing ice cream, a no-churn type – easy to create … & because I don’t have an ice cream maker.

That’s why I stocked up on lemons, organic lemons. The result was a refreshing lemon ice cream – my better half was delighted. More about this ice cream adventure later …

What did I do in Brittany – except of sightseeing? I chilled in the garden on a lounger or in-house in an amazing comfortable armchair w/ coffee or a glass of wine within reach & (always) books to read. I was in France so I decided to immerse myself in French murder mysteries.

Of course there is the immortal Maigret …, however, I had also stocked up on more recent novels, especially investigating new releases of German-French oeuvres.

The next photo shows the restaurant L’Amiral in Concarneau. I’m sure Monsieur le Commissaire Georges Dupin isn’t unfamiliar … or is he? He is the main character of a popular series created by Jean-Luc Bannalec.

… & Dupin is devoted to Entrecôte frites in his favorite restaurant L’Amiral in Concarneau, a real location in the harbour area near the Ville Close.

Jean-Luc Bannalec is the pen name of a German author. There are quite a lot of German authors who like to set up their thrillers & murder mysteries in France. The indispensable prerequisite is a pen name which sounds originally French.

While Dupin is busy in Brittany most of his fellows prefer Southern France, especially the Mediterranean coast area. I’m thinking of Chef de Police Pierre Durand, Capitaine Roger Blanc, Albin Leclerc (a retired investigator), Leon Duval in Cannes, Le Médicin Légiste Leon Ritter … & Madame le Commissaire Isabelle Bonnet. During 3 weeks of holidays I managed to catch up on the latest novels of these series.

(Of course there are much more … authors … series … I cannot give a complete survey!)

In general the protagonist is male, has some dissent w/ his superiors … so that he – as a rule coming from Paris – ends up in one of these backwaters. (Ritter & Bonnet are exceptions!) Concerning the female touch: in Brittany there is also another female investigator active: Sandrine Perrot – alike her male fellows.

As a rule there are always disagreements between the Police National & the Gendarmerie. However, what brings them together are exquisite food & wine as well as the beautiful region where they live by now.

In short: all these novels are examples for the famous Savoir-Vivre of France.

Coming back now to the ice cream …

What do we need?

• condensed milk
• Greek yoghurt
• organic lemons.

Start w/ whisking the condensed milk & the Greek yoghurt.

How much lemon flavor do we need?
I had 3 bis lemons in may fridge (each about 150-200 g).

I started w/ the 1st lemon: zest (about 1 heaped tablespoon) & juice (about 70 ml).

After whisking the mess thoroughly I thought that there wasn’t enough lemon flavor … for me & my idea of lemon ice cream!
So I added another lemon … resp. its zest & juice.

… & it was fine.

(In the recipe at the end of the post I recommend to work w/ 2 lemons resulting in 2 heaped tbsp of zest & about 125 ml of juice. It is fresh & very lemony. If you like less lemon flavor just reduce the amount of lemon zest & lemon juice. Otherwise if you like even a stronger lemony impact grab a 3rd lemon …)

I had a container in my pantry which came from store bought ice cream. It had just the right size for my lemon ice cream mess.

So I poured the mess in the container & closed the lid.
… & off to the freezer!

After having mixed the mess every hour … 5 h later there was a perfect ice cream!

It was creamy, sweet & lemony, fresh & refreshing …

(Of course we didn’t finish the ice cream off this evening … When in the freezer at -18° C the ice cream gets very hard – so remember putting the ice cream container on your kitchen counter about 30 min before serving.)

Enjoy!