John celebrated a birthday a few days ago here at Struan Farm. We'd had the official family birthday party involving cakes a few weeks ago with other family members, so this was a low key dinner after a very hot summer's day.
I decided to make a fruit salad for dessert, with Piopio Berry Orchard strawberries and blueberries, of course, to be served in the "really cool ice bowl" from Nadia Lim's new cookbook "Let's Eat." Provided it turned out.
This project takes some time, definitely overnight, but is well worth the effort. You need two bowls that nest with a gap between them. The larger bowl is lined with thinly cut pieces of citrus (I used lemons and limes I had on hand), edible flowers and herbs (maybe even cucumber slices?). I even tossed in some pomegranate arils. The smaller bowl is then set on top of that and the rest of the side gaps are stuffed with the same type of "stuff." It may help to use a skewer or something long and thin to wedge things down. Water is then poured in between the two bowls, with ice cubes used to weigh down the smaller bowl so it doesn't float completely. This is then put into the freezer overnight (suffice it to say that a sufficiently large, flat spot should be cleared out ahead of time).
The next day or thereafter, remove the smaller bowl from the inside. When you're ready to use the bowl, tip the outside bowl upside down on the kitchen bench on a tea towel. Patience is required. Nadia says "a few minutes." In my case it took about ten on a very hot day, but the ice bowl does drops down.
And if you're lucky, it looks beautiful, like mine! I filled it up with fruit salad for John's birthday dessert. We're even able to reuse the bowl, it's back in the freezer.
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