The Lone Drainer’s Recipe #2

I scream, you scream, we’ll all scream for The Lone Drainer’s Passionfruit Ice Cream.

I, Dave Conroy, the master of the fast but excellent tasting recipe, have developed a speedy, easy, no-equipment-necessary recipe for fantastic ice cream. OK, it’s not super healthy, but it is home made, you know every single good ingredient (3) that’s in it because you put them there and its 100% natural.

Here is the recipe:

Go to the supermarket on the way home from work.
Buy 1 can of condensed milk and 1 carton of cream and 6 passionfruit.
Stir the cream and condensed milk together in a saucepan over a low heat.
Add the insides of the 6 passionfruit and let it sit off the heat while you open a beer, watch the news, have a shower or water the garden.

Then, (and this is the good bit) raid the grog cupboard, find some vodka. Any other liquor will do, but vodka is good because it has no flavor or colour. Gin will work just as well. Anything that won’t mask the flavor of the passionfruit. Add a good slug, around two tablespoons. Stir. Put the lot in a plastic container and stick it in the freezer. It’ll be ready in about an hour.

This wondrous creation has been tried and tested in the The Lone Drainer’s Test Kitchen many times. There is science at the back of it too. The alcohol in the vodka stops the ice cream forming crystals, which make for an unpleasant texture. Alcohol just won’t freeze in a normal domestic freezer. So it keeps the ice cream creamy. Ipso facto, you don’t have to do all that churning with machines and gadgets and what not.

We’ve tried it with whisky and two espresso coffees instead of the passionfruit and that came out tops too. It’s just not a fussy recipe. But it won’t work without the grog. Trust me. I’m a plumber. And I don’t like to waste good alcohol.

Here is a picture of two thirds of my last batch of passionfruit ice cream. I did want to photograph it BEFORE eating it, but just couldn’t resist. Evidence of how good it is.

Read our blog. Cook my food. Admire our plumbing.

The Lone Drainer Recipe collection

It’s the second month of the New Year and we’re all still full of good intentions.

I, The Lone Drainer, the fastest plumber in the Eastern suburbs, hereby announce my New Years Resolution: I will become a better cook. I am committing in print in the hope that my public announcement will help me stick to the program.

Here’s how it will work:

Every week, I will publish a new recipe, fully tried and tested in The Lone Drainer Coogee kitchen and stomach. I’m aiming for easy, fast and not too many ingredients. And something that won’t make me fat. I want to be a fit, healthy fifty year old. (Ed: who are you kidding Dave? Rumour has it you’re closer to sixty already!)

It won’t always be a recipe, sometimes it will just be a meal idea, suitable for a man to make. (OK, sexist, I know. I’ll rephrase that. What I mean is suitable for me, a mere male without a lot of cooking skills, but certainly a man who likes to eat well).

Here is No 1 Recipe, a sample of my ‘easy-after-a-hard–days-work–plumbing meal’ idea:

Go to the supermarket.

Buy a bag of mixed salad leaves, a bottle of bread and butter pickles, and a piece of salmon.

Put two potatoes and two carrots on to boil. (Good plumbers need carbs. We work hard and burn a lot of energy).

Spread the salad leaves on a plate. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil on the leaves. (Uncooked olive oil is good for keeping cholesterol down).

BBQ the salmon. Or cook it in a heavy cast iron frypan. Six and two minutes on a gas stove.

Put the salmon on top of the leaves. Put the now cooked potatoes and carrots next to the salmon on the plate . Add a couple of dill pickles. There is dinner. Four vegetables, fish for protein and a few carbs for energy. Twenty minutes tops.

Read our blog. Cook my food. Admire our plumbing.