(got this off of Sheknows.com, but I pretty sure they got it from Bravotv.com)
I tend to have a wild imagination - one that would often times get me in trouble during the school day in elementary, because I was usually looking out the window day dreaming. I still find myself swept away with my little mental escapades.
The other day, I was making frozen yogurt. I was thoroughly inspired by Lisa, over at Korean American Mommy, with her version of
frozen yogurt. I had over-bought yogurt that week and need to use it up fast. I had never made frozen yogurt because it just didn't sound that good to me. I have two memories of frozen yogurt. One was the 1988 version of Dannon yogurt thrown in the freezer to make a solid block of unsweetened yogurt on the top with all the sweet stuff at the bottom. I remember trying to scrape away at the crystallized, rock hard yogurt with my plastic spork during lunch in the school lunchroom- frustrating to say the least. I would just reach the sweet fruity goodness at the bottom an the bell would ring. All that furious scraping for nothing. The other was TCBY "yogurt", which I know the slogan was "I Can't Believe It's Not Yogurt", but seriously, I
don't believe it. Let's just call it what it was...soft serve ice cream.
So anyways, back to staring at the yogurt in my frig. I pull it out, grab a bag of frozen organic blueberries and went to work. Made the blueberry syrup, strained the yogurt, mixed it, froze it (in the ice cream freezer). As I scraped out the frozen goodness, I noticed an extra frozen sheath of yogurt stuck to the sides of the mixer. I was
not leaving that. So I grabbed a spoon and started chiseling away. Seriously, chiseling. ( I was having a few lunch room flash backs) What came out were the most gorgeous shards of blueberry frozen yogurt. I took a bite. It was crispy, almost like a wafer, then it melted so perfectly on my tongue. I thought, "I could be Wylie Dufresne's sous chef. He would love this!" Then it occurred to me that he probably makes this kind of thing all the time and would be like, " that's what we give the cat when she is bad!". He's the king of molecular gastronomy. He freezes things with liquid nitrogen like he brushes his teeth, often and with vigor. I'm pretty sure his sideburns alone could whip up a decent tuna tar tar.
I grabbed a peach and halved it. I plopped it down for the photo shoot. It was now the vessel for my REAL frozen yogurt. I delicately placed a scoop of my freshly churned yogurt on top. It looked so lush sitting there as I took it's picture that I just had to take a bite. No need for spoons, just picked it up and bit it. What a great combo! Creamy cold blueberry yogurt on top of a room temperature juicy peach. Colors, textures, temperatures; all there and all working together harmoniously. This would be a great end to a great meal, especially on these hot summer nights.
So Wylie, if you ever need advice on how to freeze something
without liquid nitrogen, give me a call.
Frozen Blueberry Yogurt
1 32 oz. container whole organic plain yogurt
1 10oz. bag frozen organic blueberries
1/4 cup (I'm going to stop saying "organic" just assume) sugar
1 tbls. agave nectar
Strain the yogurt for about 15 min to get out some of the moisture. While that's happening, cook down the blueberries with the sugar for about the same amount of time. Place in a bowl in an ice bath to chill it down. Add the agave to the strained yogurt and stir. I strained the blueberry mixture, but you really wouldn't have too.
Mix together, freeze in your ice cream maker and presto! Serve on peach halves or just by itself.
