Deep Fried Ice Cream Balls with Strawberry Coulis
Mom’s artsy photo from England. This is the trip where she insisted we check out the wine machine at Fortnum & Mason because she knew I would dig it!
Said wine machine at Fortnum & Mason. Pretty cool!
Left: Me having tea at our friends’, the Clare’s, wearing one of my charity shop hats. Right: Another charity shop hat worn for Easter.
Another example of genius booze technology! Dad demonstrates his Christmas present, the BevBuckle.
Dad and Mom looking cool at our Conesus Lake family reunion. Why is Dad wearing a tie and tweed blazer in the summer?
Mom and Dad in their Conesus Lake reunion t-shirts in 1979. There was a contest where we all teamed up to come up with ideas for what K.R.A.-Z! stood for. I still remember the winner 42 years later! “Keep Reunions Awake. - Z (Negative Z) = Don’t Sleep!”
Me hearing no evil, my cousin Sara speaking no evil, and my sister Elisabeth seeing no evil. Deep. Conesus Lake, 1979.
As I’ve mentioned (ad nauseum, I’m sure), I tried to visit Mom and Dad in England as much as I could, especially when my daughter was younger. It was a cool opportunity for her to see her grandparents and also get comfortable with foreign travel. On one of these visits Mom proclaimed, “We MUST go to the wine machine at Fortnum & Mason!”. I had no idea what she was talking about but the words “wine” and “machine” together sounded promising, so off we went to Piccadilly! Once there, I saw what Mom was talking about. It was a circular machine with different wines hooked up all around. You purchased credit and then you could pick how much of whichever wine you wanted. So, it was possible to get just a quarter glass of this and a half glass of that. In essence, you could get yourself in trouble thinking you were barely drinking at all! We kept it pretty together but *did* suddenly feel inspired to go try on hats upstairs after a good number of sips. We avoided the super pricey Philip Treacy fascinators but had fun with some more pedestrian hats, which were still too rich for my blood! You see, my Dad and I like to go to the charity (thrift) shops when we are in London. I’ve scored so many great hats this way! I imagine that some lady wears a hat once to a well documented wedding and then doesn’t want to wear it again so she donates it. 10 pounds for a lovely, barely worn chapeau?! Yes, please. I have literally had to walk onto a plane wearing a bright pink derby hat before, just trying to get it home uncrushed.
We Reeds love a good deal and we also love a good invention. We even have a family friend who was an actual inventor! His name was Wesley Moffett. Apparently he dated my Reed grandmother pre-Grandpa Reed. And, in addition to that bit of fame, he invented the freaking microwave! I found a patent of his from 1961 documenting microwave technology. One summer, in 1979, we had a huge family reunion on Conesus Lake in Upstate New York. My Grandmother Reed was one of the five Greene sisters and all of them and their kids got together for two weeks. There were something like 70 people in attendance, which is impressive and insane when you think about feeding everyone. One day we took an excursion to visit Wesley, the inventor. The visit was SUPER memorable to this 7 year old, because there were so many remarkable things about his house. Wesley had a panel on his headboard which told you the outside temperature and a slew of other facts. I think he could even open up the ceiling from his bed. His toilet seat had actual pressed butterflies encased in lacquer (tacky but mesmerizing). And, some of his “inventions” were strewn around the property. There was a zip line where at one point you skimmed over a pack of ravenous dogs who jumped up and barked insanely at you. There was a sort of “ride” in the water which was essentially like a human metronome buoy. You climbed to the top and it would dunk you from one side to the other, the length of time underwater and depth of plunge dependent on your body weight. Some of the adults were underwater for a shockingly long time. There was immense drowning potential with that one. It was definitely the 70s! And then Dad told me about Wesley’s culinary inventions. Apparently he used to make experimental ice cream in oddball flavors such as “Rattlesnake”. Like, for real. Actual snake parts in it. Barf.
Now, interestingly enough, Wesley was connected to same side of my family as the person who invented a WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS treat, the iconic Twinkie. That honor belongs to my Dad’s cousin’s husband’s grandfather. Yes, it’s a tenuous connection, made official only by marriage, but I’ll take it. (The same way I take my McCoy connection, of the great Hatfield / McCoy feud. We are McCoys by marriage and I totally claim it. In fact, my Aunt Lisa wrote a great book on the families called Blood Feud: The Hatfields And The Mccoys: The Epic Story Of Murder And Vengeance . Check it out!)
So for today’s recipe, I thought I would post something both tasty and inventive. I found this recipe in Mom’s files. It seems to be British. (I converted it.)
DEEP FRIED ICE CREAM BALLS
It may sound bizarre but it actually works. The ice cream doesn’t melt because the filo pastry puffs up, creating layers of air which act as a really good insulator, protecting the ice cream from the heat of the oil. Just make sure that the fat fryer is really hot when you put the balls in, about 375F, otherwise the warm oil soaks into the filo before it gets a chance to expand into layers. Then the ice cream may melt, and you also end up with a really oily mass.
How to:
Scoop the frozen ice cream into balls, place onto a non-stick baking tray and put back into the freezer until ready to wrap in pastry.
Pre-heat the deep fat fryer to 375F. Cut out squares of filo pastry. Take a square, lightly brush with egg wash and scatter with toasted nuts. Repeat the process twice more, then layer up all three squares. Take an ice cream ball and wrap in the layered filo. Place immediately into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Remove and drain onto a plate with kitchen paper. Repeat quickly, but carefully with each ice cream ball. Serve with strawberry coulis.
STRAWBERRY COULIS
9oz strawberries, hulled
2oz icing sugar (powdered sugar in the US)
4 Tbsp water
1 tsp grated orange zest
2 Tbsp red wine
Puree the strawberries and pass through a fine sieve into a bowl. Put the sugar, water and zest into a pan. Bring to a simmer, then reduce for 2 mins. Add the red wine and bring back to a simmer for a further minute. Gently stir the wine mixture into the strawberry puree.
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