Welcome to Mum&sons

My two eldest boys challenged me to start a cooking blog with simple recipes that we can cook together - and my youngest one has now joined in. I am hoping they pick up some cooking and photograph skills... or that at least they learn to design and run a blog.


DULCE DE LECHE ICE-CREAM

In a moment of domestic madness I once bought an ice-cream machine that I have only used twice. A waste of money (not to speak about the space). This is my attempt to make some use of it, though the easiest manner to make this ice-cream is to pour the mixture into a container, put it  in the freezer and stir it well with a fork twice every hour and a half-ish. Annoyingly this method works equally well for all ice creams. And if you make ice cream for adults with alcohol you do not even need to stir it. Plus, you avoid having to clean the ice cream machine... I know, I know...

The recipe is adapted for an 'Epicurious' one. As you can see below this has a lot of sugar - and yet it tastes half as sugary as most shop-boughts ice creams. I leave the conclusion to you.

You need:
- dulce de leche made with a 400 gr condensed milk tin (see our recipe)
- 300 ml milk
- 200 ml double cream

Put the dulce de leche and the milk in a pan and heat it until the dulce the leche dissolves. Let it cool down. Separately whisk the cream until you get soft peaks. Mix the cream and the dulce de leche flavoured milk. Mix it carefully so that you do not loose any air. Put it into the ice-cream machine or in the freezer following the method above. When you are going to use it take it out of the freezer for half an hour or so.

TUNA WITH TOMATO SAUCE

This is a good way to prepare tuna as you can feed many people with just a couple of steaks. This is another recipe from my grandma. You need:

- 3 steaks of tuna
- salt
- olive oil - 4/5 spoonfuls
- 4 table spoons of flour
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce (see our recipe)
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3/4 of a  glass of white wine
- half a glass of water
- a bay leaf
- a handful of parsley

Heat the olive oil under medium heat. Cut the tuna diagonally until you get 6-ish thin slices from each stake. If they are very small you can 'hammer' them a bit with a glass or a cup so that they become bigger (and thinner). Salt them. Coat them with flour and then with the beaten eggs. Fry them for a couple of minutes on each side until they become golden.

Put the fried stakes on a pan. Add the tomato sauce and the bay leaf and heat it all  for 3-4 minutes. Separately mash the garlic in a pestle and mortar. Add the wine and add it all to the tuna and tomato pan. Add the water and the parsley and let it all bubble for 5-7 minutes so that some of the sauce evaporates and all the flavours mix.

This dish is better if you prepare it the day before you are going to eat it.

If your children are like mine they may not touch the raw tuna, but they were happy to help with the sauce.