At this time of year we are inundated with fruits as we harvest from the fruit trees and hedgerows. I seem to have a abundance of apples, pears and plums this year (blame it on the weather). So with jams and preserves being made aswell as freezing to preserve for later use I love to cook this Swedish Apple Dessert my grandmother shown me.

In this dessert we use bread which is a important contribution to our daily intake of carbohydrates, B vitamins, iron, calcium and protein along with fibre if wholemeal variety used. This recipe gives you another way in which to use this ingredient to make a scrumptious dessert which is happily served with cream as a dessert or as a afternoon cake with tea, the choice is yours so have a go its delicious!

For my Swedish Apple Dessert you are going to need:1kg cooking apples peeled, cored and sliced, 1 lemon, 100g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 100g butter, 225g breadcrumbs of your choice, 1 tblsp icing sugar and toasted almonds to decorate.

Cook your apples in a covered saucepan in minimum water (around 6 tblsp), once soft add the grated rind of the lemon and 4 tblsps lemon juice, the cinnamon and sugar then beat to a pulp. Melt the butter in another saucepan and add the breadcrumbs stirring well until the butter is fully absorbed. Now grease a 15 to 18 cm cake tin of your choice remember to line with greaseproof paper if not using silicone bakeware or a loose bottom tin. Press one third of the breadcrumbs onto the bottom of your prepared tin, then add a layer of the apple and continue layering breadcrumbs and apples finishing with a layer of breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes then cool before turning out. When cooled sift the icing sugar over the top and decorate with toasted almonds and slices of apple if you wish.

You can use plums for this recipe well which also tastes delicious. This dessert is also great for freezing as I like to have one for christmas ( I know that banned word) but you can freeze this for 6 months.

For great silicone bakeware which you always hear me praising as everyone who trys them never goes back to conventional tins take a look or see my previous blog silicone bakeware makes it oh so easy to clean.

Find a great preserve recipe in my previous blog apples falling early in freak british weather, another great apple recipe can be found on my blog fathers day roast, and for the apple pie recipe everyone loves see my blog meanwhile back in the kitchen to celebrate apple day.  Have you got a seasonal fruit recipe to share with all of us, drop me a line.

Tip - If you have got alot of pear and apples my grandmother taught me to wrap the good fruit in paper and place in a box in a cool area off the floor for keeping and this does work. Keep you box somewhere dry away from damp.

Sophia Loren once said that ‘Everything you see, I owe to Spaghetti!’. Italians view their food as central to their life full of colour & variety, much like Italys variety of land terraine. The key to their cusine is the importance they put on quality basic ingredients to bring out flavour.

Take tomatoes they bring flavour to a variety of Italian dishes and Italian tomato varieties are exported all over the world aswell as being a important basic ingredient to Italian cookery and the Mediterranean diet. Olive oil used in dressings, for shallow frying or drizzled on pasta or bread is another staple for Italian cookery along with its health claims packed full with antioxidants and monounsaturated fats for reducing cholesterol.

I remember some facts picked up while visiting Italy and while chatting being told about Parma Ham which is cured for a minimum of 13 months and the longer the cure the sweeter and milder the flavour for example. They have a passion for food and life in general.

Why not make some homemade Focaccia to get in the Italian mood?

Your going to need: a 500g white bread mix, 3 tblsp olive oil, 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary and 4 finely sliced gloves of garlic.

Start by chopping the leaves of 4 of the rosemary  sprigs (saving one sprig for decoration later) and emptying the bread mix into a bowl before stirring in the garlic and chopped rosemary. Then mix according to the bread packet mix directions and knead the dough for 5 minutes. Flatten your dough in to 2 oblongs each of about 1cm thickness and put these onto a lightly oiled baking sheet (oiled with olive oil). Don’t forget the great silicone baking sheets available now, if you haven’t tried them yet then what are you waiting for, they are great, easy to use, store and clean. Cover this loosely with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place for the dough to prove for at least 30  minutes when the dough should of doubled in size. Preheat your oven 220 c/ 425 f/ gas 7 and make dimples in your focaccia dough with your fingers before brushing with 2 tblsp olive oil and decorating with the remaining sprig of rosemary leaves and sprinkle with sea salt then bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven abd brush with the remaining olive oil before serving warm.

Note you can freeze this superb bread by double wrapping in greaseproof paper and foil before freezing until needed.

Find other italian ideas (and yes Italian is one of my favourite cuisines), in my previous blog italian-style baked red pepper or try this recipe in my blog traditional soda bread recipe or you could try my peppered beef & mushroom tagliatelle recipe in my previous blog easy recipe for a italian supper.

Sometimes while partying through the summer and lighter nights after eating all those nibbly bits from your barbecue, your simply looking for a simple dessert to satisfy both those savoury and sweet tooths amoungst all of your guests.

Recently, while gathering friends and family were busy munching away at my homemade burgers, my friend Claire disappeared to my freezer to find out what homemade icecreams I had on the go. I tell you there are no secrets in my house. Followed closely by Mel the 2 of them emerged from my garage with wide beamed smiles.

One icecream variety each, before chaos persued in my kitchen. But hey, in my house thats normal, and we always end up in the kitchen! Funny that, all these rooms in my house and suddenly all your guests try to fit in one room!

Anyway, Claire having a savoury tooth loves my pistachio nut icecream and after finding the biggest spoon she could lay her hands on; both Emma and Claire dug in to the icecream to make themselves a big bowl full. Before they disappeared up my garden with bowl in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, before they ate all their icecream and started on the cheese and fruit.

However, Mel has a sweet tooth and she had my vanilla and honey homemade icecream, which by now everyone was having a taste of. So I decided, lets make some sweet fruity kebabs and serve them with this delicious sweet icecream.

Brilliant, just like “can’t cook won’t cook”, everyone wanted a go. So preheating the grill so some people could use the barbecue and the others my grill & griddle, we set about making our kebabs. Your going to need for my sweet fruity kebabs - 75ml freshly squeezed orange juice, 15ml honey, 30ml water, 16 strawberries, 1/2 mango peeled, stoned and cut into 8 pieces, 1/2 pineapple, peeled, cut into 16 pieces, 1 banana peeled and cut into 8 pieces and of course a tub of icecream (whether thats homemade or from your local farm shop).

First preheat the grill as I had above, then slowly bring the water, orange juice and honey to the boil, stirring until the honey is dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened. Meanwhile thread the fruits alternately on to 8 wooden skewers. Place onto a grill rack or barbecue and cook the kebabs for about 8 minutes, basting them occasionally with the honey syrup. Once golden serve the cooked fruity kebabs with a scoop of your favourite ice cream and drizzle with any extra syrup. A dish to delight any sweet tooth, trust me and loads of fun to do!

Never the less to say, I spend nearly an hour making batches of kebabs and syrup for everyone, before joining the rest of them now all under the glowing lanterns in my garden where all was in full swing with a great game of pictionary, (while a bit tipsy) in teams which was hilarious! and while I am thinking about Jacob you owe me a meerkat statue!!! Nothing can beat a great night of good food, good company, great friends and family and loads of memories!

What games do you get up to at your barbecues, and whats your favourite party dishes? Check out my blog the big dipper for some more party gadgets. Why not have a look at some of my ice cream recipes in my blog dark, delcious chocolate icecream and homemade icecream in a flash plus many more too.

Not all homemade ice creams need to be made in a ice cream maker. This particular one dosen’t need constant stirring and whisking to obtain a smooth and creamy ice cream. Made with cream cheese which dosen’t need whipping but gives the cream density this chocolate delight ice cream just couldn’t be easier for you to make so have a go.

A great appliance to have handy in your kitchen is this great Kuhn Rikon 300w hand blender shopper & whisk, with its high power 300w  with 2 Speeds. It also is a great price and comes with measuring cup and chopping container Whisk attachment and stainless steel rod and blade. Its uses in cookery are endless you will be using in most recipes. 

Your going to need: 500g vanilla Custard ( you could use a ready made version if you wish for quickness too), 400g light cream cheese, 100g icing sugar sifted, 300g plain chocolate broken in the pieces and 100ml milk (remember to use the variety to suit your diet like soya etc if needed).

First start by melting 200g of your chocolate in a bowl with your custard over a saucepan stirring until smooth. PLace the cream cheese and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and gradually whisk this into the warmed chocolate custard mix. Then whisk in the milk and chill in the refridgerator. When chilled pour this into a freezer grade plastic tupperware container (at least 1.5 litres in size) covering with a fitted lid or clingfilm if you don’t have a lid and freeze in your freezer for at least 2 hours, (until almost frozen). You can if you have a ice cream maker follow the instructions and use your appliance if you wish as in my previous blog  homemade ice cream in a flash. 

Put your remaining chocolate into a microwave proof food bag, seal the bag and microwave for 1 minute on high to melt. You can then snip of the corner of the bag and drizzle this chocolate in to the readymade ice cream in it tupperware container. Leave to set and stir the set drizzled chocolate into the ice cream which gives you small slithers of chocolate throughout your icecream. Finally freeze your icecream for around another 2 hours until completely frozen.

Then serve as required whether thats with a scrummy hot chocolate pudding, with fresh local strawberries, on top of a delicious homemade dessert or even as my kids love to do sandwich digestive biscuits with a scope of ice cream and enjoy.

Another idea might be to fill profiteroles with this instead of fresh cream see my previous blog chocolate profiteroles with chantilly cream made in your mixer for a great dessert and recipe.

Tell me your ideas of how you serve ice cream and what you favourite variety of ice cream is?