Thursday, July 24, 2008

Form Without Function


According to Wikipedia : Form follows function is a principle associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th Century, which states that the shape of a building or object should be predicated by or based upon its intended function or purpose.

This means that the function should be the primary concern of anyone designing stuff. I don't know that they still teach that in design school. I've gotten some things that looked really nice, but worked about as well as icicles would as hammers.

Most recently, for the wedding we bought a glass, 5 gallon beverage container at Costco. It had a greenish tint to it, lovely embossed grape leaves, and a spigot at the bottom for dispensing beverages. Since one of the first things we decided for the wedding was basil lemonade, we were thrilled to find this perfect container.

It wasn't until after the wedding that we learned something about this container. Since the spigot was located about 1/4 of the way up the side, the last 1/4 of the lemonade couldn't come out unless you tilted this large glass container, and balanced it while holding your cup under the spigot and turning the spigot. Oh, yeah, that's something every wedding guest is going to do.

The person responsible for refilling the container kept checking and seeing that there was still lemonade left. So it didn't get refilled more than a couple of times. Which left me with about 5 gallons of basil syrup and 3 gallons of freshly squeezed lemon juice on hand. Dang, that was a lot of lemons to juice! My wrist still hurts just thinking about it. So, I am certainly not about to just chuck all this out. We're making basil lemonade by the gallon, and I'm flagging every lemon recipe that comes my way.

One of the first that leapt out at me was from the a recent Taste of Home magazine. Lemon Gelato - mmm, just the words sound cool, rich, soothing. Just what I need! And unlike certain other things, this recipe worked beautifully, delivering on the promise of a refreshing summer dessert with an intense lemon flavor. My husband said it was like lemon meringue pie without the crust. A winner!

Lemon Gelato
- adapted from Taste of Home, recipe by Gail Wang

1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks, beaten
3 Tbsp grated lemon zest
3/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Place the egg yolks in a medium, heatproof bowl on the counter next to the stove. Place it on a rubber glove to keep it from dancing away while you whisk in the hot milk.

Place the lemon juice into a medium bowl and prepare a larger bowl to be an ice bath for the medium bowl. Place a sieve over the lemon juice bowl.

In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the milk and sugar, and place over medium heat. Stir in sugar until dissolved and heat to 175 deg. F. Pour the heated milk in a thin stream into the egg yolks, whisking the yolks the whole time. Return the mixture to the pan. Add the lemon zest. Cook and stir over low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until mixture coats the spatula and, if you run your finger across the spatula, it leaves a trail.

Remove from heat. Pour through the sieve into the lemon juice. Stir. Place the bowl into the larger bowl of ice water; stir for 2 minutes. Stir in the cream. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Place in storage container and put in the freezer for 2 to 4 hours before serving to harden.

Makes 1-1/2 quarts.



PS - Costco has a really good return policy. When my husband took in the beverage container the guy at the counter looked at it and said, "Oh, you don't need to tell me." I guess we weren't the only ones.

20 comments:

  1. Whoa this looks fabulous! I want some right now!

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  2. This is totally unrelated to your gorgeous post today, but I had to tell you that I saw that Pushing Daisies is coming back to TV this fall and instantly I thought of you and your family. I don't know if you're already aware, but I had to share the good news just in case. :)

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  3. This looks and sounds so yummy. I'll have to give it a try.

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  4. This looks so refreshing and delicious! I can't wait to see more lemon posts!

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  5. Great way to use up the lemons, for sure!! Yum!!

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  6. Excellent choice on how to use up that lemon juice.

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  7. Love that gelato! It sounds delicious with this heat!

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  8. That is both really frustrating and really funny. :) This sounds delicious, too.

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  9. mmmm, that looks so refreshing...and a good way to make lemonade, so to speak ;)

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  10. Lemon meringue pie with out the crust? Oh yeah, now we're talking! Looks amazing Lynn!

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  11. It just so happens I have 8 lemons sitting neglected in my fridge. What a great way to use them. I'm glad that whole Costco return thing worked out. They really are good about taking back stuff that doesn't work.

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  12. Perfect way to use up some of that hard-won lemon juice - delicious!!

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  13. I can see why you wouldn't want to waste such great ingredients. The gelato sounds fabulous, but I'm getting a craving for basil lemonade! :)

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  14. Lemon AND ice cream? Mom, how could you? It looks great and I'm not there to share it. Oh well, I'll try and make it some time.

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  15. Lynn, if I lived nearby you wouldn't have to worry about all that lemonade. ;)

    This gelato look so good!

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  16. Hi Lynn, the beverage container sounded perfect for the basil lemonade, too bad about the un-functionality. Glad that you were able to return it.

    I look forward to see more lemon-centered recipes :-)

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  17. oooh i love me some gelato :) this looks delicious!!

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  18. Don't you wonder who designs this stuff?
    My favorite complaint, lately, are the bathrooms in airports where the doors open into the stall - how does one haul all their luggage inside and then close the door?
    Ooops, sorry, that's my soapbox...
    Love the sound of your lemonade... and gelato

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  19. This would be really refreshing in this summer heat. Pity i don t have some right now. Wish i could grap it from the screen. I already licked the screen but it tasted of nothing :-( Great recipe

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  20. Recently made this lemon gelato and it is FANTASTIC. I actually made 3 different lemon gelato receipes at once just to pick a best receipe. I had a taste testing with my husband, children and friends. This recipe won ! thanks for sharing.

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