Purple icing and a Salad

I made a purple cake for my mother's 65th birthday. The purple color came from blueberries and once again I made butter icing using fruit instead of cream or milk. The icing was a little less stable than the raspberry icing and would not do well on a very hot day.

We also had a BBQ with mergez sausages, marinated lamb shoulder, shrimp and various salads. What was supposed to be a rainy day turned out to be a perfectly sunny with a light breeze that kept the bugs away. My kids were low maintanace and my husband and I got everything ready for the small party at a non frantic pace. All in all a very nice Sunday.

Blueberry sauce for icing:
I threw about 1 cup of blueberries in a small sauce pan with 2 tablespoon of sugar and about 2 tablespoons of water, and brought it all to a simmer. Once the blueberries turned bright purple and the sugar dissolved (2 minutes) I removed the sauce pan from the stove and pressed the blueberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve. I let the sauce cool and used it in the icing recipe. It resulted in a lovely color and I am happy with the results. The sauce itself also goes very well with lemon cheesecake. I made the combination a long time ago and should dig up the recipe and share it here.

Blueberry Butter icing

• 1 cup (250 ml) butter, softened
• 6 cups ( 1.25 L) icing sugar
• 2/3 cup (150 ml) blueberry sauce
  

In a large bowl beat together butter and icing sugar. Gradually beat in the blueberry sauce. If too wet, add more icing sugar in 25 ml ( 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp) additions.

Fresh summer salad

Below is one of the salads I prepared. It consists of blanched asparagus, cherry tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, basil leaves, avocado oil, a balsamic vinegar reduction reduction, and salt and freshly ground pepper. I started using avocado oil a few weeks ago and have been using it sparingly but frequently every since (it's quiet expensive). It has an unsually high smoke point and is a rich source of nutrients.