Rhubarb Crisp Ice Cream

You may have noticed a pattern developing in my recent posts. Rhubarb, bread.  Rhubarb, bread. This post seems to be continuing the pattern, so I hope you’re not rhubarb-ed out yet!

stewed rhubarb

Because the truth of the matter is, I think I’ve saved the best rhubarb recipe for last. Picture a rhubarb crisp:  sweet-tart soft pink fruit coated with a crunchy brown sugar oat streusel, and topped with a scoop of ice cream. That vision was exactly what I had in mind when I concocted this ice cream flavor, using a few ideas from The Perfect Scoop, of course.

gorgeous araucana eggs for the custard base

finished custard, just chillin’ out

The ice cream has three components: quickly stewed rhubarb, brown sugar cinnamon ice cream and crunchy oatmeal praline. Together, they’re like a bite of rhubarb crisp in ice cream form!

oatmeal praline – so good

And even though the ice cream custard itself is delicious — peachy instead of pink, but still tasting of rhubarb and brown sugar and cinnamon — I have to admit that the best part of this ice cream, to me, were the chunks of oatmeal praline nestled throughout the creamy ice cream. I’ve always been one of those people who loves chunky ice creams, to the point where I sometimes stand over an open pint of Ben & Jerry’s  chocolate chip cookie dough and painstakingly excavate most of the cookie dough gobs (yes, I have surgical precision when it comes to excavating tasty chunks from creamy ice cream). The praline is quite hard at room temperature, but after it sits in the ice cream for a bit, it softens ever so slightly to give you that pleasing crunch (without breaking a tooth.)

I think this ice cream would be terrific made with other types of seasonal fruit, too — peaches come to mind, or even better, sauteed apples!

Oh. I’m getting ahead of myself. One season at a time…

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created by piecing several recipes together from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

view printable recipe

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Warm the milk, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, brown sugar and cinnamon; set a mesh strainer over this bowl and set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Once the milk mixture has warmed, slowly pour it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to temper the yolks. Transfer the entire custard mixture back into the medium saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the custard mixture thickens enough to coat the spatula. Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the bowl containing the heavy cream, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine, then stir in the vanilla. Set into an ice bath to cool thoroughly.

Freeze in your ice cream maker, adding the stewed rhubarb (see below) and oatmeal  praline (see below) during the last few minutes of churning. Add the rhubarb first, making sure it’s swirled throughout the frozen ice cream, then add the oatmeal praline.

Makes a generous quart.

Stewed Rhubarb

Note: this recipe makes a little more than you need for the ice cream. Stir in as much as you like while the ice cream is churning, and save any extra to top the ice cream or to stir into yogurt, etc. I also used slightly less sugar than originally called for, as I didn’t want the end product to be too sweet when combined with the sweet ice cream base.

You can make this ahead and refrigerate it.

Ingredients
12 ounces rhubarb
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Directions
Wash and trim the ends of the rhubarb. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a medium saucepan with the water and sugar; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender and cooked through. Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Oatmeal Praline

Ingredients
3/4 cup rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of coarse salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with foil. Spread the oats evenly on the sheet and bake in the oven, about 10 minutes, or until they’re fragrant and toasted. Remove from oven; transfer the oats to a bowl and return the foil to the baking sheet.

Spread the sugar evenly in a medium, heavy-bottomed skillet. Cook over medium heat, watching carefully, until the sugar begins to liquefy and darken around the edges. When it begins to do this, you can stir it gently with a heatproof spatula to moisten and melt the remaining sugar crystals.

Continue gently stirring and tilting the pan until all of the sugar is melted and the caramel begins to smoke. When it’s turned a deep golden color, turn off the heat and immediately add the oats to the skillet.

Stir the oats quickly but gently to coat them all with caramel, then scrape them onto the foil-lined baking sheet. Spread them out as best you can, sprinkle with the salt and let them cool completely. Once they’re cool, you can break them into smaller chunks by either pulsing them in a food processor or placing them in a large ziptop bag and smacking them with a meat mallet or rolling pin (I opted for this latter method.)

Makes about 1 cup.

BBA #2: Artos, or Greek Celebration Bread

I’m only a few weeks into this bread-baking adventure, and already I can honestly say: I love baking bread. I love the meditative process of kneading, I love seeing sponges bubble and come alive, I love watching the transformation of dough as it proofs, I love the smell of freshly baking bread in my oven, and I love eating it. I think this Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge is going to forever convert me to a home bread baker…and that, I quite think, is a good thing!

This past week I tackled Artos, which is the general name for any number of Greek celebration breads, served at various holidays and festivals. Reinhart lists a number of variations of the bread, including Christopsomos (with dried fruit and nuts, traditionally baked at Christmas), and Lambropsomo, with dried fruit, almonds and hard-cooked eggs (traditionally made at Easter.) Even though I normally love bread with dried fruit and nuts, this week I was just in the mood for the basic Greek celebration bread, which is an enriched, eggy bread spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, and sweetened with honey. Sounds pretty delicious, doesn’t it? And it was. Here’s how it unfolded:

Traditional artos traditionally starts with what’s called a barm, a type of sourdough starter. I don’t yet have any starter living in my fridge (sourdough breads will come sometime this fall!), so I chose to use the alternate starting method of a poolish. A poolish is basically a wet sponge, thick like pancake batter, that you start the day before you plan to bake your loaf. The pre-fermenting action you get with a poolish improves the flavor and structure of the final finished bread.

poolish, starting to bubble

After my poolish had fermented at room temperature and sat in the refrigerator overnight, I was ready to start the artos dough. Because the dough was enriched with milk, olive oil and eggs, it was soft and supple and really easy to knead.

smooth and flecked with spices

After I let the dough go through its rise, it was time to shape it. Reinhart suggests shaping it into a traditional boule (or round), but I was itching to do something a little more interesting. Since it was a soft, eggy dough I thought it would lend itself well to braiding — so I did a simple 3-strand braid.

just like braiding pigtails…kind of.

After my braid was done, I set it out to proof. These pictures below show before (left) and after (right)…I guess you can’t see it as clearly as I could in person, but this dough had oomph. By the time it was done proofing and ready to go in the oven, it filled up my entire half sheet pan!

before (L) and after (R) proofing: bulging at the seams

Here’s my artos, fresh out of the oven. It honestly is, I think, the biggest loaf of bread I’ve ever baked! And, it smelled absolutely heavenly…my whole house filled with the aroma of warm spices and the sweet smell of yeast.

don’t mess with this loaf! It’s a big one.

I used the traditional glaze for the loaf, which is a mixture of warmed up water, sugar and honey. After I brushed the glaze on, I sprinkled it with sesame seeds, which stuck nicely to the glistening loaf. The glaze soaked a little into the surface of the bread, creating a nice sweet crust.

After waiting the recommended hour before slicing into it (and bending over the loaf and deeply inhaling every 10 minutes during that hour), I cut a thick slab and devoured it. It was wonderful: a tender, tender crumb, delicious yeasty flavor, sweet and aromatic with spices.

When the holidays roll around, I think I’ll make this again and use the variation with the dried fruit and nuts — it would be a wonderful holiday bread, and quite a nice hostess gift!

We munched on it, slathered with butter, all week and then this past weekend, the last few slices were perfect for French toast. As I said in the beginning of this post, I think I could get used to this!

Previous BBA bread: Anadama Bread
Up next: Bagels (!)

Rhubarb a Go-Go

Or, perhaps I should just say “rhubarb to go,” but “a go-go” is more fun to say.

I made these muffins last weekend to “a go-go” out the door with my husband early each morning this week, while he works for a few hours on our big house-building project before starting his full-time work day. God love him.

Rhubarb this year is just calling to me; I haven’t been able to resist buying big bunches of it at the farmer’s market where it’s appeared over the past few weeks. And, a friend who grows rhubarb brought me a fat bundle of stalks, so I’ve been looking for different ways to use it. So far there’s been some terrific successes, of which these muffins are one.

Since they’d be fueling B for his early-morning construction work, I wanted to make them somewhat healthy yet also feel like a bit of a treat. So, they have some whole wheat pastry flour (which gives them a lovely,  soft, tender crumb) as well as little flecks of flaxseed…but you could leave out the latter if you wanted. I just happen to have a bag in the fridge and I try to find periodic inspiration to use it.

Besides the moist chunks of rhubarb nestled into the muffins, I topped them with walnuts tossed in cinnamon and a little sugar. Just a little bit sweet, leaning towards healthy, and definitely special.  Almost like a little palm-sized individual rhubarb coffee cake!

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Rhubarb Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

an Eggs on Sunday original, basic muffin formula heavily adapted from The Joy of Cooking

view printable recipe

Using canola oil in these muffins instead of butter helps them stay moist and tender for several days. If you’re planning to eat them all the day you make them, feel free to substitute butter for an even richer taste.

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I use Arrowhead Mills brand)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup ground flaxseeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a muffin pan with muffin cups.

In a large bowl, combine the flour through nutmeg; whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs through vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold to combine. Fold in the rhubarb, and divide among prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, toss the walnuts, cinnamon and sugar together with your fingers or a spoon. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for about 18-22 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean (the dough is fairly moist.) The tops should spring back to the touch when they’re cooked through.

Makes 12.

BBA #1: Anadama Bread

About a year ago, I was talking with my Mom about the fact that I would really like to start baking more bread. I had heard about Peter Reinhart’s book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, and thought that would be a good place to start. And come that Christmas, the book was given to me from my parents (supportive as always – thanks, Mom and Dad!) It immediately became clear to me that this book would be a great resource to learn from. The first 100 pages are devoted to detailed explanations of ingredients, baker’s formulas, and methods — everything a novice bread baker would need to learn to begin understanding how bread baking works, more than just following a recipe blindly with no understanding of the how’s and why’s. I spent days poring over the book, trying a few recipes, and offhandedly said to my Mom as I was telling her how much I liked the book “you know, I think it would be really fun to bake my way through this book. I know I would learn a lot.” The thought tickled my brain for a few days and then I got sidetracked on another project, only to revisit BBA periodically and vaguely remember my notion of cooking through it.

Until last week.

Behold, the power of communication through blogs and Twitter — Nicole from Pinch My Salt casually tweeted one day that she was thinking of baking her way through BBA, and would anyone like to join her? About a week later, she had amassed a group of 200 bakers, myself included, all ready to take on this adventure and immerse ourselves in baking our way through this wonderful book. Some people are completely new to bread baking, some have been baking bread for 20+ years, but we all are interested in learning and tackling this book together. You can read more about the group on Nicole’s BBA Challenge page, including a list of participants and a world map showing where all of the bakers are located. She’s also started a BBAC Flickr group where you can see photos of the breads as they roll in.

The group intends to work through the book in order, tackling one bread per week for the next 40+ weeks. A committment?  Sure. But if there’s one thing that B and I adore (right up there with homemade pizza and ice cream) it’s freshly baked bread. I’m so excited to take on this challenge and to share the results of what I’m learning here with you.

So on to the first loaf! The inaugural bread this week was Anadama Bread, which is a traditional bread from New England flavored with cornmeal and molasses. There’s an interesting story behind how this bread is rumored to have gotten its name:  a Massachusetts man, angry with his wife for leaving him (and with only a pot of cornmeal mush and molasses, at that), threw together the mush and molasses with some flour and yeast and said “Anna, damn ‘er!” This was revised as it was retold to the more refined “Anadama,” and the story stuck. Who knows if it’s true, but I do know that cornmeal and molasses in a bread makes for a mighty tasty loaf.

ready to add the molasses, more flour, and butter to the cornmeal soaker

the dough kneaded beautifully, and is  nicely textured with cornmeal

proofed loaf, ready to bake

warm from the oven

I will say, this bread is absolutely delicious. The cornmeal and molasses give it a slight sweetness, but it’s not cloying at all, and it doesn’t taste overtly of either. The crumb was super soft and light, punctuated by little bits of crunchy cornmeal throughout that I really liked. It’s wonderful toasted with some butter, and we also used it for chicken salad sandwiches made with grapes and walnuts.

As I was munching my way through this loaf, the thought kept nagging me that I’d tasted this bread somewhere before (and loved it.) It finally hit me: Henrietta’s  Table, in Cambridge MA, serves this bread in their bread basket along with a rustic cranberry and walnut yeasted bread. Henrietta’s Table is hands-down one of my favorite Boston restaurants; the chef serves seasonal, New England-inspired food sourced from local ingredients, and the atmosphere inside is like a classy-rustic farmhouse. Love!! I used to eat there at least a few times a year while I worked in Harvard square, and always, always one of my favorite parts of the meal was the bread basket.

So, one loaf deliciously down, but I know I’ll be making anadama bread again for us. I’ll be posting my breads for the BBA Challenge every Monday, and in the meantime, do visit some of the other bakers to see their Anadama versions. (And, if you live near Boston, swing by Henrietta’s Table for a delicious meal and a taste of this bread!)

Pizza Dough, Revisited

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a Friday Night Pizza on the blog, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been eating them (5 years and going strong!) I’m planning to resurrect the series now that the growing season is beginning again (nothing like a few new vegetables at the market to stir up a little inspiration!), and the first thing I thought I’d share with you is my new, improved pizza dough recipe.

The previous dough I was using, while very good, sometimes seemed to make a pizza that was a little on the small side for the two of us. Trying to make it bigger, I tried rolling it out more thinly a few times, but that resulted in a pizza that was too thin to support more than a sparse sprinkling of toppings, and a bit too crispy/crackery for my liking. So I’ve been tweaking flour and water ratios, armed with the knowledge I learned from Michael Ruhlman’s new book, Ratio (which is excellent. You should pick up a copy!) Ruhlman gives his basic bread dough recipe in the book — 5 parts flour to 3 parts water (plus yeast and salt) — and recently mentioned it in relation to making homemade pizza on his blog (doesn’t his breakfast pizza look delicious? Eggs on pizza are quite tasty, to this I can attest.) I started with his 5:3 ratio and found that while I really liked the amount of dough it made, as well as the nicely crispy crust it produces, I missed a little of the chewiness that the previous dough recipe I was using had. Comparing the formulas for each, I found that the previous dough I’d been using had a ratio of flour to water of  closer to 5:4 (and used less flour per pizza to begin with). I liked the measure of flour used in Ruhlman’s 5:3 ratio, and knew that increasing the proportion of liquid in the dough just a bit would give the slightly chewier, more custardy interior that I was going for. The dough is a bit sticker initially, but smooths into a supple ball after kneading and rolls out very easily, with no resting required between “stretches.”

The ratio I arrived at is closer to 5:3.5 rather than 5:3, and we adore it. B has proclaimed them to be the best pizzas I’ve made so far! We get a roughly 14-inch pie with this formula, with a thick-enough but not-so-thick-as-to-be-bread crust. It’s crispy on the outside (particularly if you can use a baking stone, which I highly recommend if you make pizzas or bread often), chewy on the inside and makes enough for 2-3 people.

We had some friends over last weekend, and feasted on two different pies — one with sausage, caramelized fennel, and thinly sliced red onion; the other with asparagus, spinach pesto, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and local goat cheese. I can honestly say I think they were two of the tastiest pies to make an appearance in our house, ever!

Previous Eggs on Sunday pizza combinations:
Asparagus, Fava Bean & Chive Pizza
Asparagus, Ricotta & Salami Pizza
Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza
Bacon, Egg and Spinach Pesto Pizza
BBQ Bacon Cheddar Pizza
Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese and Thyme Pizza
Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Gruyere Pizza
Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza
Green Garlic Monster Pizza
Pizza with Mushrooms, Asiago, Roasted Garlic & Thyme
Pesto & Potato Pizza
Sausage & Rapini Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Fontina and Ricotta
Sausage, Red Onion & Crimini Mushrooms
Southwestern Black Bean & Vegetable
Spinach and Artichoke Pizza
Spinach and Feta Pizza
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Amy’s Pizza Dough

view printable recipe

The recipe below makes enough for one 14-inch pizza. You can easily double it and freeze the other half after the dough rises; freeze in a ziptop bag and then thaw it in the refrigerator or at room temperature the day you plan to use it (make sure to let it come up to room temperature before you roll it out and bake it — cold dough won’t cut it!)

Ingredients
10 ounces bread flour (AP flour works fine, too) — I prefer to measure by weight, but if you don’t have a scale, figure that 4.5 ounces of bread flour roughly equals 1 cup — so 10 ounces is roughly 2 1/4 cups. You’ll want to adjust the flour in the dough so it’s tacky, but not sticky.
7 ounces warm water (90-110 degrees F, but I don’t usually measure – just can’t be hot)
a drizzle of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the warm water and olive oil, and mix until the dough comes together (it will be shaggy and there may still be some dry bits of flour on the bottom of the bowl.) Turn the whole thing out onto a lightly floured surface — I use my kitchen work table — and knead until the dough smooths out and passes the windowpane test*, about 6-8 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky. The resulting dough will be tacky but not super sticky.

[*Windowpane test: pull off a small piece of dough, and gently stretch it in all directions until the middle is paper thin. When you've kneaded the dough enough to develop the gluten sufficiently, the middle should be able to be stretched thin (and be translucent, like a windowpane) without tearing. If it tears easily, keep kneading a few minutes more.]

Place the kneaded dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn a few times to coat with oil. Cover with a dishtowel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours. Since we keep our house cool, I place my bowl on an electric heating pad to keep the temperature around the bowl warm and encourage rising.

After it’s risen 2 hours, remove from the bowl and gently flatten the dough. If you are going to freeze it, transfer it to a ziptop bag now. Otherwise,  stretch it into a pizza round (I do this directly on my pizza peel, after I’ve generously dusted it with flour or coarse cornmeal.) Top your pizza as desired, and bake it in a 500 degree F oven until the crust is starting to turn golden brown, about 8 minutes.

Makes enough dough for one 14-inch pizza; can easily be doubled.

Individual Rhubarb Pudding Cakes

Rhubarb!!

It’s here! Only a single stall at this past weekend’s farmer’s market had some, but (one of the many) advantages to showing up at the market as soon as it opens is that I get first picks of the small supplies of the season’s first arrivals, when they’re just starting to trickle in.

Our market runs from 9-3, and while some people like to make a leisurely day of it, arriving around lunchtime, browsing around, munching on the various tacos or samosas or stir fries available from all the food vendors, I have a different approach (though browsing is fun, our market gets mobbed around midday and I don’t like fighting through crowds to score a few stalks of rhubarb.) I get there right as it opens, do an initial pass by all the stalls to see who’s offering what that week, pick and choose what I’m going to buy, and zip on out. I have things to cook, after all!  Actually, I’m not all business; I’ve gotten to know a few of the farmers and vendors there over the past year, and I do make time to stop by and chat with each of them, which I really enjoy. But all in all, I’m usually in and out in less than an hour. I farmer’s-market-shop with a purpose.

Anyway, back to the rhubarb: are you as excited as I am that it’s finally in season? One of the reasons I love rhubarb so much is due to the fact that it’s the first “fruit” of the season that comes into season locally in spring (actually, it’s a vegetable, not a fruit, but transforming it from its tart original state with a little sugar does lend the rosy stalks to such delicious dessert creations, doesn’t it?) Living in a Zone 5 climate, where our winters are long and growing seasons are on the shorter side, the appearance of these decidedly spring season crops at the market feels very, very welcome after many months of kale and root crops.

I set aside a few stalks to make a rhubarb simple syrup, which we’re enjoying in homemade rhubarb soda (definitely give this a try if you’re looking for a new way to use a surplus of the stalks!)

But spring wouldn’t be spring without an inaugural fruit dessert, right? The first dessert I made with rhubarb was these individual pudding cakes. I have my Mom to thank for turning me on to this recipe; she made it with strawberries and rhubarb (which I will be doing once strawberries make an appearance here!) and raved about the results. With good reason, too; the pudding cake is tender, moist from the rhubarb syrup baked into the bottom and spooned over the top, and just the kind of homey, old-timey dessert I like to tuck into after a lighter spring meal (over the weekend, it was a simple spring pasta with asparagus, kale rabe, chicken and herbs.) So thanks, Mom, for the suggestion!

I think one of the reasons I like pudding cakes so much is because they’re very similar to cobblers, with the proportion of fruit:cake tipped more in the cake direction. Some days I’m in the mood for more cake, others I’m in the mood for more fruit (in which case a cobbler is the answer), but whichever direction you go, they’re both delicious.

And because I will not hesitate to make any dessert in individual portions, I opted to do the same for this pudding cake, baking it in 1-cup ramekins. The transition between the cake layer and the fruit layer at the bottom is deliciously moist and a little bit syrupy.

What are you doing with the season’s first rhubarb? I’d love to know!

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Adapted from Gourmet, April 2007

view printable recipe

Since I used just rhubarb, I increased the sugar slightly to 1/2 cup from the original 1/3 cup in the recipe for the syrup portion. If you use strawberries, use only 2 cups of rhubarb and stir in 1 cup of strawberries after you’ve simmered the rhubarb in the sugar/water/cornstarch mixture.

Ingredients

1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar, divided
3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb stalks
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with the rack in the middle. Butter 4 individual 1-cup ramekins (or, an 8-inch square baking dish.)

Mix together the water, cornstarch, and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan, then add the 3 cups rhubarb. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 1/2 cup sugar.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined — you’ll have a thick batter.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the rhubarb syrup mixture. Divide the remaining rhubarb mixture among the dishes, then spoon the batter evenly into each ramekin over the rhubarb. Drizzle the remaining rhubarb mixture over the top of the batter in each ramekin. Bake (I put all my ramekins on a small sheet pan) until a tester inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Cool on a rack slightly before serving.

Makes 4 generous servings (we like our pudding cake!)

Make Your Own Vanilla Extract: Day 1

I have yet another DIY food project for you today: homemade vanilla extract! I have to credit my friend Emily for turning me on to this one; I just started a few jars yesterday and in a month or so, fingers crossed, should have knock-your-socks off super-aromatic extract.

Around us, the best price I can get vanilla beans for is about $1/bean, which up until recently I thought was a fairly good deal. Those are the kind that come, somewhat shriveled, as two to a little glass test tube. As it turns out, there’s a company called Vanilla Products USA thatsells packages of bulk vanilla beans for quite a steal. They have an eBay store where I picked up 30 organic extract-grade beans for $9. The beans arrived and the quality was better than I’d seen in storebought beans: pretty plump and very aromatic.

The process to making extract is easy, and there’s a thread on eGullet if you want to read about people’s experiments. I decided to divide 10 beans among 3 pint canning jars, filling the jars with vodka (since it’s flavorless.) I split the beans before placing them in the jar, which should speed up extraction and also infuse the extract with the minuscule vanilla seeds — which, I think, will be lovely in baked goods. I’m storing the jars in a dark cabinet for about a month, shaking them each day. After 1 day, here’s what we have:

Already turning a light amber. So, this should be an exciting experiment, and I’ll do some periodic posts on the progress of the extract — and perhaps a taste test at the end next to my storebought bottle? I think it would be interesting to bake something with both and see if I can tell the difference. (I’m also thinking this would make great gifts for fellow cooks!)

Update on how the project turned out is here.

Here’s the info:

Vanilla Products USA eBay Store

eGullet thread on making your own vanilla extract

Enjoy!

Shaved Asparagus with Pecorino

Last week at our farmer’s market, spring was announcing its arrival in full force. I wandered the stalls, expecting to see the same familiar offerings I had for the past few weeks — spinach, kale, a few potatoes — when what to my wondering eyes did appear, but bunches of chives and asparagus spears!

So I’ve been waiting for the arrival of asparagus at this year’s market, because I’ve had in mind a memorable starter B and I ate at Lupa last June, while visiting Manhattan. (Actually, I think I referred to it as “ONE OF THE VERY BEST ASPARAGUS DISHES I HAD EVER EATEN.” What can I say, enthusiasm has always been one of my strong suits!) It was very simple: barely blanched asparagus, shaved or cut thin on the bias and dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, grated pecorino romano cheese, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Proof of the fact that often, the best way to serve a beautiful, picked-at-the-peak-of-ripeness vegetable is to do as little to it as possible, and also that a few high quality ingredients, used simply, can really make a stellar dish.

This dish comes together really easily, and I found it quicker and easier to slice the asparagus on an extreme bias with my chef’s knife rather than use my mandoline. If the spears are fresh and crisp, it’s easy to get some nice, thin slices.

I saved the tips for another use, since I’ve found that sometimes they can get a little mushy if they sit for a little while after they’re cooked — and mush was not what I was going for. I also wanted to keep the textures consistent; what I remembered from the restaurant was that it was solely thin shavings of tender-crisp asparagus stalks, no tips included.

I quickly blanched the asparagus slices in salty water just until they turned bright green, then I shocked them in ice water to set the color. After gently patting them dry, I tossed them with good extra-virgin olive oil, plenty of grated pecorino, a squeeze of lemon juice (don’t think this was in the original dish, but I like the way it brightens up the flavors just a touch), sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Simple simple.

The dish makes a fabulous first course, salad, or antipasto for the spring…it’s a great way to take advantage of the bright fresh asparagus showing up in the markets now! I know we’ll be eating it over and over while the asparagus gettin’ is still good.

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Inspired by a dish eaten at Lupa

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If you make this dish ahead, wait to add the lemon juice until just before serving — the acid can slightly discolor the asparagus a little.

Ingredients
2 bunches (about 1 pound) of asparagus
2 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Slice the asparagus spears on the extreme bias into very, very thin pieces (reserve the asparagus tips for another use.) Blanch the asparagus pieces in boiling salted water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until they’re just bright green and still tender-crisp (you can start tasting them after 30 seconds.) Drain the asparagus then immediately shock the pieces in a bowl filled with cold ice water. Drain the pieces and gently pat dry.

Toss the blanched asparagus pieces with the pecorino, olive oil, lemon juice (if you’re serving immediately — if you’re serving later, wait to add the lemon juice until just before serving.)

Serves 4 generously.

Ice Cream Sunday

So after our carnitas last week, kick started by the 90 degree weather, my mind immediately shifted into make-my-own-ice-cream mode and we broke out the Cuisinart for the season. I had meant to post about this earlier than today, but there was a little voice in my head holding me back. Because, you see, the first ice cream flavor we made — while it was a great end to a meal of tacos and sangria and Mexican flavors — was something I found after a few days I just couldn’t really eat anymore. So I have two ice cream flavors for you today, one to make up for the slightly lackluster results of the first.

Let’s get right down to it: what was the first flavor that I was so excited about as a finish to our carnitas? Avocado.

It’s not that the flavors weren’t good together — avocado blended with sour cream, heavy cream, sugar and lime juice do taste great together — and I certainly did really like it the first day I ate it. But as the days went on, I just found it was just super, super rich, almost buttery (yes, Amy, that’s what 3 avocados + sour cream + heavy cream will do) and I could only eat a little tiny scoop at a time, then just got kind of sick of it. So, while I think it would be a fun flavor to make for something like a taco or Cinco de Mayo party, where everyone could try a small scoop, it’s probably just not a flavor you want to load up a big bowl with (warning: the amount in bowl in the above picture is too much. You can try it, but you might be sorry.)

like avocado ice cream icebergs

This left me feeling a little bit empty and unsatisfied inside. I needed an outstanding ice cream to balance out my ambivalence on the avocado attempt. As luck would have it, I was recently tweeting with Dave about homemade ice cream and he raved about Deb’s buttermilk ice cream…which I also happened to have at the top of my list to try! Buttermilk it was, and oh, let me tell you — you will NOT be sorry if you make this ice cream. This is, hands down, one of the very best homemade ice creams I’ve ever made. Italics fail to describe how wonderful it is.

helloooooo, there!

Now, I’ve never been one to down a big glass of buttermilk like some people do, but I do love the tang it gives to baked goods. And for those of you who are worried this ice cream might be like a cold version of a straight glass of buttermilk, let me reassure you: it’s the perfect balance of super-high-quality vanilla bean ice cream with just a little subtle tang underneath…it’s outstanding. Almost tastes like a kissing cousin of cheesecake, and it would be fantastic as a stand-in for vanilla bean ice cream on fruit crisps and cobblers and pies this summer (in fact, I’m already planning to keep a quart of it in my freezer all summer for just this purpose.) Can I gush anymore about it? Oh, you can use anywhere from 6 to 12 egg yolks, which turn it a beautiful golden color (especially if you use eggs from pastured hens, where the yolks are vibrantly yellow-orange) and give it a smooth, custardy, rich flavor. It scoops beautifully (that’s all the eggs talking!)

Okay. Gushing done, let the pictures commence.

6 egg yolks, awaiting their delicious destiny

cook the custard until it coats the back of a spoon

stir the buttermilk into the custard mixture

churn, churn, churn

so, so tasty

Just to push it over the top, we had scoops of it nestled into profiteroles, served with blueberry sauce…delicious!!

a little something special
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Avocado Ice Cream

From The Perfect Scoop

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Ingredients
3 large avocados, pitted and flesh cut into chunks
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Big pinch of salt

Directions

Puree the avocado chunks, sour cream, heavy cream, sugar and lime juice in a blender until smooth. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Makes about 1 quart.

Buttermilk Ice Cream

Adapted from The Last Course via Smitten Kitchen

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Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 to 12 large egg yolks (I used 6)
2 cups buttermilk
pinch of salt
1/2 a vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract

Directions

Bring the cream and 1 cup of the sugar to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat (if you’re using the vanilla bean, scrape the seeds into the cream while it heats as well.)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg  yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.

After the cream comes to a simmer, turn off the heat and dribble a small amount into the egg yolks, whisking them constantly, to temper. Continue slowly adding the hot cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking all the while. Once everything is incorporated, return the mixture to the saucepan where you heated the cream.

Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain into a bowl and mix in the 2 cups of buttermilk (and the vanilla extract if you are using that instead of the vanilla bean.) Cool this mixture completely, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Makes about 2 quarts.