It's My TV….It's My Peanut Butter

I had my first strawberry shortcake of the season this evening. It was brought to my house by a friend. In this incarnation “strawberry shortcake” meant fresh sliced strawberries served over those pre-made dessert cups with whipped topping. Synthetic and processed, but good if not outstanding.

Growing up we had strawberry shortcake at least once or twice per summer. My mom would cut up a bunch of strawberries and put them in the refrigerator with a little sugar so they would release their juice. Then she would make a pound cake and we would eat the strawberries on that with some whipped topping. (Mom wouldn’t use the real stuff because she hates freedom). Occasionally if she was feeling lazy and/or there was a sale we would use a store bought angel food cake. Actually for several years I hated soggy cake to the point I would have just a bowl of strawberries with whipped topping.

But when I moved to the mid-Atlantic I found out some people do something very wrong with their strawberry shortcake—they make it with a biscuit. Seriously? Biscuits are a side. They also make a tasty breakfast. They are not a dessert. Why would you put your strawberries and cream on a biscuit?

And they don’t just do this out of ignorance either. I tried to introduce some of the biscuit crowd to the wonders of pound cake, only to have them insist it was better with a biscuit. Is this some kind of Protestant guilt thing where they can’t stand the indulgence of a full dessert? Is it just because they know they make biscuits better than Yankees and have to show them off?

Whatever it is, it needs to stop. I hearby will make it my business: If I do nothing else with my life, I will make someone who would have otherwise eaten just a soggy biscuit to eat a good grilled cheese.

Admittedly, I had the idea for this post yesterday, when it was 66 degrees. It’s now somewhere in the 30s here, so this seems less timely than it did yesterday.

My friends from Minnesota and Michigan have been complaining that we haven’t had enough of hard core winter. I’m just rejoicing that whatever winter we have seems to be on the way out. This means my life will improve in a lot of ways, but, perhaps most importantly, it marks the start of ice cream season. While I will generally eat ice cream any time of year if the mood strikes, even I eat more when I don’t have to bundle up in blankets to do so.

Last weekend I made my first sorbet of the season and it was a brand new, self created recipe that I think deserves to be shared.

Lavender Lime Sorbet

Zest and juice of four limes (this recipe also gave me an excuse to use the citrus press my sister got me for my birthday)

1 cup lime juice (you can use all fresh lime juice and I’m sure it would be better, but I’m broke and lazy, so I went half and half on the good stuff)

2 cups water

1 cup sugar (approximately. Some limes are tarter than others, so start a little under and add until it tastes a little sweeter than you want your end product to taste. Remember it will lose some sweetness in the freezing process.)

1 shot vodka

2-4 drops lavender oil

Mix all ingredients together and chill. When totally cold pour into ice cream machine and follow directions. Put in the freezer for about two hours to set. Enjoy.

Somewhere along the way I developed the habit of inventing cocktails and desserts and naming them after fictional characters. I’ve made The Big Daddy Spencer (Psych), Aragorn brownies, Maddie Hayes ice cream, and a whole list of BSG inspired desserts which have previously been posted on this blog. I felt this tradition fitting to observe for the end of One Life to Live. To be honest, I have not test driven all of these. There’s only so much drinking a girl can do in a day or two.

The Rainbow’s End
1 oz vodka
1 oz white crème de cacao
3 oz orange peach mango juice (I would have just used orange juice, but this was what was in my fridge since it’s what was on sale this week)
drizzle of ginger syrup
splash of pomegranate syrup

Put the vodka, crème de cacao, juice, and ginger syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass. Pour in the pomegranate syrup which should sink to the bottom. Don’t mix. It should have a pretty gradiated color like a tequila sunrise, but a very different taste.

My thought process: The first theme song I remember for OLTL started with a lyric about “Here’s where you go when you can’t find the rainbow’s end”—that was the main inspiration. Ginger is soothing, much like this show that has been there for us through the years. Pomegranate: the forbidden fruit–what could be more soapy. Vodka is really just there to be booze, I’m not going to lie. I added the crème de cacao because my rough draft of this one tasted a little too tropical. The juice is there as a carrier and something to contrast with the color of the pomegranate. (more…)

I made this about a month ago and it became one of my favorite sorbets.  To quote another recipe entirely, “It tastes like summer.”  It’s exactly what sorbets are designed to be (though mine often aren’t).  Light and palate clearing and refreshing and fabulous in every way.

Also, it’s super easy to make.

1 ½ cups water

¾ cup sugar

Couple sprigs of rosemary

3 ¾ cups grapefruit juice (yup, commercial stuff, right from the bottle)

¼ cup vodka

Put the sugar, water and rosemary in a small saucepan on medium heat.  Bring it to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Let it continue to boil for a little longer so that it reduces a tad.  Set to the side and cover but allow the rosemary to steep a little longer.  Meanwhile put the grapefruit juice and vodka in a large container (I use my big 8 cup liquid measure because it pours well).  Strain the rosemary out of the syrup (if it stays on the stem you can just fish them out).  Add it to the juice.  Put it in the refrigerator until it’s really cold.  Freeze it in the ice cream maker then let it harden in the freezer.

Enjoy.

One of my friends has been bugging me to make Blue Moon ice cream.  He even offered to pay me to do it.  I was totally willing, but I had no idea what Blue Moon ice cream is.  Apparently it’s something which is made only in the northern Midwest (which explains why I never encountered it).  I told him I’d make the ice cream figuring there had to be a good recipe online.  Well… it seems no one really knows what flavor Blue Moon is.  Some people say raspberry, some say pineapple, some say blue curacao and white crème de cacao.  It seems there are several dairies that make it and none of them have ever disclosed their secret ingredients.  Since my friend had specifically requested it, I asked him what flavor he was looking for.  He informed me that the worst Blue Moons are the fruitiest and his preference was for blue curacao (… which is fruity… he seemed to think it was an almond flavor, but that’s beside the point)  So knowing what I was looking for, I went looking for a recipe.

Every recipe on the internet for a blue curacao based Blue Moon involved buying vanilla ice cream from a store and folding in the liqueur.  Well anyone who knows me and my love of my ice cream maker knows I’m not going to do that.  So I had to come up with my own recipe from scratch.  Without knowing what my final product was supposed to taste like.  Knowing it had great emotional association for my friend.  Fun times!

Fortunately, it was deemed a rousing success.  I think my friend just about made himself sick on it he loved it so much.  In my continuing obsession with naming all my ice cream recipes after fictional characters this has been named alternately “Maddie Hayes Ice Cream” and “Mystique Ice Cream.”

About 5 cups of dairy product (combination of milk, half and half, and heavy cream.  I used 1 cup milk, 2 cups half and half and two cups heavy cream.  Ordinarily I use a higher ratio of milk, but I had less milk than I thought in the refrigerator)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon cream cheese (low fat is fine, fat free is a crime against nature)
2 ½ ounces blue curacao
1 ½ ounces white crème de cacao
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Splash of almond extract

Set aside one cup of heavy cream (or half and half if you’re not using any heavy cream).  But three tablespoons (or so, no need to be precise here) in a separate bowl and mix with the corn starch.  Set to the side.  Put your remaining dairy product in a saucepan over moderate-low heat.  Once the milk mixture is warm, whisk in the sugar and stir till dissolved.  Meanwhile, whisk the cream cheese in a large bowl (or preferably a large liquid measure) until really soft.  Continue heating the milk mixture until lots of small bubbles form (not to boiling) and then add in the corn starch mixture.  Whisk frequently until the mixture is thickened (I’m very imprecise on this part and just go by the way it ripples when I stir—you want big soft waves not little ripples).  Pour into the bowl with the cream cheese and whisk quickly until the cream cheese is dissolved.

Mix the spirits and extracts together.  Allow the custard to cool somewhat then add in the spirits.  Then pour in the reserved cream until your total volume is six cups.  Put in the refrigerator and chill until cold.  Then freeze in your ice cream maker following the directions of your machine.  Put in the refrigerator until hard.

The amount of liquor in this means that it will never freeze really hard.  But it is fairly delicious.

Today’s recipe comes from friend-of-the-blog Teapot.  Sorta.  Teapot didn’t give me the recipe (not that I asked for it) and I didn’t actually see her make it.  So this was all sort of reverse engineered by me.  The reason I decided to attempt it is that I feel I’m not taking full advantage of my farmer’s market.  I have a great farmer’s market available to me, and yet I tend to buy nothing but cucumbers, chili peppers and seasonal fruit (peaches or apples).  Oh, and kale.  I’m kind of obsessed with kale from this crazy pagan lettuce lady (crazy awesome!).

Anyway, this recipe was a good excuse to make me branch out and try some different veggies.  It’s also simple and delicious and pretty good for you.

1. Mince vegetables.  I imagine you can use whatever.  I was using some patty pan squash Cammy left here, cucumbers, wax beans, carrots and broccoli.  You want them cut up fairly small.
2. Make a vinaigrette.  You could probably just use a store bought one too, but they’re super easy to make.  I mixed minced garlic, red wine vinegar, coarse ground mustard and olive oil (pour the oil into the vinegar slowly while whisking to get a good emulsion).  Then I threw in some of the fresh dill and tarragon Cammy brought me.  (If Cammy hasn’t brought you any herbs you can use whatever.  Or leave them out).  Toss the vinaigrette on the veggies.  You just want enough that it gives them a light coating.
3. Toss with brown rice and a little bit of goat cheese.  When I had this made by Teapot it was all chilled which was fine (it was a hot day, it was pretty great).  But I like the rice to be just a little warm because then it makes the cheese melt a little, but not totally.

I don’t like to mix the three together until right when I’m about to eat them, but you can combine them for starters.  It will keep for about a week, but is best a day or two after you make it.

I can also verify that this works great with jasmine rice and/or couscous.

I have nothing creative or amusing to share today, so instead I’m going to post the recipe for the soup I just made.  In typical Kristy fashion I didn’t really follow a recipe, but I looked at a few so that I could sort of plan what I was going to do.  I was fairly pleased with the end result (it was a little scant on salt, but that’s a common problem in my cooking).  Definitely a good “Holy crap why is there more snow in my forecast!” day meal.

Potato Leek Soup

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, minced

5 leeks

6 (or so) potatoes.  I think I used Yukons.

Some garlic cloves

Chicken stock (you can use veggie if you prefer, this was what I had)

2/3 cup (roughly) half and half

Splash of wine (a dry one.  I think a white would work best, but not having any handy I used a bit of cabernet franc)

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

I already told you to mince the onions.  Trim the extra bits off the leeks so you just have the white and light green parts.  (Query internet:  This seems very wasteful.  Are there uses for leek tops?  One recipe suggested using them to tie up your bundle of herbs for the soup, but I didn’t have any twine.)  Clean them.  If you’ve never cooked with leeks before (I was a leek virgin) they get sand and stuff inside, so you need to cut them in half lengthwise and rinse them out.  Then slice them thinly.  Cut up your potatoes.  I did mine in about a quarter inch dice, but if you have a potato masher or immersion blender you needn’t make them quite so tiny (Yes, I realize it’s silly I have neither of those.  But it’s also the reality of my life.  Deal with it.)

Melt the butter in a large pan.  Mince in the garlic.  Let it brown just a little then toss in the leeks and onions.  Sauté (no, I don’t really do a real sauté—I just stir rapidly) until the onions are transparent and just starting to brown.  Put the bay leaves in.  Add in your potatoes.  Toss it all so that everything’s mixed pretty evenly.  Splash in your wine to deglaze the pan.  If you get the urge to splash some into a glass for yourself at this point I see nothing wrong with it.  I didn’t, but that’s just because a) I had a very empty stomach and b) I was preparing the filling for my almost vegan breakfast burritos on the next burner and the multitasking was a bit stressful.

Pour in enough chicken stock to cover all the potatoes.  In my case this was most of, but not all of a box.  (How big are those boxes of stock?—I’m too lazy to get up and check).  Let it simmer for a bit.  When the potatoes are cooked thoroughly mash them or puree them with an immersion blender.  They don’t need to be completely mashed—it’s fine to have lumps.  I have lots of lumps (see lack of equipment).  Then add in the half and half.  Stir.  Let it simmer a little while longer.  Add in the salt and pepper.  Let it simmer long enough for you to pour a drink, get a bowl out and set up something fun to watch while you eat.

Enjoy!

I’ve been meaning to share recipes on this blog for a while now.  Back in the summer I took all kinds of photos of things I was making, I just never got around to putting those posts together.  At the moment I can’t access or upload photos on account of my desktop computer being dead (and my not being able to find the disk to install my camera software on my laptop).  So long and short of it is, there are no pictures in this entry.  Use your imagination.

Necessary back story:  I think most of you know already, but I have an autoimmune disease that I’m trying to treat with lifestyle and diet on account of all the medications carrying the possible side effect of death.  Part of this is consuming a lot of super vegetables (ie spinach mostly, sometimes broccoli).  In the summer I have a salad for dinner every night and it’s not about the low calories, it’s about consuming the right nutrients.  (I eat my “big meal” at lunch around 2:00)  I go through at least a bag of spinach per week.  The problem is that in the winter I want something hot to eat.  Sometimes I go with soup.  Sometimes I just wrap my salad in a warm tortilla or pita.  But this is my latest solution to the “still consuming veggies while eating something warm” problem.

This is also my latest dinner obsession.  For lack of better name I’m calling it Kristy’s Couscous.

The first time I made this I made it with leftover couscous.  So if you have couscous lying around you can just use that.  If not you want to use about half a cup of couscous per serving (I’ve only made it in single servings).

Make couscous according to instructions in  a decent sized nonstick pot.  When you dump in the couscous also add some spices (I used garlic salt and dill).

Set couscous to the side and make yourself a salad.  More or less like you would ordinarily make a salad.  Now my salads always use spinach as the base green and leafy—I don’t think this would work with lettuce.  It might be okay with kale or other green and leafies.  Cabbage would definitely work.  The key here is to not mix the salad and to keep it layered (if you don’t mind dirtying extra dishes you could just keep them separate.  You want things that you want to cook longer on top and your green and leafy on the bottom.  Otherwise it’s more or less a normal salad.  Unless you’re one of those sick people that puts tuna or salmon or something in your salad.  That’s disgusting and I refuse to let you corrupt my recipe with it.  Also hard boiled eggs, not so good.  If you’re using cucumbers (I do) you want to cut them into fairly small pieces and I recommend that you seed them.  It’s not necessary—I’ve done it both ways and it’s not a huge difference.

Put the couscous back on the heat and add some olive oil.  Break it up and stir it around then start adding your veggies.  Start with onions and move from there.  In my case this means next carrots, then cucumbers.  Oooh, before you put in your green and leafies, let me recommend some cheese.  In my case this was asiago.  Wait till the cheese has melted, then throw in your spinach.  Stir constantly until the spinach is just wilted and everything is more or less mixed.

Pour it out onto a plate.  Enjoy.

Something about me that… well, I’m fairly certain all of you know by now, is that I love ice cream.  Any kind of frozen dessert really:  sorbet, gelato, granita…  It’s my favorite indulgence.  I’ll eat it in the dead of winter. (Actually, I tend to eat more of it in the winter since that’s when it tends to be on sale.  Hey, I’m a wannabe-foodie on a budget!)  I’ll eat it as a meal replacement.  I’ll eat it on a plane, in a train… you get the idea.

For my birthday this year I got an ice cream maker.  It was all I wanted and I was thrilled.  Beyond thrilled.  So now my life revolves around getting to make a weekly frozen concoction.  I plan this way in advance (ie. tomorrow I make blackberry red wine sorbet, next week I’m making peach ice cream, the next week I’m making cucumber mojito sorbet).  And I get a kick out of making ice creams I know I couldn’t just purchase at the store.

One ice cream you can’t purchase at the store, or much of anywhere outside of Mexico, is nieve de pasta.  Yes, for those of you trying to access your high school Spanish memories, that does mean “pasta ice cream” (actually “pasta snow”).  But no, it doesn’t taste like spaghetti.  From what I understand it’s actually named after a type of cookies which are called “pastas” not because they taste like pasta, but because of the paste with which they’re they’re made.  I discovered nieve de pasta while studying in Morelia, Michoacan.  Michoacan is kind of famous for nieve de pasta (although the internet tells me it comes from Guanajuato originally.  Whatever, Guanajuato!)  (Guanajuato, if you’re reading this, I love you and plan to retire to you, nothing personal).

So it was the third ice cream I made.  I had a few missteps along the way, but once I got there, one bite and I was… well, I started to say “in Heaven”, but where I actually was was back in Mexico (“So far from God, so close to the United States”).  It was like a little Mexican vacation in a bowl.  And the economy being what it is, I think this might be a good way to take vacations.  Since I have been unable to find a recipe in English, I thought I’d share.  This recipe was created by reading several and sort of creating a composite.

2 cans evaporated milk (I only ever see them in one size–I think 12 oz)
1-2 sticks of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of baking soda (yeah, I know it seems strange, but it’s in every recipe I’ve seen)
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey

Boil the milk, baking soda, and cinnamon for 10-15 minutes over medium-low heat.  Stir constantly and keep scraping the edges or bottom or they’ll burn.  This reduces the milk a little more and infuses the cinnamon flavor.  Add honey and sugar and boil for about five more minutes to dissolve the sugar.  Add the almonds and stir until creamy.  Remove from heat.  Chill.  Once it’s cold pour into ice cream machine, following manufacturer specifications.  The nieve will not freeze very much at all, but will get kind of slushy.  Transfer it to a bowl and place in the freezer.  It’ll take a while to freeze–I’d say at least five hours, but over night would be better.  Because of the honey it will never freeze two hard and will be kind of sticky when you got to stir it.

Nieve de pasta is a little sweet by gringo standards.  And for an eggless ice cream it’s very rich.  Over all, kind of an intense experience.  For this reason it’s often served with a fruit sauce or fresh fruit.  In my case, fresh farmer’s market peaches.  Anyway, try it and find out what you’ve been missing all your life.

This should have been posted last week, but I forgot.  At any rate, the new season of Psych premiered last week and in honor of that we would like to share with you a recipe we developed for the premiere of Psych season 3.

I have a tradition of inventing recipes and naming them after fictional characters–I did this quite a bit when I was living with my crazy ex-roommate.  Most of those recipes were either named after characters from Lord of the Rings or from soap operas, however, as those were the only fandoms we shared.

At any rate, without further adieu, I give you…

The Big Daddy Spencer

Anyone who’s cooked with me knows I don’t believe in measuring, and I’m pretty much the same with mixing beverages, so all amounts are approximations.

In a cocktail shaker with an ice cube or two mix (If you don’t have a cocktail shaker I’m sure you can get similar results by stirring).

1 oz pomegranate liquor
1/2 oz of coconut rum
1/2 oz of vodka
1 1/2 oz of mango juice
dash of pomegranate molasses

Strain into a large martini glass and fill the rest of the glass with sour cherry juice
Enjoy!

Initially I thought this was just kooky enough to be called the Shawn Spencer, but Mary and I concurred with its tartness and tropical flavor it was more reminiscent of Henry’s acerbic personality and fun shirts.  Upon further contemplation (and a bit of drinking) we also concluded that we would allow Henry to buy Daddy Spencers and that after a couple we might even be persuaded to call him Daddy Spencer.

Further discussion determined that Shawn would absolutely make fun of his dad for ordering such a thing, that Henry may just carry around his own bottle of pomegranate molasses in order to obtain the beverage at his convenience, and that doing so probably attracts women.