Again, I'm not a New Years resolution kind of gal, just never have been. But lovely Marisa, of Food In Jars inspired me this morning. Just because I don't do personal resolutions doesn't mean I can't make some bloggy ones! So here goes, my Blog Resolutions for 2012:
1- To post more vintage cookbooks (you guys seem to like those)
2- Maybe a little re-design (change is good right?)
3- In general, just be more consistent with my posting (I can do it!)
I started SpiceDish four years ago. FOUR. It’s strange where life takes you in four years. I’ve never been a diary keeper (too embarrassing) but I realize now that SpiceDish is a diary of sorts. Looking back on past posts I can see when I was happy at my work (fewer posts), when I needed escape (more posts), when I was engaged with the blogosphere (lots of comments), and when I was playing recluse (no comments).
I can see when larger life issues, very personal ones, took precedence over posting or when I was compelled to post by those same issues.
I have met some truly amazing people because of SpiceDish. People like Bethany, Victoria, Sarah and Jessie. I have been let into many other worlds in the past years and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
Like a lot of you, I’m at yet another crossroads in life. The ‘what’s next’ type. The ‘can I really make that happen’ type. I have no idea where I will be come next October’s blogiversary, and that’s a bit scary. I do know that I’ll be able to look over the year’s posts and see where I’ve been. And that is comforting.
I know I haven't posted on a Perfect Scoop recipe lately. I haven't been slacking, I promise. Many, many flavors have been made. Most were delicious, chock full of summer fruit and trotted out for backyard bbq's. Then the other night.... there wasn't just a good flavor, or even a great flavor, but a revelation. Not kidding, no joke, nobody believed me how amazing it was until they tasted, then fought over, it.
So where was this revelation revealed to me? In basil. Yup Basil.
Basil. I don't love it. I like it alright, but
I'm not gaga over it, which made this flavor even more of a happy surprise. The
flavor is light,crisp and floral. This was unexpectedly and immediately
proclaimed one of the best flavors of all that I've made from David's collection, by those who have tasted them all. For those of you doubting... Basil is everywhere right now. Grab yourself a handful and get to it! ASAP! Basil
most certainly is a dessert flavor. An amazing one at that.
Basil Ice Cream Adapted From David Lebovitz' The Perfect Scoop
1 cup basil leaves
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups 1/2 & 1/2
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
Zest of 1 organic lemon
Put the basil, sugar and 1 cup of the 1/2 &
1/2 in the blender and blitz until the leaves are in very tiny pieces. Pour
half the mixture into a large bowl and place a mesh strainer on top. In a
medium saucepan heat the other half of the mixture with the rest of the 1/2
& 1/2 and the salt. In another bowl whisk the eggs. Whisking constantly,
slowly add the warmed mixture into the whipped yolks. Return mixture to the
saucepan. Stir the mixture over medium heat until the mixture coats the spatula
or spoon. Pour the custard mixture into the cream mixture through the strainer.
Add the zest and stir to mix. Cool mixture completely then churn in your ice
cream maker.
Ok folks. I have an ice cream recipe for you today. This may
be the best ice cream I’ve made so far, for two reasons… 1.) I created it in
honor of Designated Eater Mimi’s birthday and 2.) it’s friggin’ over the top,
sugar blasted, fun (oh and it’s super tasty).
This recipe has been brewing in me for quite some time (long
before I started the Perfect Scoop project). One day, many moons ago, bored and
staring at my cubicle walls, I found myself on Ben & Jerry’s website
playing with the Flavor Generator.
I chose my base: Cake Batter My mix-ins: Rainbow sprinkles And my swirl: Cake batter
As I recall I named the concoction Kiddie Kake. Did they
love it? Did they make it? No… but I’ve always had the idea for it in the back
of my head. So in honor of Mimi’s big day, I pulled out all the stops.
Warning: Sugar Coma Ahead
This is cake batter ice cream with not only sprinkles, but
chunks of cupcake!
Mimi’s Birthday Cupcake Ice Cream This makes a large batch, very good for parties.
1 cup whole milk ¾ cup sugar 2 cups heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup cake mix (I like strawberry for the color) 2-3 pre-made and frozen cupcakes, chopped up Candy sprinkles
Whisk milk and sugar until dissolved Stir in cream and vanilla Stir in ½ cup of the cake mix until well blended Freeze in your ice cream machine according to directions.
Halfway through freezing, pour the remaining ½ cup of cake
mix into top of machine (it will mix in and make a ‘swirl.’)
Five minutes before completion add cupcake pieces and
sprinkles.
This tends not to freeze fully hard in the machine so you
will need to put it in a container and ‘ripen’ it in the freezer for about 3
hours.
The new project? Well... I was inspired by Victoria of Vic's Recipes, Cooking Zuni and now A New York City Minute. She's been urging me to get out and take more pictures, and she's right. I really need to and and I've been wanting to. The idea of documenting the day to day while practicing my (very limited) photography skills? Brilliant.
So here it is. Week one of the This is My Life project. A diary in 5 photos, each week...
Monday: Glorious Labor Day at The Marshall Store in Point Reyes Station. Oysters, friends, water and warm weather? Couldn't have been better.
Tuesday: Fresh, hot, homemade tostones made with the tostonera I picked up in Puerto Rico.
Wednesday: On the walk home from work I stopped by the corner market and grabbed a basket full of small, but perfect lemons.
Thursday: The lemons became Super Lemon Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop.
It’s official. Summer is over. Back to school, Labor Day has
come and gone. Finis. So how did my Perfect Scoop project pan out? Did I manage
to make every, single recipe in it this summer? Um… no. Did I make a whole
bunch and make those around me very, very happy? Oh yeah.
Here’s the roundup:
Ice Creams: (20 out
of 73)
Vanilla (added
chocolate chips, amazing)
Vanilla, Philadelphia Style
Chocolate (most
perfect ice cream ever)
Chocolate, Philadelphia Style
Aztec “Hot” Chocolate
Milk Chocolate
White Chocolate (had
strange cookie dough texture)
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt (added
brownie pieces, yum)
Toasted Almond and Candied Cherry (LOVED it)
Roasted Banana (so,
so, so good)
Pear-Caramel
Fresh Fig (too figgy
for me… I know, I know)
Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
Peach
Fresh Apricot
Peach Frozen Yogurt
Plum
Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt
Strawberry-Sour Cream
Fresh Mint (added
organic chocolate mints… it was maybe the best one)
Sorbets and Sherbets: (8
out of 39)
Pear Sorbet (amazing)
Cantaloupe Sorbet
Watermelon Sorbetto (chocolate chips make this)
Pink Grapefruit-Champagne Sorbet (so refreshing)
Strawberry Sorbet
Strawberry-Rhubarb Sorbet
Banana Sorbet (loved
it)
Pineapple Sorbet
Granitas: (0 out
of 18)
I didn’t make any
of these! I guess I was too enthralled by the ice cream maker.
Sauces & Toppings: (5
out of 27)
Whipped Cream
Creamy Caramel Sauce (I
love me some caramel!)
Salted Butter Caramel Sauce
Candied Pineapple (so
unexpectedly good)
Sour Cherries in Syrup
Mix Ins: (1 out of
21)
Candied Cherries (quite yummy)
Vessels: (3 out of
13)
Cakelike Brownies
Blondies
Crepes
So just because summer is over does this mean the ice cream
making is over? Not by a long shot. I still adore ice cream and I love making
it. I love getting all those ingredients together: cream, fruit, sugar, lots of
chocolate—and seeing the magic that happens when they get together and dance
around in a very cold bowl.
I’ve just accepted
that summer is officially over and that it’s time to move on to other things.
I’ll still work through David’srecipes and let you know how it goes but there
will be lots of other things going on too. I’ve already got another project in
the works that I’ll let you know all about in the next few days. Stay tuned.
More ice cream musing while I'm sucking down umbrella drinks in the sand:
This may be the easiest recipe ever. David’s recipe on pg 49 is for a simple (SOOO simple SOOO good)
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt. The ingredient list? Yogurt. Sugar. Vanilla. Period. The directions? Mix. Chill. Freeze. Sounds great… but remember those brownies I made? Well I
had extra. Lots extra. Stroke of brilliance? Chop up the brownies and stir them in.
Mmmmmm.
Designated Eater Mimi has declared that with the brownies this flavor should be renamed "Brownie Cheesecake" which I think I have to agree with. It really, really tasted like cheesecake! But it's yogurt... so guilt free yeah? Sure! More brownies!
While I'm off on my tropical vacation I thought I'd leave you with some cooling ice cream thoughts:
Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt
This recipe found on pg 73 of The Perfect Scoop is actually inspired by Adam of Amateur Gourmet. It is really very simple and calls for few ingredients. It does call
for fresh sour cherries but I had to use frozen because I decided to make this
at about 1 AM and needless to say the market was not open. The frozen fruits worked just
fine and cooked up juicy and plump.
After cooking and pureeing, David says to chill the yogurt
mixture for 2 hours. Why? I don’t know he just says so. But I didn’t have that
kind of time (I did want to get to bed at some point). So I didn’t. I can’t say
how it effected the fro-yo cuz it came out just peachy (or cherry-y as the case
may be). The color is a dark magenta with dark specs of cherry. It’s
rich, creamy, tangy and sweet. It’s really refreshing actually.
I liked the Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt but I felt that it
would be improved by chocolate. Although I think stirring in dark chocolate
chips for a dark chocolate/cherry combo would be fantastic, I was also craving something cakey so I
decided to make the Cakelike Brownies on pg 220. Just to reiterate. I am not a baker. I like to try it but
for whatever reason things just don’t come out. I do enjoy the process though.
Especially when baking with chocolate. I always feel like Charlie as I
carefully unwrap the foil on my Wonka bar.
David offers up a straightforward brownie recipe.
Straightforward… but clearly not foolproof. As I am clearly, a baking fool. The batter
turned out just fine but the brownies got burnt on the bottom. They tasted really
great though. The top halves at least were moist and rich with a deep chocolate
flavor. And they really are cakey. I’m not a huge fan of the fudgey, dense
style brownies so these definitely did in my cake craving. I have to say that the sweet rich, cakey brownie topped with the tangy cherry yogurt was everything you could want in a dessert... or breakfast.
Hi my name in Erin and I love caramel. Caramel sauce,
caramel candy, caramel in a can, caramel… well caramel. There. I said it. It’s
all out in the open. Now you know I love ice cream… but when caramel sauce is
involved… the ice cream simply becomes a vehicle for the caramel. Unless it’s
chocolate ice cream. David’s chocolate ice cream.
This is his recipe for Philadelphia Style Chocolate Ice
Cream (pg 28). This is not the custard based kind. I was concerned that it would be less creamy
and rich than I would have liked, but the fact that I was out of whole milk
(the recipe calls for a cup) and I substituted whole cream (which I appear to
always have stocked on hand) made for a texture that, right out of the machine,
was like the thickest, richest pudding I have ever had.
I added David’s ridiculously simple Creamy Caramel Sauce (pg 170) over the
top and BLAMMO! Perfection. Well except because you’re me and you don’t realize
until it’s melted into pieces that the spatula you were using really wasn’t
heat proof so you have to toss the whole batch of burnt sugary goodness and
start over. Starting all over was well, well worth it. This was gorgeous, chocolatey, caramely, sugary and absolutely wonderful.
I won't lie. Almost as good as sex. Seriously people.
