Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Black Raspberry Swirl

I finally got some corn in my Boston Organics delivery and knew immediately that I wanted to make this ice cream.

Growing up in Ohio has its share of pros and cons, but one of the perks is being able to buy sweet corn in the summer from roadside stands.  You can actually see the fields where the corn was harvested, and it's so amazingly fresh and sweet that all other corn just tastes like dust in comparison.

This recipe is another one from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home, which has basically become my ice cream making bible.  I couldn't find any black raspberries at the farmer's market or the grocery story, so I did as she suggested and made the sauce with half red raspberries and half blackberries.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Black Raspberry Swirl (from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)
makes about 1 quart

To make the black raspberry swirl: 
2 cup black raspberries or red raspberries and blackberries
1 cup sugar

To make the ice cream base:
1 ear of fresh, sweet corn, husked
2 cups milk
4 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Combine berries and 1 cup sugar in a 1-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 8 minutes; strain and chill.

Slice the kernels from the corn cob, then "milk" the cob by scraping it with the back of your knife to extract the liquid; reserve the kernels and liquid.

Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.  Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.

Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, corn kernels and juices in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and force the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, leaving the corn "cases" behind.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.  Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from the heat.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag, seal, and submerge in a bowl of ice water until chilled. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and spin until thick and creamy.

After churning, alternate layers of ice cream and berry sauce in a storage container before freezing.

The black raspberry sauce is really yummy but may overpower the delicate flavor of the sweet corn.  When I make this again I'll probably reduce the amount of sauce I layer in and increase the salt in the ice cream base a bit just to bring out the flavor of the sweet corn even more.

Previously:  Lobster Bisque
Next up:  Salted Butter Caramel Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust

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Potatoes Boulangère

I got yet another pound of potatoes in my Boston Organics delivery and was trying to figure out a new way to eat it.  I love potatoes, but I was a little tired of having them crashed or dominoed.  Then while watching the season 1 premiere of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word, inspiration struck.  He made something called potatoes boulangère, which look like scalloped potatoes but without all the cheese or cream.  I had never heard of it before, and I didn't even know how to spell it, so I had to look up the episode to figure it out.

Basically, you layer thinly sliced potatoes with onions and then braise the whole thing in the oven with some stock.  It's amazingly simple, but if you take the time of arrange the layers, can look very elegant.  I chose to follow the recipe from the James Beard Foundation which has you sweat the onions first until golden, adding a some depth to the flavor.  I also sprinkled in some chopped rosemary and thyme, adding another dimension of flavor.

The addition of the stock and the braising method of cooking is what sets this dish apart from a potato galette.  The stock you add is absorbed by the potatoes and onions and really infuses it all with a nice shot of umami.  By braising it in the oven, you get a nice gradient of texture, from the crispy browned edges to the soft, melt-in-your-mouth layers in the middle.  It's so good I have to admit I ate half the dish in one sitting.

Potatoes Boulangère (adapted from the James Beard Foundation)
makes 2 servings

2 medium-large potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary and/or thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup of chicken, beef, or vegetable stock

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Thinly slice the onion.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and the oil in a skillet and add onions. Cook until golden and soft (not brown), shaking the pan occasionally. Drain, saving the liquid.

Using a mandoline, slice the potatoes into paper-thin slices.  (I left the skin on this time, but you can also peel the skin off beforehand.)

Liberally butter a 1-quart baking dish (I used a pie pan).

Put in a layer of potatoes, followed by a layer of onions. Season with the chopped herbs, salt, and pepper.

Continue to make layers of potatoes and onions, seasoning the layers, and end with a top layer of potatoes.

Season with more chopped herbs, salt, and pepper and dot with remaining butter.

Pour on the liquid from the onions and the stock.

Bake about 30 or 40 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed and the potatoes test tender with a fork.

Honestly, you could just fill in all the bottom layers haphazardly and just make the top layer look all pretty, and you'd get the same effect!

Three years ago:  Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce

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Green Smoothies

If you, like me, have eaten a little too many rich foods this past long weekend, try a cleansing green smoothie for breakfast or as a snack.  I discovered these over a year ago and love how good you feel after drinking one.  It packs a ton of nutrients and fiber, and even though it looks a little weird, is actually really delicious!

I recommend starting off with spinach as your leafy grean because I've found it to have the least strong "green" flavor.  In fact, if your eyes were closed, you probably wouldn't even suspect that there were any vegetables in the smoothie.  I've made these with lettuce, chard, and kale before, too, and while you will taste them more, it's still pretty yummy.

I get a bunch of bananas from Boston Organics with each delivery and usually let them ripen until they're a nice, evenly spotted brown, and then throw them whole and unpeeled into the freezer.  I used to peel them and cut them up into chunks before putting them in a freezer bag, but I found that the banana chunks would get discolored quickly that way.  When you freeze the bananas whole, the skin will turn brown, but once you peel them you'll see that the fruit itself is still unblemished.  It can be a little difficult to peel a frozen banana, so I usually let it thaw a few minutes, then lop off the ends, make a lengthwise cut, and try to peel it from the cut.  The advantage of using a frozen banana is that you don't have to add ice, which would just add volume and dilute the smoothie.

I've used a lot of different fruits before:  orange segments, kiwis, strawberries, grapes, apples, pears, plums, blueberries, raspberries, etc. and it always tastes great.  I started off using soy or almond milk as the liquid, but eventually found that I could get away with just using plain water, and it still tasted great.  If you have leftover coconut "water" from making coconut whipped cream, it makes an excellent liquid base.

I like to add chia seeds for some protein and omega-3 fatty acids, but if you don't have any, the smoothies are still good.  In the beginning, you may like to add some nut butter, like peanut butter or almond butter, for taste and protein, but I've found it's easier just to add sliced almonds since blended almonds is basically what almond butter is anyways.

I guess what I'm essentially saying is that as long as you have some greens, a frozen banana, and one or two other fruits, you're good to go.  Sometimes if I'm in the mood for something more chocolatey, I'll add some cocoa powder.  Have fun experimenting and seeing what your favorite combinations are!

 
Green Smoothies
makes 1 large smoothie

1 large handful leafy greens (like spinach, kale, chard, or lettuce)
1 tablespoon chia seeds, sliced almonds, or nut butter
About a cup of cut up fruit (see the 4th paragraph above for suggestions)
1 frozen banana, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup liquid (water, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, etc.)

 
Place the greens in the bottom of the blender.

 
Add the chia seeds/almonds/nut butter and then the fruit.

 
Top with the frozen banana chunks.

 
Lastly, pour the liquid over everything.

 
Start the blender off on low and quickly bring it up to high, making sure that everything is blending nicely.  If needed, stop the blender and tap the container to get rid of air bubbles.

 
Blend for a minute or longer until everything is smooth.  Pour into a large glass and drink immediately.

 
A note about blenders:  I have a Vitamix, which I love dearly.  It blends everything so easily, and it's really easy to wash!  Sure, it's pricey, but if you end up using it as much as I do, it's so worth it in the end.  I don't have any experience making a green smoothie in a regular blender, but hopefully it will work okay in those, too.

Three Years Ago:  Apple-Pear-Cranberry Crisp

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Crispy Kale Pizza

If I hadn't already restarted this blog after making the Caramelized Onion and Swiss Chard Quiche, I would have done so after making this--it's that good.  It's pizza week over at The Kitchn, and I just happened upon this post for garlicky kale as a pizza topping.  I had a bunch of kale sitting in my fridge from my latest Boston Organics delivery so I thought I'd try it out.  I also had some onions, so I thought I'd add some crispy, burnt onions à la Mark Bittman.  The thin crust pizza dough recipe is the same that I've used before for Chicken Masala Pizza, and comes from The Kitchn, as well.

 
Crispy Kale Pizza
makes two 10" pizzas

For the dough:
3/4 cups (6 ounces) lukewarm water
1 teaspoon active-dry or instant yeast
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (I substituted in a half cup of white whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

For the pizza:
1 bunch kale
2 garlic cloves
2 small onions
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Shaved parmesan cheese (not the kind that you shake out of the green can)

Set the oven to 500°F or as hot as it will go and let it heat for at least a half an hour before making the pizza. If you have a pizza stone, put it in the lower-middle part of the oven now.

Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl, and stir to dissolve the yeast. The mixture should look like thin miso soup. Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix until you've formed a shaggy dough. Knead for 5 minutes (I used my stand mixer and the dough hook).

 
Cover the dough with a moist towel and let rise for an hour.  (According to the recipe, you can skip the wait and go ahead and use the pizza dough now, but you might as well let it rise while you prepare the toppings.)

 
In the meantime, wash and tear up the kale into bite-sized pieces.  Dry well (I used a salad spinner) and dress with a few glugs of olive oil; add salt and black pepper to taste.

 
Mince or press 2 garlic cloves and add to the kale.  Mix well and set aside.

 
Slice the onions into thin rings.  Heat a non-stick pan on medium high and add the onions.  Stir occasionally, and once the onions start to blacken and stick, add a little olive oil.  Continue to stir and cook the onions, adding a little more olive oil when dry, until crispy and slightly burnt.

When ready to make the pizza, tear off two pieces of parchment paper roughly 12-inches wide. Divide the dough in two. You can refrigerate this dough (covered in olive oil) for up to 3 days at this point. Working with one piece of the dough at a time, form it into a large disk with your hands and lay it on the parchment paper.

Work from the middle of the dough outwards, using the heel of your hand to gently press and stretch the dough until it's about 1/4 of an inch thick or less. For an extra-thin crust, roll it with a rolling pin. If the dough starts to shrink back, let it rest for five minutes and then continue rolling.

Spoon a few tablespoons of olive oil into the center of the pizza and use the back of a spoon to spread it out to the edges.

 
Add half of the crispy, burnt onions.

 
Pile on half the kale.  (It will seem like a lot, but don't worry, the kale will shrink a lot in the oven.)

 
Top with a few shavings of parmesan cheese.

Using a bread peel or the backside of a baking sheet (I used a flexible cutting board), slide your pizza (still on the parchment) onto the baking stone in the oven. If you don't have a baking stone, bake the pizza right on the baking sheet.

Bake for about 5 minutes and then rotate the pizza. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes until the crust is golden-brown and the cheese looks toasty.

Remove the pizza from oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Repeat with shaping, topping, and baking second pizza.

Let both pizzas cool for about five minutes before slicing and serving.

I really loved how all the ingredients came together in this pizza.  The pizza crust was thin enough to get a nice crunch but still has some chew.  I was surprised to find that the kale crisped up almost as much as kale chips, and the onions added a nice sweetness while the parmesan added a good shot of umami.  I only made one of the pizzas and stored half of the dough in the fridge, but I'm definitely going to be making this again very soon.

Update:  I've made this pizza again using Ken Forkish's Same Day Straight Dough Pizza Dough.  That dough is so much better!

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Red Wine and Pear Sorbet

I made this a while ago before this blog was born and really liked it so when my stash of pears from Boston Organics started building up, I thought it was high time to make this again. The original recipe from Martha Stewart has directions for how to make this without an ice cream maker, but seeing as how I have one, it seemed silly not to use it.

Red Wine and Pear Sorbet (adapted from Everyday Food)
makes about 1 quart

1 cup dry red wine

3/4 cup sugar

1 pound ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces (2 cups)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Coarse salt

In a medium saucepan, bring wine, 1 1/4 cups water, and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Add pears; reduce heat, and simmer until tender.

Stir in lemon juice and a pinch of salt; cool completely. Transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Once chilled, churn in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a container, cover, and freeze overnight or for several hours to harden.

Although the original recipe said it would only take 5-10 minutes, I ended up having to cook the pears for over 20 minutes before they were tender. This may have been because I used one Bartlett pear and one green pear instead of just Bartlett pears like the original recipe said. Because I was cooking the mixture for that long, I figured I would have boiled off most of the alcohol, but there was still enough left to make this a pretty soft sorbet. It's also kind of gritty in the way that pears are naturally gritty. Not a bad thing, but if you don't like the texture of pears, you might want to pass on this recipe. But if you like poached pears, you definitely need to try this out. It tastes elegant and sophisticated, like something that should be served in a goblet vs. a normal dessert bowl. I would totally serve this as a palate cleanser or at the end of a heavy dinner of say, steak.

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Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Fried Rice

When I first saw this recipe on Bitten, I knew I had to make it the very next time I received leeks in my Boston Organics delivery. Finally, my patience paid off. This fried rice recipe is familiar in some ways--using day old rice and eggs--but quite novel in others. There are no vegetables other than the leeks or any chopped, leftover meat. Instead, minced fresh garlic and ginger are fried until crisp and then sprinkled on top to dress the rice along with a drizzling of sesame oil and soy sauce.

In the article, Mark Bittman writes that Jean-Georges uses rendered chicken fat; since I had duck fat leftover from making the duck fat fries, I used that instead. Also, instead of using day-old cooked rice, I used rice that had been cooked a month ago and frozen in the freezer. Whenever I have leftover cooked rice, I always divide it into first-sized portions and wrap them in plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer when they're still warm. That way I can just heat it up in the microwave for a minute to thaw, and none of the moisture is lost. Of course, after sitting in the freezer for a whole month, some of the moisture is lost, which makes it perfect to use for fried rice.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Fried Rice (from Bitten)
makes 2 servings

1/4 cup duck fat
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
Kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried
2 cups day-old cooked rice, preferably jasmine, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup duck fat over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.

Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons duck fat and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt.

Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through. Season to taste with salt.

In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining duck fat, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.

Divide rice among two dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything and serve.

I added a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions on top as well just for a little more texture and color. I was a little scared that the ginger might be too strong for my liking, but it was a lot more mild after frying, and the crunch it delivers is a real highlight to the dish.

This recipe is truly inspired. There are very few ingredients, but because each is an aromatic, and you keep using the same fat to cook the ginger, garlic, and leeks, you end up building a lot of flavor in the final dish. At the same time, I finally know what they mean on Top Chef when they talk about simple, clean food. Thank you, Jean-Georges and Mark, for sharing this recipe. Now I really want to go to one of Vongerichten's restaurants. Luckily, he's opened one in Boston, and it's also participating in Taste of the Nation Boston tomorrow!

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Duck Fat French Fries with Rosemary, Maldon Salt, and Truffle Oil

...And back to the unhealthy. (Although in my defense, I did try to make baked sweet potato fries the same day I made these, but they were just such a fail in comparison to these that I am ashamed to post about them.)

When I first read about the cold fat method of making French fries on Bitten, I was ecstatic. A way to make crispy fries without the splatter and smell of oil all over your kitchen? Genius! And then I thought, why not go all the way and really dress these fries up? I had had the rosemary truffle fries at Garden at the Cellar recently, and really, really loved them, so I picked up some fresh rosemary and white truffle oil from Whole Foods. (As another aside, did you know that most "truffle oils" on the market don't even contain real truffles? If you look at the list of ingredients, it just says "truffle flavoring" or something like that, which is code for chemicals which have never seen a truffle before. Unfortunately, I think there is only one brand of truffle oils in the U.S. that contain real truffles, and it wasn't available at Whole Foods.)

I also had a box of Maldon salt I had picked up from Christina's Spices in Inman Square. I'd rave about this salt myself, except it's already been done by so many people with so much more cooking cred than me. Needless to say, this is pretty much one of the best finishing salts you can buy. What I really love about this salt, other than the taste, is what a tactile experience it is to crush the flakes between your fingertips.

And of course, I had duck fat. Oh, how I love thee, duck fat. Especially with potatoes. (And don't forget, duck fat is better for you than butter!)

I used the potatoes I had received in my Boston Organics delivery. I'm not sure what exact kind they were, but they were relatively small and, I believe, from Prince Edward Island.

Duck Fat French Fries with Rosemary, Maldon Salt, and Truffle Oil (method pretty much taken word for word from Bitten)

Potatoes, peeled
Enough fat to cover the cut potatoes (duck fat, peanut oil, etc., or any combination thereof)
Fresh rosemary
Maldon salt
Truffle oil

Cut your peeled potatoes into whatever shape you like, but probably no skinnier than three-eighths of an inch. Rinse them and shake off the water (part of the genius of this technique is that a little residual water won’t cause splattering, so you don’t need to towel-dry the potatoes). Put them in a heavy pan — a straight-sided sauté pan is ideal, but anything not too shallow will do. They should ideally be in a single layer, but this is not always practical: aim for it, though. Add room-temperature fat just to thoroughly cover and put the pan over low heat, without a lid.

As the oil temperature slowly rises, the potatoes will, in effect, poach in fat and their excess water will gently evaporate (hence the lack of splattering). Yes, the oil will bubble, but reassuringly, not alarmingly. Every now and again, use a thin-bladed spatula or a long-handled spoon to make sure they are not sticking (their starch has a tendency to cause this) and give the pan a shake. Be very careful: at a certain point they will be very, very fragile — cooked but not yet crisp.

When the potatoes are very tender, you can raise the heat, but only a little. Say, from low to medium-low. They will finally start to crisp and turn golden, and will ultimately become french fries. Excellent ones. The one down side (apart from the limit on quantity) is that this can take as long as an hour.

When your fries are starting to brown, throw in some of the fresh rosemary. When your fries are sufficiently crisp and browned, remove fries and rosemary with a slotted spoon and drain. Drizzle a little truffle oil on top. Grab a pinch of Maldon salt and crush between your fingers to sprinkle on top. Repeat to taste.

I'm pretty sure you could make these French fries with regular oil instead of duck fat, with regular sea salt instead of Maldon salt, and without the rosemary and truffle oil, and they would still taste great. I was kind of surprised by how non-greasy these were on the inside. I figured that having the potatoes sit in fat for so long would've meant they would've been soaked in grease, but in actuality, they tasted more like a light and fluffy baked potato on the inside while staying nice and crispy on the outside. In other words, perfection.
Another thing I really like about this method of making French fries is that because the oil was kept at relatively low temperatures, the fats were not too damaged and you can save and reuse the fat for another French fry making session. Which I'll probably be doing real soon....

One year ago:  Cincinnati Chili

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