Rosemary Honey and Lemon Frozen Yogurt

I'm back, both figuratively and literally!  I got back last week from a 2 week vacation to Europe.  My friend, Ces, and I went on a Celebrity cruise to Italy, Greece, and Turkey and then stayed an extra couple of days in Rome.  Being on a cruise, we definitely ate our fill, but the most memorable food I ate was all in Rome.

Before we had left for the trip, I had looked up the best gelato in Rome to make sure that we didn't waste any space in our tummies on inferior product.  We tried San Crispino when we were at the Trevi Fountain and Grom near(ish) the Pantheon, but the one that blew me away was Gelateria del Teatro, in between Piazza Navona and Ponte Sant'Angelo.

I chose the Rosemary Honey and Lemon and Sicilian Almond flavors and could not stop raving about them while we made our way to the Vatican.  I love almond flavored anything, and this was the first time that I had tasted an ice cream that really captured the pure almond flavor without tasting buttery or artificial.  And the rosemary was an unexpected first note that mellowed out with the honey and lemon in a way that was completely and perfectly balanced.  Ask Ces; I think I actually stopped walking several times because I was just enjoying the gelato so much.  It was so good we went back for a second round after returning from the Vatican!

I knew I had to try to make the rosemary honey lemon flavor when I got home so I pulled out Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home and searched for a honey flavored base but didn't find one.  So I tried using her ice cream base, substituted honey for the sugar, and steeped the mixture with rosemary and lemon peel before thickening it.  It ended up tasting way too sweet for me, and I think the honey kept it a little softer than I would have liked.  I decided to try making it again with less honey and using the frozen yogurt base to lighten it up a little and give it a little more tang.  I was really pleased with this version; it's not an exact duplicate of the gelato from Rome, but I think it's just as good!

Rosemary Honey and Lemon Frozen Yogurt (based on on the Frozen Yogurt Base from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)
makes about 1 quart

1 1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup honey plus more, to taste
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Zest from half a lemon
1 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used 2% low fat, but I think nonfat and regular would work fine)

Mix about 3 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.  Whisk the cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth.  Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Combine the remaining milk, cream, honey, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat, add the rosemary and lemon zest, and let steep for 20 minutes.

Remove the rosemary and zest with a slotted spoon.  Taste the mixture; if it's not sweet enough, add some more honey (I ended up adding about another tablespoon).  Gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture and return the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook, stirring until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the yogurt and blend well.

Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath.  Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

Pour the frozen yogurt base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy.

Pack the frozen yogurt into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid.  Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Four years ago:  Black Sesame Ice Cream

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Alphabet and Rosemary Cheddar Crackers

I love Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers, so when I saw this post on how to make your own, I was really excited to try it out. I don't have any teeny, tiny goldfish cookie cutters, but I do have rather small alphabet fondant cutters, so I thought it'd be fun to make alphabet crackers.

I'm used to the bright orange color of the original crackers, so I wanted to find some bright orange cheese to use, but I couldn't find any. So I tried the next best thing and added some yellow food coloring to half the dough since I don't have any orange food coloring, and didn't want to end up with a peach color like I did the last time I tried mixing red and yellow. But the dough was too stiff coming out of the fridge, and I didn't have the patience (or the daylight left) to knead it through properly, so it ended up looking kind of marbled. Which is fine because you can't even tell in the finished product, and ironically enough, the non-yellowed crackers turned out more orange-ish!

While the dough was chilling overnight in the fridge, I remembered that I still had some fresh rosemary left from making the duck fat French fries and thought it'd be nice to add some to the cheese cracker dough. So I added some rosemary leaves to the other half of the dough (after all, rosemary cheddar crackers are for adults and don't need artificial food coloring).

Rosemary Cheddar Crackers (adapted from Ellie's Home Cooking)
makes about 1 quart of crackers

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (optional)

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

3-4 tablespoons water

Pulse the flour, salt and pepper in a food processor, then add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add grated cheese a little at a time until the mixture again resembles coarse meal.

Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms into a ball. It will probably take a minute or so.

Remove from the food processor and knead in the rosemary. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Roll the dough out to 1/8th-inch thickness directly onto a baking sheet. You don't want to roll them paper thin, neither do you want to roll them too thick. If they are too thin, they will not puff up as much. If they are too thick, they will not be as crispy.

Using a knife, pizza cutter, or cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes.

Bake at 350° F for 15-20 minutes or until crackers are golden brown. Watch them after the 10 minute mark.

I didn't roll the dough out as thin as I should have for some of the crackers, and they were definitely not as crispy as the thinner ones. They did puff up so that they were almost cubical, though, so I threw them on top of a salad because as someone pointed out, they looked just like croutons.

I don't think these tasted exactly like Goldfish crackers, but that's because they don't taste like something you can buy in a store. Which is to say, these tasted like the fresh ingredients they were made out of. I definitely preferred the rosemary crackers to the ones without; the herb added a nice aromatic, almost astringent note to the richness of crackers. Next time I might try adding a bit of Tabasco sauce to the dough to add some heat.

Lastly, you can make this using only all-purpose flour or only whole wheat flour. I tried using half all-purpose and half white whole wheat and will probably try all whole wheat next time since it doesn't seem to make a huge difference.

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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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