C is for Cantaloupe Sorbet

I recently read a blog post at thekitchn.com about freezing bananas and dropping them in the food processor for nearly instant (and wonderfully healthy!) ice cream.  Can't you just imagine a bowl of smooth banana ice cream with chocolate chips sprinkled on top?  I am totally intrigued by the idea of puréeing frozen fruit into a sorbet or ice cream texture.  It'd be a low calorie dessert, but still satisfying, and I'm loving that combination because I'm a girl with a sweet tooth.

I didn't have any bananas around this week, but I did have a cantaloupe that smelled amazing.  When Peter cut into it, we both thought it was a bit overripe.  I put the pieces of slightly mushy fruit onto a cookie sheet and popped it into the freezer with the hopes that frozen cantaloupe would behave the same way that bananas did in my inspiration post.  Good news!  Frozen cantaloupe will turn into a sorbet texture when you put it in the food processor!

Cantaloupe Sorbet
by Rachel

1 cantaloupe, cut into cubes
juice from 1 orange
1 Tbsp. sugar
pinch of salt

Put the cantaloupe cubes on a cookie sheet in the freezer for several hours or up to a few days.  When you're ready to create the sorbet, let the cookie sheet sit out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes, so the cantaloupe won't stick to the cookie sheet.  Drop the fruit into the food processor and pulse to chop and blend it.  Add the juice from one orange as the cantaloupe is blending.  Sprinkle in the sugar and salt and continue to pulse until the fruit takes the consistency of a sorbet.  Scoop the sorbet into a freezer-safe container and let it harden in the freezer for about an hour before serving.  Enjoy!

I is for Ice Cream

My favorite desserts are cakes or cupcakes, but Peter's first choice is ice cream just about every time.  We've had some fantastic frozen treats together.  In Charlottesville, we like to get the chilled glass artist's palette at Splendora's where you can sample eight different tiny scoops of gelato; the presentation is so fun and you get to try lots of different flavors without committing to a whole serving.  I have always enjoyed going to Arch's to get a scoop of frozen yogurt with a glob of half-cooked gooey brownie batter on top.  It's one of their signature toppings and it takes fro-yo to the next level.  Arch's is a college girl's staple at UVA, especially since they offer all sorts of Wow Cow low-calorie frozen yogurts and they have a hotline to call and check on the flavors of the day.  Genius!

Beyond Charlottesville, Peter and I like to indulge in ice cream when we travel.  I've got fond memories of sharing gelato in Rome while sitting outside the Pantheon, splitting a dipped ice cream in Prague, and trying some snazzy sundaes on a boat tour of the Rhine River valley in Germany.  We also love the occasional Blizzard from Dairy Queen at Smith Mountain Lake.  Who doesn't?  One of my favorite ice creams on a vacation though was on our honeymoon in Cabo; we ordered a trio of flavors and absolutely adored the combo of mango, tequila, and Mexican raw sugar ice creams.  We came home with the resort's recipe for tequila ice cream and have since recreated it for a flashback to our best vacation ever.  I promise I'll share that recipe one day!              

Since we got married, I've started making ice creams for us to enjoy at home.  We received the Kitchenaid ice cream maker attachment as a wedding gift and I'd definitely recommend it.  It's easy to use and doesn't require any rock salt because you freeze the canister before churning your ice cream.  It also allows you to make just the right amount of ice cream.  Many of the recipes I've come across are for 1 quart and I find that's a nice size for storing and serving.  We seem to run out of ice cream just as we're getting tired of the flavor.  A quart isn't so much that it sits around in the freezer collecting freezer burn.  

One of our favorite homemade ice cream flavors is Cookies n' Cream and I'll share that recipe today.  I've tried other "quick" ice cream recipes that don't require making a custard or "low fat" versions that use skim milk or don't have cream, but I find that the whole milk and cream are required for the smooth, creamy consistency we expect and crave.  The lower fat milks (skim or 1%) are more sensitive to curdling during the cooking process and tend to be icier and more crystalized after a few days in the freezer.  Splurge on whole milk and cream because the ice cream is rich and delicious and you don't need much to feel satisfied.  Be careful when heating your custard because if the temperature rises above 170 F, you can easily end up scrambling your whole recipe and there's no going back from there.  Stir it constantly and use a thermometer if you're worried that you're going to overheat it.  Check out this website that shows a picture of how your custard should look on the back of a spoon.          

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

From Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream  

1 1/2 c. whole milk

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract)

6 egg yolks

1/2 c. plus 2 Tbsp. sugar

In a saucepan, combine the milk, 1 c. cream, and vanilla.  Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan (about 5 minutes).  Combine the egg yolks, sugar, and remaining 1/2 c. cream in a bowl and whisk to smooth out the mixture.  The sugar should begin to dissolve.  Remove the milk mixture from the heat and gradually add about 1/2 c. of it to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the eggs.  Pour the whole egg mixture back into the pan with the remaining milk mixture and stir to combine.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (don't stop!) with a wooden spoon until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it. Do not let the custard boil.  Strain through a mesh sieve into a bowl and if you used a vanilla bean, discard it.  Place the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and water.  Stir occasionally until cook and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface of your mixture to prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate your ice cream mixture for several hours or up to a day.  

Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and let it churn until it's a soft-serve consistency.  Transfer your ice cream to a freezer-safe container.  Let it harden in the freezer for at least 3 hours before serving.  Makes 1 quart.  

Cookies n' Cream Variety

Put 15-20 Oreo cookies in a gallon-size plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin or your hands.  You want some larger chunks.  I've used the food processor before to make fine Oreo crumbs, but this usually just turns the ice cream gray when I mix it together;  it's best to have some small pieces and some large pieces of cookie.  As soon as you take the vanilla ice cream out of your ice cream maker, use a spatula to gently blend in the cookie crumbs.  Don't over stir.  

S is for St. Patrick's Day

To commemorate St. Patrick's Day last week, we made a pretty traditional feast including corned beef, cabbage, and mashed potatoes.  We asked a couple of friends over to share the meal and drink a few stout beers, and we even made Guiness ice cream floats to top off the evening.  Unlike the river in Chicago (watch this video clip!) and the beer at McGrady's Irish Pub here in C'ville, nothing served at my house was died green.  I just don't enjoy that aspect of St. Patrick's Day.  Green is my favorite color, but all the verde is a little too tacky for me.  The traditional Irish meal though?  I love it!

We decided to put the 2 1/2 lb. corned beef brisket in our slow cooker and it worked marvelously.  I just covered it with water and sprinkled in the herb pack that is included with the cut of meat.  We cooked the meat on low for about 8 hours.  Done.  Easy.  It was uniformly gray and hideous-looking on the outside, but perfectly pink and gorgeous on the inside.  Corned beef is one of those dishes that doesn't look very appetizing until you've sliced it.  The flavor of the meat?  Great!      

For the cabbage, I didn't want it to be sopping wet and soggy, but I did want it to have the flavor of the meat.  Instead of cooking the cabbage in with the meat, I roughly chopped the greens and then sauteed them for a few minutes in a high-walled skillet with a cup of the cooking water from the slow cooker.  I drained what was left of the water when the cabbage looked soft and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.

For the mashed potatoes, I tried something new.  I cut four or five yukon gold potatoes into quarters (skins on) and boiled them in a pot of salted water for about 20 minutes.  For the last few minutes of cooking time, I tossed in some cauliflower to cook with the potatoes.  I used a whole head of cauliflower and just chopped it up into smaller pieces before adding it to the water.  Once the cauliflower was soft enough to slide off a fork, I drained the water and used my masher to give the whole potato cauliflower mixture a good smashing.  I added a Tbsp. of butter, 1/2 c. lukewarm milk, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste.  Some people like their potatoes lumpy, but I am not one of those people.  I used my immersion blender to further smooth out the potatoes and cauliflower and it worked great.  This is one of my very favorite wedding gifts because it is so versatile and easy to use.  Just imagine quick smoothies, creamy soups, and homemade hummus.  So good!  If you don't have a "stick blender," I think you should get one.  I use it much more often than my stand-alone blender.

As a dessert, we got adventurous with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a squeeze of Hershey's chocolate syrup, and a little bit of Guinness poured over it.  Wide-eyed and excited, we took our first bites, but we were let down.  Beer and ice cream just aren't as wonderful together as you might hope.  If you want to try Guinness floats sometime, check out this site, where they make a delicious Chantilly whipped cream  to top it.  Chantilly crème is just vanilla flavored whipped cream for the record.      

To celebrate the holiday with my class, I took vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and green nonpareils to school.  I avoided any shamrock green food coloring because I knew I'd see it on the kids' cheeks and lips for the rest of the day.  The students ooh'ed and ahh'ed as I showed them my food blog and I let them know that they were official tasters.  They are now aware of their supremely important status and I think they want me to use them again as test subjects.  Soon!