White Bean Soup with Pasta & Potatoes
By Leslie Kedash
Only eight more days until we can leave this forgettable winter behind. With cold, wet and rainy
weather still with us for now, I decided to try this hearty bean soup as a send off to the season.
It’s fast and easy and you likely have most of the ingredients in your pantry.
I upped the pasta, veggies and potatoes to make a hearty thick soup.
White Bean Soup with Pasta and Potatoes
Deborah Madison The Savory Way
Makes 6 servings
1 cup cannellini or other dried white bean, soaked 6 hours or over night
2 quarts cold water
2 medium-sized white or red potatoes
8 large sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
2 teaspoons rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
3 garlic cloves
2 celery stalks
2 medium-sized carrots
1 small onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dried pasta, short tubular variety
salt
freshly ground pepper
extra virgin olive oil, to finish the soup
Drain the beans, put them in a soup pot, and cover them with water. Slowly bring to a boil, then boil vigorously for 5 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface; then lower the heat to a simmer. (more…)
Pasta Piñon Verde
By Leslie Kedash
El Farol sits at the end of Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is that town’s oldest restaurant/bar. A small, funky but endearing combination of western and adobe, white walls, vigas and creaky wooden floors.
When out there we often make this our last stop on a night out. Local “color” is there in abundance and there are fine area musicians who play there each weekend. More than once a local has mentioned that in the late 1800s, hangings used to take place across the road where there tree still stands. Seems that folks used to gather at El Farol to drink coffee and such on those occasions.
It’s a bit more civilized today and the restaurant serves Tapas (a collection of small dishes brought out on a platter and eaten as a main course) in the evening before the entertainment begins. The menu is varied and well rendered. This recipe is from El Farol’s Cookbook: El Farol Tapas and Spanish Cuisine. Enjoy, we surely did.
Pasta Piñon Verde
Bow tie pasta with Pine Nuts, Cream, and Poblano Chiles
Makes 8 small plates of pasta as a Tapa
2 quarts of water
Pinch of salt
1 pound farfalle (bow tie) pasta
1/2 yellow onion diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1/8 cup butter
3 tablespoons white wine
1 pint heavy cream
2 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, and chopped
1 handful of shelled piñons or pine nuts
1/2 cup grated manchego or Parmesan cheese
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
2 tomatoes, diced
Boil 2 quarts of water with a pinch of salt. Cook pasta for about 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. While pasta is coking, sauté onion and garlic in butter until soft, and then deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add cream, poblano chiles, and piñons to the sauté pan and bring to a boil. Cook on high heat for about 2 minutes. turn off the heat and stir in the cheese. Drain the pasta and, while it is still hot, toss with the cream sauce. Add salt and pepper and serve topped with diced fresh tomatoes.
Creamy Tomato Soup
By Leslie Kedash
Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich is, to me at least, one of life’s great pairings. This recipe surely beats the salt-laden canned variety you’ll find in your local supermarket. And it’s quick and easy. Combine with a grilled cheese sandwich with real cheese (not cheese “food”) on French bread and a salad. Consume in front of the fire and dream of Spring.
Creamy Tomato Soup
Horn of The Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan
2 tablespoons of butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions (3 onions)
Two 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes (or the tomatoes you put up last fall)
Juice of one lemon
2 cups of water or stock (more…)
Sugar Cookies
If “a balanced diet is a cookie in each hand,” you’ll be well on your way to nutritional excellence with these old fashioned sugar cookies. With two sticks of butter in one hand and two cups of sugar in the other, this classic cookie is pure, simple, and oh so satisfying. So try them out…and give the last one to someone you love on Valentine’s Day.
“Sometimes me think what is love, and then me think love is what last cookie is for. Me give up the last cookie for you.” Cookie Monster
And if you like treats, you should check out what our sponsor, Historic Kennett Square, has planned for Valentine’s Days (click on their ad, top right)
Sugar Cookies
From Martha Stewart
Shaped Sugar Cookies
Makes about 16 large cookies
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (two sticks) of unsalted butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and grated zest of 2 lemons
In a large bowl, sift together the flour , salt, and baking powder. Set aside. (more…)
Créme Caramel
By Leslie Kedash
Remember Junket? Unless you are of a certain age, you may not, but it was a custard like concoction which was often fed to children when they were ill (or wanted a sweet dessert that wasn’t overly unhealthy).
Think of this dish as Junket made incredible. The texture, taste and mouth feel is just too amazing to not try it a few times.
I used to only order this dish in restaurants, figuring it would be just too tedious to make at home. Wrong.
I admit to having a bit of a cookbook addiction. I love the pictures, design and the thought of really good food
prepared at home. While work and life sometimes get in the way, nothing seems as satisfying as mastering a new recipe (sometimes it takes a few tries) and then consuming the fruits of your labor.
Recently, I was paging through a book which we use for the family’s favorite recipe for Shepherd’s Pie and I came across this little gem.
This time, the planets were aligned: the hens had done their work, I already had all the ingredients and the time to make it happen.
Turns out, the recipe is quite simple to make. The only place where you might mess up is in the beating of the eggs and sugar. Don’t overbeat or you will end up with way too much custard and its consistency will not be at all what you are looking for (dreamily smooth and rich). The rest of the prep is easy, the hardest part waiting for the custard to cool and set up before you can devour it.
Créme Caramel
Paris Bistro Cooking by Linda Dannenberg
The long slow cooking of this classic dessert produces a perfectly smooth and silky custard.
1 Quart Milk
2 Vanilla Beans, Split Lengthwise, or 3 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
(Vanilla beans are EXPENSIVE but they “make” the dish. You can buy them at Acme for seventeen bucks or at Giant for twelve, you know where we got ours)
2 Cups Sugar (divided)
3 Tablespoons Water
1 Drop Vinegar or lemon Juice
8 Large Eggs
Yolks of 4 Large Eggs
Small Pinch Salt
In a larger saucepan over low heat, scald the milk with the vanilla beans. Remove from the heat, cover, and steep for 30 minutes. Then remove the vanilla beans and discard.
Caramelize an 8-cup mold; Place 1/2 cup of the sugar, the water, and vinegar or lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until golden. Carefully pour into the mold and tilt the mold to coat the bottom with caramel. let the caramel harden.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Place the eggs, yolks, the 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and salt in a bowl; whisk together until the mixture thickens and is pale yellow. Strain the milk into the egg mixture and stir it to blend. Pour the custard mixture very carefully into the previously caramelized mold.
Place the mold in a larger pan, place the pan on the oven rack, and fill the pan with hot water to come halfway up the mold. Bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the custard is set when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool, then refrigerate. to serve, run a knife around the edge of the mold. Invert the mold onto a deep serving dish. the caramel will run out and fill the dish.
Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
By Leslie Kedash
Chocolate and chocolate, a match made in heaven and great traveling companions for butter, sugar and eggs.
These cookies have a rich history in our house. First, they were the companion cookies to the more standard chocolate chip version sent to school for various occasions, usually birthdays.
Somehow, this cookie became “the” cookie of choice for those special occasions when I am informed at 7:30 pm that baked goods need to be ready for school by 7:30 am (the next day…). Occasionally, I am tempted to run to the market for a bag of cookies, but considering the time and hassle of the supermarket, it’s just as easy (almost) to make these. They fill the kitchen with a chocolaty, just baked aroma.
Take some time this weekend and make these cookies, pour a glass of milk and curl up by the fire, watch an old movie or read a book. They are sinfully rich so consume with care.
They just might become your favorite treat.
Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes 40 to 48 cookies
A “reverse” chocolate chip cookie: chocolate dough with white chocolate chunks.
1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (more…)
Bring in the New Year with Fish House Punch
By Leslie Kedash
As a child, it seemed like my parents had a lot of books. We moved more often than I would have liked, but in each new home, a special place was found to house that ever growing collection. I remember being fascinated by the leather binding, gilt titles and eventually, the type design on each cover.
Today’s recipe comes from that collection via a book called Here’s How, a cookbook of mixed drinks published in 1941. The book always intrigued me, more for its wood cover, metal hinges and leather binding than the illicit concoctions listed inside.
While the book has recipes for hundreds of cocktails, many long since faded away, one that caught my eye is Fish House Punch. With a name like that, some digging was in order. The date of origin of this potent brew is debated but here are two versions extracted from Wikipedia:
This most venerable of American flowing bowls is held to have been first concocted in 1732 at Philadelphia’s fishing club, the Schuylkill Fishing Company also known as the ‘Fish House.’ The Fish House was an august gentleman’s society devoted to escaping domestic tribulation, but also to cigars, whiskey and the occasional fishing foray upon the Chesapeake or the Restigouche River in Nova Scotia.
Another version states that it was created in 1848 by Shippen Willing of Philadelphia, to celebrate the momentous occasion of women being allowed into the premises of the ‘Fish House” for the first time in order to enliven the annual Christmas Party. It was supposed to be just something to please the ladies’ palate but get them livelier than is their usual wont.
The drink even has its own poem:
Fish House Punch
There’s a little place just out of town,
Where, if you go to lunch,
They’ll make you forget your mother-in-law
With a drink called Fish-House Punch.
The Cook (1885)
submitted by a descendant of Shipping Willing
A decent batch consists of:
30 limes, cut in half and squeezed, such pulp as gets through is fine
15 lemons, treat as above
This constitutes a “part” for measuring the rest of the ingredients:
1 part dark rum
2 parts light rum… Use a reasonable quality, these are friends you will be poisoning so treat them well
1 part brandy
1 part brown sugar
1 part water, in the form of a block of ice
Put sugar into a suitable container that has a tight lid. Gently work the citrus into the sugar until wetted out and then add the rest of the ingredients.
Ease the ice into the container gently as we do not want to waste any of this precious stuff! Gently “bail” the mix over the ice, cap it and repeat this every couple of hours until time to serve it.
This is the most important part: do the preparation and mixing early in the morning the day of the party and mix the ingredients every few hours to “mellow” them together into what will be a most refreshing punch. It is most proper to sample the batch each time it is mixed, to monitor the manner in which the materials are melding together.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year.
Coconut Chocolate Pudding
By Leslie Kedash
I’ve been meaning to make this recipe for some time now. The start of “comfort food” season has pushed me into action.
It’s not complicated and once the ingredients are gathered and measured out, it’s a piece of cake to make.
It looks to be a recipe that would respond well to a little experimentation, like substituting milk and peppermint extract for the coconut milk or adding some Coco Lopez to highlight the coconut flavor.
As Cole Porter said, “Experiment.”
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks
1 14-ounce can of coconut milk, divided
3 tablespoons sugar
scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, sifted
1 teaspoon raz el hanout spice blend or curry powder
3 tablespoons alkalized dutch-cocoa powder, sifted
1 3.5-ounce semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flakes, toasted in a dry skillet
Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of coconut milk, sugar, and the salt to a simmer over low heat.
While that is heating, in a seperate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot powder, spice blend (or curry powder), and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.
When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the arrowroot slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Place in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly. To prevent a skin from forming press plastic wrap up against the surface of the pudding. Serve dusted with the coconut flakes and a tiny pinch of spices (or curry powder).
Apple Cider Sauce
By Leslie Kedash
When I get a new cookbook, it’s hard for me to shelve it before trying a few recipes.
Usually I thumb through all the pages several times, admire the photographs and read a few of the ingredients before choosing a recipe. But since I had seen Roger Morris’ new book The Brandywine Book of Food, before it was published, and worked on the design, by the time I finally got my own copy, I knew exactly what I’d cook first.
This Apple Cider Sauce is by Chef Bryan Sikora at Talula’s Table. I chose it because it fit the season and I am always on the look out for ways to add flavor to Sunday night supper. It was delicious, and I will definitely make it again.
Apple Cider Sauce
Talula’s Table, Chef Bryan Sikora
1 tablespoon butter
1 small diced apple
1 small diced onion
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups fresh apple cider
2 cups rich chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Calvados apple brandy
1. In the bottom of a two-quart saucepan heat a little butter and sauté the apple and onion until soft. Season with salt and pepper, and add the remaining ingredients.
2. Over medium-high heat allow the liquid to simmer and reduce by a third. Let the liquid cool, and then blend in a blender or with a hand blender.
3. Strain through a fine sieve and season.
To Serve: Drizzle over roasted pork or chicken.
The Brandywine Book of Food is available at Talulah’s Table.
Vegetable Soup’s On
By Leslie Kedash
I think soup weather is defined by rainy days and chilly evenings, and we’ve recently had our fair share of that. A good soup is one you can make on a moment’s notice, (or a few moments, anyway)…and this one is quick and tasty.
I tried this recipe this week and liked it enough to share. It contains plenty of good winter vegetables.
Two steps (two recipes combined, actually) and it’s on the table, served with salad and bread.
The recipes come from The Barefoot Contessa Family Style.
Roasted Winter Vegetables
The high temperature carmelizes the outside and leaves the inside tender and moist. This is a very flexible recipe; you can add any root vegetable you have in the house to this mélange.
1 pound carrots, peeled
1 pound parsnips, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and seeded
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Cut the carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash in 1 to 1 and a quarter inch cubes. They’ll shrink while baking, so don’t cut them too small.
Place all the cut vegetables in a single layer on two sheet pans. Drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss well. Bake for 25 to 25 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender, turning once with a metal spatula.
Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste, and serve hot. (or in this case, use them in the following recipe)
Roasted Vegetable Soup
This is very versatile—you can also throw in last night’s mashed potatoes and even the tossed green salad from lunch. It adds wonderful flavor and goodness. A great way to get vegetables into your kids without their knowing it.
6 to 8 cups chicken stock
1 recipe Roasted Winter Vegetables
Kosher salt and pepper
For Serving: Croutons and quality olive oil
In a large saucepan, heat 6 cups of the chicken stock. In two batches, coarsely puree the roasted vegetables and the chicken stock in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pour the soup back into the pot and season to taste. Thin with more chicken stock and reheat. The soup should be thick but not like a vegetable puree, so add more chicken stock and/or water until it is the consistencey you like.
Serve with the croutons and a drizzle of olive oil.
Roast Chicken
By Leslie Kedash
The arrival of crisp fall days has me craving the comfort foods we seem to eat almost every year. This recipe is Patricia Wells’ rendering of a classic French roast fowl on potatoes. No fancy footwork in the kitchen, just the best and most basic ingredients and a simple roasting process. The secret’s in the methodical turning of the bird during cooking.
For the year’s first run at this perennial favorite, I took a drive out to Inverbrook Farm, a sustainably run family enterprise, and regular merchant at the Kennett Farmers market.
PA 926 west, rolling hills, few cars, pristine countryside, and there, in a small timber frame barn, was dinner.
The shopping’s pretty simple. Pick an amazingly plump, pasture raised, organically fed chicken from the refrigerator and leave your money in the “chicken envelope.” There were fresh eggs there too. (with a different envelope) Across the aisle for some newly harvested potatoes and a fall color filled drive home. For a food run, it doesn’t get much better.
The recipe is always a winner but the “real” chicken took it to another level. Unsullied, more taste, better texture, and locally produced.
Roast Guinea Hen Roasted on a Bed of Potatoes
From Patricia Wells’’s classic, Simply French. The recipe calls for Guinea fowl, but chicken works just fine.
Ovenproof oval baking dish just slightly larger than the chicken.
1 fresh chicken (about 2 pounds)
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F
2. Place the rosemary and thyme inside the chicken and salt and pepper the inside generously. Truss the hen. Rub the skin with 1 tablespoon of the butter, season generously.
3. Rub the bottom of the baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter. place the chicken on its side in the dish, and arrange the potatoes around it. Dot the potatoes with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and season them generously with salt and pepper.
4. Place the dish in the center of the oven and roast, uncovered for 20 minutes, basting at the end of roasting time. (When basting, also turn the potatoes so that they brown evenly.) Turn the hen on its other side and roast 20 minutes more. Baste and turn the chicken on its back. Roast for another 20 minutes. baste, and roast for 15 minutes more. Test for doneness: Pierce the thigh with a skewer: the chicken is cooked when the juices run clear. This should take 1 1/4 hours total.
5. Remove the dish from the oven and season generously with salt and pepper. Transfer the chicken to a platter, and place it at an angle against the edge of an overturned plate, with its head down and tail in the air. This heightens the flavor by allowing the juices to flow down through the breast meat. Cover loosely with foil. Turn off the oven and place the platter in the oven, with the door ajar. Let rest for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes. The chicken will continue to cook as it rests. At the same time, keep the potatoes covered in a warm oven.
6. Carve the chicken and place the pieces on a warmed platter. Arrange the potatoes around the platter, and serve.
Carrot Sticks, Fermented
By Leslie Kedash
I’ve been looking forward to the Fermentation Festival tomorrow (Friday) at the Kennett Farmers Market.
I think it’s because I’ve always liked Kombucha, a fermented tea, and Friday afternoon I plan on learning how to make it at home. It could be fun messing around with different spice combinations and concentrations. And there’s always the occasional exploding bottle to keep things interesting…
Curious about “fermented food,” I found this simple recipe for carrot sticks.
Fermenting Carrot Sticks
The carrots will be ready in a week, so for now they can just look nice on the counter.
I plan to try other recipes, so if you have a favorite to share or that you want me to attempt, please post.
See you Friday afternoon, Kennett Farmers’ Market for the First Annual Fermentation Festival.
Cut carrots into sticks and put them in a mason jar with some sliced garlic and ginger (like a clove or two of garlic and an equal amount of ginger, sliced thin).
Make up a salt solution- a generous tablespoon in a pint of water. Pour it over the carrots covering them completely. Use good finely ground sea salt and filtered/spring water if you can.
Put a lid on the jar, leave it LOOSE so it can burp, and leave it in a cupboard or pantry for a week or so. If it can’t burp, you will have the dreaded exploding bottle.
Roasted Vegetable Torte
By Leslie Kedash
With summer coming to a close, I wanted to take advantage of all the fresh vegetables available. This recipe from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook was the perfect fit. It’s a delicious combination of vegetables and was surprisingly easy to make.
Honestly, I put off making this recipe in the past, since it had to be “built.” Cooking, I am comfortable with, but food construction for presentation causes me some anxiety. I’m glad I tried this, as it was much easier than I thought, and really pretty.
OLS | Sweet Corn In The Husk
By Leslie Kedash
When you have Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania corn at your disposal during August, it’s so good that I usually just put it in boiling water for 3 minutes and devour.
For this OLS, I decided to see what the local product would be like with a little flavor embellishment.
Well, fantastic, is the verdict. The recipe augments the natural sweetness of the corn and doesn’t overpower that great taste we all love.
The spices and method of cooking remind me of grilled corn on the cob sold by the street vendors in Santa Fe, New Mexico… with better corn!
Try it for something different.
OLS | Pissaladiére
By Leslie Kedsah
Last night I made an old standby recipe, a longtime favorite dish from New Recipes From Moosewood Restaurant. A simple quiche using fresh tomatoes and basil.
You’ve probably noticed that I make quite a few egg dishes. With the gals in the back yard churning out about 8 a day, I have to. Sometimes the fridge contains 8 to 12 dozen eggs, and leaves us cramped for space. That’s when I start searching for recipes to use up the surplus. This is a good one.
I briefly left the kitchen to get the camera for that “just out of the oven shot” and returned to find the following scene.
Pissaladiére from New Recipes From Moosewood Restaurant
Pastry dough for one 9-inch pie
1 cup flour (may use up to 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup chilled butter (more…)
OLS | Frittata
By Leslie Kedash
This frittata, paired with a green salad, is one of my favorite Sunday evening meals. Potatoes and onions pulled from the garden and eggs plucked from the hens, it doesn’t get much more local than that.
The recipe is from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and is my “go to” source for side dishes and dinners.
This description sold me on the recipe…. “This cushion-like golden omelet is present in Spanish bars everywhere, providing a nourishing boost for flagging energy from morning through night. The generous amount of olive oil gives the potatoes a velvety, tender texture. The finished dish should be completely moist and golden, not the least bit dry.” (more…)
OLS | Roasted Eggplant Spread
By Leslie Kedash
With our gardens and farmers’ markets bursting with vegetables I thought this was a good time to share one of my favorite recipes.
I brought this to a picnic Saturday night, and it tasted delicious with a nice glass of chilled white wine and good company.
If you have a favorite local food recipe you’d like me to try and share with our readers, please let me know. I’m always up for sampling new dishes. (more…)
OLS | From The Garden
By Leslie Kedash
This past weekend was unusually busy for our family and, late Sunday afternoon, I checked the vegetable garden to see what dinner options were available.
I picked a few zucchini, pinched off some basil leaves and gathered a few eggs from the hens, all just enough to make this simple pasta dish.
Perfect for a stormy summer night, this stove-top recipe is convenient to have when the power goes out…. which it did this past Sunday evening. Photo by candlelight.
OLS | Lemon Cucumbers
By Leslie Kedash
I’m just slightly addicted to cookbooks and cooking blogs. I recently came across a recipe that called for lemon cucumbers and the quest was on.
I must say that the lemon cucumber has quite a bit going for it: a pretty yellow color, shape (round, the size of a baseball) and taste (sweet and mild). It lacks much of the chemical that makes other cucumbers bitter and hard to digest.
I found them this past Friday at the Kennett Farmers’ Market. I came, I saw, I cooked.
OLS | Ice Cream
By Leslie Kedash
Summer and ice cream go together like a wink and a smile. My daughter and I picked raspberries last week at Highland Farms and as we walked by the refrigerated cases, I spotted real, whole milk from Natural By Nature in a glass bottle, heavy cream on the top, just like when I was a kid. I could just taste homemade vanilla ice cream.
In the past few years I have made everything from cheesecake ice cream (a frequent request at our house) to black pepper ice cream (not so well received). Good vanilla ice cream is always a welcome, and short lived addition to our freezer. Ice cream and raspberries…life is sweet.
Thomas Keller has a wonderful recipe for vanilla ice cream in his cookbook Bouchon.
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
10 large egg yolks
Combine the cream, milk, and 7 tablespoons of sugar in a larger nonreactive saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them to the pan, along with the pod. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let the flavors infuse for 30 minutes.
Place a metal bowl that will hold the finished mixture over an ice bath. Reheat the cream mixture until warm.
Meanwhile, whisk the yolks with the remaining 7 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl until the mixture thickens and lightens in color. Whisking constantly, gradually pour about one-third of the hot cream mixture into the yolks to temper them. return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 10 minutes, or until the custard has thickened and coats the back of the spoon. (Run your finger through the custard on the spoon: The line you make should remain.)
Pour the custard into the metal bowl and stir occasionally until it has cooled.
Strain the cooled custard into a bowl or other container and refrigerate, covered, for at least a few hours, preferably overnight. Overnight chilling results in the best flavor and creamiest texture.
Transfer the custard to an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Remove the ice cream while its texture is “soft serve”; transfer to a chilled container and place in the freezer to harden.
OLS | On The Grill
By Leslie Kedash
This week at the Kennett Farmers Market, I was in search of lamb chops from Country Meadows which had been consumed with great alacrity a few weeks ago. Alas, they were not available, but I did find some nice looking pork sausage, which would make for a great al fresco holiday breakfast. While living in New England, my family had often gathered with friends for an “Ethan Allen” breakfast, cooked entirely on the outdoor grill.
After our move to Chester County, the meal was renamed a “Valley Forge” breakfast (whatever works). The kids would play out back while our parents cooked and consumed Bloody Marys which, on reflection, were most likely an attempt to counter the effects of their antics the night before.
With that package of sausage bringing back so many childhood memories, I decided to revive the tradition (sans hangover) and a sumptuous Sunday breakfast was conjured up on the grill with sausage from Country Meadows, scrambled eggs from the hens, toasted french bread from Big Sky, roasted new potatoes from the garden and strawberries from Highland Orchards.
On a whim, I had picked up a bag of fava beans (Vicia fava) from Inverbrook Farm and while rather tedious to shell (twice…), I thought they were great, although the family was more circumspect. Inverbrook has instructions for preparation on their blog. Also steamed these beautiful variegated beans, look pretty, taste great.
Local food, childhood memories- a perfect meal to close a holiday weekend.
OLS | Rhubarb
By Leslie Kedash
For this weekend’s OLS, we visited Highland Orchards in West Chester. In observance of our goal of food shopping without an agenda, we arrived to find it was the final weekend of “pick your own” rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum).
I first encountered rhubarb in a pie (as you might expect) on a visit to New England as a child. Since then, I had essentially ignored the crimson stalks in the supermarket. But now, here it was, the whole plant–with giant, mildly poisonous leaves and tart, tender, screaming red stalks. (more…)
OLS | New Jersey Blueberries
By Leslie Kedash
Around 50 million pounds of blueberries are produced by New Jersey farmers every year. On a recent road trip back from the shore, we stopped at two farm stands. Seems it’s blueberry time in New Jersey right now. We also learned that the blueberry is the State fruit of New Jersey and Hammonton the self proclaimed “Blueberry Capital of the World.”
It seems the sandy soil of the pine barrens of NJ is perfect for producing copious amounts of fat, juicy fruit, and is now doing so with a vengeance. We picked up 5 pints, 3 for a Father’s Day pie and two for general purposes. (And the fact that the price was right.)
Now, making a blueberry pie is a bit of an art. You’d better know your fruit- how sweet it is and especially, how much liquid you need to “jell.” This being my maiden voyage on the blue fruit pie sea, we’ll just say that the crust was great, the taste sublime and leave it at that (think blueberry soup). A perfect excuse to try another one! Here’s one recipe.
One Local Summer | Pot Luck
By Leslie Kedash
This week I went to the market with no recipe in mind. A longtime fan of Patricia Wells, I’ve enjoyed her stories about shopping for food, (in France, of course…) and planning her evening meal around what was available then and there, fresh and local, real raw materials. Friday afternoon, after a(nother) long week, I hit the Kennett farmers market and looked for something simple, easy, and fast.
What I got was ingredients for roasted new potatoes, sliced tomato, garlic scapes (the aboveground part of the plant), salad with pea shoots, and hamburgers. Garlic scapes were an unknown to me and I put them in with the roasting potatoes for the last ten minutes. Nice mild garlic flavor with great texture, crusty baby potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper. Good and simple.
The hamburger came from Country Meadows, purveyor of grass fed beef, chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, and fresh eggs. The Quarryville farm raises naturally, without all that questionable “stuff.” The livestock is routinely rotated to fresh pasture. The garlic scapes and pea shoots were grown at Inverbrook Farm, - as always, fresh and interesting.
I picked up 3 smoked, unadulterated beef marrow bones from K-9 Kraving. They went over rather well, as illustrated here… I’ve been subtly urged to fetch more.
