cannoli ice cream

I bet you are wondering where I'm going to go with this.

so...

If you are on Facebook you already know about Top 5 but for those of you that haven't joined Facebook there is an application that you can make Top 5 lists. You can do everything from Your Top 5 candies, Your Top 5 Books, Your Top 5 Chefs You Would Love To Cook For You... you get the point. While I do not know who my Top 5 People I'd Love To Be Stranded On An Deserted Island With, I do know Rich's.

Let me introduce you to his Top 5... (in no particular order)

1. Selma Hayek
2. Ashley Judd
3. Catherine Zeta-Jones
4. Lidia Bastianich
5. Donna Brazile

Now I'm sure you're thinking something along the line of, "He has 3 pieces of eye candy and one person to cook for him and someone to discuss politics." Yeah, well you would be wrong. He loves all these women equally. When Lidia comes on TV his voice lowers down a notch and he says, "My girl is on TV." in an almost sexy whisper. And trust "My girl" is not sexist at all, it is almost like he is saying a prayer. I gotta hand it to my husband, he doesn't find the typical beach blonde sexy a la Pam Anderson. You better bring something else to the table other than big boobs.



This ice cream was inspired by watching Lidia make cannoli in Sicily. Lidia's cannoli was ricotta cheese blended with confectioners sugar studded with candied orange and mini chocolate chips. Well, we all know how I feel about ricotta cheese so I made up a recipe. (There are other cannoli ice cream recipes with ricotta go ahead and make it but I won't eat it. I won't, I won't, I won't!)

cannoli ice cream: makes about 1 quart

3 cups of heavy cream
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
6 egg yolks
zest of one orange
a few drops of vanilla extract
mini chocolate chips (use your own judgement)
cannoli shells

Warm 2 cups of cream, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the cream. Remove from heat, add orange zest and cover. Let steep at room temp. for 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining one cup of cream into a large bowl and set mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm steeped mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping. Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions. Add mini chocolate chips at the very end of churning your ice cream.

To serve: Make sure the ice cream is somewhat soft and gently spoon into cannoli shells. If you want... place some chocolate sauce on the bottom of the plate, artistically of course, then place ice cream filled cannoli atop the chocolate sauce. Top with whipped cream and extra mini chocolate chips.

Tasting Notes: Make this to impress. It does have a orange flavor to it so if you are not partial to orange you might want to leave it out.

mediterranean salad with chickpea patties

alternate title: crappy things happen in threes



so...

I posted this quote about being silent and told everyone I was stepping away from the computer for awhile. I needed to be quiet. See my blog was acting like a spoiled 2 year old brat at the grocery store. You know that brat, the one who is yelling and screaming about how they want CANDY! and I WANT IT NOW! kind of like Veruca Salt.



You know you want to slap her silly even I wanted to haul off and smack her when I was a kid. So the point is... me and my blog had a Come to Jesus meeting. You'll see a couple of changes, nothing noticeable except I'll be trying harder to respond to comments and the tasting notes are changing but we will get to it later in the post.

Where was I? So crappy things happen in three's...

Monday and Tuesday: Good.

Wednesday: Ob/Gyn Well Women's appointment. (WTF? Why do they call it that? Shouldn't it be Intimacy Without The Drinks and Dinner and Getting to Know You First Appointment?) Doctor didn't like the look of some mechanics under the hood and decided I need to be violated in some other fanciful ways at the hospital on Friday.

Thursday: Rich's uncle died.

Friday: More getting to know you very intimately without the benefit of dinner and a drinks. Kinky, with wands and lube! Can you say WooHoo? Yeah, neither can I.

Saturday: A 17 foot tree branch fell on my car. There are scratches and dents and broken taillights everywhere. Did I mention it was graduation for UOP and everyone parks down our street? Did I mention someone looking for parking decided to move the branch further denting and scratching my car even more AND to top it all off someone couldn't parallel park and hit my car scratching and denting my front bumper? Excuse me but at this point I think I can safely say "Motherfucker!" and you would understand.

Sunday: 105 degrees and no air conditioner. Really? Do I need to say more?

Oops, I lied that was 5 bad things. All-in-all a crappy week.



This recipe, believe it or not, came from Real Simple. When I get this magazine I normally skip over the food part but this recipe stuck in my mind and when it's a 105 degrees outside you want and need something easy and cool to eat.

mediterranean salad with chickpea patties: (real simple may 2009)

1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
3/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (i used a big rounded 1/4 teaspoon)
Kosher salt and black pepper, about a 1/4 teaspoon of each
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
8 cups mixed greens
1 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, parsley, garlic, cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper just until coarsely chopped and the mixture comes together when gently squeezed. (mine was a little dry so I used a little more olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice) Form into eight 1/2-inch-thick patties and coat with the flour, tapping off excess. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the patties, turning carefully, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Divide the greens, tomatoes, onion, and chickpea patties among plates. Drizzle with this dressing and serve.

Tasting Notes: Melissa and I were talking the other day about this post. I told her I wanted to steal her idea that there should be a rating system for blogs about how you feel about the dishes you are posting. She had mentioned that she and another food blogger had discussed how all we do is go around patting each other on the backs saying, "That looks good." I know I do. So Melissa and I want to change this (a little bit) we are going to have some very loose categories describing our dishes (YOU CAN JOIN TOO! MAKE UP YOUR OWN)

For example:

Make this or I will cause you bodily harm.
A good everyday meal.
DUDE! Make this to impress.
Nasty! I wouldn't even feed it to my worst enemy.

You get the point. I mean this isn't life changing and you can still pat me on the back, even though I'd prefer you'd scratch the spot I can never reach. A little to the left...higher, now to the right, MMMM, that's the ticket.

Okay, this dish was good for when it's hot or you feel like you need to eat a little healthier. A good weekday meal. I wish the chickpea patties were a little crunchier. Other than that, I'll be making it again.

a preview

first cherries of the season...



flower from an old teacher...



cannoli ice cream for my uncle gene and aunt cathy...



great-grandma potter's wine cake recipe... (not fancy but very good)



and a surprising feel good/healthy recipe...

a happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live

-bertrand russell

fettuccini with summer corn, bacon, and shiitake mushrooms

When I die whoever is in charge of my soul, whether it be God, the Devil, or some other high upon the mount mucky muck, if they really want to punish me they will stick me in limbo. Let me explain...

The house, the house we are suppose to be buying, the house that our checks have been cashed, papers have been signed, loan has been approved, ect. ect. ect. well... we are waiting on paperwork from the sellers. Their paperwork to qualify for the short sale (it is short sale not short sell which you would think should be the proper term but it's not) on the house was/is expired. WaMu, now Chase, needs to have the paperwork redone and they have a few extra steps in the home buying process. Although no one is really sure what those extra steps are. We now have to wait... which puts us in limbo. I blame this on my ex, Katie's dad, who snarkily said something along the lines of ..."You know most short sales take up to 6 months." all the while he has that smirk that I have always hated on his face. (Think Dubya) My first impulse was to strangle him for trying to jinx this for us but then Katie wouldn't have a dad and I'd be in jail and who knows who would get my soul then.

So... to get to my point other than Matt jinxing my dream house is I have been in a state of limbo. I really don't want to pack because there's really no pressure to. I have a bad case ennui. I don't want to cook, I don't want to read, I don't want to write about what I am not cooking, I haven't slept, I don't want to do a damn thing. What I need is this guy.


*get up maggot!!!

Except without him driving me to suicide. What I need is a good kick in the rear end. So go ahead and give me your best R. Lee Ermey in the comments section. I need it, I deserve it.

fettuccini with summer corn, bacon, and shiitake mushrooms: (from Urban Italian Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman)

1 1/2 cups diced bacon
6 cups of fresh summer corn kernels (about 8 ears worth) *I used frozen sweet white corn so again feel free to go R. Lee Ermey on me...
2 pounds shiitake mushrooms, each cut in half
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon coarse-ground pepper, plus more to taste
a pinch of red pepper flakes
1 pound of fettuccini
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup of chopped parsley
a pinch of salt

Place a large pot of salted water on to boil.

Sweat the bacon in a medium pot at medium-high heat, without any oil, until the fat is rendered and the bacon begins to crisp. Add 3 cups of corn and the mushrooms to the bacon pot and cook together until flavors blend and the mushrooms caramelize slightly.

In a blender, blend the remaining 3 cups of corn and the cream together on high speed until the mixture is all liquid. Strain the corn-cream mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the bacon-mushroom pot, pushing the mixture down with a heavy spoon so all the liquid ends up in the pot. Simmer all the ingredients together until the corn mixture heats through and starts to thicken. Add the black pepper and red pepper flakes.

While making the sauce, cook pasta until al dente. Remove the pasta with a pair of tongs and add it the bacon-mushroom-corn mixture. (do not rinse the pasta- you want all that stickiness so the sauce will adhere) Mix well to thoroughly coat the pasta.

Turn off heat and mix in the parsley and cheese. Season with salt and more pepper.

Tasting Notes: I have had this recipe bookmarked since I bought this book and I am so glad I made it. It is beyond good even with frozen corn. It will be unbelievable when I can get summer corn. It is sweet, earthy, and bacon-y all in one. Not heavy at all. But it will make you come back for seconds and maybe you'll pass by the pot before the leftovers get put away and sneak a noodle and a bit of bacon, mushroom, and corn and maybe you'll hide some in your fridge for lunch the next day. So good that it could break though the ennui you have been feeling. I'm just saying this pasta could do that for you...

*UPDATE: This must be a bad sign... Rich and I actually had a skunk cross our path this evening!!!!

*i'm turning off the computer and taking a vacation. (the momement i write this... i will prove to be the liar and will be posting and commenting a storm) see you sometime next week...

mexican chocolate sorbet

so....

Here's the thing. We'll call this a love/hate type thing. What I love about food blogs is all the ideas and recipes and whatnot. What I hate is the same thing mostly because when it's asparagus time.... everybody and their mother's cousin's aunt's father-in-law is blogging about, well, asparagus. Same with the holidays.

I know, I know, I know it's not like you can blog about Chinese New Year on Yom Kipper.

Ignore me, I just sent Nancy off to Science Camp then I went bra shopping needless to say my mood is not lifted, smoothed, seamless, or concealed.

Why florescent lights, whyyyyyyyyy? -shaking my fist up to the heavens-




so... let's try this again. I sold out to the man. I'm posting a recipe meant specifically for Cinco De Mayo or otherwise known as... "white people's excuse to get drunk and call in sick to work the next day."

oh, I am indeed grouchy.



mexican chocolate sorbet: (inspired by The Perfect Scoop)

2 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
6 ounces mexican chocolate, finely chopped (I used Ibarra)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it’s melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.

Tasting Notes: This is straight in your face chocolate flavor. If you like chocolate, this is your crack. Addictive, pure chocolate. Mainlined into your body via a spoon. Just warning you.

*if you don't want to use Mexican chocolate, feel free to replace the 6 oz. of chocolate with 6oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate.



Also... I promise -scout's honor- no more ice cream recipes for at least one week.

I have been receiving a crazy amount of e-mails asking about what kind of ice maker do I use and do I have any recommendations. I use a Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker. I love it. The only problem is that it has a freezer bowl that takes up to 24 hours to chill. If you don't have room in your freezer to store the freezer bowl permanently it takes some thought and time to make ice cream instead of just making a batch and the freezer bowl is ready to go. Does that make any sense? I know that KitchenAid makes an attachment to use with their mixers. And if I was some billzionaire chef I'd buy this. But I'm not, so I continue to dream
about it. But this one looks like fun.

One last thing... Coming from California and living in a city where there are mercados on every corner and every store, even the snooty ones, carry Mexican products, Mexican chocolate can be found everywhere around here but it's been pointed out to me that might not be the case for other parts of the country. I know you can buy Mexican chocolate on line at Amazon, Cost Plus World Market still carries it (I think). Anyways, find it and give it a try.