The Icecreamists

We all have a story about THAT kid.  The mean, rolly-polly boy who makes your dog bark.   The kid who is always trying to sneak a peak at the girly magazines in the 7-11.  The kid who always manages to be first in line at the ice cream truck, even though he was the last one to arrive.  He can turn the most simple phrase into a dirty joke.   He scores a near perfect in the epistemology of a serial killer.   You look at him and think, "One day he will be in jail and I pray I am alive." Now, imagine that very kid becoming obsessed with that ice cream truck and turning it into a passion, a deranged and magical passion.  Meet Mark O'Connor.

Like French cookbooks, I am a sucker for ice cream books.  They all tend to follow that siren's call of summer; bright colors, sun-drenched backgrounds, piles of ripe fruit, blond children.  You know the drill. There is not a single blond child in The Icecreamists.  The ice cream is dark and rich and decadent, with whiskey and cigars instead of picnics. 

I am fond of ice cream in winter filled with pumpkins, cranberries, and eggnog.  I never met an ice cream that I didn't think would be greatly improved with a libation.  Mark O'Connor is a kindred spirit.  He became renown for an ice cream called Baby Gaga, made with human breast milk.   Lady Gaga was not amused.  Neither were the London health inspectors.   At roughly $28 a scoop, however, it quickly sold out.  Before you ask, the answer is, Yes! the recipe is included in the book, but with the new name, Baby Googoo and the proviso to have the proper blood tests done before consuming breast milk.

No we are not giving you that recipe, but this rather lovely elderflower sorbetto.

Easyslider

1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup superfine or granulated sugar
1/2 cup elderflower syrup, plus extra for drizzling
juice of 1 lemon
sprigs of mint to decorate

1 pour the water into a saucepan and add sugar.  Place over low heat and bring to a boil, whisking often, until the sugar dissolves.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes, continue to whisk until the liquid turns to a syrup.

2. pour the sugar syrup into a heat proof bowl and set aside for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooled to room temperature.  For more rapid chilling, fill a sink halfway with cold water and ice and place the bowl of mixture in it for 20 minutes.

3. Whisk the elderflower syrup and lemon juice into the sugar syrup.  Cover and refrigerate, ideally overnight, until thoroughly chilled (at least 40 $.)

4.  Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufactures instructions,

5.  When the churning is complete, use a spoon or spatula to scrape the sorbetto into a freezer-proof container with a lid.  Freeze until it reaches the correct scooping texture (at least 2-3 hours.)

6.  Drizzle a little elderflower syrup over each portion and finish with a sprig of mint before serving.

Seriously, who is he kidding, toss a shot of  St. Germain over the top and enjoy.

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You’re All Invited

Well known chef and Nose-To-Tail enthusiast, Fergus Henderson has always had a secret weapon, his wife Margot.  While Henderson was out front founding restaurants and promoting offal, Margot Henderson helping out while running a successful catering business and feeding their growing family.  

A New Zealander by birth, Henderson has the central casting look of an Irish cook – pale, ginger-haired, and solid.  She looks for all the world like the one person who could remain calm during a massive kitchen fire, getting the people and pets out safely and grabbing a loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese and a bottle wine in the process.  Form everything that has been written about her, her personality matches her looks.  She likes the word “chaos.”

 “We’re a one-course-and-cheese family.  I like organized chaos when entertaining…and I think people are more relaxed, if things aren’t too formal: relaxed chaos.”

The way to relaxed chaos is careful planning.  Low flowers, the same with candles; a flowered tablecloth, a good drink and familiar food.

There is polenta and pasta and Brussels sprouts.  There is pork belly and lamb shank and roasted bird of every size and shape.  Finish it off with something chocolate, lemony, and fruit tarty… and some cheese.

Truth be told, there is probably not a single recipe in You’re All Invited that you have never heard of.  You have heard of them all, you have probably eaten them all, but gathered together; they are like family – comforting, inviting, and rich in every sense of the word.

This may well be the most “exotic” of Henderson’s recipes due to the inclusion of feijoa, a fig-like fruit often grown New Zealand. 

Feijoa Ice Cream

400g ripe feijoa

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon vodka

1 tablespoon Cointreau

175g caster sugar

250ml double cream

250ml whole cream

Trim the feijoas top and bottom, then halve or quarter them.  Put them in a food processor with the lemon juice, vodka, Cointreau and sugar and whiz into a puree.  Stir in the cream and milk, then put in an ice cream freezer and churn.  Once slightly frozen, transfer to a plastic container and put into the freezer for at least 4 hours.

In the back of the book, Henderson lists a series of events that she has catered and the numbers of people attending.  She then provides the menu for each. You may not have 80 for a gallery opening or 240 for dinner, but the menus offer up the same planned chaos that have made Margot Henderson’s cooking a treasure.

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The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato and Sorbetto

Years ago...

I would venture into Whole Foods and grab a pint of the most delicious blood orange sorbet made by Ciao Bella.

Then the evil queen...

also known as Oprah, decided to make Ciao Bella's Blood Orange Sorbet one of her "favorite things."

Poof...

It was gone. Oprah's minions set out to eat it all. It was a full three years before one could find Ciao Bella's Blood Orange Sorbet in any store.


So you can just imagine our unmitigated joy when we found out that they were writing a cookbook. AS you know, we have a plethora of ice creamy cookbooks at our disposal. But this is a gem. In the first place, they make the whole process rather easy. Well about as easy as making ice cream can be, provided one owns a big ol' ice cream machine. But still...

Since moving far far away from the dazzling Whole Foods, transporting ice cream has become a bit of a hassle. So the DIY approach suits us well and if there is anyone we want to DIY ice cream with it would have to be F.W. Pearce & Danilo Zecchin. If you don't believe us, check out this New Yorker article.

Now we just love chocolate, but it is a bitch to clean up in our Simac. Next to the blood orange, this is terrific.

Classic Chocolate Gelato

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (about 60% cacao), finely chopped
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn’t form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170°F. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Add the chopped chocolate, and stir or whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture, whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185°F. Do not bring to a boil.

Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and cool to room temperature, stirring every 5 minutes or so. To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing the bowl with the custard in it; stir the custard until cooled. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Pour the custard into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

If you don't live next door to the Whole Foods, grab up a copy of this book before summer and make your own.
If you do live next door, make your own anyway because one never knows when Oprah will open her mouth and steal away your favorite sorbet.

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The Lewis & Clark Cookbook

If you read the post over at Lucindaville, you have been regaled with pawpaw facts. Continuing in that vein, here is an entry from the journal of William Clark, September 18, 1806:

"Subsisting on poppaws. we divide the buiskit which amounted to nearly one buisket per man, this in addition to the poppaws is to last is down to the Settlement's which is 150 miles the party appear perfectly contented and tell us that they can live very well on the pappaws."

Clearly, me and Clark share a love of speling! As one might remember, in 2006 there was a celebration of the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Every museum in every state that Lewis or Clark ever set foot in had an exhibition and books proliferated.

Leslie Mansfield wrote The Lewis & Clark Cookbook: Historic Recipes from the Corps of Discovery & Jefferson’s America. It is a nice cookbook featuring foods that Lewis & Clark might have encountered on their journey as well as (note the subtitle of the book...) recipes prevalent during the Jeffersonian era. George Washington was supposed to be greatly enamored with iced pawpaw as a dessert. Not to be outdone as a statesman or botanist, Thomas Jefferson cultivated the pawpaw at Monticello.

Even the great naturalist painter, John James Audubon was not spared from the plentiful pawpaw. It makes and appearance below.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Pawpaw Tree, John James Audubon

Given all the Lewis & Clark hoopla, Mansfiled's book generated more than one "Lewis & Clark Dinner." This was favorite dessert:

Pawpaw ice Cream

2 cups pawpaw puree, thawed if frozen

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1 cup sugar

Place the pawpaw puree in a bowl and set aside. In a heavy saucepan, stir together the cream, milk and sugar. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Slowly pour the cream mixture into the pawpaw puree, whisking to blend. Cover with plastic wrap and completely chill in the refrigerator. Pour the cold mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Yes, Lewis & Clark did eat more than their share of pawpaws.

No, they did not bring their Cuisinart ice cream maker along with them.

If they had, no doubt, Sacagawea would have had to tote it on her back and make the ice cream.

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Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams At Home

We finally got our copy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams At Home by Jeni Britton Bauer. It has been on order since she stated writing the book. Lucindaville is the land of ice cream. We have quite the repertoire of favorite flavors including our Berries and Balsamic, Pimm's Cup, Red Velvet (hey we can turn any recipe into Red Velvet --it's a Southern thing), Pumpkin, Bloody Mary, if you can eat it, we can make it into ice cream. We recently ran across a recipe for asparagus ice cream and it is on our summer experiments list.

It is no wonder that our cookbook shelf is has an entire ice cream section. Bauer uses an interesting technique for making her ice cream. Instead of eggs to thicken it, she uses a corn starch. At Lucindaville where eggs are a mainstay, we were a bit shocked by this. So we were beyond anxious to give this corn starch thing a try. (Please don't tell our chickens about this cookbook. They are firm believers in offering up fresh eggs for ice cream and the thought that Jeni doesn't like that eggy taste in her ice cream will leave the girls miffed.)

Here at Lucindaville, the ice cream maker is a 1982 Simac Il Gelataio that was 20 years old when we got it. It is slightly smaller than a VW Beetle and weighs about the same. During the summer it sits on an old milk crate in the middle of the floor, close to the fridge. The freezing bowl does not come out. Generally it takes 40 minutes to make ice cream and 2 hours to clean it, but I still haven't found an ice cream maker that I would trade it for.

We were glad to see some of our staples in Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams At Home, like Sweet Potato and Olive Oil. We have been experimenting with a number of olive oil ice cream recipes, so we are adding Jeni's to our trial list. Another ice cream in the book that has us all aglow is the Oakvale Young Gouda with Vodka-plumped Cranberries. But let us begin with vanilla.

Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream


2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
Prep
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. fill a large bowl with ice water.

Cook
Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla seeds and bean in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heat-proof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Chill
Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag into the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

Freeze
Remove the vanilla bean. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Pack the ice cream 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.

Of course it is Ugandan vanilla, but you can use plain old vanilla beans if you don't have the ones from Uganda. But then you will have to drop the "Ugandan" from the name. Now you need to go out right now and get yourself a copy of this book so that you, too, can make ice cream. If you live close to Jeni, just grab a pint. She's opening up a new store in Nashville real soon. Jeni is always on the prowl for new ice cream ideas, so check out her blog, salty caramel to follow more Jeni updates.

So now we have the ice cream machine sitting on the milk crate, the corn starch and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams At Home, let the summer begin.

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Ice Cream Desserts

It may be September, but it is still in the 90's here, so we are not packing up the ice cream machine just now.
I pulled out Louis de Gouy's book Ice Cream Desserts. It is filled with recipes and nifty bits of information that everyone should know. For instance:

There is a subtle distinction between a fruit cocktail, a fruit cup and a frozen cup. Fruit cocktail is essentially an appetizer; whereas fruit cup is often served as a dessert, and a frozen cup, usually composed of fruit and ice cream, attractively dressed, is also a dessert.

Pay attention, there will be a quiz.

Louis de Gouy has quite the culinary persona. His father, Jean, was the Esquire of Cuisine at the Imperial Courts of Austria and Belgium. After studying at Daddy's knee, Louis moved on to study with Escoffier. He worked at some of the most illustrious hotels in Europe and America including the Grand Hotel, Hotel de Paris, Hotel Kennsington, and the Waldorf-Astoria. In addition he worked on J.P Morgan's yacht, Wild Duck, on a round-the-world cruise.

In his copious free time, he wrote over 20 books. His "masterpiece" was The Gold Cookbook, with nearly 3000 recipes. My favorite is the two-volume Derrydale Cook Book of Fish and Game. But today --ice cream.

The purpose of this volume was to enable the home cook in preparing delectable frozen treats. Given the time period, 1938, there are few options for making ice cream other than the hand cranked freezer or simply placing the base in the freezer. Unlike Baskin Robbin's 31 flavors, there are 470 recipes in Ice Cream Deserts.

Here's a recipe that sounds totally modern and well beyond the 31 flavors.

Cornflake Ice Cream

1 cup fresh milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, combined with 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cup corn flake cereal
2 cups heavy cream, whipped custard-like

Combine sugar and cornstarch and mix well. Stir int he milk, a small amount at a time, cooking over hit water until mixture is thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from hot water, cool slightly, then stir in slightly beaten egg. Return to hot water and cook for 2 short minutes, stirring constantly, Strain through double cheesecloth. Stir in the heavy cream, whipped to custard-like consistency alternating with corn flakes and flavoring extracts. Freeze in refrigerator tray until mushy. Remove from refrigerator , scrape bottom and sides, then beat smooth. Return to freezer try and freeze for three hours.

What a lovely idea -- breakfast ice cream!

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Annemarie’s Personal Cookbook

At 21 years old, Annemarie Huste stood in front of Billy Rose, songwriter,entertainer and household name and told him that he should hire her as his private chef. So he did. Within six weeks she was promoted to his executive housekeeper, managing a staff of 12 people. Eight months later, Rose died and Huste was looking for a new employer. It just so happened that Jacqueline Kennedy was looking for a chef and soon Huste was cooking for kings, queens and the leaders of the world who often visited the Widow Kennedy after paying respects to President Lyndon Johnson.

Unfortunately, for Huste, her access to the most famous woman in the world and her incredible good looks and youthful demeanor,made her fodder for gossip columnists. Mrs. Kennedy did not approve, so Huste was told she would no longer be needed.

Fortunately for Huste, her access to the most famous woman in the world and her incredible good looks and youthful demeanor, made her a natural for television and as they say in the press, there is no "bad" publicity, so being fired by Mrs. Kennedy made her cache rise as a bidding war for her first cookbook ensued. That was followed by the talk-show circuit, a television cooking show, food editor of the Saturday Evening Post and the German edition of Family Circle, and executive chef of Gourmet magazine.

When her book, Annemarie’s Personal Cookbook, was published The New York Times wrote:

"From “just a little something special” about pistachio ice cream, or things a beginner can do in minutes ti a hamburger to win a man’s heart… to wonderfully simple advice about elegant cuisine and gracious entertaining… her is “a fun cookbook.”

Here is her pistachio ice cream.

Pistachio Ice Cream

4 cups heavy cream
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
Green food coloring
1 1/2 cups chopped pistachio nuts

Pour heavy cream into a bowl and whip until slightly stiff. Add the sugar and almond extract and beat thoroughly. Add a drop or two of food coloring (easy does it). Fold in the pistachio nuts. Pour mixture into a mold or other container and place in the freezer.

After 1 hour, stir the cream gently so that the nuts are well distributed and don’t sink to the bottom. Finish freezing for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Today, Annemarie Huste is still cooking, teaching and writing. She runs Annemarie's Dinning Room, offering private dinning and cooking lessons.

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Sarah Raven's Complete Christmas

Sarah Raven is a noted British writer of food and gardens. I am always pestering my friend, Sandra, to order me something from her gardening a catalogue and ship it "over the pond" as they say. Raven has written several wildly popular cookery books and a lovely book on growing a cutting garden. She is married to Vita Sackville-West's grandson, Adam Nicholson. Her daughters should not only have green thumbs but green toes!

She has assembled a fine book for Christmas entertaining. She takes the event in stride and lays out a system of planning so one can actually have a good time over the holidays. Of course, as I have mentioned before, taking on a trusted genre and keeping it at the same time traditional and fresh is a colossal pain. Raven has tried valiantly, but there are those detractors who say the book is just no "English" enough. Bah Humbug!

Here is a lovely, light dessert that is just what one needs after a roasted goose.

Blood Orange and Pink Grapefruit Sorbet with Limoncello

juice of 5 blood oranges (should give about 500ml juice)
juice of 2 pink grapefruits (should give about 300ml juice)
150g sugar
limoncello, to serve

Scrub and dry the fruit and, using a zester, remove the zest of the oranges. Dissolve the sugar in 200ml water in a small saucepan over a low heat. Add half the orange zest and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes. Allow to cool and strain.

Squeeze the juice from all the oranges and grapefruits and combine it with the cold syrup and reserved, uncooked zest.

Pour into an ice-cream maker. Freeze/churn for 20-25 minutes and pack into a plastic container. Freeze for at least an hour before serving. If you haven't got a machine, pour into a plastic food container and freeze for 2 hours. Take out of the freezer and stir with a fork. Return to the freezer and repeat this process twice, stirring at two-hourly intervals.

Allow the sorbet 20-25 minutes in the fridge to soften slightly before serving. Put 2 scoops per person into a glass and pour a little limoncello over each one.

Divine! Simply divine.

Any book by Sarah Raven is a welcome gift, under the tree or for any occasion. Adam Nicholson is a fine writer, too.

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