Ice cream, not just a summertime treat

I mentioned the horrible Chicago summer, right? Well, today, mid-Labor Day Weekend, it is going to rain. And I was going to paint my front stairs!

Instead, I will be installed in my kitchen. I'm making salsa verde (roasting tomatillos and various peppers harvested from my neighbor's CSA delivery) and cinnamon ice cream to bring to a rainy BBQ. Both are going to be supergood. I made David Lebovitz's wonderful Chocolate Sherbet the other day, and the mood strikes to make use of my ice cream freezer again. If you choose to make the chocolate sherbet I recommend only doing so with the finest cocoa and chocolate on hand. Oh, and I used nonfat milk since it was an option and was very pleased with the result.

But back to today...Cinnamon happens to be my daughters' favorite ice cream flavor and generally available only from the Pinch kitchen. And it's a lovely accompaniment on the fall dessert plate (thinking about fall fruits and tarts - apples, pears, still available stone fruits - all very cinnamon friendly). Ice cream, despite its frozen state, is not often refreshing enough on a hot summer day; sorbet is preferred for that purpose. As long as it's not too sweet.

Ice creams are so season-inspired. Summertime features Mint, Peach and Strawberry as my favorite flavors. In the fall I always think about Caramel, Espresso and Cinnamon. Mid-winter I'm thinking Coconut (alongside all those tropical fruits) and Prune Armagnac, if only because I once spent a dreary Seattle winter making loads of Prune Armagnac ice cream for a French restaurant.

To be sure, summer has left the building. Cinnamon it is.


Cinnamon Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup sugar
* 2 cups milk
* 2 strips orange peel (just take a veggie peeler to an orange and carefully peel JUST THE ORANGE part off the top - try not to get ANY of the white pith on the peel)
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 1 t ground cinnamon
* 5 egg yolks
* 2 cups cream

METHOD
1. Whisk together egg yolks in a medium/large mixing bowl.

2. Set a heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat and add milk, sugar, orange zest, cinnamon stick and ground spice. Heat until steaming but not boiling, lower heat and stir until sugar is dissolved (about 2-3 minutes). Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 20-30 minutes.

3. Reheat the mixture to steaming. Ladle about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly. This is called TEMPERING. Whisk a few more ladles into the eggs and keep whisking. Slowly pour the egg mixture back into the hot milk, still whisking away. Set over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly (I like to use a heat resistant spatula at this point, or an odor-free wooden spoon), until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path) - it should take about 5 to 6 minutes. Strain into large bowl and stir in heavy cream. Chill until cold, either in an ice bath or overnight in the refrigerator.

Note: If your heat was too high and the eggs curdled or cooked, just toss the whole thing and start over. There’s no way to save it.

4. When ready to freeze, strain the mixture once more. Process cold cream base in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. When it's done spinning, transfer to airtight container, cover well and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.


Got more time to kill?
For a detailed analysis of the myriad reasons the Summer of 2009 was worse than you might have previously perceived, read this from yesterday's WSJ:

The Summer of Our Discontent
Town-hall brawls. Tomato blight. Woodstock nostalgia. Rain. Not hiking the Appalachian Trail. Joe Queenan says good riddance to the summer of '09.

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One rockin' beverage

This is an iced version of the drink I've been enjoying all week: two shots of espresso, over ice, with an equal amount of milk. I call it the Don't-Put-Too-Much-Milk-in-My-Latte Latte*.

A friend I'll call Sally Ann Cavanaugh once shared her Starbucks Shakedown order. She has named it the Poor Man's Iced Latte, and you get one by ordering espresso shots over ice (and thereby paying only for the espresso) and then filling up with milk at the fixin's bar. It's genius, no? Or to quote my favorite VeggieTales song, "I like it. It's sneaky. And it just...might...work!"

What I like most about Sally Ann's scheme is that it gives you control over the amount of milk that infiltrates your espresso. Once the espresso hits ice it dilutes a lot - so adding too much milk just masks the shot. This is fine when the shot wasn't so great to begin with, but if you've got great espresso, you want to taste it.

But back to the ice. ICE! I don't know who's reading from where but people in Chicago are SURLY about the summer weather we had. I think it's because our winter was so long and so totally horrid that we felt entitled to a nice, long, hot summer. Summer was nice and long enough, but not so hot (the Lake is still chilly, I hear) as to thaw people out. Anyway, today it's hot enough for an iced latte (ok, two iced lattes and a doppio this morning - I didn't sleep enough last night!) - a lovely little summer sayonara.


* Bossy coffee orders are so, so played, that said...my all-time favorite comes from someone who might not even recognize it as her own: Don't Stir My Mocha. Sound familiar to any of you?

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What Julia taught me

I saw the movie. Of course I saw the movie! It's about Julia Child, impossible-not-to-love Julia Child, AND food blogging. I liked it a lot - the parts about Julia more than those about Julie - tho the kissie pooshkie between Julia and Paul (I always do enjoy Stanley Tucci!) felt like watching grandma and grandpa getting it on. And, really, who wants to see that?!?

Everyone who asks me my opinion of the movie also asks how much an influence Julia Child was on my cooking career. And what I say is this: indirectly. While it's impossible not to feel gratitude for the road she paved or impressed with her life's work, it (her life's work) just isn't my bag, baby. I like more simple, less contrived food. Fewer steps, fewer ingredients. And while I do love butter (and totally agree with the meteor-hitting-the-earth-in-30-days-so-I'm-totally-spending-it-eating-butter philosophy) I really do feel that butter is a cheap thrill, and often an easy way out. My bag is leaner, not to mention more seasonal and regional, and mainly a lot less involved. I just don't DO that much to the food we eat, and I feel my life is the richer for it.

Follow this link to walk down memory lane with Julia Grownup.

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Pizza by any other name?

What I don't get, among other things like carburetors, engineering and electricity, is how one gets the word NEAPOLITAN from NAPLES. It's so confusing to me that on occasion I've been stumped when trying to recall the city of origin for my favorite pizza.

Is the root of problem that the city has different names - the whole Naples/Napoli thing? Napoletana is an obvious relation to Napoli, if we could just agree to call the city Napoli and not Naples. Pizza Napoletana...I like it. It isn't even hard to say! Or, if we've got to keep the Naples thing, why not Napolese? Like Calabrese from Calabria? I'm adding the name-translating phenom to my list: carburetors, engineering, electricity, and mankind's penchant for translating names. I get that there's a certain laughability to mispronouncing names in foreign tongues (gringos dropping Neeka-hwa-hwa comes to mind) but, really, does Nicker-ah-gwa sound better? Just because we CAN translate a name doesn't mean that it's helpful. Especially when one is attempting to book a train ticket to Vienna and cannot remember the Austrian name for the city.

ANYWAY, I just love this thin crust, quickly cooked goodness. My all time favorite spot is Coalfire here in Chitown. Pictured above is the pizza Margherita, named after an Italian Queen whose grave we saw in Rome. It's the only pizza we order at Coalfire, and yes, it's that good. Drop everything and get one of these soon. I've been checking in weekly regarding the opening plans for a neighborhood pizzeria, said to be called Nella's Pizzeria. Nella was the pizza maker at Spacca Napoli for awhile, and while Coalfire puts SN's pizza to shame, the latter brings down the house with their salads, salumi and gelato. Oh, the gelato! The cappuccino flavor is unrivaled.

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Introducing Miss Sylvia

Meet our Rancilio Silvia, principesa of the kitchen. Rancilio, btw, is pronounced Ran-chilly-o. She's Italian.

It's been many years since we've had an espresso machine in the house, and so far it's remarkably similar to having a puppy or an infant. I expect to sleep little (downside of sampling too much espresso) and clean up a lot.

It's a sign of something, perhaps maturity, that we're back to espresso. Over a decade ago, in a fit of nutritional living, we cleared our counter of a sleek La Pavoni lever espresso machine to make room for a hydraulic Norwalk juicer. (I bet at the time I thought that change was a sign of maturity.) Anyway, I kept up with the juicing for several years, but the Norwalk hasn't seen a carrot in years. I was going to say that it hasn't seen the light of day in several years but I realized that's not true. In addition to grinding up fruits and veggies, the Norwalk is capable of grinding meat (tho I never used it in that capacity) and shaving ice. Since my daughters inherited my sno-cone gene intact we occasionally haul out the 60-pound machine and enjoy - with some help from Torani - some sweet, colorful, icy goodness. But I digress...

Sil arrived yesterday, we we're still getting to know her. So far I've steamed some gorgeous milk and enjoyed a few slightly bitter caffes. My last effort, about an hour ago, was my best yet - a two-shot Americano type drink (equal parts hot water and espresso) and some warmed milk. The sugar-free thing is totally new for me, but a Murano glass salesman showed me the light. His opinion - adding sugar to espresso makes it too clingy in the mouth - is right. Espresso is much more clean without sugar.

Anyone have any home brewing tips? If you have experience temperature surfing, hand tamping, or shot timing I would love some advice.

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Menus? We don't have menus. We have cake.

So, I've been doing some traveling. There are many great things about getting out of one's everyday. Being with the people I love best in a new routine (that included, among other things, cake for breakfast) afforded me the opportunity to spend some time in life's back seat, where the view is always better because you're neither captain or crew. Ahh, vacation.

As much as I love cooking I never miss it. Eating someone else's food each day gave me tons of new ideas. And even if the dish was beyond my skill level (I totally lack the requisite hit points to recreate Marina Piccola's amazing curried scampi penne) it's always a pleasure to try new things.

Here are my top five favorite things I ate on my travels:

1. A giant bowl of steam-sauteed baby clams and mussels under a full moon by the Adriatic. The clams were in the teeniest little white shells marked with a groovy brown snakeskin pattern. La Garzette's garden frito misto, that preceded the steamers, was perfect in every way.

2. Un Caf! This was our whimsical morning rally call to caffeine, conveniently understood cross-culturally. We enjoyed the Euro Caf so much that we're adding on to our family. I'm pregnant with anticipation! Our new arrival is due on our doorstep any day now! Expect to hear lots more about it soon. (Pssst...it's an espresso machine!)

3. La véritable macaron Ladurée. Fave flavor had to be the caramel, tho the pistachio was surprisingly haunting.

4. Peach sorbet. Or caramel gelato. Or the classic raspberry-lemon combo cone. Mmm...gelato.

5. Squid ink linguine with equally well-stained clams. My husband wanted to take my picture after I finished - my entire mouth was black. I imagined I looked a little too much like that freak monk from The Name of the Rose and didn't want that digital image floating around.


Other memorable meals include awesome company and curry at Tandoori Nights, the still scrumptious Wagamama (now in, like, a billion locales), nearly every bite of pizza, pasta or panini, every sip of vin rosso and this one in Paris:


I'm back in my Chicago routine now. Thanks so much to all who wrote that you've missed Pinch.

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A Simple Tart: Bittersweet Chocolate

I don't make a habit of using those premade graham cracker crusts, but honestly, if you're ever going anywhere without a ton of time but want to bring something impressive, here it is. For those with time to make pastry, have at it. I use Pâte Sucrée for this, and most, tarts.

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart
Print recipe only here

Makes one 8.5-inch tart

INGREDIENTS
one lined tart shell, prebaked*
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350.

Chop chocolate and place in a mixing bowl. Bring milk and cream to a boil** and pour over the chocolate, stirring gently (so as not to incorporate any air bubbles) until melted.

Let mixture cool slightly, then whisk in egg, gently.

Pour into prepared crust and bake for about 15-20 minutes. The filling should look uniformly glossy and firm, yet still trembling in the center. Don't worry - it will continue to set outside of the oven.

Cool to room temperature and, if you like, dust with cocoa powder. I like a Dutched cocoa powder for dusting - it's a deeper, more attractive color. Serve warm or at room temperature, cutting with a thin, hot blade.


* Standard baking time for blind baking is about 10 minutes with pie weights, and 10-15 without, until the crust is just lightly golden. For this recipe, since the filled tart will only bake another 15-20 minutes, bake the crust longer once you remove the pie weights - closer to 20-22 minutes.

**Just to a boil - Pour over the chocolate as soon as it boils

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