Tag: Ice Cream

Hazelnut Stracciatella

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Forgive the lapse in blogging these days. As we all know sometimes we need to step back, reassess,and wait for inspiration to awaken. I never stopped cooking, but just needed to step away from telling the neverending story.
We have been travelling a bit ,and our journeys have taken us to Lisbon,Estoril,Stockholm and Rio De Janerio. I changed my tagline to ” Cooking with a Global Perspective” as that’s what I’ve always done and what best defines Coco Cooks.

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Earlier in the year I was taken aback when a colleague/  chef belittled some of my cooking projects as to grandiose,time consuming,unrelatable, etc and asked “Why?”. Obviously he had no idea what I’m made of.Because that’s what’s set me apart and why my clients love me.Never let someone try to derail you or pigeon hole you as perfect your craft.Never let naysayers cast doubt on your essence and approach to life.So looking forward to creative days here at Coco Cooks,I give you a delicious Hazelnut Stracciatella in time for the holiday weekend.
Cooking is about adapting and improvising.Don’t get rigid and afraid to take a leap and experiment.
I used my go to recipe for stracciatella here from David Lebovitz .

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My adaptation was the addition of hazelnuts. In Rio I had a lovely gelato in Inpanema after a sun soaked day, that was bursting full of hazelnut flavor and chocolate. As Certain Someone loves Stracciatella,I decided to merge both
flavors.

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My variation:
First you toast about 1 cup hazelnuts in a dry skillet. Toss constantly and be careful not to burn.
Then in clean kitchen towel roll the nuts to remove the skin.
In a food processor grind the nuts and sugar called for in the recipe. I added a splash of rum for kicks.
Add the ground nuts to the heated milk and cream ,and let sit covered for 1 hour to extract the flavor. Drain the nuts carefully using a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth,reserving the cream.  Squeeze out any excess liquid . Proceed with recipe  from there.

Perspectives and Influences: Italy and Brazil

Honey Lemon Balm and Rum Ice Cream and How I Develop My Recipes.

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They say its National Ice Cream Month. My friend Louise of Month of Edible Celebrations always has the low down on all the  food holidays. This ice cream was inspired for no special reason other than I got 6 lbs of fabulous  raw organic honey from a friends father who is a beekeeper up in Mundelin and taking advantage of whats propping up in my container garden.What was I going to do with all that honey? I’m a honey fiend these past few years. I use it almost everyday either in my teas or some sort of food.  Our neighbors in Sweden keep bees as well and have the most divine white creamy  raw honey I slather on everything.  My friends father is Russian and is using his Eastern European beekeeping techniques to produce an amazing product. I hope he turns his hobby into a business. It really is a beautiful product with a nice balanced taste.

Honey pairs  well with milk, lemon and even rum. All great soothing ingredients for whatever ails you. Or these can be  just uplifting in flavor. I have  a mint pot with robust lemon balm and chocolate mint coming in. A cups harvest was used ads the as base for my ice cream. I love to infuse herbs into cream.

I used my new XYBoard from Verizon to jot down ideas as the recipe developed in my head and the kitchen. I really love discovering all the  features and apps. I love the sleekness of this tablet and it beats dragging the laptop  or the smaller Iphone into the kitchen. I can take photos,videos, post to my various social media sites, edit,get a clear nice space to work on, and do just about anything with ease.  Here is an example of the sticky note feature I’m using to store my ideas and processes.

Then  just for fun I take it step further when the product is completed and play around with cool apps like PicsArt to turn my ordinary photos into art and post on Instagram.

I can go on and on. Indulge me while I have some fun. So are you ready to cool down with this delightful and pleasant ice cream? The honey works surprisingly well and all the flavors just merge and scream summer.  My honey is more wildflower based, so be conscious on what type of honey you use in this recipe.

Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Gourmets program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.”

 

Honey Lemon Balm and Rum Ice Cream and How I Develop My Recipes.
 
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An herb and honey based ice cream
Author:
Recipe type: ice cream
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Heavy Cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • ¾ cups runny honey preferably wild flower
  • 1 cup loosely packed lemon balm leaves washed and dried
  • 1 vanilla bean split and scraped open
  • 3 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons dark rum
Instructions
  1. In an pot carefully heat the cream, milk , honey, lemon balm and vanilla until it begins to simmer. Honey likes to expand and boil rapidly so carefully watch your pot so it doesn't boil over.
  2. Turn off heat , cover with lid, and let the mixture sit for one hour to allow the lemon balm and vanilla to infuse the cream and milk.
  3. Strain out the lemon balm leaves and vanilla pods with a wire mesh strainer.
  4. Gently reheat after one hour on medium high.
  5. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the pinch of salt.
  6. Temper the eggs (adding a little stream of the hot milk and cream liquid to the eggs while beating) .
  7. Take the tempered eggs and add to the milk and cream mixture. Whisk constantly until the mixture just starts to thicken.You don't want to over cook this custard. If the mixture curdles, take a immersion blender while still warm/ hot and smooth out.
  8. Add the dark rum and whisk.
  9. Turn off heat.
  10. Strain through a wire mesh strainer and allow to cool to room temp.
  11. Refrigerate until ready to use, before adding to to your frozen freezer bowl.
  12. Process according to your ice cream makers instructions for 25 minutes or so.
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Classic Stracciatella for a Beautiful Spring Day

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Certain Someone is a simple man in his dessert tastes. So naturally the divine duo of a rich vanilla based custard , with a semi sweet chocolate  ribbon stream  stracciato ( torn apart) while churning, is bound to be a favorite.  I decided to serve this up for the Easter holiday following a simple fresh slow grilled ham , pan fried leeks and potatoes, and a pea and carrot medley. Even stuffed , Certain Someone made room for two servings of ice cream.

I used to think Certain Someone would be a bit pretentious asking for Stracciatella in American Ice Cream parlors.It’s the European in him of course. But it’s more than differentiating between the naive assumption of  thinking this is something akin to the chunky American Chocolate Chip ice cream. Stracciatella was invented not to long ago, in 1962 by Enrico Panattoni at La Marianna, in the picturesque city of Bergamo in Northern Italy, not far from Milano.It’s based on the Italian egg drop soup of the same name, where beaten eggs are added to a hot broth. The chocolate is more interspersed into the ice cream and broken up into little bits, creating a alternating smooth and creamy yet crunchy sensation on the tongue. Stracciatella definitely has more finesse than the good ole chocolate chip from the USA.

You can find the recipe here. This was adapted from the renown David Lebovitz, who most definitely knows a thing or two about ice cream.

 

Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

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Strawberries are pretty cheap these days due  to the Nations Strawberry Glut. A late Florida Season caused by a cold winter is meeting up with California’s traditional spring crops and the US market is flooded.Seeing as how I could purchase  two containers of berries for the price of one,  I went ahead and then put the ice cream freezer bowl in the freezer. I love to make ice cream , yet don’t do it as often as I would  like .I always seem to forget how easy it is and how creative you can get.
While announcing my weekend intention on Twitter/ Face Book, renown  and highly respected pastry chef, Shuna Fish Lydon suggested I roast my strawberries with vanilla sugar to coax out more flavor. That’s what I love about social media. Great chefs with a wealth of experience ready to help or just talk and share with no pretense. I took Shuna’s suggestion and ran with it a little more by roasting the berries with both vanilla sugar and Balsamic Vinegar. Oh WOW! I also decided to use Sour Cream , in addition to Half and Half and Milk. Did I mention just a bit of Creme de Noyaux, an  pink almond  flavored liquor made from apricot kernels? In the end the Creme de Noyaux was very subtle, but I added it to keep the ice cream from freezing  hard and to enhance pink color, as homemade ice creams tend to do. My pastry instructor in the workshops at French Pastry School last summer declared Ice Creams will be next big thing in terms of trends in pastry . I do believe he is right.

Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

3 cups Strawberries  washed, hulled and halved
2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Vanilla Sugar ( save used vanilla beans and add to containers of sugar)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar ( reserve 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Paste ( extract can used as well)
2 tablespoons Creme de Noyaux
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/4 cups Sour Cream
1 cup Half and Half

Prepare Freezer Bowl according to ice Cream makers instructions.
Line a baking sheet with lips with aluminum foil. Spread the halved strawberries. Combine Vanilla Sugar and  1 cup of granulated sugar . Sprinkle over the berries. Drizzle the Balsamic Vinegar over the berries and sugar. Roast at 400 F  until the sugar dissolves and the juices start to bubble and caramelize. This will take about 15 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and carefully pour into a bowl. Using a strainer separate the  the berries  from the juices, while mushing them slightly. Set aside the mashed berries in one small container and allow the hot strawberry sugar balsamic juice to cool in another container. Add vanilla paste or extract and the Creme de Noyaux. Set Aside.
In a bowl or stand mixer mix the whole milk and remaining 1/4 cup sugar for a few minutes on low speed. Add the Sour Cream and  half & half. Mix well. While mixing, add the Berry Juices, and mashed berries. Pour the mixture into the freezer bowl and churn for 25 minutes. It will be a soft consistency. Pour and spread into loaf pans and cover . Freeze for several more hours in the freezer until ready to serve.