Sasha's Kitchen: Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

I never ate much ice cream before I lived in Brooklyn. I live very close to Brooklyn's famous Blue Marble Ice Cream, which is probably the best ice cream I have ever had. They have different flavors each day, both traditional and offbeat, as well as seasonal flavors, and even some sorbets. All of the ice cream is organic - made with local New York State dairy products. The pumpkin ice cream, their newest fall flavor, is amazing - simply put. So What on earth would possess this inspired, but busy chef to make her own pumpkin ice cream when Blue Marble is right around the corner? I guess I have that urge to create and making ice cream is fun (and simple). Plus, I wanted to see if mine could be good - although I knew it wouldn't be as good or better. But it's worth trying.

I got a new Deni ice cream maker as part of a promotion from CSN Stores, so I was eager to try it out. This first recipe is seasonal and delicious, but fairly simple. My next flavor, which will be a dessert at our house for the family Thanksgiving Dinner that Brad and I are hosting is going to be a recipe I found for gingerbread ice cream made with Trappist Ale and various spices. Yum! I was impressed with the ice cream maker - it worked well, though I did have some difficulty attaching the top, which may something that I can figure out with a bit more effort. It was certainly an improvement over my 20-year old manual Doniver ice cream maker.  This one churns automatically, which is a nice upgrade.

Sasha's Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 1/4 cups organic pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

5 egg yolks

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp salt

pinch of nutmeg

Combine the pumpkin and the vanilla in a bowl. In a saucepan, heat the brown sugar and 1 cup of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar over medium heat for about five minutes until it bubbles a bit on the sides. In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining heavy cream, egg yolks, spices and pumpkin mixture. Add this mix to the saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until it forms a custard. Chill for at least 5 hours. Then prepare the ice cream following the manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker.

This was really good! But it wasn't as good as Blue Marble. Other than not being an ice cream professional, I think the difference is the heavy cream that I used, Farmland, which has 1 gram of sugar. I have decided to use organic Ronnybrook whole milk and organic Ronnybrook heavy cream in my next ice cream making experiment for Thanksgiving (the gingerbread ice cream with the beer) and see if I get just a little bit closer to Blue Marble perfection. It was still really good though and quite beautiful to look at with a great orange color and wonderful spiced pumpkin flavor. Check out the video of the ice cream maker doing its thing, below.

Sasha's Kitchen: Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Ice Cream

Summer is just around the corner, which means that it's berry time.  It's so easy to make your own ice cream at home, using a conventional ice cream maker.  Making ice cream at home is much easier that it sounds and simply requires some freezing time and a very limited amount of prep work.  I have made a variety of flavors but this time, decided to try something that was perfect for the early summer - blueberry ice cream.  It came out great - nice and creamy with a perfect blueberry flavor.  I love the color purple, so the best part about this ice cream was the fabulous deep purple color!  This recipe is totally my own original recipe.  You will find that most blueberry ice cream recipes out there may use even more yolks than I did, but it really isn't needed.  This was creamy, delicious and oh so very blueberry.  I should add that I live next to a gourmet ice cream store, but I still like to make my own ice cream.  Next up will be peach in June (with fresh organic peaches of course).

Sasha's Blueberry Ice Cream
2 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
7 egg yolks

First, combine 1/2 a cup of the sugar with the blueberrries and cook over medium heat for about five minutes.  In the meantime, heat the milk and heavy cream with the remaining sugar for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved.  Beat the egg yolks separately and add to one cup of the warm milk mixture. Then combine in full and continue heating for about 10 minutes until nice and thick, until the custard coats the back of a spoon.  Add the blueberry mixture and then freeze according the the manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Ice Cream

Sasha's Kitchen: Raspberry-Limoncello Baked Alaska

Baked Alaska is one of the few dessert recipes that has intimidated me for years.  It's really not that hard, the problem was that I tried to make a Baked Alaska before I knew how to make meringue.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you have never made meringue, don't start with this dessert, because failure with a Baked Alaska involves melted ice cream in the oven.  However, now that I am an experienced meringue maker in my KitchenAid Artisan Mixer  (necessary equipment for meringue making), I decided to give Baked Alaska another shot.  And while I wasn't able to see Russia from my house, the dessert was a huge success, and really quite simple to make, as long as the meringue is done correctly.

According to Wikipedia, the dessert, Baked Alaska was originally cooked at Delmonico's Restaurant (in New York, not Alaska) in 1876 to honor the recently acquired American territory.  There is another variation of the dessert that originated in Nome, Alaska which involves adding rum to the dessert, turning down the lights, and lighting the entire dessert on fire using the flambé technique.

I made traditional baked Alaskas in individual sized portions, using a raspberry-flavored pink meringue.  This dessert simply involves a piece of pound cake, a layer of ice cream and a layer of meringue on top.  As I learned the hard way in the past, it is extremely important to prepare the meringue correctly or the entire dessert will melt when you put it in the oven.  However, if the meringue is done correctly, it will create a seal on top of the dessert that will keep the ice cream cold during the four minutes in the oven while the meringue gets toasted, or baked.

Sasha's Raspberry Limoncello Baked Alaska (makes 4)
4 small pieces of homemade or store bought pound cake, sliced one inch thick
Limoncello-Coffee Gelato (click here for my recipe)
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 dram of Lorann's Raspberry Flavoring
1 drop of Ateco gel-based pink food coloring  (the best food colorings out there, and the ones I use in all of my cupcake recipes)

First, wedge each slice of pound cake in a ramekin.  Then add a scoop of the limoncello-coffee ice cream and place the ramekins in the freezer while you make the meringue.  To make the meringue, separate three egg whites from the yolks.  Place the egg whites and the cream of tartar in the basin of your stand mixer and beat, using the whisk attachment until peaks begin to form.  Then add a drop of the food coloring and the vial of raspberry extract.  Continue to beat on high while slowly adding half a cup of sugar.  In the end, you will have to beat on high for about five minutes until you have a fluffy meringue.

A sample meringue

Add the meringue to a conventional pastry bag fitted with a tip.  It should be pink in color and smell like raspberry by this point, of course.  Pipe on top of the ice cream of each dessert using the pasty bag, the same way you would frost a cupcake.  Make sure to create a seal around the edges with the meringue and not to leave any of the ice cream exposed.  Then, place each of the four ramekins in the freezer for two hours (or up to a day).  When you are ready to eat, place in an oven preheated to 450 degrees.  Bake for three to four minutes only, until the meringue is nicely (but lightly) browned.  The combination of flavors here was perfect - the limoncello and coffee went so nicely with the raspberry flavored meringue, and I was so happy that the dessert didn't melt!  I'm including a photo of the inside of the dessert to show that the ice cream is still frozen inside.

Baked Alaska

Sasha's Kitchen: Raspberry-Limoncello Baked Alaska

Sasha's Kitchen: Green Tea Ice Cream

Over the weekend, my husband and I prepared green tea ice cream.  It was quite simple to make actually, since the only real flavoring required was Matcha tea powder, a green tea powder in a lovely olive green hue.  I am planning on making a green tea tiramisu next weekend, and I had bought a couple of ounces of Matcha powder.  I had a little bit of extra powder, and decided that I could either make green tea macarons or green tea ice cream.  I decided to leave the macarons for another day and prepared the green tea ice cream instead.  The end result was a rich, creamy and delicious ice cream with the green tea flavoring of the Matcha powder.  This is always a wonderful end to a sushi meal for me at any Japanese restaurant, yet it was so easy to make ourselves in our old, but trusty ice cream machine.  We are making sushi rolls this week, so the timing was perfect.

I bought the green tea powder at a wonderful local tea and spice store that I just discovered last week a couple blocks from my home called PS Coffee Tea N Spices.  This store is a fantastic place to buy just about any tea or spice you could possibly imagine at reasonable places, by the ounce.  So instead of overpaying for a lifetime supply of Matcha Powder at Whole Foods, I simply bought an ounce for a mere three dollars.  Perfect for both of my planned recipes.  I also bought an ounce of two other lovely teas - a dark tea infused with lychee and a fragrant apricot tea.

Green Tea Ice Cream  (recipe from Epicurious)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 T Matcha Powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar

Bring the cream, milk and salt to a boil in a large pot and take off heat.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, Matcha tea powder and sugar.  Add a cup of the cream mixture to the egg mixture.  Add this mixture back to the pot and put on medium heat and stir until the mixture thickens  to coat the back of a spoon and an instant read thermometer registers at 170 F.    Avoid turning up the heat too high, as the mixture should not boil.  Next, strain using a strainer and refrigerate the custard for about an hour. Freeze using an ice cream maker (I used an old Doniver that still works just fine) following the manufacturer's instructions.

Sasha's Kitchen: Green Tea Ice Cream

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (Valentine's Day Special)

My girlfriend Jenn loves ice cream. Every summer the Wallis Run United Methodist Church, located only a few miles from her childhood home in Lycoming County, PA, would have an ice cream festival to raise money for the church. The members of the church would make home-made ice cream. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and banana - and people would come to indulge and to socialize with friends, family, and neighbors. You could also purchase containers to take home. Jenn's favorites were the banana and the vanilla. There is nothing like home-made vanilla ice cream; it doesn't taste anything like what you buy in the store. Last year for her birthday I bought an ice cream maker and this past weekend I made vanilla ice cream. She said It turned out just as delicious as during the ice cream festival she grew up with!

I think part of the reason it turned out so well was that we used a real Tahitian Vanilla bean instead of the artificial vanilla extract. Jenn's parents went to Tahiti last summer and sent us 3 vanilla beans that supposedly keep for up to 13 years if stored properly. From what I read online about them the best way to tell if they are still good is to smell them. Unfortunately we had been keeping it with our other spices and it was near the curry and chili powder... So it smelled like curry. At first we were worried that we'd have vanilla-curry ice cream, but since it was wrapped up and you have to cut the vanilla bean as shown above to scrape out the goopy-seeds, I guess it was protected from the curry fragrance and it turned out fine.

My ingredients were as follows:

3 cups of heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup of sugar
4 egg yolks
one vanilla bean

This makes about one quart.

First you combine the milk, cream, and sugar in a saucepan and heat it slowly while stirring. You want the mixture to get warm but not boil as it can curdle the cream and milk. Then you whisk the egg yolks and while whisking, pour in about a cup of the warm mixture to temper the eggs and keep them from cooking too quickly. Jenn's sister Laura was in town this past weekend and taught me all about this process. I think this is actually what happened the first time I tried to make ice cream and why we tasted the eggs which was a little odd.

Once the egg yolks are in you add the seeds from the vanilla bean which I have pictured to the right. These are the small black specks you see in good vanilla ice cream that lets you know it was made with a vanilla bean and not the fake extract which many times contains vanillin that is chemically treated to taste like vanilla instead of real vanilla beans. You want to split the bean length-wise and scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife.

After your mixture is warm enough and you've stirred in the seeds enough that they separate somewhat (I still had a few tiny clumps in mine) you want to let the mixture cool in the fridge. I also added the bean pods to the mixture and let them infuse while cooling for a few hours although it probably didn't need all that long. The next step is to take out the bean pods and add the cooled mixture to the ice cream maker for 25-30 minutes. At this point it will look a bit like a milkshake so you can put it in the freezer for a couple of hours to let it harden a bit more.

I wanted to make something a little more crazy and creative but I also wanted to be able to perfect something as simple as vanilla ice cream since my first attempt was a more ambitious raspberry pomegranate gelato and it didn't turn out to my liking. Below I added a picture of a sundae using the ice cream, mainly because it was pretty but want to note that you lose some of the taste of the vanilla once you add the chocolate sauce.





Vanilla Bean

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (Valentine's Day Special)

Sasha's Kitchen: The Flavors Of Napa Valley (A Foodbuzz Contest)

When I decided to enter the contest to report on the finals of the Foodbuzz / San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition in beautiful Napa Valley, the answer was easy for me.  Napa Valley is my favorite culinary spot in America, both because of the breathtaking natural beauty of its surroundings and because it is a foodie paradise due to its incredible local produce.  Napa Valley is a perfect place, given its rich culinary tradition and lovely scenery, for chefs from around the world to compete to present the most incredible and delicious dishes.  I couldn't think of a better spot on earth to inspire such culinary creativity.  I love watching chefs create their masterpieces, like works of art.  I would love to be there to watch the challenge of so many superb chefs.

Thus, am first presenting some San Pellegrino sparking mineral water with the flavors of Napa Valley, in this post.    I decided to pair the San Pellegrino with the Meyer lemon, Napa's distinctive lemon.  The Meyer lemon is thought to be a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange.  It has a sweeter, less acidic taste than the ordinary lemon, and is, in my opinion, quite a star in itself.  The combination of the Meyer lemon and sparking water dazzles.

Next, I added another dish that I grew to love in Napa.  This is going to sound weird, but trust me with this one and just try it.  When I visited Round Pond Estate in Napa Valley, where they make their own limited production olive oils (and wine too, by the way), I had a marvelous buffet lunch all using local Napa produce (the best on earth).  They served vanilla ice cream with their Blood Orange Olive Oil.  I was skeptical at first.  Ice cream and olive oil?  Weird.  Bizarre.  And also amazing, especially with the blood orange complement.  Thus, this dish will alway be part of what I consider to be the distinctive flavor of Napa Valley.

To sum things up, I would love the opportunity to report live from the Almost Famous Chef Competition, and I'll have a glass of San Pellegrino, garnished with a wedge of Meyer lemon by my side, along with two of my other loves: food and writing.

Sasha's Kitchen: The Flavors Of Napa Valley (A Foodbuzz Contest)

Kelly's kitchen in Chicago: Best Chicago bites of 2009

I know this is a little late but since I am still writing 2009 on things accidentally, I figured it was a sign that it was still ok to write about this!

In 2009- I focused most of my recreation time on running: Soldier Field 10 mi race, Bank of American Chicago Marathon, Chicago Half Marathon, Rock and Roll Chicago Half Marathon, Rock and Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon, Chicago Woman's 10k, Pumpkins in the Park 5k.

I realized that most of my my fun food this year was with Steve and other friends post race or after a Saturday morning long run. With getting up every Saturday morning at 5:30 AM to run, I usually spent my Friday nights cooking pasta at home rather than going out. My list seems to have more burgers, ice cream and cased meat than usual!

So here's a top 10 list of the best things I ate in Chicago in 2009! * indicates running was involved.

10. Hot dog and Old Style beer on Wrigley Field:
Ok, this wasn't the best food ever but this was pretty cool. Each year, Wrigleyville Neighbors holds a lottery to allow a group of people onto the field for a tour and lunch. It's sort of a "thanks for letting us screw up your traffic 81 days per year" gift.

*9. Strawberry milkshake @ Stella's Diner
Stella's is an old fashioned diner with a little updated feel. It's practically across the street from me. We went here with friends after the Chicago Half Marathon. This place has huge and delicious milkshakes, as well as great burgers and other diner foods. Eating an entire huge milkshake is a rare treat for me.

8. Hot Pot @ Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown
If you haven't tried hot pot before, you're missing out! You drop in every imaginable vegetable, meat, noodles, tofu, meatballs...etc into a huge boiling pot of spicy or mild broth and then fish it out when it's cooked. I stayed away from the tripe (not my thing) but this is an incredibly fun dish to enjoy on a cold evening with friends. Photo courtesy of flickr user alvxyz.

7. Berry Chill
This year the tart frozen yogurt grew in popularity in Chicago. I have searched far and wide for the best frozen yogurt but it was under my nose all along on State and Erie. My favorite combo: original flavor with blueberries, raspberries, and fruity pebbles.

*6. Char dog and fries @ the Weiner's Circle
I finally made it to the ubiquitous late night junk food spot- the Weiner's Circle. Famous for it's foul-mouthed, back-talking staff, we went in the daytime and found only curtious and hard working folks and delicious char-grilled goodness after the Soldier Field 10 mi race.

5. Rockit Burger- This is my favorite burger in Chicago. I had it twice in 2009! Pretzel bun, roasted fig spread, brie cheese, Wagyu beef, truffled fries on the side- totally worth $20.

4. Bobtail peppermint stick ice cream w/hot fudge- This is the best ice cream known to man. This year, I had this combo instead of birthday cake. This ice cream shop has a knack for the right amount of peppermint flavor and puts in huge chunks of peppermint candy. Another fantastic flavor is their chocolate chip merlot. It has a very mild merlot flavor with thin dark chocolate shavings and a touch of salt. Delish!

3. Tomahawk chop ribeye steak@ Rosebud Steakhouse- This is one of the classic Chicago Steakhouses. We had clams casino, martinis, table size caesar salad, creamed spinach, and thsi Flintstone-size steak. The tomahawk chop is a french-style bone in ribeye steak. A very "Chicago" cut. There are lots of fabulous steakhouses in Chicago. Maybe I will get to try out some more in 2010, such as Gene & Georgetti's or Tramanto's Steakhouse.

2. Eggplant stuffed dates at Green Zebra- This is my favorite Chicago restaurant. We went here for the first time in 2008. When we went back, I have to say, I was afraid that I would be disappointed because it wasn't as good as I remembered. Thankfully, it knocked my sock off again. This dish in particularly was amazing. Salty eggplant wrapped around medjool dates was a vegan version of chorizo or bacon wrapped dates. A creamy coconut custard and tabbouleh pilaf on the size created a perfect balance of flavor and texture. At this restaurant, vegetables take the main stage in a way I have never experienced before.

1. Lamb Mole at Topolobampo- Rick Bayless IS the Top Chef master! After he won the grand prize, Steve and I made a reservation for his fine dining restaurant: Topolobampo where he was offering his award winning tasting menu. While it was delicious and moving to enjoy the meal that told the story of his life of a chef, the best thing came off of Steve's seasonal menu. The 27 ingredient mole negro was deep, smoky, spicy, and complex over succulent and tender perfectly cooked lamb. My menu came with the mole over rare tuna, which was very good but it was absolutely divine over the lamb. Photo of rabbit mole is courtesy of flickr user DrewVigal

Kelly's kitchen in Chicago: Best Chicago bites of 2009

Sasha's Kitchen: Sweet Corn Ice Cream and Rocky Road Ice Cream

I have a photographic memory for everything except numbers and directions It's weird. I have absolutely the best memory for names. What this means is that if we met in 1997 and I had a positive impression of you at the time, I will remember you forever, even if we haven't spoken since 1998. Among the various things I was able to remember (and the only one that applies to this post) was that my Dad and stepmom received an ice cream maker as a wedding gift, about 22 years ago. I called them about six months ago and asked them to give it to me to use in my kitchen adventures. After a bit of persistence, they obliged and transported the ice cream maker from rural Pennsylvania to Brooklyn. Using the manufacturer's instructions for the ice cream maker, branded as Doniver (apparently a popular brand at the time), I was able to find some great ice cream recipes of some crazy flavors to make in it.

Sweet corn ice cream may sound strange, and perhaps it is. But it is amazing, especially if you make it with farmer's market sweet corn in the summer season, as I did. The idea came to me after going to a Manhattan ice cream shop called Cones, which has many unusual ice cream flavors, such as honeydew, watermelon etc, most of which taste great.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream
4 ears fresh corn, shucked
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups sugar
9 egg yolks

First, shuck the sweet corn with a knife to remove the kernels. The quality and sweetness of the corn you use will determine how good the ice cream is. Puree the kernels in a blender. Add the milk, cream and 1/2 cup of sugar and bring to a boil, stirring and then turn off the heat. Infuse for 1 hour.

Next bring back to a simmer. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Add a cup of the hot cream-corn mixture to the egg yolks and stir constantly so the mixture does not curdle. Add this mixture to the saucepan with the rest of the corn mix. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the mixture thickens to a custard. The pass through a sieve if you need to and then refrigerate the custard for 4 hours.

To make the ice cream, then follow the instructions of your ice cream manufacturer for the machine and you should have ice cream after it freezes!

Rocky Road is even easier. This ice cream was created on a Sunday night a week or two ago with my cousin and friend Alicia, during a girltalk "bitch" session. This actually seems perfectly appropriate activity to do while making and.or eating ice cream.

Rocky Road Ice Cream

2/3 cup cocoa powder (I use this expensive dutch chocolate that tastes great)
2 cups sugar
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1 cup almond slivers
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmellows

Mix cocoa and sugar in a large pan. Add milk and stir on low heat until dissolved. Cool at room temperature and stir in the vanilla and coconut extracts. Add the salt and whipping cream and set aside. Mix in the chocolate chips, almonds and marshmellows. That's really all there is to it, other than freezing as the manufacturer suggests. If you have trouble suspending the marshmellows in the ice cream as I did (they all seemed to float at the surface) you can remix after the ice cream is halfway frozen.

Sasha's Kitchen: Sweet Corn Ice Cream and Rocky Road Ice Cream