Ice Cream - (Worldwide Festivalist) Social Integration

A few years back I was experimenting with homemade ice cream. It didn't get far, I probably made 5 or 6 batches at the most. 

Ben & Jerry's latest creation reminded me of one of my flavors and I wanted to share it for those who are into making home made ice cream.  

Well I went bananas, and Ben & Jerry's went nuts ...

Ben & Jerry's:  Pecan Resist is a chocolate ice cream with white and dark fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts and fudge-covered almonds.

My flavor was created in the Summer of 2004: (Worldwide Festivalist) Social Integration - Similar to music, ice cream is a bond that stretches beyond race, religion and politics. Social Integration incorporates many shades of deliciousness in each bite without prejudice.  Chocolate & Banana Ice Cream with equal parts Dark, Milk and White Chocolate Chips.

I listed the two ice cream recipes below (requires an ice cream maker).

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM with the chips (or chunks)

Ingredients:

5 large egg yolks

¾ cup sugar - divided in half,  6 tablespoons each

¼ cup Dutch cocoa powder - measured then sifted 

1 cup whole milk

1 ¾ cup heavy cream

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup dark chocolate bar chopped

1/3 cup milk chocolate bar chopped

1/3 cup white chocolate bar chopped

Instructions:

Get two bowls: one large bowl and one bowl that will fit inside of that bowl. In the large bowl: prepare an ice bath by putting a little cold water with a lot of ice. Place the other bowl in ice bath. Careful not to get any of the cold water or ice into the other bowl. Set aside.

In a glass or stainless steel medium-sized bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar until combined and set aside.

In a heavy-bottom pot (no heat), whisk together cocoa powder, remaining sugar (6 tablespoons) and slowly add ¼ cup of milk (room temperature).  If you add the milk too quickly thee cocoa powder will clump up. 

Continue adding the rest of the milk in a slow steady stream until a smooth chocolate milk consistancy, about 1 minute.

Whisk cream and salt into the chocolate milk mixture and heat pot over a medium flame. Heat until the mixture just reaches a simmer (tiny bubbles); do not boil.

 

Remove mixture from heat.

Temper the eggs, (eggs the same temperature as the hot chocolate milk) without cooking our eggs. 

Incorporate ¼ cup of the hot chocolate milk mixture into egg yolk mixture. It's REALLY important to add the hot chocolate mixture very slowly so you don't get scrambled eggs. Repeat this process 3 more times or until you've reached 1 cup of the hot chocolate mixture added to the yolks in total.

Pour the egg yolk and hot chocolate milk mixture back into pot and return to a low heat.

Using a heat resistant spatula, continue stirring, gently scraping the bottom until the mixture significantly thickens, about 2-5 minutes. 

Note that the mixture will thicken much more as it cools in the fridge.

Once mixture is thick, pour into the bowl over your prepared ice bath. Stir with spatula to cool down the custard for a few minutes.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours. (Overnight is preferable.) 

Once custard is cold, place in your ice cream maker and after 3-5 minutes add your chocolate chunks as the maker churns. (Add your chocolate chunks at the beginning of the churn or they wont be fully integrated) 

Churn until thick and ice-cream-like. You can eat it out of the ice cream maker or put in container and freeze for 4 hours or until firm.

BANANA ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

4 cups half-and-half cream

2-1/2 cups sugar

Dash salt

4 eggs, lightly beaten

4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4 to 5 medium)

Instructions:

In a large heavy saucepan, heat half-and-half to 175°; stir in sugar and salt until dissolved. 

Whisk a small amount of hot mixture into eggs. Return all to the pan, whisking constantly. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160° and coats the back of a metal spoon.

Remove from the heat. Cool quickly by placing pan in a bowl of ice water; stir for 2 minutes. 

Stir in the whipping cream, milk and vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard. Refrigerate for several hours (overnight).

Stir in bananas. Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full; freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. When ice cream is frozen, transfer to a freezer container; freeze for 4 hours before serving.

WHILE ICE CREAM IS STILL PARTIALLY SOFT, ABOUT AN HOUR OR TWO IN FREEZER - Scoop 1/2 of the chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and 1/2 of the banana ice cream into.a bowl. Twist around a bit and return to storage container. Continue freezing final product.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

After trashing several cartons of eggs attempting to hard boil them I came across this "perfect" recipe that uses the Instant Pot.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
6-12 large eggs
A tray of ice cubes in a bowl that will hold the eggs

Preparation:

Add a cup of water to a 6-qt Instant Pot®. Place metal rack into the pot. Place eggs in pot on the rack, a dozen should fit fine.

On your Instant Pot, select the manual setting, set pressure to high, set time for 8 minutes.

Immediately after cooking, carefully quick-release the pressure and place eool eggs in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes.

Eggs should be good to eat for a week or more.

Moroccan Chicken, Cranberries and Quinoa

Chicken with quinoa and dried cranberries cooked in an Instant Pot.  Quick prep and cook time. I am assuming you know how to use your Instant Pot and have skipped directions.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil divided
1.5 lbs chicken thighs boneless, skinless
1.5 cups chicken broth
1 coarsely chopped onions
1 teaspoon ginger minced
3 garlic cloves minced
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preparation: 

Coat both sides of the chicken pieces with the paprika, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper.

Sauté the chicken in the Instant Pot, about 4 minutes on each side.

While the chicken is browning, chop onions. Mince garlic and ginger.

Remove chicken and set aside.

Add a bit of olive oil and sauté the garlic, ginger, and onions for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add chicken broth and deglaze pot.

Add quinoa, dried cranberries and the browned chicken.

Secure lid, Pressure cook on the Chicken/Poultry setting for 10 minutes with valve closed and Keep Warm set to OFF.

When chicken is done, carefully release pressure, open pot.

This recipe was inspired by a similar recipe I saw on urbanblisslife

Serve and enjoy!

Glögg - Swedish Yuletide Mulled Wine Drink

Glögg Recipe - Swedish Yuletide Drink

It is once again time to share the recipe for the Swedish Yule Drink, Glögg, a type of mulled wine common throughout Scandinavia. Note that this was based on our family recipe, and every family made it differently and with slightly different spices. Ours, perhaps uniquely, featured allspice. Most others I've seen used crushed almonds instead of sliced. Cardamom is essential. Don't even try to make this if you don't have cardamom pods.

Here is the traditional Swedish Christmas drink, Glogg, or for those of you in Scandinavia, Glögg:

Ingredients:

1 liter of "wine" (red port, tawny port, or red wine)
1 liter of "spirits" (vodka, aquavit, or equiv.)
1.5 liter of water
4-5 dl of "sugar" (caramel, brown sugar or plain sugar)

Spices:

Peel of one half orange, torn into pieces
Approx. 16 cm of cinnamon stick (bark), broken into several pieces
8 green cardamom pods
3 tsp. sliced almonds
16 whole cloves
handful of raisins
8 whole allspice

Procedure:

In a 4 liter saucepan, bring the water to a small boil,
add sugar.

When sugar is dissolved, add spices and continue at a small boil for about 15 minutes.

Mix in liter of wine. Mix in liter of spirits.

Turn burner down to low, cover saucepan, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn off burner, and let steep for 2-3 hours.

Strain off spices and bottle. Spices can be reused once or twice. (I don't recommend twice)

How to drink:

Warm glögg in saucepan. Do not boil. Serve in warmed glasses with a couple raisins. Don't drink and drive.

No glögg is that bad, once you've had a few. ;+)
aem

This recipe for Glögg, a traditional Swedish Christmas drink, was copied from A.E. Mossberg.

Moroccan Chicken using Instant Pot

Chicken cooked in an Instant Pot, with olives, tomatoes and green zucchini.  Being that this dish has a quick prep and cook, we make it a lot. I am assuming you know how to use your Instant Pot and have skipped directions.

Ingredients:

1 lb Chicken thighs
1 Container cherry tomatoes
8 Pitted green olives
1 Cup chicken broth
1 Tablespoon dry basil leaves
1/2 Tablespoon Crushed red pepper
optional 

    Couscous

    green beans

Preparation: 

Brown chicken (sauté) 4 minutes each side

While chicken browns, slice olives and tomatoes in half. Cut zucchini into 1/2 inch slices.

Remove chicken and set aside.

Add olives, tomatoes and zucchini and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add broth, scrape anything stuck to bottom.  Add basil and red pepper. Add chicken and any juice back to pot.

Secure lid, Pressure cook for 14 minutes with valve closed and Keep Warm set to off.

If you like, cook up some couscous while the chicken cooks.

When chicken is done, carefully release pressure, open pot.

Gently stir and sauté for 4 minutes.

Serve over couscous.

Apple Crisp Martini

The apple crisp is a quintessential fall martini. Great drink before a Thanksgiving feast

Ingredients:

2 parts GREY GOOSE® L’Orange Flavored Vodka
1 lemon wedge
1 tbs cinnamon sugar
1/4 small apple diced
1/2 part simple syrup
1/2 part Tuaca® Liqueur
3/4 parts fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

Rub the lemon wedge around rim of martini glass then roll into the cinnamonsugar. In a cocktail shaker, muddle together the diced apple and simple syrup.
Add ice and the remaining ingredients. Shake well until the outside of the
shaker is frosted and beaded with sweat. Strain into the prepared martini glass.

Frozen mango daiquiri

Step one: Don't use cheap booze.

Ingredients
3 ounces good rum
1 1⁄2 cups frozen mangoes, cubed
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 ounce triple sec
2 ounces mango purée
ice cubes

Method
Mix in blender.
Serve in tall glass with straw.

Quick and Easy English Muffin Pizzas

Makes two halves, serves one person. Preparation time: 5 minutes.

Ingredients

Aluminum foil
Toaster oven
Thomas' English Muffin
Pizza Sauce
A slice of cheese, or shredded cheese - pick your favorites

________________________________________
Method
Fork split english muffin in half
Toast english muffin
Line toaster oven tray with foil and put toasted muffin on tray
Cover with cheese
Put about a tablespoon of sauce on each half of muffin
Bake in toaster oven for 3 or 4 minutes or until cheese begins to bubble

Serve

Enjoy the snack!

Pan Seared Salmon Filets

Serves: 2
Preparation time: About 5 minutes

Ingredients
1 pound of Fresh Salmon
Lemon & Pepper Seasoning
A Pinch of Salt

Method
heat cast iron skillet
cut filet into serving sizes, about 1/3 to 1/2 pound
coat filets with seasoning and salt to taste
when pan is hot put filets in with skin side down
cook 4 minutes on each side

Serve with a side of steamed broccoli or veggies of your choice

Viva La Nachos

Prior to hearing the news of Allen Toussaint's sudden departure I had already planned to make nachos.  Here's the recipe named to honor "Viva La Money", one of Allen's many songs.

Serves: Many
Preparation time: About an hour

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
chile powder
crushed garlic
one large onion
red ripe tomatoes
pickled jalapeños
bag of corn chips
shredded cheese

Method
brown meat mixed with chile powder on a medium-high flame
add crushed garlic, diced onion and chopped tomato
keep on mixing
add a handful of peppers and some of the juice

reduce flame and simmer about 30 minutes or until liquid reduces

spread chips on a cookie sheet
add a spoonful of meat on each chip
top with cheese
broil a minute or two

serve in a pile

OJB: Orange Juice & Blueberry Yogurt Pops

Makes 6 pops  Preparation time: 5 minutes, and freeze overnight
Calories: approx. 68 per pop

Ingredients
1.5 cups - Orange Juice
2 -  5.3 oz containers of Evolve Kefir 1% Lowfat Greek Style Yogurt, Blueberry

________________________________________
Method
Mix orange juice and yogurt in bowl until blended
Fill ice pop molds with mixture and freeze

Enjoy the chill

Rad Sangria

Balancing out sangria recipes, here's one with a red wine:

Serves: 4 Preparation time: 5 min

Ingredients
1 - macintosh apple
1 - orange
1/2 lime
1 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
2.5 oz of cointreau
________________________________________

Method
Cut apple into thin slices.
Carefully cut orange into slices, try not to loose the juice.
Add fruit to pitcher.
Add cointreau and wine.
Mix it up
Chill an hour to soak fruit and blend flavors.

makes about 4 glasses of sangria

Serve over ice

Bogged Down Mule

The Bogged Down Mule, another twist on the Moscow Mule

• 1 shot good vodka
• 2.5 oz of ginger beer
• a splash of cranberry juice
• lime

Mix vodka, ginger beer and cranberry juice. Squeeze in 1 slice lime

Serve over ice in a short glass.

Dark and Stormy Beach

When it's dark and stormy, head to the beach!

I took the traditional Dark and Stormy cocktail and added flip flops and a lounge chair.

DARK AND STORMY BEACH

• 2 parts - Barbancourt Rum
• 2 part - Coconut Water
• 3 parts - Ginger Beer
• Ice Cubes
• Slice of Lime

Fill tall glass with ice cubes

Add rum, coconut water and ginger beer

Serve with a slice of lime

Ultimate Lemonade

This Ultimate Lemonade recipe is borrowed from the Rink Bar at Rockefeller Plaza. Cheers!

Good Vodka 30%
Fresh Lemonade 60%
Cointreau 10%

Mix, serve cold over ice cubes

White Wine Sangria with Peach, Pear and Blueberries

On a warm summer day, a white wine sangria with peach, pear and blueberries takes the barbecue to another zone.

Serves: 4 Preparation time: 5 min

Ingredients
1 - ripe pear
1 - ripe peach
1/2 pint blueberries
1 bottle Sauvignon blanc
2.5 oz of cointreau
________________________________________

Method
cut peach and pear into cubes, add to pitcher with the 1/2 pint blueberries.
Add cointreau and wine.
Chill an hour to soak fruit and blend flavors.

makes about 4 glasses of sangria

Serve over ice

French Rockin Toast

French toast just like mommy made

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Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
tsp real vanilla extract
loaf of day old raisin challah
cinnamon
1/4 stick of butter
Grade A or B maple syrup

Method

• Mix eggs, milk, vanilla extract in a large bowl.
• Melt butter in large sauce pan over a medium flame.
• Slice day old challah into 1/2 inch slices.
• Soak bread in egg mixture.
• Turn up the heat to medium-high, put slices of bread into melted butter, let cook 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle cinnamon on bread, flip bread and cook other side for a few minutes until browned.

Place 2 or 3 slices on a plate. Serve nice and hot, with maple syrup. Yummm, goes great with a big glass of chocolate milk.

Grey Goose L'Orange ~ Sunshine Daydream

I had an idea for a tropical drink, so I did a web search and found a bunch of similar drinks. Eh who cares, I figure I'd share anyway...

SUNSHINE DAYDREAM

• 4 parts - Grey Goose® L'Orange vodka
• 1 part - Triple Sec
• Splash of Cranberry Juice
• Key Lime Juice
• crushed ice
• slice of orange (or other citrus) 
• Shake vodka, triple sec and ice until very cold

 Rinse a cold martini glass with key lime juice and discard juice

Pour ice cold vodka mixture in martini glass, hit with a splash of cranberry juice and garnish with a slice of fruit

Steve's Rockin' Jambalaya

j a m b a l a y a

Serves: 8
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
______________________________________
Ingredients
2 Lbs boneless Chicken
2 Lbs Andoule Sausage
2 Green Bell Peppers diced
2 Red Bell Peppers diced
4 medium onions diced
1 bulb garlic minced
5 stalks celery diced
4 cups rice
7 cups water
2 cans tomato sauce (8 oz cans)
2 bushels scallions
Creole Spice mixture
Crystal Hot Sauce (on table)
Tabasco Hot Sauce (cook with)
________________________________________

Method

• Cut sausage into ½ in slices, cook in a pot large enough to prepare all food. Add some Tabasco. 
• Remove sausage, leave oil/grease in pan. 
• Cook chicken in remaining oil/grease, add Creole spices, Tabasco. 
• Remove chicken, leave oil/grease in pan. 
• Sautee vegetables in oil, add a bit more if necessary along with more Creole spices 
• Remove vegetables. 
• Add rice, tomato sauce and water, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer 
• Add sausage 
• Add chicken 
• Add vegetables 
• Do not stir! 

Cook about 40 minutes,

Stir, taste the rice, if crunchy, cook some more.

Semolina's Spicy Thai Crawfish

Crawfish Pasta with a twist of Thailand *full credit to Semolina restaurant of Louisiana

http://www.semolina.com

Ingredients
Thai Curry Sauce Ingredients: 
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Dish Ingredients: 
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup tomato, diced
2 tablespoons raisins
1/4 cup onion slivers
1/4 teaspoon garlic
3/4 cup Thai Curry Sauce
1/4 pound fresh crawfish tails
10 ounces cooked angel hair pasta
1/4 cup carrot sticks
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons basil slivers
crushed red pepper

Method
Curry Sauce Directions: 
Make a light roux with the butter and flour. Slowly add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is thickened. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the sauce is the texture of melted ice cream.

Dish Directions: 
Sauté the first five ingredients until the onions are lightly browned. Add the sauce and the crawfish. Pour over angel hair and top with carrot sticks, cilantro, basil and red pepper.