Lavendar Infused Blueberry Honey Ice Cream

I was in the mood for some ice cream so I decided to make this recipe for Lavender Honey Ice Cream I found on saveur.com. Of course, we couldn’t find lavender honey at our grocery store. However, we did find blueberry blossom honey and a bundle of lavender so I ran with it. The first thing I needed to do was separate the lavender blossoms from the stems.

Next I had to infuse the milk with 1 tablespoon of the blossoms by steeping them over low heat for about 20 minutes. Don’t scald the milk yet. You just want to pull the lavender oil out of the flowers.

After the lavender has steeped in the milk, strain the flowers out.

Next, beat the egg yolks with the sugar.

Then scald the milk, add the honey and whisk until it dissolves. Be really careful when measuring the honey. Just a little too much will make the ice cream way too sweet. Lower the heat and cook until the mixture covers the back of a spoon.

Cool it in the refrigerator until it’s cold. Then put in an ice cream maker and let it go.

Lavendar Infused Blueberry Honey Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 6 egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 5 tbsp. blueberry honey
• 1 tbsp. lavender blossoms

Instructions

1. Heat the milk over low heat and add the lavender blossoms. Let them steep in the milk for about 20 minutes and then strain the milk to remove the blossoms.
2. Beat egg yolks until thick and yellow, then slowly add sugar.
3. Scald milk, then pour into eggs and sugar in a thin stream, beating with a whisk. Add honey and whisk until dissolved. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cool and refrigerate until cold.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s directions. Keep ice cream frozen hard until use.

 

 

 

Posted in Recipes

My Favorite Baby Back Ribs

A couple of weekends ago I decided to take a break from working on ChefTap and do some serious cooking. I was in the mood do some pit grilling so I decided to make my favorite baby back rib recipe. The recipes for the marinade, the rub and the BBQ sauce are involved, but I promise it’s worth it.

The recipe comes from The Barbecue Bible by Steven Raichlen who is the grilling god as far as I’m concerned. I’ve adjusted the original recipe a bit to make it work on a pit grill which doesn’t have a cover and generally cooks food more slowly than a typical grill.

These ribs smell incredible while they’re cooking so I decided to make Walnut Pesto Crostini by Smitten Kitchen to tide us over. For dessert I made Mango Champagne Sorbet by PDX Food Love.

The timing of all of these recipes are wildly different, so I used the Make list in ChefTap to switch between recipes as I was interleaving the steps so that everything would come out on time.

Here’s the recipe for the ribs…

Romy’s Ribs with Filipino Seasonings

For the pork marinade

• 4 baby back rib racks (3-4 lbs.)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 orange, juice of
• 1 orange, zest of
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 1 lemon, zest of
• 1 lime, juice of
• 1 lime, zest of
• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

For the rub:

• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons szechuan peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 dried hot red chile (or 1/2 t. cayenne pepper)
• 2 teaspoons firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt

Other:

• 2 cups wood chips, soaked for 1 hour in cold water to cover and drained

Instructions

1. Remove the thin paper skin from the back of each rack of ribs.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender; process to a smooth puree.
3. Pour the marinade over the ribs, turning to coat both sides.
4. Cover and let marinate 8 hours, in the refrigerator, turning once or twice.
5. Combine all the ingredients for the rub in a spice mill or blender and grind to a fine powder (for extra flavor, you can toast the spices in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes, before grinding).
6. Set up grill for indirect cooking by raking the coals around the outside of the grate
7. When ready to cook, remove the ribs from the marinade and blot dry with paper towels.
8. Rub the spice mix over the ribs on both sides.
9. Arrange the ribs on the hot grate over the pit grill and smoke-cook the ribs until the meat is very tender and it has shrunk back from the ends of the bones, 1 ½ to 2 hours; replenish wood chips as necessary.

 

The first thing that you need to do is marinate the ribs. The original recipe calls for eight hours in the marinade, but left them in for as little as three hours and they came out fine. The lemon grass does make a big difference but if you can’t find it the recipe still works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The recipe says to remove the paper-thin skin from the back of the ribs, but for the last few years that I’ve been making this recipe, that membrane has already been removed. I still look for it, but it’s usually not there so don’t worry if you don’t find it.

One thing that I do think is important that the recipe doesn’t mention is that the ribs should be rinsed and dried before marinating so that the marinade can penetrate the ribs. I also cut the racks of ribs in half to make it easier.

I flip and rotate the ribs about every half hour to make sure they get coated evenly.

 

 

 

 

Next up was the first step of the Mango Champagne Sorbet. I used prosecco instead of Champagne and it came out great. Process the mangos for a while and then some. Mangos are a little fibrous and they really need some time to become a puree. Make sure you put the ice cream maker work bowl in the freezer the night before so it’s good and cold when you need it.

The mango champagne puree needs to drop to 40º F before you put it in the ice cream maker so be sure you leave enough time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the mango puree was in the fridge, I switched back to the ribs and made the rub. The recipe says that dry toasting the spices is optional, but the rub comes out so much better if you do. Put the szechuan peppercorns,coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fennel seed in a small skillet and watch it carefully. After a couple of minutes they’ll start to smell really good, but hang on for a bit. A little later, the coriander seeds will start to hop in the pan followed by the mustard seeds. When the first hint of smoke appears, take the pan off of the heat and immediately dump the spices into a mortar and pestle and grind them while they’re still hot.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the toasted spices are ground, add the paprika, hot red chile, brown sugar and salt to the mix and grind it up some more making sure everything is evenly mixed. Set the rub aside until you’re ready to put the ribs on the grill.

 

 

 

 

 

While I was doing all of this, Kate was out of the house, but I knew she’d be home soon so I started the crostini. This recipe also says that toasting the walnuts is optional, but I already had the pan out so I did it. They came out great. Blend the walnuts and cheese in a food processor and put it in a mixing bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

Then stir in the oil and tomatoes and you’ve got your pesto. I made this a little ahead of time so that the flavors in the pesto would have time to blend together. After this, I sliced a baguette diagonally so it would dry out a little before I toasted the slices on the pit grill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, it was time to make the BBQ sauce. This sauce has an apricot-horseradish-scotch bonnet base and is incredible with any kind of pork, but especially with this rib recipe. This recipe is from Barbecue! Bible – Sauces, Rubs and Marinades by Steven Raichlen <- Again BBQ god

Cal’s Apricot-Horseradish Barbeque Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup apricot preserves
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/4 fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh shallot
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 to 1 scotch bonnet chili or other hot chili, seeded and minced
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoons prepared white horseradish, or to taste

Instructions

1. Place all of the ingredients for the sauce, except for the horseradish, in a heavy non-reactive saucepan. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, over medium heat until slightly thickened and richly flavored, about 10 minutes. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and/or pepper if needed. the sauce should be of pourable consistency; if too thick, add a little water. Let the sauce cool to room temperature.
2. Stir in the horseradish to taste. Use right away or transfer to a large jar, cover and refrigerate. The sauce will keep for several weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

The prep for this sauce takes a little while. Just be careful with the scotch bonnets and wash your hands really well after you mince them. The recipe says it takes about 10 minutes, but in my experience it takes closer to twenty to get it right. Go with it. When the sauce cools, stir in the horseradish and you’re good.

 

 

 

 

Now the ribs were marinated, the rub was made, the mango puree is in the fridge, the pit grill is hot, the crostini is toasting and Kate just got home. The pesto has been made and the bread has been toasted on the grill so the crostini is on. They were walnutty, buttery heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had the crostini while the ribs were gilling. The ribs needed time on the grill. I kept the pot of BBQ sauce near the heat so that I could baste the ribs with it as they cooked. After about three hours, they were ready. I also threw on some corn cobs in the husk so they could steam themselves on the grill but that’s hardly a recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the ribs were grilling, I put the Mango Champagne Sorbet in the ice cream maker and let it run. Before I served the ribs I put the finished sorbet into the freezer to let it harden up. In spite of having absolutely no dairy in it, this sorbet really tastes like ice cream. So yeah, all of this took all day to make, but it was soooo worth it.

If you’re going to spend a whole day cooking, you might as well make it epic. :)

 

Posted in Recipes

Tarte Tatin

I’ve been wanting to try making a French upside-down apple tart for a while now and this Sunday I did it. For me the toughest part about following English translations of French recipes is that they seem to leave out half of the recipe, presumably because they assume that the person following the recipe will obviously know how to fill in the missing parts. I imagine that’s fine if you’re a French pastry chef, but not so good if you’re an American app developer. So I did some research and filled in the missing parts.

One of the elements left out was what kind of crust to use. It turns out there are a few recipes for tarte crusts, but the one you need for tarte tatin is pate brisée because it’s sturdier and can handle eight steaming, baked apples covered in an incredible butter caramel sauce on top of it. When you first start to knead the crust, it’s a disastrous mess, but stick with it and in a few minutes it actually looks like dough. I did need to add a little water to mine.

Pate Brisée (Flaky short-crust tart pastry)

Ingredients

• 2c all-purpose flour
• 1/2c butter
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

1. While the butter is still cold, chop it into small cubes and set it aside.
2. On a large flat work surface, sift the flour if you need to, make a hollow in the middle and add the egg, cream and the softened butter.
3. Knead the mixture together, pushing down hard with the palm of your hand to completely incorporate the flour. Add a little water if necessary.

 

Tarte Tatin (Upside down apple tart)

Ingredients

• 1 Pate brisée
• 8 golden delicious apples (Reine des reinettes)
• 3 tblsp butter
• 1/2c superfine or caster sugar plus a little more for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Quarter the apples and remove the core and peel. Then slice them into 1/4 inch slices and set aside.
2. In a flame-proof pie dish, melt the stick of butter, add the sugar evenly over the surface of the bottom of the dish and caramelize on top of the stove over medium heat. When the sugar starts to brown, keep your eye on it because it will start getting too brown fast. When the butter and sugar are a golden brown, remove from heat immediately.
3. Choose the best looking slices and place them side by side in the dish in a pinwheel pattern working your way to the center. This will be what people see as the top of the tarte.
4. Arrange the rest of the apple slices in the pie dish, packing them together tightly. Dust with sugar.
5. Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 20 minutes. Roll out the pate brisée to make a pie lid and place it over the apples. Bake for an additional 20 minutes.
6. Unmold while still hot by placing the serving dish on top of the pie dish and then gripping both plates and flipping them over so that the pie dish is upside-down. Tap the bottom of the pie plate and carefully lift the pie plate off of the tarte. The sooner you do this after it comes out of the oven, the better. Let the tart set up a few minutes.
7. Optional, but awesome: When the tarte has cooled a bit, sprinkle more of the caster sugar over the top and use a culinary torch to caramelize the sugar.

 

 

Posted in Recipes

Blueberry Pie

 

I love to make this pie in August when blueberries are in season. The filling is simple enough, with just enough to enhance the flavor of the blueberries.  The crust is a bit trickier, but it’s still not hard with a little practice.  There’s lots that you can read about making pie crusts, but here are my favorite pie crust tricks that I have gathered over the years:

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Posted in Recipes