Basil ice cream

 

In that blissful time where it's hard to keep up with the explosion of basil before mornings turn cool and the basil turns rusty, I thought I'd try something beyond vats of pesto.

Basil ice cream
From “The Perfect Scoop” by David Lebovitz
Note: I used a mix of the standard Genovese basil most commonly grown here and some lemon basil.

Ingredients
1 cup packed basil leaves
¾ cup sugar
2 cups of cream, divided
1 cup milk
5 egg yolks
Zest of 1 lemon

Method
In a food processor or blender, puree basil, sugar and 1 cup of cream, trying to make basil pieces as small as you can.

Put a layer of ice inside a large bowl. Put half of the pureed mixture in a medium bowl set inside the larger bowl to serve as an ice bath. Add the remaining cup of cream to the mixture in the bowl.

Put the remaining pureed mixture into a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Heat until hot and steaming, but well before the simmer stage. Remove pan from heat. Place egg yolks into a medium bowl. Add small ladlefuls of the hot mixture to the eggs, one at a time, whisking mixture in vigorously as you go to prevent curdling. When the eggs have been slightly warmed, add back to the pan and put the pan back on the heat. Heat, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula, until mixture thickens slightly and coats a spoon dipped into it. (Be careful not to let the mixture boil.)

Remove pan from heat. Place a fine mesh strainer over the mixture in the bowl sitting in the water bath. Strain heated mixture into the mixture in the bowl. Stir in lemon zest and stir until the combined mixture is cool. Cover somewhat loosely and store in the refrigerator until well chilled. Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.

Rating: For a recipe that doesn’t have that many ingredients, this dirties an amazing number of dishes. And getting the basil bits out of that strainer is super fun. So I kind of had an attitude going in that it might not be worth it. Plus, that color is slightly off-putting.That said, the flavor is really quite nice. Subtle, but nice. There's a slightly noticeable texture to it that you wouldn't associate with ice cream, probably from all that fiber. So, I would say that I'm enjoying eating it, but I probably won't go out of my way to make it again. There are higher uses for all that basil glory, if you can dodge all the pollinators to get to it. (Bees apparently adore basil blossoms.)

Walnut crusted goat cheese log with rosemary honey

 

A couple of friends recently graduated into a special category: People for whom I will make recipes I haven't tried before. Generally I stick to things I've at least made once when it comes to non-household members, aside from a few old friends and family members. But I was pretty sure I could be fairly safe with this one, and it meant I didn't have to go to the store to get anything to take to a small gathering of friends.

Walnut-crusted goat cheese with rosemary honey
Adapted from Rachael Ray magazine, Sept. 2016

Ingredients
½ cup honey
¼ cup 3-inch long rosemary sprigs, plus more leaves for garnish
½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted and cooled
1 (10.5-ounce) log goat cheese
Crackers for serving

Method
Bring honey and rosemary sprigs to a simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan. Simmer about 3 minutes until honey is infused with rosemary. Remove from heat and let cool and steep further. Remove rosemary springs, and scrape honey from them. Discard sprigs, which will no longer be bright green and not good for garnish – although they make pretty good stir sticks for tea at that point. (Make ahead tip: At this point you can cover the infused honey and let it sit at room temperature a few hours before using.)

Spread walnuts in a dish big enough to fit the goat cheese log and with sides high enough to keep walnuts corralled. Roll the cheese in the nuts, pressing to adhere. (Make ahead tip: At this point, you can cover the dish and store the cheese in the refrigerator until ready to use.) Transfer to a serving platter; one with at least curved sides is good to keep the honey in place as it warms up. Pour honey over the goat cheese and garnish with rosemary leaves. Serve with crackers and a utensil that lets you cut and spread the cheese.

Rating: This was really, really nice, and it got nicer the longer it sat, flavor-wise, so don’t be afraid to set this dish out first if you’re deploying an array at a party. It looks reasonably fancy with almost no effort, and it’s the kind of thing you might well have ingredients for on hand already. Definitely goes in the keeper pile.

Follow-up note: I made this again recently using pecans instead of walnuts and it worked just fine. I used two of the shorter goat cheese logs pushed together since that was what was available with in walking distance and it worked fine since the nuts cover any seam. I opted for the maple bourbon goat cheese that time and it was quite nice.

Blueberry lemon yogurt muffins

 

Got room for one more blueberry muffin contender? We did.

Lemony yogurt muffins
From “Baking with Dorie” by Dorie Greenspan. The recipe stipulates that the dairy/egg ingredients be at room temperature to achieve optimal texture, so melt and cool your butter first, set out your eggs and measure out the yogurt before you get down to the business of assembling the muffins. It’s easier to achieve room temperature quickly in August. Greenspan also bakes these plain without blueberries, or with whatever else she wants to fold in instead.

Ingredients
4 ounces (1 stick) butter
2 cups flour
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
⅓ cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
¾ cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
1½ cups blueberries
Lemon curd, or lemon or orange marmalade, optional

Method
Melt butter, set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line or grease 12 muffin cups.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest with your fingers to distribute the lemon oil throughout. Whisk into flour mixture.

In a separate bowl or 2-cup measure, combine yogurt and eggs. Whisk in melted, cooled butter. Fold into flour mixture with a scraping spatula until just barely combined. Fold in berries. Divide mixture among muffin cups, about ¼ cup each. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and they pass the toothpick test cleanly.

Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before brushing with a scant bit of lemon curd or marmalade, if desired.

Rating: Oh, these are tasty. Nice classic muffin texture, and if classic, un-streusel-laden, white-flour blueberry muffins are your preferred option, I’m not sure there’s a better version out there. (No, this won’t stop me from trying, but this is the new standard to beat.) We tried them both ways, both with and without lemon curd. They were perfectly dandy without, but they were really delightful with it. 

They didn't need additional butter, which is handy, since we're rationing our usage of our remaining Hope Creamery butter. The creamery still housed in its home of more than 100 years is offline for some needed updates, and some supply chain issues are adding delay, so the spot where the butter is usually shelved has been achingly empty for weeks. I've had to supplement with the stuff that comes cut in sticks, which is handier and cheaper, but not nearly as good. Fingers crossed that this is resolved before holiday baking season or my baking reputation will be in tatters. It's not really me; it's that butter. 

Chicken wraps with mango salsa

 

 A weekend lunch option, or weekday if you make the salsa ahead and have cooked chicken on hand.

Chicken mango wrap
From “The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook”

Ingredients
½ cup diced tomato
½ cup chopped peeled mango
2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons diced red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
½ tablespoons minced jalapeño
4 flour tortillas
¼ cup sour cream
1½ cup shredded cooked chicken
¾ cup thinly sliced red cabbage

Method
Combine tomato, mango, bell pepper, onion, cilantro, lime juice and jalapeño in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and let set for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Heat tortillas according to package instructions. Spread each tortilla with 1 tablespoon of sour cream. Top with chicken, cabbage and salsa mixture. Err on the side of less than more. Roll up tortillas and serve seam-side down.

Rating: This makes a very nice salsa that I could see making again for its own sake. As for the wrap, well, there's nothing wrong with it that turning it into a taco wouldn't cure. It smacks of recipe generators sitting around a conference room saying, hey, how about we turn a taco into a wrap so it's a new recipe? I erred on the skimpy side when adding ingredients, based on previous wrap wrestling issues. But it was still a challenge to roll up and eat with any degree of grace as written. Since it made enough for 4, we had a second shot at it for lunch the next day and it worked much better when I used even skimpier toppings. Better to have leftovers of something than a hot mess you can't eat. As Dave said the first day, "No thanks, I'll wear it home." But if you made it as a taco with grilled chicken and just topped it with the cabbage, salsa and a small dollop of sour cream, I think it would be a winner.

 

This salsa  is a winner in its own right.

 

Glazed fig and gorgonzola tartlets

 

I made these once with the addition of cooked chopped bacon, shown above, which wasn't a bad choice, but they really don't need it so I usually opt for not including it since it makes it more accessible to more dietary restrictions. I've used what ever variety of blueish cheese I have on hand at the time and it seems to work fine.

 Fig and gorgonzola mini tarts

Adapted from Rachael Ray magazine, Sept. 2016; can no longer find the recipe online to link to, as there seems to have been some change to how recipes from the magazine are stored.

Ingredients
½ cup chopped dried black Mission figs
¾ cup ruby port (or a deep Merlot could work)
1 sprig fresh thyme plus more for garnish
1 (1.9-ounce) box frozen mini phyllo shells
2 ½ ounces Gorgonzola or blue cheese, crumbled

Method
Combine figs, port and thyme sprig in small sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until liquid has mostly evaporated and the figs are coated, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove and discard thyme sprig. (At this point you can let the mixture sit at room temperature for a bit before finishing final assembly.)

Preheat oven to 350. Put phyllo shells on a rimmed baking sheet. Divide crumbled cheese among shells. Top with glazed figs. Sprinkle with thyme leaves. Bake until heated through, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Rating: Not bad. Hard to go too far wrong with that flavor combo, and they get high marks for looks-to effort-ratio. They come together really quickly and don't result in a lot of dishes, but they look like you tried. They're fine warm or at room temperature. I'm sure they'd be better if you made your own phyllo shells, but then you wouldn't have the cool little plastic container they came in, which is just fun.