Tag ice cream

End of Summer Nostalgia: Ice Cream Recipes

1 comment By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in General Tagged with ice cream, ice cream maker, ice cream recipe, NUMI tea, summer August 4th, 2009 @ 9:37 pm

The other day, I was reminiscing about my childhood experiences at sleep-away camp. I was never the superstar athlete so I always opted for crafts, archery (I got to stand still, no running involved, score!), and of course, cooking. Typical of a children’s summer camp, we made ice cream a lot – the old-fashioned way. It may have been the recipe or just my lack of arm strength, but I never really made it all the way to the ice cream stage in these activities. My arms would get tired from churning or my lanyard would start calling my name and I would abandon my ice cream as the ice melted into the rock salt.

Now that state of the art ice cream makers have hit the market with a bang, I figure it is worth another try. I even saw an ice cream maker at Sur La Table that dispenses your toppings (sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc) right on top of your freshly made ice cream! Now talk about a little kid’s dream. And speaking of innovations, I might even try experimenting with trendy (healthy and organic) flavors a la Bi-Rite Creamery or Humphry Slocombe. Pink Grapefruit-Tarragon? Kumquat-Poppy Seed? These flavors do sound amazing, but here is something truly unique! Parties That Cook founder, Bibby Gignilliat, developed an ice cream recipe for our friends at NUMI Organic Tea who infuse delicious, organic teas with fresh and unusual flavors. This ice cream recipe features NUMI’s Chocolate Puerh tea and it is beyond delicious! Move over Humphry.

NUMI TEA CHOCOLATE PUERH ICE CREAM

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out into the milk
2 bags Numi Chocolate Puerh Tea
8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Infuse Milk: In a heavy saucepan, heat the cream, milk and the split and scraped vanilla bean until the milk begins to boil slightly around the edges. Turn off the heat. Remove the Numi tea from the tea bag and add it to the milk/cream mixture. Let it steep for 10 minutes.

Make Ice Cream Custard: In a large bowl, whisk yolks, sugar and salt until pale. Gradually whisk hot cream/milk mixture into yolk/sugar mixture. Return to saucepan. Stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat until the custard thickens and leaves a path on the back of a spoon when a finger is drawn across it (about 2-3 minutes) or when the temperature reaches 160ºF (do not boil!). Pour through a strainer into a bowl over an ice bath. Whisk to cool quickly.

Churn Ice Cream: Process custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Place in the freezer in an air-tight container. Allow the ice cream to set completely before serving (1 –2 hours).

For an ice cream maker, Bibby is partial to Simac’s ice cream machine but suggests Cuisinart’s Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Maker for something a little more cost effective.

We have also just updated our dessert recipes section with 5 new delicious ice cream recipes!:
Mint Ice Cream with Scharffen Berger Cocoa Nibs
Ginger Ice Milk
Homemade Spice Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream
White Chocolate and Amaretti Ice Cream

Never rule out smoothie recipes as well! Regardless of season, a smoothie is always a refreshing treat after a long day or a healthy dessert treat.

Coupled with a shiny new machine, I think this recipe will go over much better than my vanilla soup attempts of yesteryear.

Contributed by Leigh Hermansen

Small Town Values: Garlic and Arts Festival

1 comment By The Kitchen Whisperer Filed in General, Menus & Recipes, News & Events Tagged with aioli, cloves, food festivals, garlic, Garlic and Arts Festival, hummus, ice cream, katherine hunt, local farmers, Massachusettsm, North Quabbin, Orange, parties that cook, tapenade October 21st, 2008 @ 4:05 pm

Contributed by Guest Blogger Katherine Hunt

“Main Street” has received a lot of attention these days. On a weekend in late September, I made my own investigation into small-town life, but not to find out how the people there plan to vote, or whether or not they’ve started saving their pennies. Instead, I went to eat.

During my trip to the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, in Orange, Massachusetts (population 3,950), I concluded that small town folks value delicious food. Maybe urbanites like me have more in common with that constituency than recent news reports would have me believe. At this year’s festival, visitors could sample garlic ice cream, hot pepper relish, chai tea, pickles, honey, apple cider, doughnuts, bread, maple cotton candy, and, of course, cloves of garlic. Farmers from around New England sold fresh vegetables and herbs, and displayed their animals, including ducks, rabbits, geese, and alpacas. Artists, weavers and woodworkers also peddled their wares.

The Garlic and Arts Festival attracts around 10,000 visitors each year, according to Brian Eno, one of the festival organizers. Amazingly, the previous year’s festival produced only two bags of trash – nearly everything, from silverware to water bottles to food leftovers, ends up as compost.

The Friday night before the festival gates officially opened, about one hundred volunteers and vendors enjoyed the culinary apex of the weekend: a dinner on the festival grounds to celebrate their work. Brian Eno prepared homemade hummus, tapenade, and a potent aioli featuring local garlic. At an outdoor bread oven, he baked loaf after loaf of wheat bread to accompany his spreads. And for a smaller group of his personal guests, he baked a stew-like concoction of feta and vegetables, and a pot of rice and venison.

As the evening started to cool off, people took their fresh bread and beer and circled around the fire that had been built nearby. They talked about what they wanted to eat the next day – the maple cotton candy and the pepper relish came up often – and they talked about people from previous festivals they were excited to see again. A handful stayed until late at night, drinking, putting more wood on the fire, and watching many, many stars blink overhead. Which you just don’t get to see in the city.