i haven’t actually posted anything concerning food in a while…like since the 19th. it’s not that i haven’t been cooking, it’s that i have been cooking poorly. as i have mentioned before i do a lot of cooking on the weekends. well, this past weekend was a tough one. i wasn’t super busy or anything… on friday night i went out, to a bar that is, for a coworkers birthday. i never go out. hardly ever. and if i do it is almost always with my friend brooke. well, she figured that we hadn’t gone out since last may. over a year ago. we declared it was time. there is a bar in town called the red martini. they have open bar for the ladies (blech…hey ladies…) from 10-midnight. let me just say i’m a lush and i hate it. mostly.

so, saturday was a complete waste as i was nursing a pounding headache and generally feeling bad about life. this is why i don’t go out. i tried to make lemon-yogurt panna cotta with blueberry gelatin for shf, but failed miserably. there were gelatin globs in the blueberry gelatin layer. the panna cotta didn’t set up and the lemon zest was stringy and got stuck in my teeth. gross, gross, gross.

sunday i tried my hand at making roll-out midnight crackles, but put in double the amount of flour and i ended up with crumbly midnight pebbles. after throwing the whole mess into the trash, i promptly left my apartment for the cookie-drama-free apartment of brooke’s and did not return until well into the evening.

monday was too busy of an evening to re-attempt the cookie making. i went to a rocky votolato show. swoon, sigh, repeat. we stood up front and he sang all of my favorite songs. i am just going to say that i love rocky. i want to make him cookies. or jam. or a cake. i love that i started listening to him when sean and i began dating and that i have so many fond memories attached to his music. and that would be an understatement.so, finally to the ice cream sandwiches. the one productive thing i did on sunday was make the ice cream for the sandwiches. i made a blueberry and raspberry crème anglaise…but it wasn’t that berry-y. i think that i should have used more berries (i did about 15 oz.) or something. it turned out pretty good however, super rich and creamy with a touch of berry flavor. i did end up retrying the midnight crackle roll-outs. they are a pretty amazing, slightly spicy, dark chocolate cookie. perfect for ice cream sandwiches.* so, after all of that…i will be submitting this to shf hosted by susan from food blogga. the theme is berries…thus berry ice cream sandwiches. enjoy!

blueberry and raspberry ice cream
like i said, i didn’t use that many berries and this turned out much less berry-y than i anticipated…and also a light gray-purple color. quite appetizing. i use helen from tartlette’s ice cream recipe at a starting point and adapt from there.

1 1/2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
15 oz (or more!) mixture if blueberries and raspberries
2 tbsp sugar
1 lemon, juiced

whisk yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick, set aside. heat milk and cream in saucepan until just before the boiling point and remove from heat. do not boil. slowly temper the milk and cream into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. pour back into saucepan (at this point i usually pour it through a sieve just in case) and stir constantly over low heat until the custard mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.

cook berries in a medium saucepan with 2 tbsp sugar and the juice of one lemon, just until the berries burst and break down. place in a bowl and chill. i blended and strained the berries for a smooth puree, but that is completely optional.

cool completely in the refrigerator overnight.

this isn’t a food post. i just wanted an excuse to post some pictures of the dogs. this is my blog after all damnit. we took these–meaning sean took the photos and i read saveur–at the dog park at rancho san rafael on sunday. it was gray, cloudy and a storm was rolling in, completely beautiful.

luxe

jezebel

pals

bounding through the grasses

i have been eying these sables for a couple of weeks now. i set out the butter for them last weekend, but never got to it, put it back in the refrigerator and that was that. last saturday was a very busy day–i did much shopping and when i shop, i shop with an eye for sales. it takes all day. sunday we had dinner guests and i made blueberry frozen yogurt that never got posted because we devoured it before i could take any pictures. the work week leaves me with little to no motivation. i plan for my weekends and the ideal weekend for me is spent at home puttering around the house–cleaning, cooking, baking, snacking, reading, napping (ah, napping), and being as domestic as possible. some people aspire to climb the corporate ladder, i aspire to stay at home. i dream of aprons and kitchen appliances. let me just add that i am not some sort of backwards anti-feminist (and sorry if you are. really). i minored in women’s studies in college and i read feminist literature for leisure. essentially i believe in choices and opportunity. given many of both (though not all, we’re not there just yet kids…but that’s another blog for another time) i still choose domesticity.

personal politics aside, i made ample time for a domestic weekend, and i am so, so happy i did. sean and i picked up some potted herbs from trader joes–an “italian” trio and a “tea time” trio, which included oregano, thyme, and rosemary, and lemon balm, lemon verbana and pineapple mint…respectively. we went hunting for herbs at a couple of different nursery’s and even lowe’s, but the selections were dismal. we were late on the herb planting, but that is in part because i killed all the herbs we bought earlier this year when all the garden centers had plentiful supplies. luckily trader joe’s had a pretty good deal and much happier looking plants than anywhere else in town.

i used dorie greenspan’s recipe (surprise!) for sables from baking: from my home to yours, pages 131-133. i rubbed some lemon balm into the sugar and i swear it smelled just like lemon heads. unfortunately the lemon balm flavor didn’t come through that well, but they are still delightful and if you breath in through your nose as the cookie melts on your tongue you will get a pleasant, lemony herbal tone. they are buttery, just salty enough and beautifully sandy. and there ain’t nothin wrong with sweet butter and salt.

i didn’t coat the logs in decorative sugar like the recipe suggests because i didn’t have any, but they are still darn good. i am going to add this to my cookie repertoire since i can imagine numerous flavor combinations. plus they are just as god the next day as they are the first which means they will be a good holiday cookie.

i know that i have posted about sorbet twice before, but its good okay? and easy to make, refreshing, light, mmmm… so what? i like sorbet. i bought some santa rosa plums last week and they were ripe and so juicy. we actually had to hunch forward when eating them out of hand to save the juices from running down our shirts. this, to sean and i, is not a bad thing when eating fresh fruit. in my enthusiasm i bought about ten plums, which means we ate half and i made this sorbet with the rest.

the sorbet came out a beautiful jewel-toned pink, since i kept the skins on and strained them out after blending. i used the juice of one lime to brighten the flavor and added a few grates of fresh ginger which added a nice spiciness. i think all the flavors were lovely and a nice departure from what i usually put together. i garnished it with a bit of lemon balm (which we will be seeing again soon…) for contrast. i could also see this sorbet and lemon balm muddled in a glass with light rum as a nice cocktail…in fact i may be trying that tonight.

santa rosa plum and ginger sorbet
feel free to adjust the amount of ginger, i used about 1/8 of a teaspoon which made it pretty gingery.

5-6 small plums (golf-ball sized)
juice of one lime
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp fresh grated ginger

roughly chop plums (pits removed) and place in a medium saucepan with remaining ingredients. bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until plums have broken down a bit–about five minutes. remove from heat and cool. pour mixture into a blender and blend until smooth, strain and cool completely in refrigerator before freeaing in ice cream machine.

two consecutive nights that is. sunday night sean’s friend came over with his girlfriend for pizza and beers and weeds. they brought their border collie puppy, lina, over to play with luxe and jezebel, which is always fun. we ate and drank and were merry. the toppings: tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella–classic and tasty. monday night we repeated the pizza grilling (much to sean’s delight), except i drank iced tea, watched scrubs and had our pups for company. the toppings: tomato, spicy italian sausage, onions and fontina–so good.

i was a bit wary about grilling pizza, but i have been wanting to try it–as well as making a yeast dough. the proverbial two birds one stone. it was a great success and i already have plans to make another batch and the topping combinations are cycling endlessly through my brain. it was a great and welcome reprieve from the grill standards of burgers and hot dogs…not that i dislike either…

i used deb’s recipe for the crust and subbed half of the flour with whole wheat flour. i made a simple tomato sauce that i didn’t record, so i suggest using your fave. i also rolled the crust really thin, since i enjoy crispy-crunchy crust.

*i did double the recipe and freeze one half, which i used for monday night. it defrosted well and tasted great.

**i should also add that one should grill one side of the crust, flip, top it (on the grilled side) and grill the other side. this ensures pizza perfection.

this is probably one of sean’s favorite things to eat and i make it often. it is a psuedo-chinese sesame chicken that i adapted from a martha stewart recipe. i really like it as well, and it makes for a pretty quick meal. the sauce makes a nice glaze for the chicken and it it both sweet and spicy, and the apricot lends a nice flavor. it also makes for a nice reheated lunch the next day…if there is any leftover. plus, it can be made in one pan, which is always a plus as i tend to use a lot of dishes when i cook.

(i used different lighting…you can totally tell. haha)

i simply dredge the chicken in cornstarch instead of batter it–i find that this method makes for a less soggy coating once tossed with the sauce. i don’t really understand the point of battering chicken if it is just going to soak up a sauce and become soggy. completely pointless. sometimes i serve it with steamed broccoli and sometimes with zuchinni. if i have green onions on hand i like to sprinkle them on top as well. serve with steamed rice and enjoy!

Honey-Apricot Sesame Chicken
if i have homemade jam on hand i use that and omit the ginger. otherwise a jam made with less sugar (not fake sugar) works nicely as the apricot flavor comes through better.

adapted from marthastewart.com
Serves 4

2 tablespoons honey
3 tbsp apricot jam
1/8 tsp grated ginger
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
5 tbsp tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
½-1 tsp red pepper flake
¼ of a small onion, diced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks
Coarse salt
vegetable oil

In a small bowl, combine honey, jam, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and ginger; set aside. Season chicken with salt and dredge in cornstarch. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate paper towel lined plate; repeat, adding more oil if needed.
Add more oil to the pan if needed and add red pepper flake, heat for about thirty seconds. Cook onions, garlic, and thinly sliced zuchinni in the pan with the red pepper, when zuchinni is tender add sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Return all the chicken to skillet and toss with sauce to coat and cook until chicken is heated through, cook longer if a thicker sauce is desired. Serve with steamed white or brown rice.

i don’t want to seem like i’m not humble or anything, but these muffins are good. to quote elliot, “frick,” these are good. frick yes.

i was lying (laying?, i can never remember) in bed the other night, thinking of things i could bake in the following days. yes, i think about food before i go to sleep and pretty much all of the other times of the day. i decided muffins would be good (cake for breakfast!), but there were stipulations: 1) be thrifty, use what we have 2) be universally appealing, most will be going to work 3) be different, something new.

i don’t know if these have been made before in some form or another. so, as far as i know they are my brainchild…brainmuffin? i had a package of graham crackers in the freezer and only a stick and a half of butter in the refrigerator. i could have purchased more butter…because i frickin’ love it with all my heart and soul…but, muffins usually dry out pretty quickly for me. i think it must be the desert that we live in. so, i decided to sub in some veg oil along with the butter. it worked and the muffins were still buttery, because i definitely made sure that there was more butter than oil in the recipe. if i had some nuts around i would have added those to the crumbs, but alas i did not. dang. the crumb is moist and tender, and the flavor is slightly cinnamony with a nice crumbly crunch from the graham-crumb topping.

i think these muffins were pretty frickin’ good. i also think that they would be a nice, kid-friendly muffin, since i work in a preschool and i have noticed that kids consume graham crackers by the pallet-full on a weekly basis.

graham cracker crumb muffins
makes 12 muffins

this recipe is adapted from dorie greenspan…as are many of my baking endeavors. use all butter if you want (8 tbsp), but if your climate is dry this might work nicely for you as well.

preheat oven to 375 F and grease muffin tins, or use paper liners.

crumbly topping:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces

mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined well and desired crumb size is achieved. i put mine in the freezer while i made the muffin batter and broke it up again when i was ready to use it. this made for a nice, chunky crumb texture.

muffins:
1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsps flour
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

combine flour, graham crumbs, sugars, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl–whisk making sure that there are no brown sugar lumps.

in another bowl whisk milk, melted/cooled butter, oil, eggs and vanilla. pour wet mixture over dry and combine–stirring gently with a whisk or spatula until just combine. lumps are okay! divide evenly into muffin tins and top with graham crumb mixture. bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. allow to cool for at least 5 mins so you don’t burn your mouth and hands. enjoy!

so, that vat of sangria i made for the fourth? we did not drink all two gallons. we drank all of it save for a cup and a half. yup. it’s true, nearly two gallons of sangria gone.

what to do, what to do? i decided that sangria sorbet would be nice. oh. it. was. nice.

i had about two cups of peaches and strawberries, that were not soaked in rum, leftover. i pureed those with a syrup made of equal parts sugar and sangria, gave it a couple turns in the ice cream machine and we had sorbet. a boozey, soft, delicious sorbet.

sangria sorbet
the sangria i made contained red wine, rum, peaches, strawberries, limes, oranges, and orange juice simple syrup. i am sure you could buy sangria, but i like to soak some of the fruit in some rum overnight and then mix it all together. i don’t know that this is authentic, but it is damn good. damn.

1 1/2 cups prepared sangria
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 loosely packed cups of fruit

heat sangria and sugar in saucepan until sugar is dissolved. bring to a quick boil (i would say no more than 1 minute) and cool. put fruit and sangria syrup in the pitcher of a blender and blend away until smooth. strain if desired. cool mixture completely in refrigerator. freeze in ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions.

note: due to alcohol content sorbet may not set up very well in machine…mine was pretty slushy like a blended margarita. drink it this way or put into a container and freeze for four hours or more. it will set up a bit harder this way. i enjoyed it both ways.

sean and bailey being silly little guys.

yesterday was a pretty fun and relaxing time laughing, drinking and eating with friends. we live in a second story unit in a complex of identical apartments. i like it well enough most of the time, i get to maintain my anonimity fairly well, but when the fourth of july rolls around i feel twinges of nostalgia for fourth of july’s spent with my family in eureka, nevada. many of my family members live there and the fourth of july is pure small-town-americana: egg tossing, 3-legged couples races, beer drinking, parading, float building, grilling, cowboys, and fireworks. all of the festivities are situated right on the main road…which happens to be an expanse of highway 50 that proclaims it is the “friendliest town on the loneliest road in america”. they literally shut down the highway for the greater part of the morning and early afternoon, travelers have to detour. seriously. i do not normally long for eureka, in fact i avoid visits there almost always. too small, too remote, and too rural…and i am too liberal, so i’ve been told. maybe next year.

instead, we had a small gathering of friends that are like family. katie and casey, bailey, josh, sean and myself. i made burgers, potato salad, grilled asparagus, sangria and mini pound cakes. i used dorie greenspan’s recipe, but in miniature and my loaves were not expertly marbled. my last attempt at pound cake had a large crater in the center, but this time i left the oven door closed and walked away until the timer called. i felt pretty accomplished. they came out beautifully–tender and delicious with whipped cream and ice cream…as well as alone.

i hope everyone celebrating had a good time, good food and drink, and good company.

i know, that title is pretty much a mouthful, but since this ice cream is so creamy and wonderful…it really is a tasty mouthful at that. also, to the people in my life that really know me, i am not the biggest fan of strawberry things. i have had a lifelong aversion to strawberry jam and other strawberry flavored items…the texture of the strawberries weirds me out and i have a few unsavory choice names that i call them. but, since i discovered the pairing of strawberries and balsamic and homemade jam, this has changed. seriously. i find myself spooning strawberry jam straight out of the refrigerator and dipping the fresh fruit (and other fruits) into a little bowl of balsamic. i am a fiend. i suppose my vices could be worse.

so, i know it is the fourth of july for those of us in the US, but i wanted to post this really quickly before my friends arrive for our party. yay party! i pretty much made 2 gallons…yes, gallons…of sangria. it will be a pretty fun time.

anyhow, back to the ice cream. i decided to make this after my friend amber and her beau, brian, visited from nyc. we went to the chocolate bar and i had a pretty wonderful drink called strawberry infusion. i seriously could have consumed ten of these…and stumbled down the street and into the river. it was basically made with vodka, strawberries, lime, balsamic and cracked pepper. soooooo good. for the ice cream, i borrowed this recipe from one of my faves, tartlette. i basically followed the general base and did my own thing with the rest. to the custard i added 2 tsp balsamic vinegar and about 1/4 cup of strawberry balsamic jam that was sitting in my refrigerator. like i said, super creamy. the balsamic was pretty delightful in this, not too strong, and as always complimentary with the strawberry. in retrospect i should have been braver and added some cracked pepper. dang.

let me just tell you that this is going to be a pretty delightful treat to go with the mini chocolate and vanilla pound cakes i made today…more on those later. hopefully we can enjoy the two together while we toast sangria and beers and watch the fireworks from our balcony. have a happy holiday!