P.S. Heart: Vanilla Bean Blueberry Chip Ice Cream

I am so bad with produce.  I see something amazing at the store or the farmer's market, and I get so excited.  I buy whatever beautiful fruit or vegetable it is, and then a couple of weeks later, I find it in the back of my fridge growing a penicillin colony.  Horrible.  I've tried to do better (really!), but I almost ended up losing a pint of organic blueberries that I had coveted.  Since they weren't perfect like they were when I bought them and should have used them, I figured a different application was in order.  And what's better in the summer than homemade ice cream?  NOTHING.

Vanilla Bean Blueberry Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from P.S. Heart blog

4 egg yolks
1½ cups sugar
3 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 cup whipping cream
2½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 pint blueberries, cooked down with a little water to about 1 cup (do not add sugar when cooking them down!)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Whisk ½ cup of sugar into the egg yolks. Combine the egg yolk mixture with the milk, half and half, whipping cream, remaining sugar, and vanilla bean paste. Stirring constantly with a whisk, cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly and lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and add the cooked blueberries. Cool slightly, then refrigerate until cold.

Pour the cold mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and run. When the mixture gets thick, about 25 minutes, add the chocolate. The mixture will still be only soft-serve texture. Pour the mixture into a freezer-safe container, and freeze until solid.

Chow.com: Agua de Jamaica (Hibiscus Punch)

When I was in Guatemala, I kept seeing this beautiful drink everywhere.  Finally I decided to grab a glass.  Holy schmoly!  Who knew that some dried hibiscus flowers could make such a delicious drink?  It's a little tart, a little sweet, a little floral.  Very refreshing during the heat of summer.  Grab some dried hibiscus flowers on Amazon or at an ethnic grocer.

Agua de Jamaica (Hibiscus Punch)
Adapted from chow.com

3 quarts (12 cups) water
1½ cups dried hibiscus flowers (also known as flor de Jamaica)
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 1 large lime)

In a large pot, bring water to a boil over high heat.  Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the hibiscus flowers and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Let steep 10 minutes.

Strain through a chinois or fine mesh strainer into a large heat-resistant bowl or pot. Stir in the lime juice and set aside to cool. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve over ice.

Makes 3 quarts

Platanos en Mole (Plantains in Mole Sauce)

When I went to Guatemala with a friend years ago, the old lady we were staying with in Guatemala City made these amazing things for breakfast.  It seemed a little extravagant to have something so sweet and delicious so early in the morning, especially in a city where black bean puree rules.  I had to know what it was...plantains in a mole sauce.  Of course!  I latch on to chocolate like a drowning child.

Later in my visit, I was able to watch how these were made.  Along with some translation assistance from my friend, I even managed to get everything written down.  And then I never made them.  After everything that nice lady went through to show them to me.  Well, no more shame here, because I made them, and they were just as fabulous as I remembered.

Platanos en Mole (Plantains in Mole Sauce)

3 ripe plantains
1 heaping tablespoon pepitas (raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds)
1 heaping tablespoon unhulled sesame seeds
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 plum or Roma tomatoes
1 Mexican chocolate tablet
5 to 6 tablespoons sugar
3 cups water, divided
1 champurrada cookie (or 10 vanilla wafers)
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

Peel plantains and cut in diagonal slices. Fry in oil until browned. Scoop from the oil using a slotted spoon and set aside.

In a small pan, heat the pepitas, sesame seeds, and cinnamon stick, covered, over medium heat until the seeds brown slightly. Do not let them burn! Pour the spices into a blender with 2 cups of water and the chocolate tablet.

Using the same small pan, heat two plum tomatoes over medium-high heat until the skin is evenly charred. Dump the tomatoes into the blender with the spices. Add the sugar and blend until smooth, approximately one minute. Pour the liquid through a sieve to catch the seeds and press with the back of a spoon to squeeze out all the liquid.

Empty the liquid into a large pot. Heat until boiling. Add the plantain slices one at a time to keep them from sticking together. Add the vanilla extract and salt and bring the mixture back to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for about five minutes. The mixture should reduce by about a fourth.

Blend the cookie with 1 cup of water for about 30 seconds and then strain into the mole. Cook the mixture for another couple of minutes until the mixture is thickened.

Tex-Mex Summer Slaw

The beauty of summer is that I can walk into pretty much any produce section or farmer's market, randomly grab some vegetables, and know that when I get home, it's all going to taste AWESOME.  Everything is at its peak.  Its point of perfection.  I think that's why I wither a little in the winter.  My only options are winter squash and kale.  But for now I can eat beautiful salads like this one.

Tex-Mex Summer Slaw

4 ears fresh corn
¼ cup canola oil
½ head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, seeded, deveined, and minced
3 carrots, peeled and grated
3 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
Handful of cilantro, chopped

Dressing:
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1½ tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon Colman's dry mustard
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1½ teaspoons sea salt
2 small cloves garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Husk the corn and remove as much of the silk as possible.  Rub the corn cobs with the canola oil.  Grill until the cobs have some good dark grill marks and the corn softens slightly.  Set aside to cool.

Combine the cabbage, carrots, jalapeño, green onion, and cilantro.  Cut the kernels off the corn cobs and add to the vegetable mixture.

Combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk well.  Pour over the vegetable mixture and toss well.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.  Best served the day it is made.  If there will be a long delay in serving, wait to toss with the dressing until just before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Vanilla Bean Almond Rice Pudding

Sometimes you just need a big 'ol vanilla and almond hug.  Because let's be honest.  That's really what rice pudding is.  A big, warm food hug.  It gets down in your middle, all creamy and warm, and just makes everything seem not so bad.  Highly recommended.  Why pay for that expensive therapist when you can just make this?

Vanilla Bean Almond Rice Pudding

½ cup Arborio rice
2 cups whole milk
½ cup half-and-half
½ tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
½ teaspoon almond extract
Toasted sliced almonds, for sprinkling

Combine rice, milk, half-and-half, butter, and sugar in a medium pot and cook over medium-low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.  Stir in the vanilla bean paste and almond extract.  Serve warm, sprinkled with toasted almonds.

Makes 4 servings

Kraft Foods: Seafood Pasta Salad

It's too hot to turn on the oven.  Really.  And I don't want to crank my air any lower, or I might blow out the THIRD unit I've had in three years.  True story.  So what do you make when it's hot outside, and you're inside being all lethargic?  Salad.  And why not a seafood salad.  That's very summery.  Though I have to tell you, the original recipe called for 8 ounces fake krab.  Yes, I spelled it with a "k".  Because it's not real crab.  So I substituted canned tuna and shrimp.  Because that's one less thing to cook.  Win-win.

Seafood Pasta Salad
Adapted from Kraft Foods

½ to ¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup Zesty Italian salad dressing
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups corkscrew noodles, cooked, drained, and cooled
1 (5-ounce) can tuna, drained and flaked
1 (4-ounce) can tiny shrimp, drained
1 cup broccoli flowerets, blanched
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
½ cup tomato, seeded and chopped
¼ cup chopped green onion
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine mayonnaise, dressing, and cheese; mix well.  Add next seven ingredients; toss lightly.  Season with salt and pepper.  Chill before serving.

Makes 6 servings

Tom Perini: Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket

Okay, confession time.  I don't know how to grill, smoke, barbecue, or whatever else you want to call it.  Cooking meat over flame is not something I learned how to do.  (I swear, someone is going to come and take my honorary Texan card one of these days.)  That doesn't mean, however, that I don't love meat cooked over an open flame.  I just have to find alternate ways of making it until I figure out how this darn grill I inherited actually works.

I would say this recipe gets you about as close as possible to a good smoked brisket as you can get without the whole trailer smoker setup.  And that's saying something.  If it's pouring down rain, you don't know how to grill/smoke/barbecue, and you're too lazy to drive around town looking for some decent brisket, this is your savior.

Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket
From Tom Perini

2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 bay leaf, crushed
4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
1½ cups beef stock or a mixture of stock and Guinness beer
1 tablespoon liquid smoke

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard, and bay leaf. Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub. Place in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.

Add the beef stock, liquid smoke, and enough water to yield about ½ inch of liquid in the roasting pan. Lower oven to 300°F, cover pan tightly, and continue cooking for 3 hours, or until fork tender.

Trim the fat and slice the meat thinly across the grain. Top with juice from the pan or barbecue sauce.

Makes 10 servings

Confections of a Foodie Bride: Fresh Strawberry Cake

I used to ask for strawberry cake for my birthday every year.  The recipe my mom used was passed down from my grandmother, after all!  Well, that was until I realized that this "homemade cake" was a combination of a white cake mix, strawberry Jell-O, and frozen boxes of strawberries.  And my grandmother most certainly did not concoct the recipe for that neon pink cake.  I was a bit distraught until I came across a way to make a strawberry cake from scratch.  Novel concept, right?  It's not a bright neon pink, but it's still magically delicious.

Fresh Strawberry Cake
Adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride blog

For the strawberry puree:
24 ounces very ripe strawberries, hulled
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

For the cake:
¼ cup whole milk, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2¼ cup cake flour, sifted
1¾ cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup unsalted butter (1½ sticks), at room temperature

For the frosting:

1 (1-pound) box powdered sugar (about 3½ cups)
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Rough chop the strawberries, lightly toss with the sugar, and let sit for an hour or so until nice and juicy. Add ¼ cup water and then simmer in a small sauce pan for 5-10 minutes, until the berries are soft.  Pour the warm mixture into a food processor, and process until smooth.  Pour the puree back into the sauce pan and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly, to thicken. This step should yield 2 cups puree. Cool puree until ready to make the cake batter.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare two 8- or 9-inch round pans: spray inside with baking spray with flour (or use some sort of grease/flour combination).  If making cupcakes, spray two 12-cup cupcake pans with baking spray with flour or use paper cups to line the pans.

In small bowl, combine ¾ cup of the strawberry puree and the milk, egg, and vanilla, and mix with a fork until well blended. In the bowl of stand mixer, add the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add softened butter. Mix until combined and the mixture resembles moist crumbs. Add the wet ingredients and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until evenly combined. Stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds.

Note: The batter will not get any pinker in the oven so if you're disappointed in the color from your berries, maybe consider adding a drop or two of pink or red food coloring.

Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth the tops. Bake for about 20 minutes for 9-inch pans, 25 minutes for 8-inch pans, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary). Let the cakes rest in the pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks. Let the cakes cool completely (about 2 hours).

For the frosting, mix the powdered sugar and butter together. Add some of the strawberry puree, a spoonful at a time, until the frosting reaches spreading consistency.  You will not use all of the remaining strawberry puree.

Makes one (8- or 9-inch) 2-layer cake or 24 cupcakes

Chile Cheese Grits

I love cheese grits.  And it seems like everywhere you go these days, that's what they're serving.  But some of them just aren't up to snuff.  Note to Yankees: Sprinkling cheese on top of grits does not make them cheese grits.  It makes them grits with cheese on top.  I like mine creamy, cheesy, and a little bit salty, especially if they're being served alongside something sweet at breakfast.  Which means they need to be cooked in part water, part milk, and the cheese needs to be melted in.  A little green chiles for heat, and you've got grit perfection.

Chile Cheese Grits

2 cups water
2 cups whole milk
1 cup coarse, stone-ground white grits
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, finely shredded, plus additional for the top, if desired
1 large egg, beaten
1½ teaspoons sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Butter a 1-quart baking dish or 6 individual ramekins.

In a large heavy pot, bring the water and milk to a boil.  Sprinkle the grits into the mixture, stirring constantly, and return to a boil.  Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the grits are just tender, about 30 minutes.  Off the heat, stir in the butter and cheese, then stir in the egg.  Season with the salt, black pepper, and garlic powder, then mix in the green chiles.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es) and sprinkle with additional cheese, if desired. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour, until bubbling, puffed, and the top is golden.  Let the grits cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings

Martha Stewart: Classic Cherry Pie with a Butter Crust

My dad loves cherry pie.  The strange thing?  I don't ever really remember having it when I was a child.  I think maybe it's just a bit too complicated to be in the regular rotation.  Oh, and sour cherries are pretty much non-existent in this part of the country.  I almost fell over when I saw some in the frozen food aisle at Central Market.  I also knew I needed to make this pie for Father's Day.

Why, oh why, did I have to be this old before experiencing this pie?  This thing is amazing.  It's tart and sweet and buttery and crisp and all of the beautiful things a pie should be.  I seriously considered licking my plate.  Curse you, Central Market, and your frozen cherries!

Classic Cherry Pie with a Butter Crust
From Martha Stewart

2 pounds fresh sour cherries (or drained thawed frozen), pitted (about 6 cups)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pure almond extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Pâte Brisée

All-purpose flour, for surface
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Make the filling: Toss together cherries, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a bowl.

Make the crust: Roll out 1 disk pâte brisée to a ⅛-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Pour in filling; dot top with butter. Refrigerate while making top crust.

Roll remaining disk pâte brisée to a ⅛-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out 4 or 5 holes using a ¾-inch round cookie cutter. Place on top of pie.

Trim bottom and top crusts to a 1-inch overhang using kitchen shears, and press together to seal around edges. Fold edges under; crimp as desired. Freeze for 20 minutes.

Brush crust with egg wash. Bake pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet set on the middle rack, with a foil-lined baking sheet on bottom rack to catch juices, until pie is bubbling in center and crust is golden, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack, and let cool before serving.

Pâte Brisée

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

¼ to ½ cup ice water

Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Drizzle ¼ cup ice water evenly over mixture. Pulse until mixture holds together when pressed between 2 fingers (dough should not be wet or sticky). If dough is too dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse.

Shape dough into 2 disks, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.