posting again soon. for real.

tuesday night = pizza night.

so we've decided that every tuesday will now be pizza night, where we make our own pizzas (well, store bought dough, but maybe when we have more time...)

tonight:

shrimp, bacon, and leek pizza.

_____________

10/7 Dinner

the menu:

Edamame Hummus

Cheddar Ale Soup w/ Leeks Vinaigrette


Plum Crumble with Ginger Ice Cream and Salted Caramel Sauce

_________________________________

the verdict:

Delicious!

perfect ginger ice cream

I love ginger ice cream, and ever since I received an ice cream maker a few years ago, it was one of my top recipes to try. So the first time I made ginger ice cream, about a year ago, it was a bit of a trial. It was the first time I ever made ice cream the "custard method" and it was... well, not bad but not good. Really, it just wasn't as good as the time it took should have been. Oddly, it wasn't gingery enough - the vanilla extract the recipe called for overpowered, making it more like a slightly tangy vanilla ice cream. Not really what I was going for.


So tomorrow, to entertain a friend of Hilary's, we are making dinner, the desert being a plum crumble with ginger ice cream and salted caramel sauce. So, once again, I got to try the elusive perfect ginger ice cream.


The recipe (from http://www.mytartelette.com/2010/09/dark-chocolate-brownies-ginger-ice.html)
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
1 cup (200gr) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons freshly and very finely grated ginger


In a large saucepan, stir together the cream, milk, sugar and ginger. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium low heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and let steep as it cools to room temperature. Refrigerate, preferably overnight. Strain if desired.
Process the mixture into your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's intructions.


My adaptations:
first, I did strain it. String bits of grated ginger in my ice cream just didn't seem appealing. I used organic sugar, which didn't really change anything except maybe the color a little bit. Then chilled it overnight.
second, about five minutes before it was done freezing, I added about 2/3 a jar of candied ginger, for texture and because, well, it's fun.


The taste:
perfectly gingery, without going over the top. very rich and creamy, despite just using milk and cream and not the custard method. yes, it still needs to rest in the freezer ("ripen" as it were), but it's pretty incredible just as it is.


tomorrow, I'll post about the dessert as a whole...

this week, we're going to use one of our wedding shower presents: our new slow cooker. for the inaugural meal: cheddar ale soup (from the better homes and gardens slow cooker recipe book).

been terrible about posting, lots of stuff to post about... this week? wedding planning and other peoples weddings have kind of taken over so... yeah...

until the next entry:

Dave's current food obsession: Chinese 5 Spice Powder

So for a long time I had been intrigued by Chinese 5 Spice powder. After seeing it in recipes and hearing about it on cooking shows I really wanted to try it, but never had the opportunity...

Flash forward a few months - Hilary and I were looking for recipes to make and I remembered a recipe I had bookmarked when I was going through an obsession with Pumpkin recipes.  It was from one of my favorite food blogs, Coconut and Lime.

(The recipe is here; we really didn't change it at all. We loved the subtle spiciness along with the pumpkin, as well as that beautiful yeasty flavor you can only get from good sweet rolls. As an added plus they reheat very well, so if you don't feel like overindulging....)

So since then... well, I've been trying to find more uses for it.

My most recent applications have been on the sweeter end. The other morning I made some oatmeal for breakfast, chopped up some peaches, and mixed in some five spice powder and sugar. Really, I was just using it instead of cinnamon...

The night before we made grilled peaches and ice cream for dessert and wanted a sauce of some sort. Not having the time or ingredients to make a caramel sauce, we started melting some brown sugar and butter. Then it hit me - 5 spice powder!

(sadly, no pictures, but here's the recipe!)

for the peaches:
2 white peaches, halved
2 tablespoons cane sugar
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon butter

vanilla ice cream, slightly melted

for the sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon of five spice powder
pinch of salt
tablespoon of butter
1/8 cup honey

- mix the sugar and ginger in a small bowl, set aside
- melt a tablespoon of butter in the bottom of a grill pan
- halve peaches and sprinkle cut sides with sugar/ginger mixture (if you're worried about it sticking, use a little butter. ours were pretty juicy so the sugar stuck on well) and place, cut side down, into grill pan
- in a small saucepan, place water, brown, and cane sugar, and put over medium heat
- when sugars melt, add five spice powder, pinch of salt, butter, and honey, and then stir until it comes to a boil; remove from heat
- peaches should take 5-10 minutes. flip them and grill the tops for just a few minutes (to soften them a little) then place them in a bowl, cut side up.  top with 2 scoops of ice cream and drizzle with sauce.

My thoughts: a little goes a long way with the five spice powder. It accents the sweetness of the peaches very well, without killing or masking the ginger/sugar mixture on the peaches themselves.

Hilary's thoughts: Much better than typical ice cream sauce, as it not only enhanced the ice cream, but also had tons of flavor.

Welcome to our Blog!

To start off our blog, we decided to just put up our menu for the first week we spent living together. Links to recipes to come... (either our own or others).

Sunday: Pizza - Sauteed Leek and Shrimp; Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, and Mozzarella
Monday: Hilary's Lemon Pasta
Tuesday: Blackened Salmon Tacos and Grilled Zucchini
Wednesday: out (Olive Garden)
Thursday: Grilled Tuna Steaks and Rice with Cranberry Bean Salad
Friday: (lunch) Grilled Vegetable Paninis w/ Zucchini, Onions, Pesto, Smoked Mozzarella, Tomatoes (Hilary) Red Bell Pepper (Dave)
Saturday: Crab Salad w/ Mango Habanero Salsa
Sunday: Heirloom Tomato Bread Pudding and Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

* most of the vegetables were bought at either the Madison or the Morris Plains Farmers Market

more to come...

Dave