Posts tagged ‘ice cream’

The summer after my sophomore year of college, I got my first honest-to-god internship at a Pittsburgh TV station. What fun! Hobnobbing with Steve the weatherman, organizing Summerfest at Sandcastle water park, working on a Good Morning America live feed from the Pittsburgh Zoo. How could an ambitious gal like me pass it up? But this was an internship, which meant I was getting college credit instead of cold hard cash for my troubles, and therefore I was still bound to a family residence.

Logistics meant that if I stayed parentally supervised, I’d have an hour and a half commute each way to Pittsburgh. Not happening. I’d stay alone at my mom’s house while she was away for the summer. The continued sweet freedom of a college student!

Only there was no meal plan in an empty house, and though I’d been cooking small dishes like garlic green beans and herbed couscous (and yes, mac & cheese) in what passed for a dorm kitchen, this was my first chance to be cooking and feeding myself on a daily basis.

So my career as a kitchen wizard began. It’s funny that for someone who ended up so food-obsessed, I have absolutely no recollection of anything I ate or cooked that summer, save for one thing: I distinctly recall that a heaping plate of nachos and a foamy root beer float were my end-of-week reward for a job well done. Maybe even twice a week.

>> Read on to see what made the nachos and root beer combo so special. >>

Recently Dan and I were perusing the freezer aisles during one of our frequent Target visits (yes, we go to Target more than is probably healthy—it’s a bonding experience) when he started soliloquizing about the fatal flaw in Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream. It would be his favorite flavor, apparently, if only the chocolate ice cream were switched out for vanilla. “Oh, I can do that,” I said, and immediately wanted to pull those words right back into my mouth.

While I don’t advocate that a sane person undertake the task of making homemade fudge, caramel sauce, marshmallow fluff, and vanilla ice cream to create your husband’s dream ice cream flavor, one of those components is completely do-able in less time than it takes to try on a Liberty of London dress in one of those crazy Target particleboard dressing rooms.

May I present you with my recipe for the world’s easiest homemade marshmallow fluff. Use it for homemade fluffernutters, fold it into your vanilla ice cream along with some toasted coconut for a pseudo-macaroon sensation, spread it on chocolate bars and graham crackers and go to town with a kitchen torch.

Or, you know, go whole hog and make homemade Phish Food ice cream. It’s in the freezer right now, waiting for Dan’s verdict. I’ll keep you posted.
>> Read on for the marshmallow fluff recipe, ready in 15 minutes. >>

We’re on the hot seat this week over at Dinner Party as part of Lisa’s “What’s For Dinner?” feature. If you’ve ever wanted to compare and contrast our entertaining styles side by side, this is your lucky day.

And here’s a little something extra for you: below are recipes for two of the dishes mentioned in our Q&A, which we’ve found to be stellar selections at our parties. They’re great for crowds, but you might also find us spooning them out of our respective fridges after the cleanup is over.

Casey’s Mediterranean Orzo Salad (adapted from a Michael Psilakis recipe)

• 1/2 lb. orzo
• 1/2 lb. fresh green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces and blanched
• 1 jar artichoke hearts (packed in water, not oil), drained
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup julienned oil-packed sundried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled (or more if you’re a cheese fanatic like me)
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the green beans. Cook for 3-4 minutes to blanch, then strain out and transfer to a bowl of ice water; drain and reserve. Add the orzo to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water as well.

In a blender or food processor, puree 2 of the artichokes with the garlic, shallot, Dijon mustard, oregano and vinegar. Add the oil in a thin stream with the machine running until emulsified, then season with salt and pepper.

Chop the rest of the artichokes and mix with the orzo, green beans, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta. Toss with the vinaigrette and parsley just before serving and season again to taste.

Danielle’s Strawberry Ice Cream with Balsamic Vinegar

• 1/2 pint of milk
• 1/2 pint of heavy cream
• 4 oz. of sugar (Or use this wonderful vanilla sugar from Penzey’s, my favorite spice merchant)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract (omit if you use the vanilla sugar)
• 2 cups of strawberries
• Really good aged red label balsamic vinegar.  I spent about $30 smackers for mine at the Williams-Sonoma outlet but it is 2 years old and still fantastic. A little bit goes a looong way.

Clean the strawberries, mash them in a bowl with the sugar and place in the fridge. In a saucepan, combine the egg yolks and milk and heat to just before boiling. Transfer to a chilled bowl and place in the fridge for 3 hours. After it has cooled, add the cream, and fold in the strawberries/sugar and vanilla extract. Add the entire mixture to an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s directions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, or the frozen bowl that attaches to your mixing machine, then follow David Lebovitz’s directions. Scoop ice cream into dishes and finish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.