Sep 21

A Refined Yet Simple Dessert, Coffee Ice Cream Made at Home

For a dinner party that we had recently at our house there was no question for dessert that I was going to make homemade ice cream. The more important question was which flavor was I going to make? Initially I thought to make peach ice cream, then I thought that I was going to get fancy and make three batches and serve Neapolitan (scoops on vanilla, chocolate and strawberry). However, I was not going to have enough time. In the end I decided to go with Coffee Ice Cream, a flavor that is refined, well suited for an adult only dinner and for only one flavor is deep and rich in its complexity.

Homemade Coffee Ice Cream Scoop in a Bowl

Homemade Coffee Ice Cream Topped with a Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean

Now that I knew I was going to make Coffee Ice Cream, which recipe was I going to shamelessly modify and use in the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker. There is no lack of coffee ice cream recipes on the internet. In the end I selected Emeril Lagasse’s Coffee Ice Cream Recipe as a starting point mostly because he used instant coffee as the flavoring versus steeped or brewed coffee, both with can vary widely in strength and flavor.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups Whipping Cream
  • 2 Cups Half-N-Half
  • 3/4 Cup White Sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons Instant Coffee Granules
  • 6 Egg Yolks
  • 1/8 Teaspoon (heavy pinch) Table Salt

Preparation:

  1. Heat on medium the 2 Cups of Hal-N-Half in a sauce pan stirring regularly until it is hot and steaming, but not boiling. Set the sauce pan to the side.

    Half-N-Half In Sauce Pan to be Heated

    Half-N-Half In Sauce Pan to be Heated

  2. In the KitchenAid mixing bowl, add the egg yolks, sugar and instant coffee and mix for two minutes on speed setting 2.
    Dry Ingredients for Homemade Coffee Ice Cream

    Dry Ingredients for Homemade Coffee Ice Cream in Mixing Bowl

    Dry Ingredients for Homemade Coffee Ice Cream Mixed Together

    Dry Ingredients for Homemade Coffee Ice Cream Mixed Together

  3. Add the heated Half-N-Half to the mixing bowl and mix for another two minutes on speed setting 2.
  4. Transfer the entire contents back to the sauce pan and heat on medium, stirring regularly until small bubbles appear at the edge of the sauce pan. Do not allow the ice cream batter to boil.

    Coffee Ice Cream Batter Being Heated in Sauce Pan

    Coffee Ice Cream Batter Being Heated in Sauce Pan

  5. Once bubbles form transfer the ice cream batter to a large bowl through a wire sieve to screen any undissolved instant coffee granules.

    Coffee Ice Cream Batter Being Strained

    Coffee Ice Cream Batter Being Strained for Solids

  6. Then add the whipping cream, salt and thoroughly mix all ingredients together.

    Coffee Ice Cream Batter Ready to be Chilled

    Homemade Coffee Ice Cream Batter Ready to be Chilled

  7. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least eight hours (highly recommended to chill overnight for more than eight hours).
  8. Follow the instructions provided by KitchenAid to set up the ice cream maker attachment. Once the churning paddle is turning on speed setting 1 then pour in the coffee ice cream batter.

    KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker with Coffee Ice CReam Batter Added

    Coffee Ice Cream Batter Just Into KitchenAid Bowl

  9. Between 15 – 20 minutes later the ice cream batter will have transformed into soft serve ice cream.

    Coffee Ice Cream Ready to be Packed

    Homemade Coffee Ice Cream Ready to be Packed

  10. Scoop into air tight containers and place in the freezer for at least four hours in order for the ice cream to properly set.

To date, I have made Date, Peach and Vanilla ice cream and all have been well received. However, the Homemade Coffee Ice Cream made for the dinner party was real success. The dinner guests are friends that I have known for many years and desserts are not necessarily the course in which seconds will be eaten. However, to a person everyone readily accepted another helping Homemade Coffee Ice Cream.

Whether you use a KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker or another homemade ice cream maker, using the original recipe without deviation or follow the ingredients and instructions in this post you are sure to be successful in making Homemade Coffee Ice Cream.

 

Sep 20

Borscht – Beetroot Soup

Coming to the end of the summer means that root vegetables start to become more abundant in the shops, including one of my favourites, beetroot (or just beets). During the summer I do like to just harvest young beetroot shoots for adding to pasta, but now that the beets are older the shoots aren’t as nice. As a child, I hated beetroot, I think because it was always pickled, and to me the taste was too strong. Now my palate has matured I love cooked beetroot’s natural sweet and earthy flavour.

Beetroot

Beetroot

Borscht is a beetroot soup that originated in the Ukraine, but many other European countries have their own versions, including some cold types of soup that include yoghurt which causes the borscht to take on a very unappetising pink colour. Regular beetroot soup has a deep, dark red colour and is simply made from beetroot, onions and stock, but additions such as tomatoes, bacon, potatoes, cabbage, leeks, etc are also common.

One problem with cooking with beetroot, is that peeling and chopping it can get a bit messy, but if you peel the beetroot under running water, it will help prevent the red staining of your hands. However you can rub your hands with some salt and lemon juice, and then rinse with soapy water if you forget.

Simple Beetroot Soup

Ingredients

  • 6 medium beetroot, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
  • 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • 1.5 pints (700ml) of chicken stock
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Gently sauté the onion and garlic in a pan and then add the beets, tomato.

    Making borscht

    Making borscht

  2. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until the beets are tender.

    Making beetroot soup

    Making beetroot soup

  3. Liquidise the soup until smooth, using a blender or food processor and return to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and then serve. Add a small spoon of sour cream as a garnish. Any leftovers can be easily be frozen.

    Borscht - Beetroot Soup

    Borscht – Beetroot Soup

Sep 19

Crockery Gourmet Chicken

I love my crock pot but I will be honest, if I am pulling it out; I want dinner to be super easy. I do not want to cut fresh herbs. I do not want to dirty 5 measuring cups. I do not want to do anything other than throw it all in and walk away until dinner.

I am also usually feeding my family of five at three different times; me and the little ones, then my teen after football practice and finally, my dear husband when he gets in from work. Try doing that with full roast chicken dinner and two serving dishes?

In the aisle of my grocery, there is a whole section of powdered conveniences. There are seasoning packets for meatballs, pulled pork, beef stew & BBQ chicken. Sometimes I will peruse them looking for inspiration in making a fresh meal from scratch (minus the powdered mixes).  For this post, I am using it ‘as is’.  My favorite is the Crockery Gourmet Chicken by Superior Touch.

Packaged Crock Pot Seasoning

Crockery Gourmet Chicken!

The original directions make a “stew” but it also offers a suggestion for an alternative: “Chicken a la King”.   I thought to try the chicken a la king because I fondly remember it being mentioned in Dr. Seuss’ “The Nose Book“.

But just suppose
you had no nose!
Then you
could never
smell
a rose…
…or pie, or chicken a la king.
You’d never smell a single thing.

For this recipe meal, you will need your crock pot large enough to fit a whole chicken or pieces (bone-in), and a rice cooker.  You can make rice anyway you prefer but I am a huge fan of the rice cooker, no pot to clean, just a quick rinse of the rice cooker.

Into the crock pot:  one whole chicken, 8 ounces of frozen peas, 3 large chopped carrots, 8 ounces of mushrooms, the seasoning packet mixed with 2 cups of cold water poured over the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8.

The packet recipe calls for potatoes and canned mushrooms but I prefer to omit the potatoes and use fresh mushrooms.  I do not know if it really makes a difference so experiment!

When done, remove the chicken to a platter.  It will fall from  the bone in pieces so I prefer to use the lifting rack that came with my my crock pot. Separate the chicken pieces from the bone.

When it is done, place a cup of the rice in a serving bowl and top with some chicken. Then pour the sauce, including the vegetables, over the rice.

cc image courtesy of LynMcMeen on wearenotfoodies.com

Chicken a la King with the help of Crockery Gourmet

 

 

Sep 18

The Crunchy Sweet Potato Fries Experiment

Though sweet potatoes aren’t any better for your waistline than normal white potatoes, they do have a different taste and can help make a difference to a boring meal. One problem when substituting normal potatoes with sweet potatoes when you make fries with them is that they don’t get crispy or crunchy, they just end up soggy and limp, whether you fry or oven bake them. I looked into the problem of why you can’t get crunchy sweet potato fries and found a few options to try and get better results.

Crunchy Sweet Potato Fries

Crunchy Sweet Potato Fries

The first method suggested soaking them in water for a few hours, drying them and then baking them. Another suggested blanching them in boiling water for a minute or so, stopping them cooking with iced water, drying them and then baking them. A third method suggested tossing the sweet potato fries in corn starch (corn flour), then baking them. In the interest of science, I tried all three methods to determine what works the best.

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Method 1: Soaking the sweet potatoes in water

This method is meant to help draw out starches from the sweet potatoes fries in the same way that this helps when making French Fries with normal potatoes. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into batons. Place them in a bowl, cover with cold water and leave to soak for a couple of hours. Drain the sweet potatoes and allow them to dry. Place on a lightly oil baking sheet, drizzle with a little oil and place in a 450F (230C) oven for 15 to 20 mins until brown.

Soaking the sweet potatoes in water

Soaking the sweet potatoes in water

Method 2: Blanching the sweet potatoes

This method also follows a technique used with normal French Fries. Prepare the sweet potatoes fries and place into boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the sweet potato fries and plunge into iced water to prevent further cooking. Drain the fries, and allow them to dry. Place on a lightly oil baking sheet, drizzle with a little oil and place in a 450F (230C) oven for 15 to 20 mins until brown.

Blanching the sweet potatoes

Blanching the sweet potatoes

Method 3: Coating the sweet potatoes in corn starch

This method forgets about try to create a crispy sweet potato fry and creates a coating to become crispy. As before, prepare the sweet potato batons. Place some corn starch into a plastic bag, add a few sweet potato fries into the bag and shake the bag to coat each of them with corn starch. Remove the fries from the bag, and as before place on a lightly oil baking sheet, drizzle with a little oil and place in a 450F (230C) oven for 15 to 20 mins until brown.

Coating the sweet potatoes in corn starch

Coating the sweet potatoes in corn starch

Now which method worked the best? Well soaking in water, didn’t make any difference for me. I really made sure that the fries were dry before cooking them, but they seemed to end up soggier than normal. Blanching, or par-cooking the sweet potatoes beforehand worked slightly better than normal, but the clear winner was coating the sweet potato fries in corn starch before cooking.

Corn Starched Sweet Potato Fries ready for baking

Corn Starched Sweet Potato Fries ready for baking

One thing to note when baking sweet potato fries in the oven is not to crowd them. Give them room to breathe and get rid of as much water as possible.

 

Sep 17

Simple Stir Fried Broccoli, Easy as 1-2-3

If there is one thing that I have learned over the past few years is the simplicity is not to be overlooked when preparing a meal. There is something about the flavors and texture of quick stir fried broccoli with oyster sauce in a wok that has made it one of my most favorite ways to prepare a vegetable for a meal.

Broccoli Stir Fried with Oyster Sauce and Minced Garlic

Stir Fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce on Dinner Plate

This recipe was taught to me by my friend. The great thing about recipes given to you by friends is that you know that they are tried and tested. Of course it does help if you have eaten the dish prior to asking for the recipe. The downside of recipes from friends is that they are usually given to you verbally and more often than not, there is some ingredient that they forget to mention. Thankfully, this is not one of the recipes.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 Cup of Vegetable Oil

Preparation:

  1. Add the minced garlic and vegetable oil to the wok (a deep skillet will also work) and turn the heat to high constantly stirring the minced garlic for about a minute.

    Minced Garlic Stir Fried in a Wok

    Stir Frying Minced Garlic in Vegetable Oil

  2. Just as the garlic begin to turn light brown, add the oyster sauce and thoroughly mix the ingredients.

    Oyster Sauce and Minced Garlic in Wok

    Oyster Sauce Added to Minced Garlic

  3. Lower the heat to medium-high and add the broccoli tossing constantly so that the broccoli picks up all of the tasty goodness of the garlic, vegetable oil and oyster sauce. I like my stir fried broccoli to be crunchy so I stir fry it for no more than five minutes.

    Broccoli and Oyster Sauce Being Stir Fried

    Broccoli with Oyster Sauce in Wok

  4. Try a broccoli crown and if it is cooked to your satisfaction remove from the wok and serve with your meal.

    Stir Fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce Ready to Eat

    Stir Fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce on Platter

Aside from the simplicity of preparation and knowing that I am eating a good portion of vegetable, I like the versatility of the dish. The oyster sauce provides just enough salty sweetness to the vegetable that this dish is not just for Asian inspired dinners. I have eaten this dish with chicken, fish that have been prepared in a variety of ways and seasonings.