Recipe, interrupted

Recipe: Neapolitan-Style Ice Cream Cake

This is more of a building project than a cooking project. A building project where you eat about 600 calories worth of bricks and mortar. You have to fuel the hard work, right? It’s just that soft, melty ice cream is one of the most tempting things in the world to me. But it’s worth saving some of the ingredients for the actual cake. Because slicing into a piece is really festive and pretty. And the layers of crunch, fudge, and fruit, and ice cream taste so great together.

While I was making the cake and skimming off a little extra ice cream for myself here and there, this segment on the science of pleasure came on NPR. It explained that the combination of creaminess and crunchiness is highly pleasurable and addictive (they get into it about 25 minutes into the show, which, eerily, was exactly the time the first spoon of ice cream went into my mouth.)

Note: The times needed to firm and soften the ice cream will vary from flavor to flavor and brand to brand – adjust accordingly.

 

Serves 8

Preparation time: about 5 hours (including freezing time), 40 minutes active time

 

Ice Cream:

1 pint each of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ice creams. (You will probably will just need 1 ½ cups of each, but if you’re like me, you might find that the whole pint seems to disappear during preparation.)

 

Amaretti Crust:

1/3 cup crushed amaretti cookies (about 7 cookies) View this photo

¼ slivered almonds, toasted and cooled

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

 

Fudge: (adapted from Alice Medrich’s hot fudge recipe in her book, Bittersweet) 

6 ounces chocolate (with 60% cacao content), chopped (or chocolate chips – I like Ghiradelli bittersweet chips)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

½ cup heavy cream

 

Strawberry Sauce:

½ cup strawberry jam, thinned out with a teaspoon of water if too thick to easily spread into a thin layer.

 

Whipped Cream:

½ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

 

Garnish:

Sprinkles, shaved chocolate, or toasted nuts

 

1. Line the bottom and sides of a bread loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang to make ease the removal of the finished cake.
   
2. Prepare amaretti crust. Process amaretti ingredients together in a food processor until well-ground and thoroughly combined. 
   
3. Spread the amaretti mixture into the bottom of the pan, creating an even layer that reaches into the corners and edges. Place in the freezer until crust is firm, about 30 minutes. 
4. While crust is firming, transfer vanilla ice cream to refrigerator so that it can soften.
5. Spread about 1 ½ cups of vanilla ice cream evenly over the bottom layer of amaretti and nuts. You should have a ½-thick layer of ice cream. Freeze for 30 minutes. 
   
6. In the meanwhile, prepare the fudge: Set up a double boiler just touching a pot of barely simmering water. Combine fudge ingredients in the double boiler, stirring until melted. Continue stirring occasionally until fudge is hot and silky smooth, but not boiling (about 160°F if you have a thermometer). Remove from heat, set aside and cool slightly, for about 5 minutes. 
7. Take pan out of freezer. Since the fudge is still pretty warm and can turn the vanilla ice cream to mush, you’ll need to work quickly and decisively. Drizzle the fudge in ribbons over the ice cream, distributing it as evenly as possible. You can even out the surface of the fudge with a small offset spatula, but try not to disturb the ice cream, which is already beginning to melt. Move pan to freezer and transfer chocolate ice cream to the refrigerator to soften for 30 minutes.
   
8. Spread chocolate ice cream over hot fudge layer. Freeze for 30 minutes.
   
9. Spread strawberry jam in an even layer over chocolate ice cream. Allow jam to firm up in freezer and strawberry ice cream to soften in the fridge.
   
10. Spread strawberry ice cream over strawberry jam layer. Place in freezer to firm up. 
    
11. To remove cake from pan, briefly run hot water around the pan, making sure not to splash any water directly on the cake. Or, place the cake pan in a large pan of hot water for a minute or so. Pull up the plastic wrap and lift cake out. Transfer on to a serving platter.
    
12. Prepare whipped cream. Put cream, sugar, and vanilla in a small, deep mixing bowl. Whip until slightly firm peaks form. Use a pastry tube with a flower tip to form 8 rows of flowers across the top of the cake. Add sprinkles or other garnish, if desired. If freezing the leftover cake or if you prefer to prepare the whole thing in advance, the whipped cream tastes good frozen, too.
    
    

 

 

Recipe: Spaghetti with Tomato, Fennel, and Tuna

This recipe was inspired by Julia, who was looking for a way to use fennel stalks, and by Serena, whom I ran into at the Food Coop and who prodded me to buy pasta of the quality that she was accustomed to in Italy. “It’s worth it,” she promised as she tucked a super long package of spaghetti into my cart. Thank you, my friends! I love that there’s always something new to try in the kitchen.

A shorter pasta with nooks and crannies to hold the chunkier bits in the sauce would be the more classic choice, but this pasta was quite sturdy and held up fine. And Serena was right, the difference was worth the 3 dollars I would have saved if I had bought a more mass market brand. The pasta was paler than what I’d expect from semolina, but had small specks that gave it a very faint whole grain appearance. It also had a very light nuttiness.

Serves Four

Preparation time: 25 minutes

 

2-3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as dressing if necessary

1 medium onion, chopped

Stalks of one medium fennel bulb, fibrous ends removed and lower tender portions chopped (of course, you can also use the bulb itself but I had only the stalks left and wanted to put them to use)

Kosher salt, to taste

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 small anchovy fillets or about 1 teaspoon anchovy paste

Freshly ground black pepper

8 ounces light canned tuna, drained and loosened up into large flakes. (If possible, use tuna packed in oil. If it’s packed in water, drain very well and dress with olive oil while flaking. Note: Skipjack and light albacore tuna are generally lower in mercury and less vulnerable to overfishing than many other varieties of tuna.)

2 cups chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned

¾ cup white wine

1 tablespoon finely chopped mint

1 tablespoon capers, lightly rinsed

Optional: 3 tablespoons minced fennel fronds

¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 pound dry spaghetti pasta

 

1. Bring a large stockpot filled with water to a boil while you prepare the sauce.
   
2. Heat a wide saucepan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. When oil is hot, add onion, fennel, and a pinch of salt. Give it a few stirs to coat the vegetables with oil. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent browning, until onion and fennel are softened, about 5 minutes. 
   
3. Stir in garlic, anchovies, and about 3 twists of pepper from a peppermill. Add another tablespoon of olive oil if mixture appears dry. Cook 3 minutes until anchovy has broken down and garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally.
   
   
4. Stir in tuna, tomatoes, wine, and another pinch or so of salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. 
   
5. Add mint, capers, fennel fronds (if using), and parsley. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in lemon juice. Salt to taste.
   
6. Cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain immediately and toss with sauce. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, if desired. Serve in shallow bowls while hot. 
   

 

Gifts From the Garden

 

Yesterday, on the way to our friends’ post-wedding brunch, I stopped at the local community garden to drop off some overly ripe compost. After gingerly emptying the stinky bags into the compost bins and rinsing off my hands – no one wants to show up at a party smelling of rotting food scraps – I paused for a moment. I picked two lavender blossoms and two sprigs of lovage flowers and divided them between my daughters as a gift for the newlyweds.

The lovage, in particular, made me smile. It seemed like ages ago that we had sat by a campfire and played a game where you guess the definitions of unfamiliar words. One of those had-to-be-there moments, but for my future husband and this future groom who were just beginning to know each other, it sealed the deal on their friendship. Together, they were completely in stitches as one read the other's definition of lovage: a ton of love. Just watching them on the brink of peeing in their pants from laughter was a joy.

My daughters delivered their little bouquets to the couple and we grown-ups indulged in a little reminiscing. The party spread out onto the terrace where a small potted vegetable garden was beginning to grow under the care of the bride and groom. Before I left the party, they gave me one of their homegrown radishes. I brought it home, photographed it, and without it ever having to undergo refrigeration, prepared and ate it. Leaves and all.

So to make a long story short (too late!) here’s what I made with it. They’re not recipes. I used what happened to be in my fridge, which wasn’t much, but luckily for me was just right.

Radish and salt on buttered bread. I had picked up a baguette on the way home. When I opened the fridge, I found a small nugget of Stilton and some fresh chives, along with their blossoms. With a light sprinkling of sea salt and a schmear of sweet butter, they all made for a beautiful and simple open-faced sandwich. If I didn’t have these ingredients, maybe I would have done radish, butter, and rye bread out of the freezer. If I didn’t have that, radish, butter and salt. I could have reduced it down to radish and salt or, ultimately, just radish and it would have been delicious.

Skillet sausage with onion, rhubarb, and radish greens. I chopped up the bright green leaves and tossed them in with browned chicken sausage, onions and rhubarb (which had been softened and mellowed by cooking it with a dash of salt, and a few teaspoons of sugar). The radish leaves needed just a minute or so in the heat before they were wilted, tender, and an even brighter green. Only the freshest radish leaves will perform this well. Store-bought radish leaves are often dried out and blemished and not worth eating.  But if you get radishes at a farm stand or luck out at the store with some nice-looking radish greens, cook them right away. You can simply add them as a supplement to other cooked greens. Even if you just have a small amount, the chopped greens make a fresh addition to soup, cooked grains, or a quick pasta dish.

Small gifts, but given with a ton of love. 

Recipe: Green Garlic and Jalapeno Pizza with Sprouted Wheat Berry Crust

I often use the basic pizza dough recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. It’s really simple and reliable. But since I’ve been very curious about sprouted grains and beans these days, I thought I’d see how sprouted wheat berries would work here. I recently bought some Shiloh Farms organic sprouted whole wheat berries, which look a lot like coarse bulghur, and tossed them in with the flour. Fortunately, the experiment paid off – the crust had a pleasant, nubby texture and nutty flavor. Good thing. It would have been such a pity to spoil the topping with a bad crust.
 

Cooked green garlic has a sweet, garlicky flavor and are also a little reminiscent of leeks. They make a kind of monochromatic layer with the jalapenos under the smoked mozzarella, but the taste is packed with color.  I know that three jalapeno peppers sound like a lot. Once the seeds and ribs are removed though, and the peppers are further mellowed by cooking and the cream, they have a nice, not painful, amount of heat.

 

Makes one 16-inch pizza

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 2-hour rising time

 

For the crust:

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, more if needed

1 cup sprouted wheat berries

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon yeast

3 tablespoons olive oil

For the topping:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups chopped green garlic (clean and trim them as you would scallions or green onions)

3 jalapeno peppers, seeds and ribs removed and chopped

Kosher salt, to taste

¾ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon lime juice

8 ounces smoked mozzarella, shredded (about 1 ½ cups)

 

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, sprouted wheat berries, salt, and yeast together for about 1 minute, until wheat berries are coarsely ground.
   
   
2. With the food processor running continuously, pour olive oil and 1 ¼ cups warm water in a steady stream through the feed tube. Process until the mixture comes together into a ball. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and round, adding flour if the dough is very sticky.
   
   
3. Cover the dough with a warm, damp towel and allow it to rise for about 2 hours in a warm spot. It won’t quite double in size, but should puff up a bit.
    
4. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven on the middle shelf. Preheat oven to 525°F.
    
5. In a sauté pan over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic greens, peppers, and a dash of salt. Stir to combine. Cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, stir in lime juice and salt to taste.
   
   
6. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8-inch thick or so. If using pizza stone, remove from oven and transfer rolled out dough onto it. Or transfer dough onto a baking sheet. Spread the vegetable/cream mixture on pizza dough. Sprinkle smoked mozzarella evenly on top.
   
   
7. Bake until cheese is bubbling and crust is nicely browned, 8-10 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature. 
    
   

Recipes: Green Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing and Miso Soup with Roasted Sweet Potato

This week I’m posting recipes for two Japanese favorites. Really, more like two Japanese restaurant favorites. The salad with carrot-ginger dressing seems to appear at a lot of sushi places, though I don’t think I’ve ever eaten it as part of an “authentic” Japanese meal. The first time I tried it was about 15 years ago at Dojo’s, near NYU. I wanted to lick my bowl clean it was so good.

Miso soup is a cornerstone to any Japanese meal, authentic or not. This version, with sweet potatoes, also started with a memory. My mother and I went to visit a dear friend who was seriously ill. We prepared him dinner, including miso soup with roasted sweet potatoes. If I have ever seen a face transformed by a taste it was certainly then. He recalled how, as a young man in Japan during the 1950s, he was warmed up in the winters by hot sweet potatoes he bought from the satsuma-imo pushcart vendors.

 

Recipe: Green Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing

 

Serves 4 (makes about ½ cup dressing)

Preparation time: 10 minutes

 

1 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon mirin

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

½ teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste if necessary

¼ cup grapeseed oil, or other neutral vegetable oil

¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 small to medium head Romaine lettuce, washed and chopped (about 5 cups) (See How to Quickly Trim a Head of Romaine for Salad)

Optional: cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced daikon radish, or other fresh vegetables cut into bite-size pieces

 

1. Place carrot, ginger, mirin, rice vinegar, and salt in a small blender or in a cup wide enough to accommodate an immersion blender. Blend well, into a coarse puree.
   
   
   
   
2. In a slow, steady stream begin to add oils while continuing to blend. Stop blender when dressing is smooth and emulsified. Adjust seasoning to taste.
   
3. Place lettuce on a salad platter, drizzle dressing over it and garnish with fresh vegetables. (If you prefer, you can toss the lettuce with the dressing. The benefit is that the dressing will be more evenly distributed, but I think this bright orange dressing looks better drizzled on top.)

 

Recipe: Miso Soup with Roasted Japanese Sweet Potatoes

 

Makes about 4 servings.

30 minutes

 

1 small  Japanese sweet potato, or ‘satsuma-imo’ or ‘yaki-imo,’ cut into small cubes (I keep the skin on). You can also substitute Jewel sweet potatoes which are more readily available in the U.S.

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, or other neutral cooking oil

Pinch Kosher salt

One batch hot dashi stock (See How to Make Dashi)

About ¼ cup white miso paste (the amount you needs varies by the brand you buy; some have a more concentrated flavor than others)

6 ounces silken tofu, cut into small cubes

About 6 scallions, cut into small slices

 

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss sweet potatoes in oil, season lightly with salt, and spread on a baking sheet. Roast until cooked through and lightly browned in spots, about 15 minutes.
   
   
2. In the meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, blend miso paste into dashi: put the miso paste in a soup ladle. Tip the ladle into the dashi to allow some of it to flow in with the miso. With chopsticks or a miniature whisk, blend the dashi and miso together. When the miso has been fully incorporated into the dashi and the mixture is smooth, stir it in with the rest of the dashi. 
   
   
3. Set up four miso soup bowls or into 6- to 8-ounce teacups. Distribute tofu, scallions, and cooked sweet potato among the bowls. Ladle hot miso over them. If you have small lids that will fit on top, place them on top and serve.   

Technique: How to Quickly Trim a Head of Romaine for Salad

Here’s how to prepare a head of lettuce quickly for a salad. With this method, there’s no need for less fresh pre-cut bags of salad.

 

1. Cut of the very top of the lettuce head to remove the somewhat wilted and damaged tips.
   
2. Cut through the length of the lettuce, just above the root end to the top. Rotate 90 degrees and make second, similar cut (so that you’ve cut a ‘+’ into the cross-section of the lettuce.) If the head of lettuce is very thick, you may want to cut into it three times, to make more of a ‘*’ symbol.
   
3. Holding the head of lettuce steady and keeping all the leaves tight, slice the head of lettuce across beginning at the top, at about 1-inch intervals. Short, easy-to-eat sized strips of lettuce should fall away. Stop just short of the root end.
   
4. Wash the cut lettuce well with a salad spinner or colander.