Spice Dish

Here Comes Gingerbread... Here Comes Gingerbread....

Photo by DNAMichaud

This is a holiday ice cream recipe I came up with when I was invited to a friend's house for Thanksgiving. It was a good thing I brought ice cream, because it was no less than 79* that day. Ahhh California living. Now that there's snow on the ground, and a chill in the air, this recipe still screams out 'holiday'! It's creamy, laced with booze and spiced up with gingerbread. This is one of the most well-received ice creams I've ever created. Give it a shot yourself this holiday. You will not regret it.

Bourbon-Gingerbread Ice Cream

3 cups half & half

5 large egg yolks

1 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground clove

3 tbs bourbon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup broken gingerbread cake or ½ cup gingerbread cookie pieces

 

Warm 2 cups of the ½ & ½ , sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Pour the remaining ½ & ½ into a large bowl and put a mesh strainer over the bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yolks. Slowly add some of the warmed mixture into the yolks and whisk vigorously. Slowly combine the two mixtures until completely combined, then return the mixture to the saucepan. 

Constantly stir the mixture as it warms over medium heat. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan, until the mixture coats your spoon. Pour the cooked mixture through the strainer, into the remaining ½ & ½. Mix in the spices, bourbon, and vanilla. Cool over ice.

Chill the batter completely! Once it is chilled through, churn it in your ice cream maker according to the instructions. 5 minutes before it is finished add your gingerbread. Let finish freezing in the freezer.

Enjoy!

EB

Love the Pie

So here's the thing. Normally I'm all about all homemade, all the time. But it's the holidays, and I know I'm not the only one here.... we tend to over extend ourselves. We have grandiose plans for making fresh ice creams, cobblers, cakes, cookies and pies for each and every festivity we visit over the holidays. And we mean it! That's the crazy part. Because in reality... it's just not possible. No way. Un unh. No matter how good our intentions.

Your best friend here? Pre-made pie crusts. Honestly. Pillsbury has a really good one. It's true. And they celebrate the home made with their annual bake off's. To celebrate this year they are having a "Love the Pie!" promotion. And really... who doesn't love pie?

If you want a Love the Pie! t-shirt (shown above) or a recipe card with some seasonal recipe's on it shoot me an email with your address. Just be warned... the shirts I've got are on the small side.

Enjoy!

EBS

Holiday Shopping. Really?!?!

I've been obsessing about a few things lately and I thought I'd share since (GASP!) gift giving holiday season really, honestly, is right around the corner!!!

1. I saw this fantastic little set the other day and I can't stop craving it:

 

Seriously.... is it possible to have a cuter tea set?

2. Ever since I got my copy I've been cooking from it. It's not flashy, glossy or celebrity-chef-y. It's just simple and fantastic. The recipes are easy to follow, easy to understand and undeniably French.

You really can judge this book by its cover.

3. My apron obsession has recently been rekindled by a purchase I made at a local street fair. While you may not be able to get your hands on the awesome vintage tea-towel, reversible half-apron I picked up...

Etsy has some truly fabulous one of a kind aprons.

4. I have always had a soft spot for the original Alice in Wonderland drawings and these pieces by Fishes Eddy make me want to imbibe everything that has a "drink me" tag on it!

5. I know coupe's are "not great for champagne"... but really who lets it sit long enough for the bubbles to escape?

 

There are an amazing array of these on Ebay, I prefer the multi-colored myself.

Here's to the holidays!

EB

Mom Magic

One evening my friend Stacey called me to let me know that her mom Connie had, not only made a fresh apple crumble from apples in her front yard, but that she had given Stacey strict orders to share it with me. This was from a woman I've never met!

All I have to say is that this was the stuff of magic. I love my mom, but my mom was not a fresh baked goods type of mom. Connie is. Apparently, when mom’s bake… they sprinkle magic mom dust in there and baked goods taste….  magical. I couldn’t believe how good this was. Warm, gooey, tart, sweet and perfectly tasting of autumn.

I asked for the recipe and received a little print out, complete with maple leaf motif. Adorable. I made this recipe with bated breath hoping it could only come close to Connie’s. I have to say it was missing a little mom magic but it was still nothing short of delicious.

Connie’s Apple Crumble

Topping:

1 cup flour

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

6 tbsp cold butter

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into quarter inch pieces, and add to flour mixture. Mix ingredients together to form crumbs.

Fruit Filling:

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

½ tsp ground cinnamon

8 large tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1 tbsp lemon juice

Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Toss apples and lemon juice together with above mixture until apples are well coated. Layer the apple slices in a deep-dish pie plate. Sprinkle topping evenly over apple mixture.

Preheat oven to 450*. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350* and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes or until apples are tender when pierced with a knife.

Serves 6 (Riiiiiiiight. More like 3.... maybe)

Enjoy!

EB

Woman's Work

What I’ve come to realize is that my favorite cookbooks are more than collections of glossy recipes but recollections of memories and values and the wishes and wants of the past.

One such book is “The Complete Family Cook Book” from 1969. This three ring binder of a book is a how-to bonanza. There are charts, tips and recipes for everything. I love the late 60’s illustrations but truthfully the book itself isn’t all that remarkable. What is remarkable about this is what I found inside.

 

This book was given to me by my grandmother. She no longer cooks, and truthfully I think she’s glad for that. I don’t know if she realized what she passed on to me, but it is a treasure trove of my grandmother’s history.  From what I have gathered, my grandmother never really loved to cook. She was very, very good at it, but I think she did it because it was expected of her. She was a 1940’s, war-time bride and navy wife. It was her job.

The Blushing Bride

When I received this book, I understood how my grandmother saw it, as a users manual, instructions for work. Underneath the pile of cut out magazine recipes, hand typed recipe cards and box top recipes there were a few unexpected finds: recipe notes scribbled by my grandfather (who really did love to bake), navy air-mail notepaper that has recipes written on it for sweets that travel overseas well (with notes from a friend named Don who put dibs on the first bite of fudge), a poison antidote chart (my grandma had all boys), and then there was The Home Maker’s Guide, a small booklet given to new San Jose brides by the courthouse where they were married. In it are menu planning tips, home ‘domestication’ tips, recipes, the do’s and don’ts of ‘charm’, and dieting tips.

Underneath that? The pamphlet and receipts from my grandparent's blood tests from August 4^th 1942, Two weeks after they meet and one week before he shipped out.

I know this is an all too familiar story. But, it's not just an old woman's story. It's my story too.

EB

The Most For Your Money

I picked up “The Most For Your Money Cookbook” one day while waiting for a dentist appt. I went to The Great Overland Book Co. on Judah and poked through the stacks. I didn’t have anything special I was looking for, just 30 minutes to kill. Their cookbook section is really small and has mostly newer books, but I dug through until I found this little charmer from 1938.

 

As I paid for my purchase, the clerk chided me “You understand this is in 1930’s money right?” Apparently he thought I was trying to use this book for current day money savers. Not that it isn’t a great resource. This kind of info never becomes obsolete really. I assured him that yes I understood and absconded with my purchase.

 

On the dentist’s couch I flipped through my new find. The inside has the name of it’s previous owner: Annie J Mc Crohan (I found a few possible matches on Google, all of whom were born in the late 1880’s which would fit). The name is written in the script of women of my grandmother’s generation.

 

The Foreword is all about “Stretching the Food Dollar” which includes really practical advice like advocating whole grain cereals at breakfast because they “stretch the dollar like rubber”. The reason I so quickly fell in love with this book though was not only the authors’ sense of humor, apparently new tomatoes “bred to convenient size to suit the shipper, not the consumer” are “only good for kids to throw at cops”, but also their candor. They warn against “the siren call of radio experts who sell us foodless food,” offering a much needed reminder that the concern over food industrialization is nothing new.

 

The recipe I went to was one I remember from my childhood, when my mom was trying to stretch our family’s food dollar, Beef Stroganoff. The recipe is exactly the one I grew up with. It’s uncanny. The taste brought me right back to my family dinner table where I would be scolded for rocking back in my chair, my brother would stuff his cheeks like a chipmunk and my dad would try to make us laugh until the milk spilled. It’s simple, comforting and yes, economical… in the very best way.

Boeuf a la Stroganoff

 

1 lb tender beef

2 tbs butter

1 small onion minced

¼ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tbs flour

1 parsley sprig

Salt and pepper

1 cup sour cream

 

Cut meat into narrow strips. Slowly fry onion and garlic in butter, add steak and brown. Add parsley and the mushrooms. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes. Add flour, simmer until thick. Add sour cream and heat through.

 

That’s it. Total. It’s best, and most nostalgic, on top of wide egg noodles.

Enjoy!

EB

Goat, Goat, Llama, Cheese!

The drive was long, foggy and full of traffic. It’s the weekend of the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and so we’re taking the long way down the peninsula. We’re heading to Pescadero, a tiny rural town bordered by the Pacific. The very windy mountain road and foggy near misses have made us a little woozy. Just when we finally wonder if the drive is worth it, we arrive into the town. It smells sweet, like wet moss, flowers and the ocean. 

 

We’ve come to visit the goats. We’ll Harley Farms more specifically. Harley Farms is a family run, small scale, “green” farm that produces world award winning goat cheese. The farm’s herd of female goats were in a great mood the day we visited because… it’s mating season. The two male goats Elvis and Lucky (yes, only two playboys)  were ruling the roost. The only other male around was Bart the guard llama, who kicks and spits at predators. He wandered the field, led by his giant protruding teeth, keeping watch over his girls.

The goats toddled around in their little cliques, stopping by to nibble on shoes and bags. They played Queen of the Mountain on top of the chicken tractor (an organic fertilization process I first heard about from Pollan).

The dairy house was small but clearly efficient. It was there I got to test my hand at milking Angie the lovely little goat. Her utters were soft, warm, fuzzy and very full of milk. The cup of milk we had all filled was given to the farm kitties as we headed to the check out where the cheese itself was made. The small kitchen, again seemed just the right size. It wasn’t a large mechanized process. It’s hands on. It’s done with care and love.

That's Angie!

The cheese tasting could not have come fast enough, but was very well worth the wait. I’m pretty sure we bought our weight in cheese actually. Chevre topped with dried apricots? Check. An herb rolled log. Yup. Award winning Fromage Blanc? Double check.

I highly recommend you go to Harley Farms. See their good for the land practices, taste their amazing product, pet the friendly goats.

 

Harley Farms Goat Dairy
205 North Street, PO Box 173, Pescadero, CA 94060

 

Enjoy!

EB

Here We Go On

Today is SpiceDish's blogiversary. I'm celebrating with a little spiffing up. What do you think?

EB

Inspired Again

  

Alcatraz and the Palace of Fine Arts

As SpiceDish's blogiversary approaches I have had to have a little talk with myself... I started SpiceDish because I hated my job and was floundering. It gave me something positive to focus on and, as it's 3rd year of existence comes into being, I have to face several realities. One-- I've gotten very busy career-wise and due to that, lazy and tired when I get home. Two-- I haven't been, not necessarily uninspired, but most definitely overwhelmed by life and underwhelmed with my ability to go gangbusters on it. Three-- I still love cooking, I want to be better and better at it every day. Four-- I don't NEED SpiceDish the way I did when it was created (and that took some major coming to terms with). Five-- SpiceDish is something I can do now, not have to do. And that is a very good place to be.

I'll be posting more regularly, redesigning and generally showing SpiceDish the love it deserves. So stay tuned!

EB

Oh Julia...

    Everyone is having their Julia moment lately. I guess it's not unusual that I am too, but mine did occur a little more cosmically than commercially. You see, we have a VERY large lazy susan in our pantry. I mean the thing is quadruple towered, filling the whole broom closet, sort of large. It was also hand rigged by the previous tenant, meaning, while cool... not professional, or sturdy. It pooped out on me last week. All four tiers collapsed onto each other landing, not so gently, on whatever pantry items happened to be in it's path. This then became my weekend project. Not only to fix the darn thing, but to clean out and organize the pantry as well. A much needed task might I add.

    So after playing Schnieder, fixing the susan and cleaning out the 4 year old baking powder, I set to cleaning the top, non-susan, half of the pantry. Now up there, lives about 25 of my favorite cookbooks. I have over 200 at this point, most being piled high on the buffet. If I decide to use one of those, there is a good chance of a book-alanche. As I threw away a bag of "when did we buy shrimp skin chips?" I straightened up my favorite books. My go to's. My teacher's pets. I realized then that I don't play fair. I have 175+ other cookbooks that sit there, sad, un-utilized, and collecting kitchen grease, dust and must.

    I started, very methodically, on the right top shelf of the buffet, moved my back noting which books I had and had not cooked out of. Then came Julia. Now I've cooked many, many, many of Julia's recipes don't get me wrong. But this was The French Chef Cookbook, and I had been partial to Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I then realized, that while I had seen all the shows, I had never cooked from it, or the book. I took it down of the top shelf and flipped through to Poulet en Cocotte (Chicken Roasted in a Casserole). It was a rainy, thundery Sunday. Football was on. Long, slow, unattended chicken was perfect.

I took out the wishbone as she suggests

I won't repeat the recipe as it reads in The French Chef Cookbook because the recipe, given Julia's desire to make all her recipes fool proof, starts on page 282 and finishes up at the bottom of 284. Just know that for it's length... it's actually very simple.

One yummy carcass

    Now the pictures are a little sad (finished product wise) because once I took a bite, there was no "honey get me the camera would you?" there was only moaning. With sheer delight. This was the most moist, flavorful, delicious chicken either of us had had in quite some time, if ever, that we could remember. It's beyond good. It was way better than the outcome of the football game, I can tell you that much.

Give it a shot yourself. You won't be sorry.

Enjoy!
EB