Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream

Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream

Many years ago Ed and I were on a cruise with our cousins and there we were, lounging on a public deck, when we overheard a woman consoling another woman whose husband had died on board the night before.

It was so shocking that we still talk about it. I felt sorry for the widow of course and something she told the other woman has haunted me ever since.

She said “I told him not to eat the ice cream!” — as if that one dessert was responsible for the heart attack that killed him.

My first thought was “at least he had the ice cream.”

Next week I celebrate a big birthday. I mean big as in round numbers. I mean I have passed my grandparents round numbers. I’m about the age of that widow and her poor husband. And I now say:

“Eat the ice cream!”

Because you never know.

For most of my married life, the food we usually eat at home — with indulgences here and there — is healthy. I make fresh food, have cut down on meat, fat and salt over the years, don’t serve processed foods or junk.

We’ve reached the age that an occasional ice cream — especially on vacation — won’t be the thing that kills us. And if it is, well, at least we had the ice cream.

So, for my big round birthday I am going to eat some ice cream.

I love strawberry ice cream so I already made some for the occasion. I would normally have preferred fresh strawberries but I haven’t found a good source yet for real strawberries, the kind I remember from the old days that were small, sweet and smelled like caramelizing sugar. So I roasted the best looking ones I could find with a bit of orange zest and brown sugar and this combo turned out to be absolutely scrumptious for ice cream.

Roasted Strawberry birthday Ice Cream

• 1 pint strawberries

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

• 3 cups half and half, light cream or whipping cream

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3 large egg yolks

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Rinse the berries, remove the hulls and chop the berries into smaller pieces. Place the berries on the parchment. In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice, brown sugar and orange zest. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the liquid has thickened slightly. Pour the liquid over the berries and toss the fruit to coat all sides. Roast the berries for about 10 minutes or until softened and glazed. Remove from the heat and let cool. Heat 2 cups of the cream over medium heat until bubbles appear around the edges of the pan. Set aside. While the cream is heating, beat the sugar, egg yolks and salt at medium speed in an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) for 3-5 minutes or until light and thick. Gradually add the heated cream and mix the ingredients until the mixture is uniform. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5-6 minutes or until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour in the remaining cream and blend it in thoroughly. Pour into a container and refrigerate until cold. Stir in the vanilla extract. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions, until almost firm. Add the strawberries plus any juices that have accumulated. Continue to freeze until firm.

Makes about 6 cups

Asparagus Salad with Potatoes, Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

We’re big dairy eaters. And when the weather turns warmer, we’re big salad eaters too.

So this salad is perfect for us as summer approaches. I’ve made it a zillion times. Sometimes I substitute green beans or zucchini for the asparagus. Sometimes I use blue cheese (I’ve tried it with firm cheeses such as cheddar but prefer a soft, crumbly one). Sometimes I add leftover cooked fish, but mostly serve it as a side dish.

If you’re having a dairy meal for Shavuot, this would make a delicious first course or side dish. It’s filling, but light, so you have some room for cheese cake!

Asparagus Salad with Potatoes, Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

• 12 baby potatoes (such as Yukon Golds or Red Bliss)

• 1 bunch (about 12-16 ounces) asparagus, trimmed and cut into pieces about 2-inches long

• 1 cup cut up grape or cherry tomatoes (or chopped large tomato)

• 3 scallions, chopped or 1/3 cup chopped red onion

• 1/4 cup olive oil or avocado oil

• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar, approximately

• 1/2 cup crumbled feta, blue or goat cheese

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

• chopped parsley or chives

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat to medium and cook for about 15 minutes or until barely tender. Add the asparagus to the saucepan and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain the vegetables and cool them down under cold running water. Drain and place on paper towels to dry. Peel the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Place the potatoes and asparagus in a mixing bowl. Add the tomatoes and scallion and toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the olive oil and toss the ingredients. Add the vinegar and toss again. Add the cheese and sprinkle to taste with pepper. Taste and add more vinegar if needed. Place in a serving bowl and sprinkle with parsley.

Makes 6 servings

Mini Khachapuri

Mini Khachapuri

Khachapuri is one of life’s culinary treasures. I’ve eaten it at restaurants, made it at home. Sometimes I make my own dough, but frequently I use store-bought pizza dough which — I confess — isn’t exactly like khachapuri dough but makes this dish much easier to prepare.

Also, cutting the classic long, boat-shaped khachapuri into single servings is fine, I’ve done it many times, but it’s much more convenient to serve individual ones. Also they’re much easier to prepare if you make them round, like pizza, rather than shape them into boats.

These days? I like easy.

So I made a recent batch of khachapuri into individual “pizzas.”

Yes, this is not the authentic way. You don’t have to tell me that. I know. I know.

But jeeeeez! They are so good! So it’s okay.

I added spinach to the last batch I made. Nope, that’s not traditional either. But it was delicious. And added some color too.

Khachapuri is a good dish any time for any meal! But because it’s a dairy — cheese item — it’s perfect for Shavuot. Hanukkah too.

Mini spinach Khachapuri

• cornmeal

• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

• 1/2 cup farmer cheese (or use dry curd cottage cheese)

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach

• 1 large egg

• 1 pound pizza dough

• egg yolks, optional

• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into 8 small pieces, optional

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle the paper lightly with cornmeal. Place the mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, farmer cheese, spinach and egg in a bowl and mix for a minute or so until well combined. Set aside. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Stretch or roll each piece into a 4-inch circle. Form a higher edge around the perimeter of each circle. Spoon equal amounts of filling into the center of each circle. Place each filled circle on top of the parchment paper. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. If desired, place an egg yolk and/or a small piece of butter on top of the filling if desired. Bake for another 5 minutes or until the pizza crust is browned.

Makes 8

Classic, Dairy-free Hamantashen

Every year in the few weeks before Purim I look with great anticipation for new variations on hamantashen. I can’t get over the creativity, not to mention how delicious so many of them sound! Halvah hamantashen (Amy Kritzer). Savory gochujang caramel hamantashen (Sharon Matten). A large, all-in-one, easy-to-bake pear-filled puff pastry hamantashen galette (Leah Koenig). Mazal tov to these fabulous women and the culinary magic they spin.

I also love tinkering and experimenting with recipes, creating new riffs on classics and making up recipes out of whole cloth. I’ve been doing this throughout my food-writing career. In fact, speaking of Purim and hamantashen, one year I won a contest run by Soom foods for my Spiced Lamb Phyllo Hamantashen with Lemon-Tahini Sauce.

OTOH sometimes I just want the old thing.

Like this past week, when I decided to bake some hamantashen for Purim and just wanted plain old apricot.

How about both? Why not!

Have fun baking hamantashen for the holiday — whether you decide to go with something new or the old classic. Or both.

Btw, if you need a good, classic dairy/shortbread version, here it is.

Here’s one for frozen dough hamantashen.

And in case you like prune-filled hamantashen, here’s my recipe for prune lekvar.

Classic, Dairy-free Hamantashen

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into chunks

• 3 tablespoons solid coconut oil

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup orange juice

  Combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, orange peel, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the shortening and coconut oil and work into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Combine the vegetable oil and orange juice and pour into the flour mixture. Mix until a soft dough has formed. Cover and chill for at least one hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough thin (about 1/8” inch thick). Cut out circles with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Place about 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each circle. Fold the dough around the filling to form a triangle. Seal them edges tightly. Place the triangles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes or lightly tanned.

   Makes 16-18

Lox and Cream Cheese Dip/Spread

It’s almost new year’s weekend, so I’ve been cooking for our annual New Year’s Eve hors d’oeuvres fest (storing a lot of stuff in the freezer).

These are some of the items I’ll serve at various times during the day: Marinated Mushrooms (a cinch to make); Potato-Carrot Latkes; Romanian Cheese turnovers; Scallion Cakes; Almond Chicken Nuggets; Hot Dog en Croute, and some others, plus a couple of dips, like hummus.

This Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese dip is a definite for our smoked fish hour. It’s amazingly easy to put together, so if you need something last minute, this is for you.

Lox and Cream Cheese Dip/SPREAD

• 4 ounces smoked salmon

• 1 cup cream cheese (8 ounces)

• 1/3 cup dairy sour cream

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

• 2 chopped scallions

Chop the smoked salmon into small pieces and set aside. Cut the cream cheese into chunks and place in a food processor. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, dill and scallions. Process on pulse until the ingredients are relatively smooth and well blended. Add the smoked salmon, pulse a few more times to distribute the pieces evenly.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Potato-Carrot-Curry Latkes

Potato latkes for Hanukkah? Of course!

But I make other kinds of latkes too.

This year it’s going to be these potato-carrot latkes. They have just enough curry powder to add an intriguing but not too spicy seasoning. I’ve made them several times already and they’ve been getting rave reviews. I’ll also serve some for my new year’s hors d’oeuvres fest.

The sauce is a bit tangy and very refreshing, sort of like tzadiki (cacik). It’s a soft, rich, smooth and tasty counterpoint for the crispy fried latkes.

Potato-Carrot-Curry Latkes with Yogurt Sauce

• 3 medium Russet type potatoes, peeled

• 4 medium carrots, peeled

• 1 large onion, cut into chunks

• 2 large eggs

• 1/4 cup potato starch, matzo meal or bread crumbs

• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 2 teaspoons curry powder

• vegetable oil for frying

Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

• 2-3 scallions, chopped

• 1/4 cup grated cucumber

• 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice

Shred the potatoes, carrots and onion in a food processor. Squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible (I put portions of the shreds in a kitchen towel and squeeze until they are practically dry). Place the shreds in a bowl. Immediately mix the eggs in (this helps keep the potatoes from browning). Add the potato starch, salt, pepper and curry powder. Heat about 1/4” vegetable oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Shape latkes by hand, squeezing liquid out if there is any, and place them in the hot oil, leaving space between each one so that they brown well and become crispy (if they are too close they will “steam” and become soggy). Press down on the latkes to keep them evenly shaped. Fry for about 3 minutes per side or until the pancakes are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Serve with the Yogurt Sauce.

To make the sauce, mix the yogurt, scallions, cucumber and lemon juice together until well mixed. Place in a serving bowl.

Makes 12-15

Ataulfo Mango Carpaccio with Burrata

I had this for lunch again. If you’ve never feasted on slices of the ultimate ataulfo mango with the freshest burrata you are missing out on one of the most special and delicious meals ever. I garnished with a bit of red onion and mint, a squeeze of lime juice and some freshly ground pepper.

Heaven.

Ataulfo Mango Carpaccio with Burrata

• 1 Ataulfo (or similar) mango

• 2-3 ounces burrata cheese

• a few thin slices of red onion

• a few mint leaves

• lime juice

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Slice the mango and arrange the slices on a dish. Add a piece of Burrata cheese. Garnish with some red onion and fresh mint, squeeze some lime juice over the ingredients, then season with the some freshly ground black pepper.

Makes one

Peach Bourbon Ice Cream

Back in the day, come August, you could find peach ice cream in the stores. Breyer’s I think. It was a one-month thing, like so many foods back then that you ate in-season only and knew they were special and you’d better have them while you could.

These days we’ve become used to and maybe even complacent about the availability of ingredients. Strawberries for example, once so special during the summer, are year round now (and IMHO they don’t taste anything like the seasonal stuff from the old days).

Still, there are a few items that, even today, are only around for a short, get-it-while-you-can time. Shad. Persimmons. Fresh figs.

Also peach ice cream. Somehow, although we can now find peaches throughout the year, peach ice cream still seems to be a summertime-only treat. I’ve bought (and enjoyed) several tubsful recently.

But I couldn’t find a store or stand (near me) that sold peach ice cream flavored with bourbon.

So I made my own.

It was quite wonderful.

I experimented a few times to get the proportions right and the fruit texture correct. Also, I used nectarines, which are easier to peel.

Peach Bourbon Ice Cream

• 3 ripe peaches or nectarines

• 1-1/2 tablespoons melted butter

• 2-1/2 cups cream (I use half and half)

• 4 large egg yolks

• 1/2 cup sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 3 tablespoons bourbon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel and slice the peaches. Place the slices on a baking sheet. Pour the melted butter over the fruit and toss the ingredients to coat the fruit with the melted butter. Roast for about 12 minutes or until lightly crispy. Remove from the oven and let cool. When cool, process in a food processor until nearly pureed.

While the peaches are roasting, heat 2 cups of the cream in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the liquid is hot and bubbles have formed around the sides of the pan. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks, sugar and salt together with an electric mixer set at medium speed until the mixture is thick and pale (4-5 minutes). Gradually add the warm cream to the egg mixture, stirring to blend ingredients to a uniform color. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 12 minutes or until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the remaining cold cream, the bourbon and vanilla extract. Refrigerate the mixture until it is cold. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is thick and nearly done, add the peaches, stir the ingredients and freeze until firm.

Makes 1-quart+

Grilled Cheese (Egg, Avocado, Pepper. Tomato)

When I was growing up my Mom occasionally made sandwiches for dinner. She was a really good cook and, with rare exceptions, I loved and ate everything she made. The sandwich dinners were invariably after a busy day or when we had leftovers —shnipzels she called them — and she wanted to use them all up.

And so, I learned that a sandwich is just as worthy a dinner as anything else. Especially when I have shnipzels to use. Or when I’ve been busy and don’t want anything fancier. Or when I was able to buy fabulous avocados that weren’t outrageously priced. Or when my garden finally burst with a few ripe tomatoes.

It all came together last night when we had these wonderful sandwiches for dinner. One of us added some hot sauce to the mayo.

Summer sandwich days are really lovely. No meat, just cheese and veggie goodness.

Grilled Cheese, Egg, Roasted Pepper and Avocado Sandwich

• 1/2 sweet bell pepper, deseeded

• 2 teaspoons butter

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise

• A few drops of hot sauce or 1 tablespoon chopped basil (or both), if desired

• 4 slices homestyle multigrain bread

• 3-4 ounces sliced fresh mozzarella cheese

• 4-6 tomato slices

• avocado slices

• 1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to broil. Place the half pepper on a piece of foil and broil for 3-4 minutes per side or until crispy and tender. Remove from the oven and wrap the foil around the pepper to enclose it. Let cool, then peel the pepper, cut it in half and set it aside. Melt the 2 teaspoons butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook until set. Dish out, cut in half and set aside. Spread equal amounts of mayonnaise on each of the bread slices (mix the mayonnaise with optional ingredients if desired). Top two of the bread slices with equal amounts of cheese, tomato, avocado, egg and roasted pepper. Cover with second piece of bread. Melt half the remaining tablespoon of butter in the sauté pan over medium heat. Place the sandwiches in the pan. Place another, heavier pan on top. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the underside is crispy. Remove the heavier pan, lift the sandwiches with a spatula and add the remaining butter to the pan. When the butter has melted, place the sandwiches in the pan, uncooked side down. Weight down with the heavier pan and cook for another minute or so or until second side is golden brown. (If you have a panini grill, use it!)

Makes 2 sandwiches

Mushroom Pot Pie

If you’re looking for a fabulously delicious meatless meal, it doesn’t get better than Mushroom Pot Pie.

No more needs be said. Try it and see for yourself.

Mushroom Pot Pie

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1/2 cup chopped shallots

• 2 medium garlic cloves, chopped

• 1 pound mixed fresh wild mushrooms, chopped

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt or dairy sour cream

• 1 cup vegetable stock

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 1 sheet puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the olive oil and butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook for 4-6 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and all the liquid has evaporated. Add the flour and stir it to dissolve it completely. Add the yogurt and stir it into the mushrooms until completely incorporated as a sauce. Pour in the stock and lemon juice and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Add the parsley and thyme. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the sauce has reduced has thickened. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, cook for another 1-2 minutes and remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the mixture into a 6-cup casserole dish. Roll the puff pastry slightly thinner and cut it to the shape of the casserole used. Place the puff pastry over the mushroom mixture. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the dough is puffed and golden brown.

Makes 4 servings