Books To Nosh On

This past month I have been reading Appetite For Life - The Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch.  It is an incredibly detailed book of Julia Child's life, a bit too detailed at times, but still very interesting to read.  Appetite For Life chronicles Julia's road from being a daring yet goofy California girl to meeting her husband Paul Child and to eventually creating Mastering The Art of French Cooking and her television program The French Chef.  What I find most inspiring is Julia's enthusiasm and hard work ethic, as well as Paul and Julia's modern marriage of true team work.  I still have 80 pages left of this book, and I desperately trying to finish before I leave for vacation today.  I wouldn't mind reading it, but it is rather heavy and I would like to carry a book 300 pages lighter.  I have so many food-related books piling up in my book case that I thought I would share.

Coffee Ice Cream

I made this coffee ice cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop about a month ago.  It went so quickly, that I forgot to snap a photo of the finished product.  Below is the recipe:

Ingredients for David Lebovitz's Coffee Ice Cream:

-1 1/2 cups whole milk
-3/4 cup sugar
-1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans
-Pinch of Salt
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
-5 large egg yolks
-1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon finely ground coffee

Warm the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt and 1/2 cup pf the cream in a medium saucepan.  Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the coffee-infused milk mixture.  Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and stir into the cream.  Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of the coffee flavor as possible, then discard the beans.

Mix in the vanilla and the finely ground coffee and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

For another coffee treat, try this Chocolate Espresso Mousse Cake!

Cheater's Homemade Broth

I received The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift for Christmas this year from my grandma.  Inside the cookbook is an array of fonts and photos, which at first I found confusing.  Then after second glance and some real reading, I realized that this book is the literary version of Kasper's Splendid Table radio program.  Throughout the book you can hear Lynne's voice offering the reader tips and secrets to making delicious meals.  The first recipe I tried was Soup of Fresh Greens and Alphabets which included making a recipe of Cheater's Homemade Broth.  What exactly is cheater's broth?  Basically it is taking store-bought broth and adding "every flavor-boosting trick" Lynne and Sally know.  At first I was skeptical with the amount of work I was going to have put in to make the broth before I even made the soup.  But once I tried a spoonful of the finished broth, I was sold.  It is truly the most flavorful broth I have ever made - so good that I could have just eaten it alone without anything added to it.  Lynne and Sally recommend making this broth and storing it for whenever you feel like making soup.  The broth keeps for 4 days refrigerated and 6  months frozen.

A Matter of Loaf or Death

Last night I went to the IFC Center to catch the 2010 Academy Award-Nominated Animated Short Films.  I love animation, and I was so happy that I could have the chance to see these films!  I am only mentioning this on the blog because one of my favorite films was Wallace and Gromit - A Matter of Loaf or Death, in which Gromit tries to solve the murder mystery case of a serial killer offing the local bakers.  The story was pretty hilarious and it was so fun to see loaves of bread made out of clay.  If you have a chance, you should check it out.  If you are in New York, you still have today to stop by the IFC Center and watch the short films.  Click here for times.

I also loved Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (click here to watch - so so funny) and Partly Cloudy (which is not actually nominated for an Oscar, but was so sweet and endearing).

And you if you want a special treat for the Oscars tonight, make these snickerdoodles.

I Make Better Fro Yo Than Pinkberry

Ok, so that is a bold statement.  Pinkberry seems to be the king of frozen yogurts these days - and I really am a fan, but seriously my frozen yogurt is better.  As most know, I am mutually obsessed with my ice cream maker and David Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop.  David's frozen yogurt has a similar tangy-sweet flavor as Pinkberry, but the creaminess of his yogurt beats it out.  The best part about this frozen yogurt is how simple it is to make and that it is just three ingredients.  I actually reduced the amount of sugar a bit too.

Here is the Frozen Yogurt recipe, adapted from The Perfect Scoop (extra-thick version):

-3 cups Greek yogurt
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla

Begin by mixing all the ingredients together until sugar has dissolved.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Once chilled, place yogurt in ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer's instructions.

I would recommend serving the frozen yogurt immediately because it seems to be the best frozen yogurt consistency, but you can also place in your freezer in an air-tight container.  Beware that your yogurt will be rock hard, so you might want to let it thaw for a while.  It still tastes just as good.

If you are in the mood for a quick soup, try this vegetarian tortilla soup I made last year.

Papabubble

For my birthday last year, my coworker gave me some candy from Papabubble.  It was delicious and nostalgic and I knew I had to visit their shop in Little Italy someday.  I have gone a couple times now and it is a delight to see them actually making the candy in front of you.  Papabubble creates a variety of candies, but my favorite definitely is the lavender.  It is sweet, but has this refreshing and relaxing effect - just like when smelling the actual plant.  I like to pop one (or five) in my mouth just to mellow out.  If you are in New York, you should stop by Papabubble (click here for a map).  Or click here to visit their website.  There are some beautiful photos featuring their candies as well as their shops.

Lavender candy.

Too-Hot Sauce and Bean and Cheese Burritos!

A couple weeks ago I was so inspired to make bean and cheese burritos after reading this post on Alexandra's Kitchen.  Alexandra made making homemade flour tortillas look easy, so I decided to give it a try - and it was so simple and so worth it.  I won't reblog about her post, so click here if you want to learn how to make your own tortillas.  I will say that the making the dough is very quick and easy, especially if you make it in a food processor like I did.  The hardest part of making the tortillas is rolling them out into a nice circle.  Luckily, the dough is much more forgiving than a pie dough and it is really easy to get it as thin as you need to.  The end result is a soft, more flavorful dough than you can get by just purchasing some flour tortillas in your grocery store.

To go along with the burritos I wanted to make a delicious hot sauce, so I went to my newest favorite cookbook Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless.  There is recipe called Roasted Fresh Chile Salsa which has options for which chiles you prefer based on heat level.  I thought I liked things pretty hot, so I wasn't really thinking how hot 24 habanero peppers would be (I doubled the recipe).  What a surprise when I was choking on the fumes from just roasting the peppers.  In fact when I threw out the left over sauce today I had to open the window to stop from coughing (finally stopped coughing after an hour off and on).  When I licked my sauce off the spoon, I instantly knew it was HOT.  That didn't stop my friend and I from putting it on our burritos (very sparingly).  There were points during my meal where I had to literally stop eating and just sit there and let the pain leave my mouth.  The whole point I am trying to make is - be careful!  I will definitely be using different chiles next time - or at least a combo.  Also, wear gloves - capsaicin can stay on your skin for a couple of days and that can really hurt when you are putting contacts in the next day (um yes I have experienced that).  So here is the recipe (with chile options - use habanero if you dare!