Nutella Ice Cream for Camby

Found this on a blog I read. Don't know if you guys have an ice cream maker, but thought I'd share...

Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, crushed, for garnish

In a saucepan combine the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whip the egg yolks with the remaining sugar using an electric mixer until the eggs have become thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes. Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture and stir. Add this mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the warm custard mixture through the strainer. Stir in the vanilla and hazelnut spread until it dissolves. Chill mixture completely before pouring into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze. To serve, scoop gelato into serving bowls and top with hazelnuts.

Does cilantro taste like soap to you?

I read this article about cilantro the other day and thought it was very interesting. I never had any idea that cilantro tastes like soap or metal to some people! I guess I think of it like onions. I love the taste it adds, but I'm non-plussed by the actual vegetable itself. For me cilantro is what makes guacamole and fresh salsa so yummy, but I hate the smell of it and I don't like it when its on noodles.Read the article here. How about you ladies?

Photo from http://www.recipes.howstuffworks.com/

Greek

All this talk of Greek food makes me want to make something Greek this weekend. Will you ladies share your some recipes? We'll be doing chicken this week(end).

Easy and Healthy Dessert

I absolutely love fresh pineapple and could eat it everyday. So when some friends of the family had us over for dinner one night and dessert was a pineapple cake, I was excited to get the recipe. It turns out though there was no need to even write the recipe down because it is so simple.

Mix together one box of Angel food cake mix and one can of crushed pineapple. Bake in cake pan for 30 minuntes at 350 degrees.

You can then add a dollup of whip cream to the top of each serving for an easy light dessert. Strawberries would be great on top as well!

Summer = Mexican Food

While I love mexican food year round, I especially love it in the summer. Tonight I am trying a new super easy recipe because we bought a flank steak and I don't think I've ever cooked one before.

Shredded Beef for Fajitas
Flank Steak (You could also use chicken)
1 Sliced Onion
I Jar of Salsa
Fresh Cilantro

Cook all ingredients in a crockpit on low for 6 to 8 hours. Use forks to shred beef and enjoy with other fajita fixin's.

Corn Fritters

I just picked up some more corn at the market and found this recipe that I'm going to try tonight- I'll let you know how they are!

Corn and Shiitake Fritters
Sweet corn kernels take two different forms in these crispy cakes. Half the corn is pureed into the batter; the other half is sautéed with shiitake and onion to give the fritters crunch. Servings: 4 side-dish servings

INGREDIENTS
· 3 ears of corn, shucked
· 1 large egg
· 1/4 cup milk
· 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
· 3 large shiitake mushrooms (2 ounces), stems discarded and caps cut into 1/2-inch dice
· 1/4 cup diced sweet onion
· 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon baking powder
· 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
· 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
· Cut the corn kernels from the cobs and transfer half of them to a blender. Using the dull side of a knife, scrape the pulp from the cobs into the blender. Add the egg and milk; puree until smooth.

· In a very large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the shiitake and onion and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining corn and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Scrape the mixture onto a plate and freeze just until no longer hot, about 5 minutes.

· In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir in the puree, then fold in the corn kernels, shiitake and onion.

· Wipe out the skillet and add the remaining 1/2 cup of oil. When it is hot, add eight level 1/4-cup mounds of batter to the skillet and spread them to a 1/2-inch thickness. Fry over moderately high heat, turning once, until the fritters are golden and crusty, about 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels and serve warm.

Chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches

On Saturday I made chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches-it was definitely an exercise in trial and error, but a tasty one.

I made chocolate chip cookies (Nestle tollhouse recipe of course). Then I softened some Breyer's real vanilla ice cream and spread it on one cookie and put another one on top. I put them directly in the freezer and then wrapped them in parchment paper later. Things I learned for next time:

1) Totally freeze the cookies before adding ice cream. I made the mistake of using cooled, but not chilled or frozen cookies. The kitchen was still hot from the oven and even thought I threw them right in freezer, the ice cream melted all over the sandwiches.
2) Use a more generic vanilla ice cream. The real vanilla ice cream competed with the cookie a bit too much for my taste.
3) Make smaller cookies. This will be hard for me because I'm super lazy and make big cookies.
4) Use butcher paper to wrap the sandwiches. Nothing sticks to parchment paper, not even packing tape.

Photo from www.chocolatebytes.com