Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet

Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet with Cocoa Nibs in glass dessert dish

During the weeklong Patricia Wells’ cooking class, my tasks ran the gamut from braising asparagus, creating compound butters, deep frying onion rings, setting lemon panna cotta, to making an amazing Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet, which won “Best Taste of the Week.”

Ingredients for Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet
Mise en Place in Paris

This sorbet is deep, rich, and incredibly satisfying. With help from my 10yr old, it was the first recipe I recreated when I arrived home and a huge hit with my family. So easy to make, the sorbet will be a standard freezer item all summer long. Enjoy!

Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet

Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet

  • Servings: 8-10
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*recipe adapted from Patricia Wells

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2/3 cup mild honey
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or light corn syrup)
cocoa nibs for sprinkling (optional)
chopped nuts for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:
In a large saucepan combine water with honey, salt, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. The mixture should turn a shiny, deep brown.

Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces, vanilla extract, and syrup. Stir until chocolate is fully melted. Transfer mixture to bowl and place in freezer to chill thoroughly, about an hour.

Transfer the mixture to an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. *See note below.

Serve in chilled bowls with a garnish of cocoa nibs, nuts, or your favorite topping.

*I used my Kitchen Aid mixer’s “ice-cream maker” attachment to make the sorbet. Kitchen Aid recommends 20 minutes of processing to transform the liquid mixture to sorbet. Unfortunately, after 20+ minutes of mixing, my sorbet was still soupy. Not one to give up, I just transferred the mixture to a glass storage container and placed it in my freezer. A few hours later the mixture was frozen and we had sorbet!

In Patricia’s kitchen, I used a traditional ice-cream maker. The sorbet processed while we ate lunch and was ready to serve for dessert. Please follow your manufacturer’s instructions for specific processing times.

Ingredients for Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet
Mise en Place
Water, honey, salt, and cocoa powder combined in a saucepan
Combine water, honey, salt, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil.
Whisking cocoa mixture while it simmers
Simmer for one minute, whisking constantly. The mixture will turn a shiny deep brown.
Whisking in chocolate pieces to cocoa mixture
Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces. I didn’t have a bar of bittersweet chocolate on hand, so I used bittersweet chocolate chips.
Pouring chocolate mixture into glass bowl
Pour chocolate mixture into a bowl and place in freezer to chill.
Chocolate mixture in ice-cream maker
When thoroughly chilled, transfer mixture to your ice-cream maker and process according to your manufacturer’s directions.
Scooping out the Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet
Sorry- we dug right into this bowl, before I had the chance to take a picture… leftovers went back into the freezer for another day.
Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet sprinkled with cocoa nibs and served in a glass dish.
The sorbet melts fairly quickly, so it’s best served in a chilled dessert bowl or glass. Sprinkle with cocoa nibs, chopped nuts, or your favorite topping. Enjoy!

Jamaican Rice and Peas

Jamaican Rice and Peas in bowl

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Jamaica. This is our third visit, and it’s always such a welcome treat to dip our toes in the sand, feel the warm tropical breezes, hear birds chirping, and see every shade of blue imaginable all in the middle of winter!

IMG_9693

And the food! Amazing locally grown coffee from the Blue Mountains; fresh caught conch straight from the sea, tropical fruits dazzle with a rainbow of color, coconuts plucked right from the tree, notched open, and a straw stuck in. Sidenote… I didn’t know until our first visit that not all coconuts are brown and “hairy.” By the time a coconut has reached that point, it is already dried up inside, leaving only the meat. The green coconuts, still hanging on the tree, are full of sweet coconut water, ready for drinking. After you finish drinking the water, the coconut can be completely split open allowing you to scoop the soft flesh enjoying it like custard. My daughter loves it sprinkled with sugar before she digs in!

IMG_9668

We ate well everyday… oxtail, curry goat, fish, coconut shrimp, and of course, jerk chicken and pork. Almost every dinner included a side of rice and peas, not green peas, but beans. The rice and peas are steamed in sweet coconut milk with onions, garlic, and thyme; they are perfect to eat on their own or served as a side dish.

Scotchie's

I’ve already made Jamaican Rice and Peas since we’ve been home, and it’s definitely going into the rotation. I served it alongside pork tenderloin that had been marinated in a wet rub of jerk seasoning. But again, this dish works with a wide variety of meats and fish, or stands alone with a simple green salad as a complete meal.

Cook’s notes:  Check for salt as you go along… the coconut milk is naturally sweet, and combined with the low sodium broth, you may find it necessary to add more salt to suit your taste. The hot pepper isn’t required, but it does add the most lovely hint of fruity heat because it’s kept whole. Allspice is a very traditional component of jerk seasoning and I like bringing that flavor into the dish. This recipe uses canned kidney beans as a matter of convenience; feel free to use dried beans that you soak and cook yourself. If you go that route, be sure to save some of the cooking liquid to use for cooking the rice- just swap out an equal amount of chicken broth. Finally, the cooking method, baking the rice in the oven, is from the New York Time’s Cookbook,  “The Perfect Batch of Rice”. It’s hands down my favorite no-fail method of cooking rice.

Jamaican Rice and Peas in bowl

Jamaican Rice and Peas

  • Servings: 8-10 as a side dish
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Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons coconut oil, butter, or extra virgin olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 cups long grain white rice, rinsed and drained
salt to taste
3 cups liquid (1 13.5oz can coconut milk + enough chicken broth to total 3 cups combined)
4 sprigs thyme
¼ tsp allspice or 3 allspice berries
1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, left whole
1 15oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat oil or butter bottom in bottom of ovenproof saucepan. Add the finely chopped onion. Stir and cook until onion wilts. Add the smashed garlic and sauté for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the rice and stir until the grains are coated. Add salt to taste.

Add the coconut milk and chicken broth. Add hot pepper, thyme, and allspice to the rice and let broth come to a boil.

Stir in kidney beans. Cover pan and place in the oven. Set timer for 17 minutes.

Remove pan from the oven. Let stand 5 minutes, then uncover. Remove thyme, scotch bonnet, garlic clove, and allspice berries if using. Gently fluff rice with fork. Check for seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Ingredients for Jamaican Rices and Peas: rice, beans, coconut milk, chicken broth, onion, thyme, allspice and pepper

Rinsing and draining rice in mesh strainer
Rinse and drain the rice as part of your prep.
Wilting finely chopped onion in saucepan.
Melt butter or coconut oil in ovenproof saucepan. Add finely chopped onion and sauté until wilted.
Adding coconut milk/chicken broth mixture to rice
Add coconut milk/chicken broth mixture to rice.
Timer set for 17 minutes
Set timer for 17 minutes.
Jamaican Rice and Peas
After 17 minutes, remove pan from oven. Let stand for 5 minutes before removing lid.
Fluffing rice with fork
Use a fork to gently fluff rice. Carefully remove pepper, thyme sprigs, garlic clove, and allspice berries (if using). Check seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste.
Jamaican Rice and Peas in bowl
Serve immediately and enjoy!

Italian Sausage, Beans, and Greens

Italian Sausage, Beans, and Greens

A friend and I were recently chatting, and the conversation turned to food. Is it me, or do all conversations inevitably lead to food? It may just be me, but it’s one of my favorite topics, and eating is something we all have in common. Anyway, she was looking for some new dinner ideas… but there were parameters- suggestions had to be kid friendly, accommodate allergies, and be on the table quickly. Immediately, one of my favorite go to meals came to mind, Italian Sausage, Beans, and Greens.

There are several reasons why this dish ticks so many boxes in the “pro” Raw sausage, bunch of kale, bunch of chard, cannellini beanscolumn. It’s delicious, done in 30 minutes, needs only a few basic ingredients, and is so flexible in terms of those ingredients. The basics include Italian sausage, cannellini beans, and greens. I make this with Italian pork sausage, but feel free to use chicken sausage or turkey sausage. The beauty of using Italian style sausage is that it has all the seasoning you’ll need- other than any salt and pepper added to taste at the end. Cannellini beans are easy to have on hand, I usually have a few cans in the pantry. The greens I use depend on what’s available; kale, chard, spinach, arugula, rapini, mustard greens, and dandelion greens all work really well. Stick with one type or combine your favorites. Even the measurements are just guidelines.  Add more or less of the sausage, beans, or greens.  There is plenty of room to play in order to suit your tastes.  It’s all good!

My friend declared this a hit in her home, and has made it multiple times since. Now she’s looking for more new ideas… 🙂

Do you have favorite recipes that immediately jump to mind when someone asks, “What are you making for dinner?” What makes a dish one of your “go to” meals?

Italian sausage, beans, and greens in a bowl

Italian Sausage, Beans, and Greens

  • Servings: 4-6
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Ingredients:
4 Italian sausage, about 1lb total (I used 2 sweet and 2 spicy)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 bunch kale, rinsed, stems removed and leaves chopped
1 bunch swiss chard, rinsed, stems removed and leaves chopped
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan for passing

loaf of crusty bread (optional)

Instructions:
In a large saucepan, parboil the sausage links, about 5 minutes. While the links are parboiling, I carefully prick them to release the liquified fat that has accumulated under the casings. Remove from the water, cool slightly and slice crosswise into ½-inch pieces.

Heat olive oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. When oil is shimmery, add sliced sausage. Be careful! There will be some splattering. Sauté sausage on both sides until brown, approximately 5 minutes. Remove sausage and set aside.

Return sauté pan to burner, lower heat to medium low and add greens. Stir to coat in any oil or sausage bits remaining in pan. Cover and cook until wilted, 2 minutes.

Add cannellini beans to wilted greens and stir to combine. Add sausage back to pan and heat everything through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately with crusty bread, passing parmesan for grating.

Parboiling the sausage in a saucepan.
Parboil the sausage. Carefully prick them with a fork to release liquified fat under the casings.
Heating olive oil in large sauté pan
In large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Adding sliced sausage to sauté pan.
Add sliced sausages to sauté pan. Be careful, they will splatter!
Sautéing sausage on cooktop
Continue to sauté sausage until brown on both sides, 5 minutes or so. When brown, remove sausage and set aside.
 Adding greens to sauté pan
Add greens to sauté pan, stirring to coat with any oil or sausage bits left in pan. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for approximately two minutes, or until greens are wilted.
Adding cannelloni beans to wilted green
Add cannellini beans to the wilted greens and mix well.
Adding sliced sausage to wilted greens and beans.
Add reserved sausage and heat everything through. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with crusty bread and parmesan for passing.

Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream

Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream

Butternut SquashButternut squash has a long shelf life- which works well for me when I receive large quantities of it as part of my CSA! As you can imagine the growing season in New England is short, though our local farm does an amazing job of squeezing every last bit of sunshine and warmth out of earth and sky to make the harvest last as long as possible. In fact, they do such a good job, that the farm offers an “Extended Harvest” share, with pick ups well into November.

Each week from June through November I am the happy recipient of culinary treasures… fruits and veggies of all sorts. The spring and summer pick ups Cabbagesgenerally contain perishable produce that has to be dealt with immediately… eaten, frozen, or canned for future meals. The November shares are far more forgiving in terms of shelf life; onions, garlic, potatoes, and winter squash can live on my kitchen counter or in a cool spot in the basement for a long while before I turn my attention to them. Cabbages, radishes, and carrots will survive almost the entire winter in the produce drawers of my fridge.

Butternut squash is one of my favorite winter veggies and incredibly versatile. It can be baked, roasted, or turned into soup, pairing well with many different types of flavors. According to The Flavor Bible, the wide range of combinations include (but is definitely not limited to):
Butternut squash + bacon + maple syrup + sage
Butternut squash + cilantro + coconut + ginger
Butternut squash + ricotta cheese + sage

Below is my take on Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream. The tart apples are beautiful with the rich nutty squash, while the cider’s sweetness rounds everything out. I usually use chicken stock, but vegetable stock will work equally well if you’d like to keep this strictly vegetarian.

Do you have a favorite winter vegetable that you like to use? What do you with it?

Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream

Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream

  • Servings: 10
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*adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ½ lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into ½-inch pieces (about 6 cups)
2 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)
½ cup chopped peeled carrot
½ cup chopped celery
2 small granny smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
½ teaspoon crumbled dried sage leaves
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 ½ cups apple cider, divided
2/3 cup plain greek yogurt or crème fraiche

Instructions:
Melt butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium high heat. Add squash, leeks, carrots, and celery; sauté until slightly softened, about 15 minutes. Mix in apples, thyme, and sage. Add stock and 1 cup cider. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium low. Cover and simmer until apples are tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly.

Using an immersion blender, puree soup. Alternatively, soup can be pureed, in batches, in a blender.

Make cider cream. Boil remaining ½ cup cider in heavy small saucepan until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes. Cool. Place yogurt or crème fraiche in small bowl. Whisk in reduced cider. (Soup and cider cream can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and refrigerate.)

Bring soup to simmer. Ladle soup into bowls. Dollop with cider cream and serve.

Squash, leeks, carrot, and celery in dutch oven.
Melt butter in heavy large saucepan. Add squash, leeks, carrot, and celery.
Adding apples and herbs to sautéed vegetables in dutch oven.
Sauté until veggies are softened, 15 minutes or so, then add apples, thyme, and sage.
Adding stock and cider to sautéed veggies and apples.
Add stock and 1 cup of cider. Bring to a boil.
Simmering veggies, apples, and herbs in stock and cider.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until apples are tender.
Pureed Butternut Squash Soup
Through the magic of the blogosphere, the soup has been pureed. Actually, I used an immersion blender, but couldn’t get an action pick- not enough hands! If you don’t have an immersion blender, puree the soup in batches in a regular blender.
Cider syrup, plain yogurt, and whisk
Boil remaining 1/2 cup cider until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes.

Cider Cream

Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream
Bring soup to a simmer, laden into bowls and dollop with cider cream.

 

Sweet Potato Pie with Maple Meringue

Sweet Potato Meringue Pie

Sweet Potato Meringue Pie begins with one of my favorite types of crust… the press in crust. I’ll be honest, making and rolling out traditional pie dough IMG_7999induces anxiety and nightmares of ruined desserts; so logically, I try to avoid them when I can. This crust is the result of toasted pecans, graham crackers, fresh ginger, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt and melted butter taking a spin in a food processor before being pressed into a pie plate. After baking in the oven for 25 minutes you’ve got yourself a delicious pie crust without any tears, curses, or tell tale signs of patchwork.

The filling is very similar to pumpkin pie, but made with roasted sweet potatoes, along with eggs, cream, brown sugar, and a splash of bourbon to round everything out. After baking in the oven, then cooling, the pie could very easily (and tastily) be served with a dollop of whipped cream. However, I highly recommend you spend an extra 10 minutes to push this pie over the top. Blanket it with a heaping cloud of maple syrup meringue and pop it under the broiler for mere seconds to achieve a golden blush. Your family and friends will thank you. You will thank you.

Another plus for this recipe, especially when entertaining, is that it can be broken down into tasks over the course of a couple of days. For example, on day 1 make the crust, roast the sweet potatoes and puree the flesh. Cover tightly and refrigerate. On day 2, prepare the filling and bake. Allow the pie to cool, then whip up the meringue, top the pie and brown. The pie can be served immediately, or covered and tucked in the fridge overnight before making its big debut on your table.

IMG_8062There are a number of ways you could have fun with this recipe if you’re up for experimenting. Simply swap:

walnuts for pecans
rum for bourbon
pumpkin for sweet potato
gluten free graham crackers for regular graham crackers

The original meringue recipe from Food & Wine calls for quite a bit of simple syrup and tastes cloyingly sweet to me, without doing much to enhance the seasonal tastes of the pie. Instead of simple syrup, I use maple syrup (less than half the amount of syrup called for in the original) to make the meringue which pairs beautifully with the fall flavors of the sweet potatoes, cinnamon, and ginger. I also reduce the amount of sugar in the crust, as the graham crackers already have plenty of sugar in them.

Sweet Potato Meringue Pie and Apple Cream Pie will be on our dessert table this Thanksgiving and possibly even Christmas… what will be on yours?

Sweet Potato Pie with Maple Meringue

Sweet Potato Meringue Pie

  • Servings: 8-10
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*adapted from a recipe Chef Andrew Carmellini contributed to Food & Wine

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup (4 ounces) pecan halves
11 whole graham crackers, broken (gluten free, if needed)
4 teaspoons minced ginger
1 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
32 ounces of sweet potatoes (about 3 large sweet potatoes)
½ cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 Tablespoons bourbon
½ cup heavy cream

For the meringue:
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
3 large egg whites
pinch of salt

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. In a pie plate, toast the pecans for about 10 minutes or until fragrant and browned. Let the nuts cool completely.

In a food processor, combine the pecans, graham crackers, ginger, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon; pulse until crumbs form. Add melted butter and process until incorporated. Press the crumbs evenly into a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Bake the crust for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant. Set aside to cool. Keep the oven on.

Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork and cook in a microwave oven for 10 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to the 325°F oven and roast for 10 minutes longer, or until soft. Let cool, then scrape out the flesh; you should have about 2¼ cups.

Transfer the sweet potato to the food processor and puree until smooth. Add the brown sugar, eggs, and bourbon and process until blended. Add the heavy cream and process until incorporated. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until set; cover the crust edges with foil if they darken. Let the pie cool completely.

In a small saucepan, bring maple syrup to a boil. Cook over high heat until a candy thermometer inserted in the syrup registers 240°F, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form. With the machine running, carefully and slowly drizzle in the hot syrup and beat at high speed until the whites are stiff, glossy, and warm to the touch, about 3 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Mound the meringue over the sweet potato filling, swirling it decoratively. Broil the pie 4-6 inches from the heat for 30 seconds, or until lightly browned- do NOT look away(!), it can burn very quickly.

Cut into wedges and enjoy!

*Pie can be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight.

Pie crust ingredients ready to go into the food processor: pecans, graham crackers, ginger, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter.
In a food processor, combine pecans, graham crackers, ginger, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter.
Pecan and graham cracker crust
Press processed ingredients into deep dish pie plate. Bake at 325°F for 25 minutes.
Pecan and Graham Cracker Crust
Let the pie crust cool while you make the filling.
Roasted sweet potatoes cooling.
Microwave the sweet potatoes for 10 minutes, then finish roasting in the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until soft. Allow to rest until cool enough to handle, then scoop out flesh and puree in the food processor. You should have 2 1/4 cups puree.
Sweet potato puree, brown sugar, eggs, bourbon, and heavy cream on cutting board.
Sweet potato puree, brown sugar, eggs, bourbon, and heavy cream are ready to combine in the processor.
Sweet potato pie filling in the processor
The sweet potato pie filling is ready to go into the pie crust.
Unbaked sweet potato pie
Bake at 325°F for 50 minutes or until set.
Baked sweet potato pie is cooling.
Filling is set and pie is cooling.
Maple syrup in saucepan.
Let’s make the meringue! Boil maple syrup until thermometer reads 240°F.
Soft peak egg whites on whisk.
At medium speed, beat the egg whites and salt to soft peak stage.
Pouring hot syrup into beaten egg whites.
With mixer going at high speed, pour the syrup in a slow steady stream.
Stiff peak egg whites on whisk
Continue beating egg white/syrup mixture until eggs are glossy and stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes.
Mound of maple syrup meringue in center of pie.
Mound maple syrup meringue in center of the pie and swirl decoratively.
Sweet Potato Meringue Pie
Place pie under broiler for 30 seconds or until lightly brown. Do NOT walk away from oven… it will quickly go from brown to burned. Watch it carefully!
Sweet Potato Meringue Pie
Sweet Potato Meringue Pie with Pecan Graham Cracker Crust