For those who don’t the snow,don’t shoot me. But what’s the point of winter without a few snow covered days. Let’s not forget snowscapes to be had as well. The images of tree line at Loch Raven Reservoir laden with snow with lake frozen in the foreground.Maybe we’ll be lucky before Punxsutawney Phil decides how much longer we have. For my friends in Europe, sorry for the snow blast you guys had and you are welcome to send some this way.

While the snow is taking is time to arrive, I decided to make cold desert with hints of the tropics. Coconuts, a hint of tartness and sweetness from oranges and passion fruit. what’s not to love about this.

Coconut-vanilla bean pana cotta and blood orange gelee

Ingredients

Coconut-vanilla bean pana cotta
1 can of coconut milk (16 oz)
1/4 cup of sugar ( you can reduce this based on your taste)
1/2 vanilla bean
2 tbs water
1 sachet of gelatin

Blood orange gelee
3 tbs of sugar
1 sachet of gelatin
2 tbs of water
16 oz of blood orange juice ( I just used the rinsed out can of coconut milk
Zest of 1 blood orange

Space in the freezer
Containers for the pana cotta (use metal containers if you plan on umolding the pana cotta)

Directions

1. Scrape the vanilla bean with back of a knife and add to the coconut milk.
2. Heat the coconut milk and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Hydrate the gelatin in the 2 tablespoons of water. Stir to make sure there are no dry granules.
4. Add the gelatin to the warm coconut milk and stir until the coconut milk until the gelatin is properly dissolved.
5. Strain the coconut mixture through a sieve and keep warm in a pot filled with water just simmering on the stove.
6. Heat the blood orange and sugar in a sauce pan till the sugar is dissolved.
7. Hydrate the gelatin.
8. Dissolve the gelatin in the blood orange mix.
9. Add the orange zest and stir.
10. Keep the mixture warm in simmering pot of water.
11. Pour a little bit of the coconut mixture into all you containers and place in the freezer for 45 -60 mins depending on you container size.
12. Remove from the oven and pour a bit of the blood orange mix over the coconut pana cotta.
13. Return to the freezer and let set for another 45-60 mins.
14. Remove from fridge and create another layer of coconut pana cotta and return to the freezer.
15. Repeat this process depending on the number of alternating layers your want.
16. Dip the container in some warm water for 10s when you are ready to unmold.
17. Or just enjoy in the serving container.
18. I topped mine off with some fresh passion fruit

Its been an eventful January. I went to California to see my long lost cousins. Ok, maybe not lost, but I had not seen them in over 15 years so it felt like it. I had so much fun that California now seems like a possible destination to move to, who knows. I went snowboarding for the first and it will definitely be something I will be doing again. Who’s up for going here on the East coast ? Been with family definitely brought back fond memories of my childhood. Everybody is grown up though. My cousin has the cutest son, who gives fist bumps to everyone. It was so hard to come back to the blistery cold of Maryland, didn’t have a choice though. Or did I ? Getting back into the regular schedule of things was little harder and blogging and taking pictures took a seat on the bleacher’s watching as life went ahead. Getting things ready for the students to come back, cooking and eating dinner.

Ginger tarragon chicken being prepped.

Ginger tarragon chicken, getting up close and personal

Soggy, rubbery roasted chicken skin is not the best tasting thing ever to put in your mouth. I went on a search to find a recipe to find crispy skinned chicken like the ones you get from the rotisserie place at the market. It just so happened that Cook’s Illustrated had an article on making some roasted chicken based off cooking a very high oven temperature and then cooking in residual heat. So going off the high heat technique, I decided to change it around a little bit by seasoning the chicken from the inside. Ginger and tarragon has been the best combination I’ve tried so far. Any one else tried any other combinations that has worked well for roasted chicken ?

Ginger tarragon chicken

Ginger- tarragon roasted chicken
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, defrosted with giblets removed
1 stick of butter, room temperature.
2 tbs of ginger paste
2 tbs of tarragon, dried ( fresh if you have it)
2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of black pepper
1/2 tsp of dried mustard
1 tbs of parsley
Cast iron pan if you have one
Butcher’s twine

Directions

1. Air dry the chicken for 15- 30 mins.
2. Preheat oven to 425°F with cast iron pan in the oven.
3. Mix the butter and all the spices together into a paste.
4. Place the chicken on a flat non-skid cutting board.
5. Put you fingers in between the skin and the flesh to separate them. Be careful not to tear the skin.
6. Massage some of the ginger-tarragon paste between the skin and flesh. Making to get it into all the crevices.
7. Season the insides of the chicken as well with salt and pepper and a little of the paste.
8. With remaining paste, massage the outsides of the chicken.
9. You can stuff the chicken now with your choice of aromatics and vegetables.
10. Tie the drumsticks together with butcher’s twine and tuck in the wings.
11. Place the chicken breast side down in the cast iron pan and return back into the oven.
12. Cook for 30-35 mins in the oven at 425°F.
13. Turn off the oven and let cook for another 30 mins.
14. With an insta-read thermometer in the thigh, check to see that it reads 180°F.
15. Let the chicken rest for 10 mins.
16. Plate and enjoy

Plated and ready to eat

A few things I got into this weekend. The post for the roasted ginger-tarragon chicken will be up either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Ginger tarragon chicken

Making some brioche

Coconut pana cotta

Malted Salted Caramel Ice cream

The year sure flew by fast !! In a couple of weeks, we’ll all hopefully be ringing in the new year together. Good days and bad days came by and we did are still doing our best. I was over eager the past weekend with trying some new recipes and all and mad e a little extra ice cream and Trinidadian black cake. The dilemma that came about was how not eat it all !! So I’m going to do a give away.

A couple of people I know were diagnosed with Cancer. They are both currently recovering. but you all know how the cost associated with treatment can be totally unexpected. So this is my own little way of helping out a little bit more. Donation pages have already been set up on their behalf by other people, so I’m just linking to those and not trying to duplicate any efforts.

Kelly’s page Donations page closed after beating expectations !!

Chris’s page

Oops. Almost forgot the giveaway. 2 lucky people who live in the Baltimore area ( due to the perishable nature of the ice cream. I’m sure the cake can survive ) will be getting a pint of Malted Salted Caramel Ice cream and 1/2 a loaf of black cake.

Trinidadian Black Cake.

First of all, this is going to be by the honor system ( karma comes back remember, you don’t want to wonder why later)
1. Donate what you can.
2. Leave a comment on this post.

The winners will be decided using a random number generator on the 16th of December and I’ll arrange a pickup location.

Have a great weekend !!

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week. This weekend was a one of a few firsts. Ok, maybe not all firsts. Just images this time and I’ll work on writing recipes over the next couple of days.

Malted Salted Caramel Ice cream

Malted Salted Caramel Ice cream

My first attempt at cheese making-- Mozzarella

Malted Salted Caramel Ice cream

My first attempt at Trinidadian Black Cake.

4 pints of Malted Salted Ice cream

Oh !! I’m giving away 2 pints of the Malted salted caramel ice cream for anyone that lives in Baltimore. Not sure how to go aboutdoing it !!

The tart was soooo good, there was a rave going on in my mouth all through the meal. If you live in Baltimore and haven’t been to Clementines, you should slap yourself silly and schedule a visit. The food there never dissapoints and they make their own sausages, smoked salmon and pickles. The pickles really do deserve their own post, seriously !! It was my turn to take my friend/ colleague in the dissertation wars( glad that’s over ) to her birthday dinner and we settled on Clementines. We both had the airline chicken breast with sweet potato tart. The tart was the winner of the night and this is my take on it. I added some butternut squash, pan roasted shallots and marmalade to it.
(P.S. Hurry up and go try it at Clementines as they change their menu almost every week).

Butternut squash and sweet potato tart
Serves 3

Ingredients

2 cups of Butternut squash, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
1 or 2 Sweet potatos, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
4 tbs of canola oil
4 tbs of butter, diced
1 shallot, cut into thinly cut half moons
1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
4 tbs of orange marmalade
1 egg for egg wash

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper of aluminum foil.
3. Toss the butternut squash and sweet potato cubes in separate bowls with the oil.
4. Spread the vegetables evenly in separate pans and season with spices, salt and pepper.
5. Roast the vegetables for 25 minutes.
6. While the vegetables are roasting, put the shallots in a saute pan with some oil over medium heat,add in salt and pepper to taste.
7. Let the shallots caramelize for 10-12 minutes (less or more depending on your heat source), be careful not to let them burn.
8. Unfold the puff pastry and cut into 4 equal square pieces if using only 1 sheet.
9. Let the vegetables and shallots cool.
10. Once the vegetables are cooled, mix them all together with the marmalade and butter.
11. Increase oven temperature to 425°F
12. Put 1 tbs of butternut squash sweet potato mix in the center of each puff pastry piece.
13. Fold the corners over each other almost like in an envelope. don’t forget to brush then with eggwash
14. Fold the remaining 2 corners over them.
15. Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 mins.
16. Let cool on wire for a little bit, plate and enjoy.

I think this attempt was a decent facsimile of the one at Clementines. I’ll have to go back soon for another taste. What do you think will improve the flavors in this ? Some fresh thyme or will that be too much ?

Pay you parking tickets on time !! Oh do I know that now !! How do tickets, ice cream and pancakes all come together you may ask. In a very weird way, which I’ll share.

Let’s go back  a couple of months into the days of summer, which I’m not so much a fan of of. With construction of a new building going on at work, parking became harder than finding Bresaola in Baltimore. Both students, faculty and staff resorted to parking on the side streets, provoking the ire of the neighbors in the process.  I would too if I came home after a hard day’s work and couldn’t find parking. Let’s say, I incurred a couple of parking tickets over the course of the summer. I thought to myself, ” I’ll pay them in time”.  Fast forward to sometime last week. I was ready to head home, with a planned stop at the grocery store to figure out what to fix up for dinner. Unbeknownst to me, my car had been booted for non-payment of parking tickets. BAM !! U know that feeling you get when you discover your car has just been towed ? Same thing, just a little worse. Because now if you left the car there, it could be towed. Another fee !! Seeing that bright yellow boot on the right hand rear tire ( or is tyre ? I often get confused having had secondary education under the British system).

Along with boot, was a notice on how to get it removed emblazoned on the driver side window. There went my plans for the evening as well as the next couple of weeks.  Time to readjust all plans . I called and paid the bill. $4_ _+ poorer and feeling every inch of it. To add salt to the pain,  I had to return the boot by 6pm the next day or get charged a $25/day late fee. The ordeal to return the boot was another predicament entirely. I had to pay for parking yet again as there wasn’t any free parking at the location. Karma bank, where are you when I need to make a withdrawal.

Skint, broke, whatever other euphemisms you could think of,.. yeah that was me.  I had made plans to make some brioche and maybe some ice cream over the weekend, but it was only going to be one of those this time. A little bit of pleasurable food indulgence to counter balance the pain would be perfect. I ended deciding on trying a new flavor combination in my ice cream experiments. Vanilla bean and key limes. With the egg whites left over from the ice cream making, there were several options going through my head. Macarons, bite sized meringues or a pavlova ? I made the ice cream custard in the evening and let the flavors develop in the fridge overnight. I woke up in the morning and though pancakes. Let’s see how ‘healthier’ egg white pancakes would go with ice cream. One word….. Deliciousness  !! So that’s how they all came together.

(P.S: I might be doing a lil’ dinner party [Oct or Nov], haven’t decided ?)

Vanilla bean-Key lime Ice cream and pancakes

Ingredients:

For Vanilla bean key lime ice cream:

1 cup of milk
2 cups of heavy cream
2/3 cup of sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
6 egg yolks
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbs of key lime zest
1/8 -1/4 cup of key lime juice

For the egg white pancakes:

1 cup of milk
6 tsp of sugar
1/2 cup of buttermilk
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
zest of 1 key lime
juice of 1 key lime
6 egg whites
4 tbs of butter, melted and cooled

Method

For ice cream:

1. Add sugar to cream mixture and heat over medium heat.
2. Scrape the vanilla beans flecks and add to cream mixture.
3. Let the mixture steep for about 30 minutes.
4. Add a little of the warm mixture to the egg yolks and whisk, don’t rush it.
5. Add the remaining warm cream mixture to the egg yolks.
6. Return the warmed egg yolks back into a pan.
7. Heat over medium heat and stir until the mixture thicken and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
8. Strain the custard mixture to remove any curdled egg yolks.
9. Add in the vanilla extract, vanilla bean, key lime juice and zest and stir together over a chilled ice bath.
10. Let the custard mixture cool for 3 hours or overnight.
11. Remove vanilla bean and churn in your ice cream maker.
12. After ice cream is churned, put in container and allow to firm up in the freezer.

For pancakes:

1. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and 3 tbs of sugar together.
2. Whisk milk and buttermilk together.
3. Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture and mix until it just comes together.
4. Add in in melted butter, key lime juice and zest, mix together.
5. Whisk the egg whites and remaining sugar together until you get stick peaks.
6. Gently fold in in the egg whites into the flour, until fully mixed together.
7. Cook pancakes using your regular method.
8. Plate several pancakes on a plate, top with ice cream and enjoy !!

Verdict: The ice cream taste like forzen key lime pie ! Don’t forget ! Pay your parking tickets on time or better yet, don’t get any !