And now for something completely different...

One of my favorite summertime activities is picking strawberries. The strawberry is my favorite fruit - so sweet, so perfect, so versatile and so easy to eat. No peeling or slicing necessary. I eat strawberries on cereal, salads, yogurt and, of course, ice cream. So, after a morning of picking strawberries on a recent visit to New Hampshire, we were left with three overflowing baskets of fresh berries that needed to be eaten. We decided to try our hand at making a strawberry sorbet. 

We washed and pureed the berries in the blender, added a squeeze of lemon juice and the sugar syrup and left the mixture in the fridge to chill. I created the following recipe and I must admit, a spoonful of this sorbet is like eating the sweetness of summer!

Strawberry Mint Sorbet

3 cups of pureed strawberries

Juice from one half lemon

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Mint leaves

2 T. creme de cassis

Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Add a few fresh mint leaves and simmer on low heat until the syrup takes on a faint greenish hue and the aroma of mint fills the kitchen. Remove from heat and let cool. When cool, remove mint leaves and add to pureed strawberries. Add lemon juice and chill mixture for as long as possible (overnight is best).

Pour mixture into ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. During the final few minutes of the mixing process, add the creme de cassis into the pour spout.

The sorbet can be eaten immediately, but if you freeze it overnight, the texture improves. It remains soft and scoop-able and is a deep red in color.

Happy Summer!

Oh, the possibilities!

Where to begin? My mind was racing with the plethora of possibilities for ice cream flavors. Do I start with chocolate (an all-time favorite), strawberry, mint, coffee, green tea, or an exotic flavor combination such as peach-ginger? Balsamic-strawberry? The possibilities were endless.

When the haze cleared, I realized that I must start from the ground up. I had recently tasted a delicious honey vanilla ice cream and I figured if I couldn't make a decent vanilla ice cream, there was no use in concocting dangerous flavor combinations. And who doesn't like a simple, delicious vanilla ice cream?

I found the recipe from Patricia Wells' "The Paris Cookbook" online: Maison du Miel's Heather Honey Ice Cream. The ingredients are simple and few - milk, cream, vanilla bean and honey. I have found that the less ingredients used, oftentimes the better the result. Who can argue with the Italians who are known for creating delicious dishes with just a handful of ingredients? Olive oil, garlic, tomato, basil, rock salt, sprig of rosemary - a foundation for a simple and foolproof meal. The secret is in the quality of the ingredients.

One Saturday morning, I wandered over to my local farmers market to search for the perfect honey. Not a terrible chore on a Saturday morning!

At the Double R Bees (from Modesto, CA) honey table, I was able to sample nearly 10 different honeys in a range of colors and flavors. My honey "flight" consisted of orange blossom, alfalfa, wildflower, buckwheat, and even star thistle. I settled on a sage honey, which is a light amber in color, has a smokey sweetness, and has a thick consistency due to its ability not to crystallize over time.

I bought a pint of heavy cream, a carton of whole milk and some bourbon vanilla beans, which are rich in taste and smell, with a thick oily skin.

And last but not least, I also picked up a basket of fresh raspberries to sprinkle on top of the finished product.

Here is my modified recipe of Ms. Well's recipe:

Sage Honey Ice Cream

1 plump, moist vanilla bean

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sage honey

Flatten the vanilla bean and cut it in half lengthwise. With a small spoon, scrape out the seeds. Place the seeds and pod into a large saucepan. Add the cream and milk. Heat gently. Add the honey and stir to dissolve. Heat over moderate, stirring from time to time, just until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan (about 4-5 minutes).

Remove from heat and let steep, covered, on the counter for an hour. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (I chill the mixture for 24 hours. This step is very important and cannot be skipped.)

Remove the vanilla pod and stir the mixture again to blend. There will be a skin on the mixture, just stir until it dissolves. Transfer into the ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

This ice cream can be enjoyed directly after processing for a soft, decadent consistency. After freezing overnight, the ice cream solidifies but still remains soft enough to scoop and a divinely creamy consistency. Enjoy with berries or almonds sprinkled on top.

Off and Running!

For those of you who know me, you know that ice cream is an integral part of my life. I talk about it, I eat it, I search it out, I covet it and I daydream about it. And for those of you who don't know me, you will soon learn the depth of my obsession.

I've been thinking about writing a blog devoted to my favorite dessert/snack for a while now. But the event that spurned me to turn on my laptop and begin writing was my recent purchase of the Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker. I had entered a new realm of ice cream nirvana. 

I was about to create my own.