ice cream - - Page 12

by forkitude

Summer + Basil + Lemons + Ice Cream = Heaven

Today is one of those summer days: your clothes stick to your skin and you feel disgusting. It’s 94 degrees outside. With the humidity hovering around 90%, it feels like 106. Ice cream anyone?

Homemade ice cream is the best, there is no debate. Plus, I have been looking for some interesting uses for a pot of overgrown basil; it keeps raining and the basil keeps growing. Don’t have an ice cream maker or the time? Cheat!

– Take your favorite vanilla ice cream (I love vanilla bean); empty the carton into a mixing bowl.

– Chiffonade a generous handful of fresh basil. To chiffonade the basil, stack a few leaves, fold in half, and then roll. Hold the basil down while you finely shred into string-like slices, taking great care to avoid chopping off your finger.

– Add basil to the ice cream, along with the zest and juice of two lemons. Mix the creamy, heavenly goodness. If you have any will power whatsoever, put the ice cream back in the carton and into the freezer for later.

Easy. Refreshing. Impressive.

by gansie

Pour Some Sugar On Me

Alton Brown changed my mind about vanilla. Vanilla gets a bad rap, he insisted. We shouldn’t be comparing boring, plain things to vanilla. Vanilla is a unique flavor. It’s extremely labor-intensive to grow, making it the second most expensive spice, after saffron.

Most of us consume food flavored with a vanilla doppelganger in liquid form. That’s not actually vanilla. I’m too lazy at the moment to find my bottle, but I’m guessing there’s HFCS in that little guy. A baker I am not, I will admit to never fiddling with a real bean. But I am a fan of Häagen-Dazs’ new gimmick: real ice cream.

All-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients for incredibly pure, balanced flavor… and surprisingly less fat!

Their “five” has been out for a few months now, but I just recently purchased a pint of their vanilla. I usually go for the crazy ones with multiple flavors going on: brownie chunks with espresso and caramel swirls in cinnamon oatmeal ice cream. Or something like that.

Anyway, HG’s vanilla contains only: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla (vanilla bean flakes, vanilla extract). It’s fucking delicious. It does taste different than other vanillas. It’s bolder. Thicker. It’s familiar, but better than you remember.

But more, I like this trend. Pepsi came out with a “throwback” version featuring, wait for it, real sugar. Mountain Dew is also on the bandwagon. And the version of Coca-Cola sold in Mexico — with sugar — is gaining popularity in the States.

Now it’s not like these are suddenly health drinks, but it is nice to know that the big companies recognize that consumers want the real thing, even if it’s still not all that good for us.

by BS

ES Local: New York’s Four-Figure Dishes

We all know that eating out in New York can often be a ridiculously expensive proposition. But what about the times when you want to make that really ridiculous? Recession or not, there are still a good few places around town where you can drop $1,000 on just one dish. Worth it? Umm…we’ll probably never know. The ES accounting department wouldn’t shell out expenses for this story. Anyone out there want to sponsor a $4,000 restaurant crawl?

The $1,000 Dish: Bagel and cream cheese
Where: The Westin New York at Times Square, 270 West 43rd St., but only during the fall truffle season.
Why: Alba white truffle cream cheese, goji berry infused Riesling jelly and specks of golden leaves.
$1 alternative: A schmear to go from H&H’s midtown outpost. 629 West 46th St.

The $1,000 Dish: Omelet
Where: Norma’s restaurant at Le Parker Meridien Hotel, 119 West 56th St.
Why: Six eggs whipped up with lobster and 10 ounces of Sevruga caviar (that’s a lot).
$1 alternative: Sausage McMuffin, now a buck at the McDonald’s around the corner.

It’s Ice Cream Season Somewhere

It’s time for a long overdue report from my trip this fall to Puerto Rico. The beaches were great, the music was captivating, people were friendly, but I’m sure you know I was mostly just there for the food.

It’s well known that these people can do amazing things with plantains, but I was more impressed and surprised by their many creative uses of corn. Nearly every crowded street corner and popular beach has a vendor selling sorullitos—tiny, tasty little fried cornmeal sticks, sometimes plain, sometimes filled with cheese, always to be dipped in that Puerto Rican delicacy Ariel mentioned yesterday: MayoKetchup. Then of course there are also the omnipresent arepas, corn cakes stuffed with meat or cheese, available both in fancy restaurants and at many street vendors for a dollar or two.

But I was most taken with what you see above: corn ice cream. Seriously! Rex Cream, a little ice cream parlor in the western town of Mayaguez, makes this crazy concoction, which is sweet, with just a little crunch of cornmeal in it, and liberally topped with cinammon.

Feed Us Back: What’s the craziest ice cream you’ve ever eaten?

in Desserts / Food Travel 5 comments

by BS

Artsy Photo of the Day

My new favorite “I’m not having dessert, I’m just having a bite” snack.

Step 1: Cover half a spoon with chunky peanut butter. Don’t bring me any of that natural shit. The junky kind – like Skippy – is necessary here.

Step 2: Cover the other half of the spoon with Häagen Dazs vanilla ice cream.

Step 3: Eat.

Step 4: Try not to repeat. It’s difficult.

And yes, I know I could buy peanut butter ice cream. And no, it’s not the same.

in Desserts / Photos 3 comments

by Russell Warnick

Mr. & Mr. Ben-Jerry

I now pronounce you Ben and you Jerry, husband and husband.

That’s right folks, today isn’t just the unofficial end of summer (boo!), but marks the first day that the great state of Vermont performs same-sex marriages (yay!).

To celebrate this milestone event Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream has teamed up with Freedom to Marry and is renaming one of their signature ice creams: Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby.

If you are in Vermont during September be sure to hit up one of the B&J shops for their fabulous peanut cookie dough ice cream and support the cause by chowing down on some Hubby love.

Vermont is one of four states that now perform same-sex marriages with California Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa being the other three. New Hampshire’s same-sex marriage law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2010. NH, do you think you can trump Ben & Jerry’s foodie political move? You have four months to work on it. ES is watching.

in Desserts / Personal / Politics / Trends 2 comments

by Lyndsey

Friday Fuck Up: Ice Cream Epic Fail

My husband and I, upon our first foray to a large farmer’s market near our new house, decided on a whim to buy a whole coconut. So exciting! So tropical! The adventure we had opening the coconut and eventually eating it made me think of other odd fruits and veggies that people eat and love – artichokes being my personal favorite. Who ever thought, back in the day, these things were edible? Why put forth such effort to get to the wonderful taste inside? But I digress. After the initial excitement wore off, and we had nibbled on a little bit of coconut meat, it now fell upon me to figure out what to do with the bulk of the coconut meat and the water.

It being August, and living in a house with no central air, my mind automatically went to ice cream. I don’t have a stand-alone ice cream maker, but I do have an ice cream maker attachment that came with my beloved KitchenAid mixer. I’ve attempted ice cream before, to utter disappointment. The problem originated from the fact that I don’t want to make normal ice cream. I want to make soy cream. We’re a lactose-intolerant household around here, and my first attempt at soy ice cream, back around Thanksgiving, used soy milk and tofu, and ended up an icy, non-creamy concoction that I threw out. This time, I thought I’d do a hybrid, taking a regular recipe and putting half dairy, half soy in it instead, along with the great goodness of the coconut meat and water – it was bound to be tasty….Right?