Ice Cream Sandwiches

I had an annoying weekend. I was so pumped about having my own apartment for a month, but I still had to go out and do things on Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do those things, so I sat around and moped. And then I got to baking. I needed a way to release my frustration so I decided to do something that would relieve the tension. I had some cocoa powder left from when I made cupcakes for my birthday, and I originally thought I would make brownies, but then another recipe caught my attention. I decided to make ice cream sandwiches with my honey ice cream. These turned out amazing. I read the reviews first and decided to grind the cornmeal in a food processor to give it a more fine texture and the end result was a cookie that was crumbly and sweet, but not too sweet with just the right amount of chocolate mixed in. It was a perfect comfort food for a less than comforting day.

Italian Chocolate Sandwich Cookie
(Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal or polenta
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cookies, in a large bowl use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. In another medium bowl stir together the flour, cornmeal or polenta, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir to combine using a wooden spoon. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap. Press the dough into a 1-inch high round. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Roll out the dough to between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick. Use a 2 inch round cookie cutter (or a glass) to cut out the dough. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 15 minutes. Place the baking sheets on a wire rack to cool cookies. Cookies can be made a day in advance.

To make the ice cream sandwiches:

Press a scoop of ice cream on one cookie. Top with another cookie and press down until ice cream reaches the edge of the cookie. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Pad Thai?

8/8/08 - A lucky day...no? Well overall it was a pretty good day for me. Nothing extraordinary, but just continuing good feelings about the week. Plus, hey - I have my own apartment for the next month, what could go wrong, right? Until the end of the day. Let me tell you a little story. Esi has been craving Thai food for the last 6 months. Esi, has been trying to be better to her wallet on ordering food in. Esi decided that instead of calling up her go-to Thai place (for which she also gets miles), she would make her own Pad Thai. Esi had a bad idea this Friday night. Esi settled on Danny Boome's recipe for Pad Thai. Now before you go off on me, I do realize that this is not the most authentic recipe for Pad Thai, but Esi is trying to use ingredients she already has in her kitchen and Esi had most of these ingredients...most of them. Esi still has to go to the store. Bad idea, because once Esi gets to the store, she can't be stopped. Still, she manages to only get what she needs (plus the latest issue of Us Weekly) except for the damn fish sauce. What the hell?! What store in Los Angeles does not have fish sauce?! I will tell you which store, her stupid f'ing corner store. So, Esi heads across the street to the more expensive (but better stocked) store to get her ten dollar fish sauce. Esi comes home to assemble Pad Thai. It takes a bit of work, but hey, it will be worth it. Overall, it's still cheaper than ordering in (despite the insane price of the fish sauce) and she can watch the Sex and the City Movie while preparing it all (don't ask, just accept that Esi works in the movie business and these perks happen). Esi assembles Pad Thai, sits down to watch the movie and realizes that despite all the work, it tastes like noodles stir fried with lime...at least it looks pretty.

Shrimp Pad Thai
(Adapted from Danny Boome)

2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
7 ounces rice noodles, soaked in hot water for about 5 minutes then drained
1/2 cup bean sprouts
4 scallions, sliced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/4 unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and saute until golden brown. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, 1 to 2 minutes on each side, tossing from time to time. Remove and set aside.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in the same pan and add the eggs. Stir to scramble the egg into small pieces, remove and set aside with the shrimp.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine, red pepper flakes, and brown sugar. Stir briefly (make sure you get the bits off the bottom of the pan), add the drained noodles and cook for 5 minutes, tossing constantly.

Add the bean sprouts, chopped scallions, and most of the cilantro. Mix well and continue to cook until the noodles are heated through. Season, if necessary with more soy sauce and/or fish sauce. Stir in lime zest and juice and top with remaining cilantro and chopped peanuts. Serve immediately.

As I said in the end, this tasted just like noodles tossed in lime. I added some honey to it at the end, despite the two teaspoons of brown sugar (more than the original recipe called for). I guess the next time I attempt Pad Thai, I will look for a more authentic recipe. At least I finally had a reason to dig out that old wok my parents gave me one year in college.

Strawberry Smash Muffins

A friend of mine picked up a bunch of strawberries from Oxnard earlier in the week. Of course I went one a strawberry recipe hunt, but then I remembered I had been wanting to try strawberry muffins for a while. In case you couldn't tell, I *kinda* like baking with strawberries. I was a little loathe to turn on my oven with the muggy weather we have been having lately, but it cooled down enough one night for me to make them. They came out really well and I was a little surprised at how light and fluffy they were. Of course, they made my apartment smell amazing!!

Strawberry Smash Muffins
(Adapted from CookingLight)

Makes 12 muffins

1 pint of strawberries, washed, hulled and chopped
1 stick butter melted and cooled
Zest from 1 lemon, about 2 tsp
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
cooking spray

For the topping (optional)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl mix together the butter and egg. In a food processor or blender, pulse together strawberries and lemon zest until the strawberries are roughly smashed, it is ok to still have chunks of strawberry.

Whisk together the strawberries with the butter and egg mixture.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the strawberry mixture to the dry ingredients until just combined.

Spray the muffin tins with cooking spray and and spoonfuls of batter into each tin, filling each about 3/4 of the way. If desired, sprinkle each muffin with a little bit of the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a fork inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Turn out the muffins onto a wire rack and allow to cool before serving.

Prickly Pear Granita

For my other prickly pear recipe, I decided to make a granita. The pears are already pretty sweet so to add some tartness, I used lemon juice. To get another level of sweetness, I decided to go with agave nectar instead of regular sugar. It ended up being the perfect level of sweet and tart and the color was beautiful. Of course if you want to make this a virgin granita, replace the vodka with extra water. This was a pretty slushy granita that melted quickly so to make it less icy, use less water or vodka.


Prickly Pear Granita

1/2 c prickly pear puree (3 prickly pears for me)
Juice from 2 1/2 lemons
1 tbsp organic agave nectar
1/2 c water
1/2 c vodka


To make the puree:
Slice open the prickly pears. Squeeze the pears through your hands into a wire sieve fitted over a small bowl. With a silicone spatula, squeeze the pulp through the sieve and discard the seeds.

Whisk together all of the ingredients. Pour in an 8x8 glass dish and place in the freezer. Chill for at least 4 hours, scraping the top every hour. Can be done overnight.

Shrimp and Asparagus Salad with Prickly Pear Vinaigrette

The other day, I posted a plea for help on what to do with my prickly pears that I discovered at the farmer's market. Well, I didn't get much help so I came up with a couple of things on my own. I knew I wanted to have one recipe that was savory and one that was sweet. For the savory recipe I settled on a salad. I decided to use the prickly pears in a vinaigrette and I picked canola oil for the vinaigrette so as not to over power the delicate flavor of the pears. It was so good and fruity and perfectly light for the summer. It was also a perfect end to a day where I found out I am going to be attending one of the Tasting Pavillions at Slow Food Nation!! I am so excited and honored to be involved in this historic food event. To find out how you can get tickets, click here.


Shrimp Salad with Prickly Pear Vinaigrette

Makes 2 servings

For the salad:
2 handfuls organic baby spinach
10 shrimp, peeled and de-veined
10 thin asparagus stalks, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tsp organic, extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, chopped
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the vinaigrette:
1/4 c prickly pear puree (about 2 prickly pears)
2 tsp canola oil
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 tsp honey
1 small green Chile, finely chopped
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

To make the puree:
Slice open the prickly pears. Squeeze the pears through your hands into a wire sieve fitted over a small bowl. With a silicone spatula, squeeze the pulp through the sieve and discard the seeds.

To make the vinaigrette:
Whisk together all of the ingredients.

To make the shrimp and asparagus:
In a medium skillet heat 2 tsp oil. Add shallots and garlic and cook over medium-low heat until softened, but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add asparagus and cook for 2-3 minutes until bright green, but still crisp. Add shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until pink and cooked through.

To make the salad:
Lay spinach on the plate, top with the asparagus and shrimp mixture and spoon the vinaigrette over everything. Garnish with cilantro if desired.

Basic Caprese Salad

This summer in Los Angeles, has been blissfully not hot...until now. I haven't turned on my air conditioner since 4th of July weekend and I have been able to cook and bake to my heart's content. However, the last few days have been warmer (not hot) and disgustingly sticky. I haven't been wanting huge meals, but at the end of the day, I still need something to ensure I don't wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pains. I had some mozzarella in the fridge and basil and tomatoes from the farmer's market so I put it all together for one of my favorite salads.

Caprese Salad

serves 1

1 beefsteak tomato, sliced
2 oz mozzarella, sliced
4 or 5 basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 tsp organic, extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Arrange tomato slices on a plate. Top with mozzarella and season with salt and pepper. Spread basil leaves over the salad. Sprinkle with oil and vinegar and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.

Plight of the Honey Bees

I don't normally give product reviews or comments of things you find in the grocery store, but this one is so yummy AND it's for a good cause. If you didn't already know, the honey bee population is diminishing at an accelerated rate. Why should you care? Because honey bees pollinate a third of what we eat. If there are no honey bees, we have no food (ok, maybe not "no" food, but a lot less food). Haagen-Dazs is donating a portion of the proceeds from the special honey flavors to research at Penn State and UC Davis. I picked up a pint of the Hawaiian Lehua Honey and Sweet Cream Ice Cream which was the perfect end to my lazy weekend. To find out more about what you can do to help save the honey bees, click here.

Hawaiian Lehua Honey and Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Strawberry Sauce

8 strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
juice from one lemon
juice from one medium orange
2 tbsp honey

In a medium saucepan, dissolve honey into the lemon and orange juice over low heat. Add strawberries and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and stir constantly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Serve strawberry sauce over a scoop or two of the honey ice cream.

HELP!!

For the last few weeks at the farmer's market, I have seen this fruit. I have never tried a prickly pear before so this last weekend I asked the farmer for a taste. I liked it a lot so I bought some, but now I have a bowl of prickly pears and no idea what to do with them!! If you have any ideas, please send them my way. The best one will get a dish named after them!

Mussels in Spicy Broth

Sometimes, just hearing a word inspires me to make something delightful. This weekend the word was mussels. I kept hearing the word everywhere from Good Food to that crazy Anne Burrell chick on Food Net. I picked up some mussels at the farmer's market and thought about what combination of flavors I wanted. I decided to go with a pretty classic and straightforward mix and the results were amazing. It was so easy and fast - only about 20 minutes from start to finish (there you go AGAIN, Rachael Ray!!), and it made my apartment smell terrific. The only regret was not having enough bread to soak up all the delicious broth.


Mussels in Spicy Broth

1 lb mussels, cleaned and de-bearded*
organic, extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
6 cloves (yes, I said SIX) garlic, minced
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1/4 c parsley
1 c dry white wine (I used leftover Pinot Grigio)
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
crusty bread, sliced and toasted (I used leftover Ciabatta)

Heat a large and deep skillet over low heat. Pour enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add shallots, garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute until the shallots and garlic are softened, but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 the parsley and cook for about one minute. Add mussels and wine, stir to combine and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pan and let mussels steam for about 5 minutes. Pour mussels in a large bowl and top with the broth, garnish with remaining parsley and serve with bread.

*When you bring the mussels home, run them through cold water and place them in a bowl with ice or leave the bowl in the refrigerator. Make sure all the mussels are closed. If one is open, give it a tap and if it closes, it is ok to use, but if it remains open, toss it out. Once the mussels are cooked, toss out any that did not open.

Grilled Chicken and Aspargus with Arugula Pesto

Not wanting to be a wasteful person, I decided to use my pesto in a quick dinner. I'm so glad I did. It was so tasty and the whole thing came together in less than 20 minutes (take THAT Rachael Ray!!). I decided to add some asparagus to the grill even though I was less than thrilled with my last attempt at grilled asparagus. The spritz of lemon added a great freshness to the smokiness of the asparagus. I am now in love with grilled asparagus and trying to think of other ways I can use it.

Grilled Chicken with Asparagus and Arugula Pesto

3 organic, free-range chicken tenders
8 or so asparagus stalks, trimmed
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
approx 2 tbsp organic extra-virgin olive oil
1 spoonful arugula pesto
spritz of lemon juice

Preheat a grill to medium high heat. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Toss asparagus with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place chicken on a grill and cook for about 4 minutes on one side. When you are ready to flip the chicken, add the asparagus to the grill. Cook the chicken for another 3-4 minutes on the other side. Cook the asparagus for about 2 minutes on each side, tossing with tongs. Serve the asparagus alongside the chicken and top the chicken with the pesto. Spritz the asparagus with lemon and serve immediately.


I also decided to use the pesto for a fun take on breakfast. I have always seen recipes for "green eggs" so why not try it with my green? Even though the picture doesn't look like the most appetizing food stuff, it tasted really good. Since the pesto had so much salt, I decided to omit salt from the eggs.

Scrambled Eggs with Arugula Pesto

2 organic, free-range eggs
1 spoonful arugula pesto

Scramble the eggs over medium heat in a small saucepan. Top with a spoonful of pesto.