Vanilla Bean Custard-Style Ice Cream with Sea Salt Caramel Sauce

Day 114

If you love ice cream as much as I do, you’ll want to make some before the end of this hot weather. Here’s a recipe that’s sure to please, inspired by South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Maryland.

My husband and I recently visited the creamery with friends, and we each enjoyed a different ice cream flavor.

My ice cream choice was Sea Salt Caramel, so I decided to make a traditional vanilla with a really good sauce. More sea salt can be sprinkled on the sauce just before service if you like that added flavor contrast.

South Mountain Creamery is a fun day trip for families, especially those with young children. At 4pm sharp, you can bottle-feed your very own Holstein calf. There’s always a line, so it’s best to arrive early. The entire experience is unforgettable, and there’s nothing more important than supporting local businesses and family farms.

Visit their website, then visit the creamery for yourself and try the best ice cream in Maryland, for sure: http://southmountaincreamery.com/home.php

I hope you’ll take the time to try this homemade ice cream and sea salt caramel sauce; it’s easy to make and so tasty and refreshing!

Vanilla Bean Custard-Style Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar, divided

pinch salt

1 whole scraped vanilla bean

5 large egg yolks

1½ tsp. vanilla

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together milk, cream, half of the sugar, salt, and the scraped vanilla bean (with pod). Bring mixture JUST to a boil.

While this is heating, combine yolks and remaining ½ cup sugar in bowl. Using a whisk, beat until pale and thick (you could use a hand mixer on low as well, if you prefer).

Once the cream mixture has just come to a slight boil, whisk 1/3 of it into the yolk/sugar mixture, off the heat. Then, add another 1/3, whisking constantly. Return that to the cream mixture in saucepan. Stir constantly with wooden spoon over low heat until thickened and until mixture coats back of spoon. DO NOT BOIL this mixture. This entire part of the process should not take more than a few minutes.

Pour mixture through fine mesh strainer, discarding vanilla bean pod. Bring to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight.

Preparing according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Place in freezable containers and store in freezer at least 5 hours for solid ice cream.

Sea Salt Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

¾ cup sugar

*½ tsp. sea salt

¼ cup water (use just enough that consistency when mixed with sugar is like wet sand)

1 tbs. light corn syrup

1/3 cup heavy cream

3 tbs. unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

Directions:

In heavy saucepan, stir together sugar, salt, water, and corn syrup. Scrape down sides to incorporate any stray sugar. On medium-low heat, cook until the sugar mixture turns a very light amber color (10-15 minutes). Keep an eye on the caramel sauce to make sure there is no burning.

Once the sugar mixture has a light amber color, take off of stove and carefully stir in the cream. After incorporating cream, slowly whisk in butter, one piece at a time, continually whisking to emulsify all of the butter. Use immediately.

*When pouring over ice cream, sprinkle more sea salt as desired.

Peach Upside Down Cake

Day 113

A perfectly ripe, juicy peach is my very favorite fruit. This year, I decided to enjoy fresh peaches as well as cooked peaches in cobblers and cakes. I hate to see the season end, honestly. Although it’s hard to beat a peach-blueberry cobbler, I couldn’t resist making my first peach upside down cake. I had heard of this cake, but until my two recent baking adventures, I had not tried one.

© Doug Kapustin Photography, 2015

 As a child, we often had pineapple upside down cake in the fall or winter as a treat. I looked forward to the delectable caramelized brown sugar topping, and I always stole the maraschino cherries from the center of each pineapple. To make something that is reminiscent of a traditional upside down cake but with peaches, I turned to a trusted southern source: Southern Living magazine. There is no better place to find tried-and-true southern recipes for all occasions, and I am a bona fide devotee. Every woman in my family who has enjoyed cooking over the years has used Southern Living’s recipes. Growing up, I distinctly remember that there was always an ear-marked copy of the latest magazine on top of the recipe book stack. Grandma and my aunts had folded down the pages to so many of the recipes that they could never try them all. In my house today, nothing has changed. You can find old copies of the magazine on almost every surface, folded and ear-marked for later.

Sure enough, it didn’t take lots of searching for peach cakes to find just what I was looking for this time. So, of course, today’s recipe is straight from the archives of Southern Living, and I know you will be pleased. If you feel even a little bit daunted by the steps, please give it a try anyway. It’s not difficult, just a bit time consuming to make the hot sugar topping. I promise that it’s so worth it. All the same, if you read the recipe and think “I’d eat this but would never take the time to make it”, please scroll to the bottom of the recipe for an alternative, “second best” version.

Oh, and I don’t know how you’ll feel, but for me, the down-home taste, texture, and feel of this cake, served warm with vanilla ice cream, makes me want to leave the hectic hustle and bustle of my present life to find a quiet place to breathe and to truly live. Having grown up on a farm, I’m fairly smitten with the idea of homesteading and have been researching it a bit. I think that’s what aging does to us; it makes us want to connect more and more with what really matters in life.  If flavors like today’s recipe stir those homesteading emotions in you, too, I highly recommend the website and blog that has become my relaxation therapy to read. Please visit this link: http://oursimplelife-sc.com.

Today’s “therapy” was reading the homestead author’s post about sturdy clothespins and the “Clothesline Revolution.” Don’t you love the sound of that? Although I’d surely get some sort of HOA citation for putting a clothesline in my backyard where I currently live, I sure do miss clothes dried outside.

How’s that for a tangent that I can’t comfortably bring full circle? Oh well! Enjoy the cake, and here’s hoping it transports you to your “happy place” as well.

Peach Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:

Parchment paper

4 medium peaches, peeled and cut into 1/3 inch wedges or rounds

2 tbs. fresh lemon juice

1 cup cake flour

¾ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 ¼ cups sugar, divided

¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature and divided

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 large eggs

½ cup sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (This helps with cleanup.) Toss peaches with lemon juice.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Cook ½ cup granulated sugar in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes or until sugar melts and turns a deep amber color. Remove from heat. Immediately add ¼ cup butter, stirring vigorously. Spread caramelized sugar to coat bottom of skillet evenly, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Arrange peach wedges over sugar mixture, overlapping if desired.

Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds into bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat vanilla seeds and remaining ¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup butter at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add sour cream, beating until blended. Gradually add sifted flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Spoon batter over peaches in skillet and spread to cover. Place skillet on prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in skillet on wire rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge to loosen.

Carefully pour excess liquid from skillet into a cup and reserve (If you don’t have any excess, that’s fine. It depends on juiciness of the fruit you use.). Carefully invert cake onto serving plate and drizzle with any reserved liquid. Cool about 10 more minutes and cut cake into wedges or pieces using a serrated knife. Top with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired, and serve immediately.

Recipe from Southern Living magazine, found at this link:

http://www.southernliving.com/food/holidays-occasions/summer-peach-recipes/peach-upside-down-cake-recipe

Something to consider—An easier alternative that is also tasty:

Just for those of you who prefer baking shortcut methods using cake mixes, I made an alternate version of this cake using a Pillsbury Super Moist butter recipe yellow cake mix for my second try. The results were not quite as rich and decadent as the Southern Living version, but they were tasty, all the same. For the cake mix, I didn’t use a skillet. Instead, I used a 9x13 baking pan, and I made the cake mix according to the package except that I substituted buttermilk for water and I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract in addition to the vanilla bean.

In the bottom of the 9x13, instead of pouring caramelized sugar, I simply melted the butter and sprinkled the sugar/brown sugar over the melted butter before arranging the peach wedges.

It did save time and was less messy, for sure. The cake turned out delicious, although I’d recommend the Southern Living version if you have the time. Some of you might be hesitant because of not owning the right skillet. If you don’t own a cast-iron skillet, please consider purchasing one. They are oh-so-useful and wonderful additions to your kitchen.

It’s up to you which version you make, but I’m learning more and more that investing a little more time into our recipes pays great flavor dividends. That being said, I know some of you have tremendous time constraints with work, family, and young children. Bottom line: do what works best for you and either way, take the time to enjoy these simple pleasures with your loved ones. 

Mediterranean Summer Salad

Day 112

       Inspiration for good hot weather food can always be found from Ina Garten’s recipes. Her panzanella and fattoush were just the recipes I needed with the drawer of fresh ingredients in my refrigerator. I decided to make something similar to Ina’s classics, but without actually following a recipe. I wanted to see if my flavor preferences would shine through successfully in a salad that requires a rather potent lemon vinaigrette. I also chose to use the

© Doug Kapustin Photography, 2015

ingredients in my refrigerator measured by my favorite flavors rather than adhering to a set recipe. It was worth a try, I ventured to say. Lastly, I didn’t like the idea of soggy fried pita bread in my salad. The first serving would be delicious, of course, but all thereafter might just seem like mushy bread.

Armed with a list of hopes and expectations, I washed my ingredients and prepped my chopping block to get down to business. I was happy with the results. My salad was fresh and tangy, and absolutely irresistible. It was perfect served with grilled pork tenderloin steaks that I had rubbed with salt, pepper, turmeric, and garlic before grilling. I also made some quartered fingerling potatoes tossed in olive oil and herbs and oven roasted at 450 degrees for about 25 minutes. As a potato dipping sauce, I pulsed a chopped shallot, one bunch of cilantro with half stems, two cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of horseradish, a 17.6 oz. tub of FAGE Total plain yogurt, salt, and pepper in a food processor. I make this all the time, and sometimes I add more of one ingredient or less of another, depending on my mood or what’s available; it’s hard to make this dip taste anything other than delicious.  As an aside, this dip is wonderful for so many things; it’s good on sandwiches, nice in salads if you add some lemon juice and olive oil, and a nice dip for any of your favorite raw vegetables or chips. Yay--a bonus recipe today! You’ll want to try this one too. Don’t be alarmed that it’s a lovely shade of green when you serve it. Also don’t be alarmed if your guests steal it to take home (or just lick the bowl if it’s almost gone after dinner). It’s that good.

So back to the Mediterranean Summer Salad… Try it soon—definitely before summer’s end—and you’ll probably have to turn the bowl to your mouth to drink the remaining juices, when no one is looking. Not that I’d ever do that. But you might.

Mediterranean Summer Salad*

Ingredients:

2-3 large, perfectly ripe tomatoes, diced (about 2 lbs.—Or, large= a center cut could cover a slice of white bread)

5 small green onions, sliced white and green parts

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and diced (optional: one peeled and the other w/ peel on)

1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained

1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped

1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

½ red onion, chopped

½ small green pepper, chopped

½ small red pepper, chopped

8 oz. Feta cheese with herbs, crumbled (buy block and crumble yourself for better flavor)

4 cloves minced garlic

½ cup lemon juice (fresh)

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil (I recommend investing in Olea)

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add other ingredients and blend thoroughly. Taste to determine if more salt and pepper are needed. Refrigerate at least one hour for flavors to blend. Serve in a bowl with toasted pita bread as a lunch salad or alone as a dinner side.

*Most recently inspired by Ina Garten’s panzanella recipe and her fattoush at this link:

http://barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=514&S=0

Pecan Pie Tartlets

Day 111

Especially in winter, I am a sucker for pecan pie. The textures pull me right in, providing the perfect balance of creamy and crunchy. There are few desserts better than pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Recently, my daughter Tate found a recipe that boasted pecan pie “cookies”, using piecrusts. We tried the recipe together and agreed that they are more akin to mini-tarts than cookies, but delicious all the same. Being able to pick them up rather than using a fork and plate was another advantage, for sure.

We thought we should share the link and recipe here, and if you’re a fan of pecan pie, you’ll love

Copyright, Doug Kapustin Photography, 2015

these. It’s up to you whether you make your own piecrusts or use the refrigerated crusts; we used the pre-made ones this time.

And, on a completely different note but since we’re already on the topic of Tate and her fairly incredible cooking skills at a young age, I’ll share that she has made the same yummy dish three times this summer, always with rave reviews. It’s a shrimp mushroom fettuccine in paprika cream sauce that will knock your socks off. (or maybe just your flip flops since it’s summer). I don’t have a personal picture of the dish available right now (we eat it too fast for pictures, every single time), so I’ll just share the link. You HAVE to try this one! http://juliasalbum.com/2014/10/creamy-shrimp-and-mushroom-pasta/

Now, back to the pecan dessert. You’ll have fun with this one!

Pecan Pie Tartlets

Ingredients:

2 prepared refrigerated pie crusts (homemade or purchased)

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup pecans, chopped

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup corn syrup

4 eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional:

½  cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chip for decorating

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large non-stick pan, combine butter, pecans, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and eggs. Cook on the stovetop over medium-low heat just until thickened. (You don't want it dry, just slightly thickened, about the consistency of pudding). Remove from heat and set aside.

Unroll dough and using a 3” cookie cutter, cut out circles. Gently fold about ⅛- ¼ " up on the edges. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the pecan mixture into each circle.

Place on a parchment lined pan (it's important to line it) and bake 8 minutes or until filling is just set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Place chocolate chips in a small Ziploc bag (use brand name, the store brands tend to leak). Microwave about 15 seconds or until mostly melted. Snip off a tiny corner of the baggie and drizzle chocolate over the cookies. Cool until set.

Recipe doubled from this link: http://www.spendwithpennies.com/pecan-pie-cookies/