Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Imposter!

Today my husband and I went to home depot to get supplies for our new house. After wards we stopped by whole foods for juice. My husband calls whole foods my home depot. I get really excited, giddy even when I walk up the side walk chalked entry way through those sliding glass doors. I feel like the kids in willy wonka, my eyes get big and I just want to run around and try everything!
While wyatt selected his juice I quickly darted off to one of my favorite sections the "fatty milk" section. I adore local fat filled milk! In fact I thought that I had out grown my childhood milk allergy until I discovered Shatto milk. I drank it everyday, ate it on everything. Unfortunately I had not out grown the allergy and so I have to limit my dairy, and fatty milk is a rare indulgence.
Next is the ice cream isle. The shelves are full of sorbets, gelatos, dairy free goodness, fat and dairy filled delights. All in perfect pint sized containers begging to be taken home. Unfortunately I settled for the dairy free, 150 cal. in the whole pint peanut butter and chocolate. I know sounds to good to be true, it is. The "ice cream" was a total fail! I am so sad what should taste like two of the greatest ingredients on the face of the earth taste like... cardboard.
You see there was a time when this would have been my favorite treat. A time when my goal as a chef was to make everything fat free and/or sugar free. I thought that food could be great without calories, completely guilt free. I was WRONG! I will never forget the day I got into a discussion with one of my instructors in college over splenda. I adored splenda! I put it on and in everything. And who needs butter and oil when you have applesauce? I was so naive. He explained to me that these substitutes are a far cry from true food. Sure they will fill you up, but what about the pleasure that real cream and butter bring? In honor of summer and delightful real food below is my blueberry ice cream and home made waffle cone recipes:

Blueberry Ice cream
Yield: 7c.

Vanilla base:
Whole Milk 16 Fl. oz.
Heavy Cream (36 %) 16 Fl. oz.
Yolks 10 ea.
Sugar 5 oz.
Salt 1/8 tsp.
Vanilla bean 1/2 ea.
Lemon zest 1/4 tsp.

Blueberries 1 # 4 oz.
Sugar 6 oz.

Scrape out the vanilla bean half and mix in a sauce pan with the lemon zest and half the sugar. Followed by the milk and cream. Bring to a simmer until the sugar dissolves, stir often. Remove from the heat and cover with a piece of plastic wrap to create a vacuum. Allow to steep for 1/2 hr.
Meanwhile combine the blueberries and the sugar in a sauce pan and stir until the sugar dissolves and the juices are released. Puree and strain through a fine mesh strainer.
Whisk the remaining sugar, salt and yolks together. Slowly stir the milk mixture into the sugar and return to the heat. Cook stirring constantly over medium heat with a rubber spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spoon. Do not let it boil. Pour through the fine mesh strainer into your ice cream maker followed by the blueberry puree and freeze according to machines instructions. For an extra treat fold in a few fresh blueberries right at the end.

Mini Waffle Cone:
Yield: 15 small cones
I used a pizelle maker which can be found at most food specialty stores.

Eggs 2 ea.
Salt 1/4 tsp.
Sugar 2/3 c.
Vegetable 2 Tbs.
Cake flour (sifted) 1 c.
Vanilla 1 tsp.

Preheat the pizelle maker and make sure to spray it well between each use.
Mix the dry ingredients and add remaining ingredients. Mix until a smooth batter forms, add water if the batter is too thick. Follow the manufactures instructions for cooking the cone. Fold while it is still hot into a cone shape. Fill with ice cream and enjoy!