Stout Ice Cream with Half Acre Hearths Ablaze

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I finally pulled the trigger on the ice cream maker I’ve been wanting for a long, long time — just in time for summer. It’s only a little Cuisinart — nothing fancy — but I’ve already used it a handful of times and I’m pretty much obsessed.

The first ice cream I made was a chocolate coconut milk with almond butter swirl that honestly, didn’t come out as great as I’d hoped. The texture was kind of grainy and it froze so hard that it was nearly impossible to scoop.

So for the second batch, I went back to my roots, so to speak. I grabbed a bottle of Half Acre Hearths Ablaze Stout from the fridge and got churnin’. A perfect way to celebrate Chicago Craft Beer Week, running May 16th through the 26th, dontcha think? (More on that in the upcoming days — hold tight.)

The recipe I followed came from Saveur — I just swapped out the suggested beer for a local craft brew. The consistency and texture is perfection, and the stout comes through strong.

My second attempt at making ice cream was much more successful than the first, and I plan on adding even more successful recipes to my roster. I have a feeling my little Cuisinart is going to be getting a lot of exercise this summer.

What are your favorite ice cream recipes? Share them below — I’d love to give them a try.

Bourbon Fruit Crumble, and the Story of Us

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Apple crumble holds a special place in my heart. Not only is it one of the first things my husband (then boyfriend) ever made for me, but the story behind it also left a lasting impression that we still joke about to this day.

He and I met within the first few days of being on campus our freshman year of college. At Bradley University, to be exact (as if you’ve actually heard of it). And within those few days — when your willingness to participate in anything and everything is high — we had both willingly enrolled in Club BU, a group of new students that host high school seniors overnight to give them a feel of what the university and campus life is like. He was the leader of my group, and aside from him calling me a few times with Club-related things, the extent of our interactions was limited.

Come December, I’d basically forgotten about him until I spotted him one night in the dorms around finals time. Rather, he spotted me. With my girlfriends — drinking tickets in hand — that we’d received from campus police a few minutes earlier for boozing in the dorms. Underage, of course. I don’t remember exactly what he said to me, but there he was — standing in the doorway of his room in his boxers — crassly poking fun at our unfortunate situation. I’m also unsure of what I said to him in return, but I’m sure it wasn’t anything particularly ladylike.

Despite those two encounters, we didn’t really meet until second semester of our freshman year when we were both enrolled in the same Western Civ class. Also enrolled in that class was a mutual friend — an acquaintance of mine and a fraternity brother of his. Somewhere along the way, we ended up being more formally introduced, and afterwards we started talking more and more. And that talking lead to occasional hang outs. However, college was still too fresh and new for the both of us at that time, and neither him or I were particularly interested in starting a relationship. So the night before summer break, we took our first picture together during a night out at the Lucky Lady, and then parted ways. No harm done.

The following fall, when we both returned as sophomores, we reconnected and casually started talking and hanging out again. This time it was a little more serious, but still not serious serious. This was basically the story of our second year together at Bradley.

Junior year is when things started to pick up, and when things were good, they were good. But as with most college relationships, ours wasn’t without its fair share of drama. There were breakups (a few of them). And there were tears. But for one reason or another, we always came back to each other.

During one of those not-so-great times, I decided, on a whim, to go to London for a few weeks. This was before cell phones and WiFi, which meant I was really off the grid — and that’s exactly what I wanted. And probably just what I needed. And him, too.

Upon my return, things changed. I’d missed him and he missed me. That time away from each other had done us some good — we grew up. Something clicked in both of us that made us realize that perhaps we really were right for each other after all.

And we’ve been together ever since.

Shortly afterwards, I graduated from Bradley and started my first real job. He stayed behind to finish his Master’s degree. We tried our best to see each other every other weekend — alternating who would do the traveling. On one of my weeks visiting him, he decided to make me dinner — tuna casserole and apple crumble. Pretty impressive for a college boy. And while I sat at the counter and watched him cook, he did the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen anyone do in a kitchen.

He held the apple in his left hand and hacked at it with a knife in his right hand. There was no cutting board. He was literally holding the apple in front of him and just whacking away at it — ninja style.

I nearly died.

Granted, I didn’t know much about cooking back then, but I knew enough to know that what he was doing was wrong, not to mention dangerous. I applauded his efforts and then instructed him on the proper (or at least more proper) way to cut an apple. We finished making the crumble together. Dinner was delicious.

Now, even all these years later, I still cut the apples any time we make apple crumble. I still make jokes about his knife skills (although he has gotten much better). And I still get a little weary when I see him sharpening my Santoku. But all that aside, these little moments remind me of that time. The time we finally clicked.

And while the story of our relationship may seem dysfunctional (especially to those who lived it with us), I think the important takeaway — looking back on it now — is that we did it together. We grew up together. We experienced some of life’s most defining moments together. And that prepared us to take on the rest of our lives together.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The recipe below is the evolution of the apple crumble he made for me that day. A more grown up version, if you will.

Bourbon Fruit Crumble (serves 6 – 9, depending on portion size)

What you need:

For the filling:

1 1/2 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 1/2 pounds of pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1/3 cup unsweetened dried cherries
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons real maple syrup
2 tablespoons bourbon

For the crumble:

1 1/2 cups walnuts (I used a mix of whole and pieces)
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Extras:

Vanilla coconut milk ice cream (optional)

How you do it:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling, making sure everything is well coated. Transfer mixture to a large skillet and cook over medium heat for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fruit has softened slightly and a syrup begins to form. Transfer filling to an 8″ x 8″ glass baking dish.
For the crumble topping, mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 325 degrees, or until the topping is golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes before serving. Top with scoop of coconut milk ice cream (optional).

Get Your Goat On with Us

House Salad: Dinner for One

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I love to cook. In my dream world, I’d go to the market every day and cook up an extravagant meal every night.

But that’s my dream world.

My reality doesn’t allow such luxuries (whose does?). In fact, it doesn’t allow for much cooking, period. So in an attempt to make the most of the time I do have, I do a lot of prep work in advance. I dedicate a few hours on Sunday to chopping veggies, cooking quinoa/lentils, hard-boiling eggs, poaching chicken, etc., and bundling everything up in their own individual containers. That way, when it’s time to eat, I’m already half way there. These ingredients can be used in a variety of ways, but obviously a salad is the quickest, easiest thing. And when you’re eating dinner solo (or heck, even when you’re not), salad’s perfect — just toss everything in a bowl and you’re good to go.

I should be naming this “garbage salad” or something similar because it was made from everything I had in my fridge at the time. But really, there was nothing garbage-y about it.

House Salad: Dinner for One (or two, or however many you like)

What you need (in whatever amounts you like):

Mixed greens (I used mesclun and spinach)
Cooked quinoa
Bell pepper (preferably red, yellow or orange), diced
Grape tomatoes
Radishes, quartered
Baby bellas, sliced
Cucumber, peeled and sliced
Artichoke hearts, quartered
Hard boiled egg, peeled and sliced
A few slices of nitrate-free salami
Red wine vinaigrette (olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper)

How you do it:

Toss all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and serve.

Be a Food Tourist

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One of the things that’s so appealing about travel is the ability to experience something new. New cultures. New architecture. New foods.

But who’s to say that we can’t do that right in our own backyard? And last weekend, that’s exactly what I did — via a one-way ticket to Chicago’s Chinatown courtesy of Chicago Food Planet Tours.

Chicago Food Planet is a first-of-its-kind tour company that brings culinary and cultural experiences together to highlight some of Chicago’s popular neighborhoods — Near North Food Tour, Bucktown/Wicker Park Food Tour and Chinatown Food Tour. I chose the Chinatown tour because, even though I’d already been there several times, there was still so much more to learn and explore. Oh, and eat.

So on Sunday morning, I took the red line down to Chinatown. First stop — Triple Crown — a Hong Kong-style dim sum restaurant. First mistake — not wearing pants with an elastic waistband (we’ll get into more detail on that later).

It was at Triple Crown that I met our guide, Lisa, and my eleven other partners in culinary crime. After a quick introduction to the tour itself and an informative overview about the regions of China and the cuisines we’d be tasting, we were off. Time to eat.

As I mentioned earlier, Triple Crown serves dim sum. What I didn’t mention is that this was my first time eating dim sum. I know. I KNOW. Clearly I’ve been doing it wrong.

Before our food arrived, we passed two kettles of tea around the table while Lisa explained how the ritual of tea and dim sum came to be. Apparently, it all started way back in the day when silk traders were making their trek across China. They’d stop in tea house along the way, and eventually dim sum — which means “eat to the heart’s content” — became part of the tea service as a way to refuel the silk traders before they started on the next part of their journey. Who knew?

Along with our tea (which was light green with jasmine, by the way), we enjoyed four types of dim sum — steamed BBQ pork buns, fried sesame balls with black bean paste pork, deep fried taro puffs (my favorite), and shrimp siu mai.

I think it’s safe to say that I enjoyed it.

After our meal, we received a copy of the Triple Crown menu and I instantly began planning what I’d order on my next visit. Oh, and they’re also open until 2am every day — love that.

With my belly already starting to feel full, we ventured off to our next stop — Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Co, a company based in Taiwan. Along the way, Lisa stopped to point out some of Chinatown’s most famous architecture and its history. We even stopped in a Buddhist temple mid-service — talk about authentic.

Once we arrived at Ten Ren Tea, we each had a mug of hot mango black tea waiting for us. Lisa explained that there are only four types of tea — White, Green, Black and Oolong — each varying in levels of leaf oxidation. Anything else is a tea imposter. I’m more of coffee girl myself, but I couldn’t help but be impressed by the vast variety of unique teas at Ten Ren Tea, including one that had been aged for over 30 years.

After browsing a bit, we headed over to Chinatown Square, which is the “newer” part of Chicago’s Chinatown. Along the way, we stopped by Chiu Quon Bakery for a lesson in mooncakes. I won’t give away the whole story, but basically it comes down to this — cake is powerful enough to overthrow evil dictators. As if you needed more of a reason to love it.

After cutting through the Square, we ventured over to one of my favorite places in Chinatown — Tony Hu’s seriously spicy Lao Sze Chuan. Although I’d already been there a handful of times, I didn’t have any objections to going again. Lisa ordered a number of dishes for the table — Chinese eggplant, mapo tofu, dried chili chicken and white rice (for the faint of heart). Before digging in, she reminded us that, in case of Szechuan peppercorn emergency, we should resort to the rice — not water — to aid our tingling tongues. Point noted.

Spiciness aside, this is the point in the tour where I started to wonder whether or not I could eat any more food. My pants were not those of the elastic waistband type, and I was regretting my choice of wardrobe. But, for the food’s sake, I pushed forward. The things we do for love.

Luckily, we gave ourselves a bit of a break by walking through Ping Tom Memorial Park before treking to our next spot — Lao Beijing, another Tony Hu restaurant. And in a rather exciting turn of events, our group was actually seated by Tony himself. Talk about VIP.

At Lao Beijing, we dined on a traditional peking duck dinner complete with all the fixin’s. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture — I ate it before I had the chance. But trust me when I say that it was good. Great, actually. If you’ve never had peking duck before, add it to your list. Like, now.

While we ate, Lisa explained that the first restaurant specializing in peking duck goes back to the early 1400s. Prior to that, a version of peking duck was a dish that was traditionally prepared for the Emperor of China. Take that, fried chicken.

Lastly, as if we needed dessert, we stopped at Saint Anna — a bakery and pastry shop. When we arrived, there was a line out the door, which is always a good sign. Once inside, we each received an egg custard tart — a buttery shell filled with sweet, creamy filling. And although I was stuffed beyond belief, my eyes couldn’t help but wander over to the glass case filled with delicious and beautiful pastries like green tea cakes, mochi, and almond cookies. But, I resisted…until next time.

Aside from feeling full, I ended my tour feeling excited about the fact that I’d been introduced to a new side of Chinatown that I hadn’t experienced before. Although I was barely two miles from my home in the West Loop, I enjoyed being able to feel like a tourist in my own city for a few hours. I thanked Lisa for being such an awesome guide, and we chatted about the places I should check out on my next visit — which I’ll certainly be making soon.

Once I arrived home, I put on a pair of workout pants (with an elastic waistband, of course), opened the windows to let in the cool spring breeze, and took a full-bellied nap on the couch. Best. Sunday. Ever.

Thanks, Chicago Food Planet Tour.

House Salad: Quinoa, Lentils and Veggies with Sliced Steak

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I eat a lot of salad. Like, a lot. And I don’t mean sissy little iceberg salads with a few tiny carrot shreds and a tomato slice or two — boring. I mean creative, flavorful and satisfying salads. Which, luckily enough, are just about as simple to make as their boring iceberg counterpart.

Which leads me to my new feature — House Salad — where I’ll post a new salad recipe/method based on whatever leafy creation I made that week. Because whoever said “you don’t make friends with salad” was wrong. You should make friends with salad. And I’ll show you how.

Quinoa, Lentil and Vegetable Salad with Sliced Steak

(recipe as listed below serves four, but can be adjusted)

What you need:

Olive oil
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
Half a red onion, sliced
Half an orange bell pepper, diced
One small zucchini, diced
6 or 7 whole crimini mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup cooked lentils
A handful of arugula

Optional ingredients:

Any cut of red meat, cooked to your liking, sliced against the grain
Crumbled blue cheese
Balsamic vinaigrette (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijion mustard, salt, pepper)

How you do it:

Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the red onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Add the bell pepper, zucchini and mushrooms and cook, seasoning with salt and pepper, until browned — about 8 to 10 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the red wine vinegar, being sure to stir up the browned bits at the bottom of the pan.
Lower the heat to low, add the quinoa and lentils and cook until warmed through. Remove from the heat and stir in the arugula. Season to your liking with salt and pepper.
Top each portion with sliced steak, blue cheese and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. (Optional.)

Maple Bourbon Granola

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My stomach growls in unison with the beeping of my alarm clock. It’s morning, and I’m hungry. I roll out of bed, put on my slippers and my worn-in Bradley University sweatshirt, and make my way to the kitchen.

Weekday or weekend, this is pretty much my routine. I always make time for breakfast — my stomach wouldn’t have it any other way. Because more often than not, I wake up hungry. I usually start the day with eggs (1 whole, 1 white), half an avocado and a hearty dash of Cholula. A big mug of coffee and a tall glass of water are usually present, too. This is my standard.

I rarely ever grab cereal, but when I do, it’s usually granola. We have some really great pre-packaged local granolas here in Chicago (I particularly like Rick Bayless’ mix from Milk & Honey), but honestly, it’s pretty damn easy to make yourself. And even better, you can customize it however you like. This is my current favorite. And of course, in true Fresh & Foodie fashion, it has a kick of bourbon.

I’m sure you wouldn’t have expected anything less.

Maple Bourbon Granola

What you need:

2 egg whites
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
8 dates, pitted and chopped

*I used Burton’s Maplewood Farm Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup that I purchased at Green City Market, but other hight-end brands like Blis are easier to find. I know it’s a little pricey, but trust me — it’s very worth it. You could also use straight up maple syrup, but be sure it’s the real deal. No Aunt Jemima’s here.

How you do it:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, salt, nutmeg and cardamom. Add the oats, coconut, almonds and macadamias, stirring well to combine.
Spread granola evenly on a rimmed baking sheet (I used two baking sheets to give the granola some room) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the granola is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and add the dates, tossing well to combine. Let cool before storing in an air-tight container. Serve as-is, with yogurt or milk, or however your heart desires.