White Pine Infused Frozen Treats and Happy New Year

  

In Iran the new year, Nowruz or Norooz or many other spellings, is celebrated on the first day of Spring which is a tradition that hails partly from ancient Zoroastrianism. It is a celebration of renewal and fresh starts much like the Jan. 1 New Year celebrations, but with a heavy dose of cosmic energy, lots of feasting, and some wonderful cultural celebrations. If you are curious about the celebration, check out this link and man, those Zoroastrians were super fascinating people. Now what does this have to do with white pine ice cream? Not much really, except hopefully the first day of spring will bring us all warmer temperatures, more sunlight and the first edible signs of spring: asparagus, peas, greens, and my very favorite rhubarb so we don't have to make ice cream out of trees. I kid, these ice cream and sorbet recipes are actually pretty great.

White pine has a surprisingly citrusy flavor, bright and earthy at the same time, but I can't say that I ever thought of white pine as a food before I started foraging with my friend Tama who shared the white pine and rosemary ice cream recipe on her blog. I loved the flavor of this ice cream so much that I went ahead made a tart meyer lemon sorbet infused with a hefty dose of white pine. It made for a fresh and crisp counterpoint to the rich ice cream. Check out both recipes below and for more pine info check out this great article on Serious Eats by Tama Matsuoka, forager extraordinaire.

Happy Nowruz!

White Pine and Rosemary Ice Cream

yield about 1 quart

adapted from Gramercy Tavern and Meadows and More

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 ounce rosemary stalks (about 2 large stalks)

3/4 ounce white pine sprigs (needles and small branches)

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

4 egg yolks

Combine milk, cream, rosemary sprigs and pine sprigs in a large pot. Bring to a boil then turn off the heat. Let the mixture infuse for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Strain the infused cream into a clean pot and press gently on the solids to squeeze any additional liquid. Whisk in the sugar, salt and lemon zest.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a medium bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer then ladle about 1 cup of the mixture into the egg yolks to temper. Pour the egg and cream mixture back into the pot and whisk well to combine.

Cook the mixture on medium low heat while stirring constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and cool completely. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Remove the soft ice cream to a freezer safe container and freeze four hours or until firm.

White Pine and Meyer Lemon Sorbet

yield about 1 quart

This recipe includes one tablespoon of an obscure liqueur that I happen to love and keep stocked in my bar, but feel free to substitute a tablespoon of vodka in it's place.

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

3/4 ounce white pine sprigs (needles and small branches)

1 tablespoon finely grated meyer lemon zest

1 tablespoon Douglas Fir Eaux de Vie or vodka

In a small saucepan bring the sugar and water to a simmer. Add the pine sprigs and turn off the heat. Let the syrup infuse for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. After the mixture has infused strain the pine needles.

Whisk the pine infused syrup with with lemon juice, zest and vodka. Cool completely then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Remove the soft sorbet to a freezer safe container and freeze for four hours or until firm.

p.s. I've been taking pottery classes for the last couple of months and it is my new favorite thing! I even made the bowls used in this post. Some more of my handiwork can be found below.

Orange Almond Upside Down Cake

I've been taking myself on more adventures lately. Nothing big or fancy, just a short jaunt every now and then to somwhere I've never been before.  I love this city, but the Northwesterner in me longs for more green stuff and fresh(er) air.

I had the afternoon free last Friday and a new camera to test out so I grabbed some film, a snack and hopped an uptown train to visit Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters at the upper tip of Manhattan. The Cloisters house a collection of medieval art and architecture including some damn fine unicorn tapestries and beautiful gardens full of trees and plants depicted in the art. Pretty neat stuff. 

It was cold and bright that day. When I got off of the train I noticed here were very few other people in the park, save a class of kids having lunch and a grounds keeper or two. The quiet was nice and I wandered through the park, following all of the stairways and paths I came across until I got to the museum. 

Admittedly, winter wasn't the best time to visit as there wasn't much going on, but there were signs of spring popping up in the form of crocuses and hyacinths spread throughout the enclosed courtyards. There were even a few citrus trees (maybe mandarins of some sort?) full of fruit in varying stages of ripeness.

It was a wonderful, inspiring afternoon and on my way back through Fort Tryon Park I walked slowly and savored a juicy Sumo Mandarin and let my mind wander a little bit. I'll be sure to visit later in the Spring and Summer when things are a bit greener and to see the fig, quince, and apple trees heavy with fruit.

With the scent of citrus oils on my hands, I thought all of the way home about baking something light and orangey. I knew this simple gluten free cake I spotted on Simple Bites a few weeks ago and was the perfect thing to cap off the day.


Orange Almond Upside Down Cake
adapted from Simple Bites

For the Topping

1 thinly sliced navel orange
2T butter
1/3c sugar

For the Cake

8oz soft butter
8oz sugar
8oz finely ground almonds
3 eggs
1t vanilla extract
2T lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
zest of 1 orange
3oz fine cornmeal
1t baking powder
1/2t salt

Preheat oven to 325º. Grease and line a 9'' cake pan with parchment paper. I obviously didn't line my pan and the cake stuck a bit, not too bad, but not good either. So don't be like me, line your pan.

For the Topping

In a medium skillet melt the butter then add the sugar. Over medium heat, cook for 1 minute. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, then arrange the sliced oranges on top of the butter/sugar mixture in a single layer. You may have to slice your slices in half for this.

For the Cake

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer, or with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3min. Add the almonds and mix thoroughly.
2. Add in the eggs one at a time followed by vanilla, zests, and lemon juice.
3. Fold in the cornmeal, baking powder and salt making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the batter is mixed well.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Slide into the oven and bake for 40-45min or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10min, then invert onto a plate or platter to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temp.

Notes:

- This blog is a great resource for fun day trips from NYC that are accessible by subway, train and car: nycitycures.com
- The Cloisters Gardeners keep a blog too: The Medieval Gardens Enclosed

Honeyed Grapefruit Granita

You'll have to excuse the me for publishing this recipe today, you're probably looking for something a little more heart shaped, red velvety or made of chocolate. Well I'm sorry to say that I can't offer you anything like that. What I do have is this bright, tart, and dead easy to put together dessert which is a nice way to top off a hearty meal like the one you may be cooking for your loved one(s) tomorrow. For this batch of granita I used grapefruit that were labeled pink, but as you can see the finished batch was decidedly pale yellow. Try using texas ruby red grapefruit or a splash of hot pink Campari in your granita if you'd like a more pink finished product.

Are you all cooking tomorrow? What are you making, I still need some ideas!

Honeyed Grapefruit Granita
yield about 1 1/2 pints

1/2c sugar
1/2c water
1/4c mild honey
2c fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
juice of one lemon
mint leaves and grapefruit segments to garnish (optional)
sparkling wine to serve (optional)

1. In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil to make a simple syrup. When the sugar has dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and chill the mixture. Measure 2/3c of the finished chilled syrup, you may have a bit extra that you can save for a cocktail or to sweeten iced coffee.
2. In a medium bowl, add the simple syrup, honey, grapefruit juice, and lemon juice. Whisk well to combine. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 glass baking dish and cover with plastic wrap. Slide the dish into the freezer and chill for 1hr. Remove the dish from the freezer and scrape the granita with a fork to break up the mixture, cover and place back in the freezer. Scrape the granita every 30min or so until it is frozen and crystals have formed.
3. To serve: Spoon the granita into small dishes and top with fresh grapefruit segments, mint leaves, and a splash of champagne, cava or prosecco if you are feeling festive.

Notes:

-If you have an ice cream machine, you can churn this mixture into a delicious sorbet.

Lemon Meringue Pie

A few weeks ago, totally out of the blue, an old friend contacted me with a very exciting proposition. She was planning a quick trip to New York and had magically procured tickets to a taping The Martha Show (!) and was wondering if I was free to join her. It took me about .5 seconds to draft a reply that included many, many yeses, thank yous, and exclamation points. I was more than a little excited to see Martha in person and when we arrived and found out the theme of the show that day was Pies and Tarts, I just about died. Martha's new Pies and Tarts book was about to be released and Martha and her crew spent the whole hour demoing recipes, like coffee cream pie and raspberry rhubarb gallettes, but the best part was when the show generously gave everyone in the audience a copy of the book, along with some other goodies (thanks Martha). On my train ride home, I immediately tore open the book and started dog-earing pages, I dog-eared a lot of pages. Even though the temps today are in the 30's I am hopeful for a Spring and Summer full of raspberry slab pies and lemon poppy-seed curd tarts of tomato basil pies and panna cotta tartlets, and this lemon meringue beauty that I will definitely be making again.

Lemon Meringue Pie
adapted from Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts

For the Crust (makes 2 crusts)

2 1/2c all purpose flour
1t salt
1t sugar
1c cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/4-1/2c ice water
1t apple cider vinegar

1. Pulse the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor.
2. Add butter and pulse until the butter is the size of large peas.
3. Combine the ice water and vinegar in a measuring cup and while pulsing, slowly drizzle the liquid down the feed tube. Pulse until the dough starts to hold together a bit, there should still be visible hunks of butter in the dough
4. Dump the contents of the food processor onto a piece of plastic wrap and use the wrap to press the dough together. Separate dough into 2 pieces, form into disks, and chill for at least 30min before rolling.
5. For one pie, remove one dough disk from the fridge and roll out to a 13'' circle. Place the dough in a 9'' pie dish, then fold and crimp the edges to form a decorative rim. Freeze the formed crust for 30min before baking.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the frozen shell with parchment paper and fill with beans or pie weights. Bake the crust for 15 min, remove the paper and weights, then bake until the crust is golden brown. Set aside to cool completely.


For the Filling

1/4c cornstarch
1c sugar
1 1/2t finely grated lemon zest plus 1/2c fresh lemon juice (organic or unsprayed if you can swing it)
1/4t salt
2c water
4 large egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue topping)
4T unsalted butter, room temp

1. In a saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar, zest and salt. Whisk in the water. Cook over medium hear, stirring constantly, until bubbling and thick. About 7 min (2 min after it comes to a boil).
2. In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks, then pour the hot cornstarch mixture in a slow steady stream. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes back up to a boil, 1-2 min.
3. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, then add butter 1T at a time. Let the custard cool for about 10 min.
4. Pour custard into prepared crust and place plastic wrap directly on the surface. Refrigerate until custard is firm (6 hours or overnight).
5. When you are ready to serve, prepare meringue filling below.

For the Meringue Topping, double for a Mile High topping

4 large egg whites
1/8t cream of tartar
6T sugar
1/4t vanilla extract

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.
2. Gradually add sugar, increase speed to high and whisk until glossy and forms stiff peaks, stir in the vanilla.
3. Spoon meringue onto the surface of the pie until it reaches the crust, then use a spatula to create a swirly, peaked pattern.
4. Gently brown the topping under your broiler, or with one of those fun kitchen torches. Be Careful! It only needs to be under the broiler for about 45 seconds so keep an eye on it the whole time.