Monthly Archives: June 2010

Lemon Verbena Frozen Custard. Get out the ice cream machine.

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We’ve got a few ice cream machines in our house. Two of them we’ve had for years. They’re identical with their big plastic tub that holds a can with a paddle inside of it, with plenty of room between the can and the sides of the tub to pack in lots of ice and salt.

And then there is the Cuisinart machine with its ice cream can insert that needs to be frozen before you can make ice cream. I have two inserts. I store both in the freezer so they are ready to go whenever I have a sudden urge for something sweet and frozen.

I use my old machines for making ice cream, preferring the creamy consistency that results. I use the Cuisinart machine for making sorbet.

Earlier this week I plucked leaves from my lemon verbena plant out in my garden. It was the first time I was using the bright, fresh lemon-scented leaves. For the last couple of years I had searched local nurseries for lemon verbena plants and always came out empty-handed until this spring. There are so many ways I want to use lemon verbena and I am so excited to finally have a plant of my own. I’m told it is a perennial, and if it comes back each year, it becomes a nice shrub. We’ll see if it can survive a cold Minnesota winter. I hope so.

I decided my first experiment with lemon verbena would be in frozen custard. And, just in the nick of time to celebrate national dairy month. Today is the last day.

I steeped some chopped lemon verbena leaves in hot milk and cream one evening. While the liquid was being infused with the intoxicating fragrance, I prepared my favorite lemon curd recipe, using a little less butter than normal. After straining verbena leaves from the liquid, I mixed it with the lemon curd and refrigerated the mixture overnight.

Yesterday evening, I got the old ice cream maker set up out on the deck. As the custard churned, I rinsed, pitted and halved some fresh cherries to serve over the ice cream.

It was cool last night, but we invited the neighbors over and sat around the campfire eating Lemon Verbena Frozen Custard topped with sweet cherries. The best.

I’ll keep you posted as I do more experimenting with lemon verbena.

If you don’t have an ice cream machine and you live in the Twin Cities you have at least a couple of places to go for a  frozen custard treat that someone else has prepared. I’ve been to Adele’s Frozen Custard, a small shop in Excelsior that makes small batches of premium frozen custard. It’s great.

On my last visit to the Twin Cities, I discovered Liberty Frozen Custard. It’s another small shop in an old renovated gas station in Minneapolis. I couldn’ t just drive by. I stopped for some very creamy, rich frozen custard. Yum.

 Lemon Verbena Custard has just a whisper of tart lemon flavor, not one bit overpowering. It is simply lovely with all the fresh berries of summer, complementing their sweet flavor rather than diminishing. Fresh cherries are another delicious match for this frozen custard.

Lemon Verbena, I love you. You were so worth waiting for.

If you don’t have an ice cream machine, go get one. Hurry.

Lemon Verbena Frozen Custard

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup lemon verbena leaves, rinsed, dried and chopped
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 6 tablespoons superfine sugar
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small chunks

Bring the milk, cream, chopped verbena leaves and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.

While mixture is steeping, whisk eggs with superfine sugar in a 2 1/2-quart saucepan until light. Add grated zest and lemon juice. Whisk briskly by hand over medium-low heat, adding small chunks of butter, one at a time, making sure the butter is melted before each addition. When mixture just begins to bubble, it will be thickened, similar to the consistency of pudding. Remove from heat.

Pour the steeped mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl, pressing on the lemon verbena to extract all the flavorful oils. Discard the lemon verbena.

Gradually pour the milk-cream mixture into the lemon mixture, whisking to blend and incorporate completely before adding more. When all liquid has been blended with lemon mixture, allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, covered, until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze the mixture according to the instructions for your ice cream maker. Makes about 1 quart.

 

Hoo-Ha — that’s a burger

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 Stuffed with a mixture of feta, olive oil and jalapeno peppers, these burgers will have all around your table blowing air as they explode with hoo-ha’s. Depending, of course, on how much jalapeno heat you put into the feta.

With Hoo-Ha Feta Spread in my refrigerator, and a bowl of Tapenade with a Twist that I shared in my previous blog post, I was swept right into a mood for Greek burgers.

I’m lucky to be able to purchase grass-finished ground beef at my local food co-op. Grass-fed beef tends to be leaner than other beef. I determined that by stuffing the middle, I wouldn’t need to worry so much about the burgers drying out by the time the middle got cooked through.

One pound of ground beef was enough to form 3 hamburgers. Six thin beef patties, 3 spread with Hoo-Ha Feta, then topped with the other three patties and sealed tight around the edges to keep the feta from oozing out, was a little bit Greek, right?

But then, at eating time, after adding fresh spinach leaves, grilled onions and a thick slice of tomato a big dollop of Tapenade with a Twist was the crowning Greek glory.

Now, that’s a burger. Hoo-ha.

Hoo-ha Feta-Stuffed Burgers

1 pound ground beef

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

4 1/2 tablespoons Hoo-Ha Feta Spread, (recipe in my column this week)

3 hamburger buns

Spinach leaves, tomato slices, Tapenade with a Twist, grilled onions for serving

Mix ground beef, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Shape into 6 thin patties. Slather 1 1/2 tablespoons Hoo-Ha Feta Spread on each of 3 patties. Place a plain patty on top of each slathered patty. Seal edges completely.

Place hamburgers on hot grill and cook until done. If you want grilled onion slices on the burgers, grill them at the same time.

Serve cooked burgers on buns with tomato slices, tapenade, spinach leaves and grilled onions. Makes 3 burgers.

 

Tasty Tapenade with a Twist

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I’ve been a lover of salty black olives since I was a little girl and my dad gave me my first taste. It was that first earthy-flavored nibble that began a long, progressive palate-developing journey from canned black olives to supermarket deli olive bars and finally to big, delicious in-house marinated Greek olives at Bill’s Imported Foods on West Lake Street in Minneapolis. I’ve been known to stop in at Bill’s on visits to the Twin Cities, buy a few of each kind of olive and take them back to my hotel room to savor, one by one. Any that remain in the bag sit on the air conditioning vent overnight to stay cool. I eat them for breakfast the next morning, picking them up one by one with my puffy little fluid-retaining fingers that remind me of little pork sausages. All those salty olives before bed can really make a girl take on monster-like facial features by morning, too, if you don’t drink enough water. Wonderful olives make it all bearable, though.

If there is such a thing as an olive snob, I would definitely qualify for the title. These days, I stay clear of any olives that come from a can. A jar, yes. But never from a can.

So, it only makes sense that I would also have a great appreciation for tapenade. Olive tapenade is a thick paste, traditionally made by pounding olives and capers together with a bit of olive oil. I love using this French spread on toasted slices of baguette or thin and crunchy pita chips.

At least a few years ago, my friend, Cori, sent me a recipe for tapenade. Until now, I had never prepared that recipe. Her tapenade had a little twist that makes it different from other tapenades. This one has fresh mushrooms in it. Lots of fresh mushrooms. I do not embrace mushrooms as I do olives.

But, last week I pulled the recipe out of storage. I was trying to recreate a platter of three spreads and pita chips that I recently enjoyed at Town Talk Diner in Minneapolis. I’d already made a spicy feta spread and mild, sweet red pepper spread that I tried to copy from Town Talk. Olive tapenade can always be picked up from the grocery store, but I really wanted a platter of all homemade spreads. Tapenade is not difficult to make yourself.

I made the tapenade recipe Cori sent me. I used my food processor, being careful not to overprocess the tapenade. Tapenade should have some texture. The flavor of the tapenade you make will be dependent on the quality of the ingredients you use. This is no time to try substituting canned black olives for the Greek kalamatas. Use your favorite olive oil. Find the freshest mushrooms. You’ll be happy you did.

I adore quality olives. I’m not fond of mushrooms. But, I love this Tapenade with a Twist. Especially with Home-Toasted Pita Chips.

This recipe makes about 3 cups of tapenade. If you don’t need all of it to serve as a spread, try tossing it with pasta, adding it to tuna salad, spreading it on sandwiches rather than mayo, or dabbing it on pizza. I plan to make burgers with ground grass-fed beef and stuff them with a blend of Tapenade with a Twist and Spicy Feta Spread. Since grass-fed beef is very lean, the stuffing should help keep the burger moist.

Recipes for Hoo-Ha Feta Spread, Red Pepper Spread and Home-Toasted Pita Chips are in my column this week.

You won’t have to twist anyone’s arm to try this tapenade. But, still. Just give me a bag of large, salty, marinated olives from Bill’s Imports anytime, and I’ll be sooooo happy.

Tapenade with a Twist

(thanks to Cori)

  • 7 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1/2 pound fresh cremini mushrooms, quartered
  • 1/2 pound fresh shitake mushrooms, quartered
  • 2 tablespoons of a combination of fresh minced herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram
  • 4 chubby garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup dry red wine
  • 1/2 pound brine-cured black Greek kalamata olives, pitted
  • 2 tablespoons small capers, rinsed and patted dry
  • 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a large non-reactive skillet over medium-high heat, warm 3 tablspoons of the olive oil. Add the mushrooms, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook, tossing and stirring often until the mushrooms begin to render their juices, about 5 minutes. Stir in the wine. Lower the heat slightly and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the liquid has evaproated and the mushrooms are tender, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

In a food processor, combine the mushroom mixture, olives, capers and lemon juice. Process until finely chopped. With the motor running, gradually add the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil. The mixture will thicken. Be careful not to overprocess. Some texture should remain.

Transfer the tapenade to a container and cover tightly. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving. The tapenade can be prepared up to three days ahead. Allow the tapenade to come to room temperature before serving. Makes 3 cups.

* 5 oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained, can be added to the tapenade during processing.

 

There is no place like home for rhubarb dessert

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I’ve been on vacation. For one week, I had an apartment in south Minneapolis. It was listed on a site that offers vacation rentals by owner. Up to this point, I hadn’t spent much time exploring south Minneapolis. It turned out I was in for a real treat.

Although I had my bike along (my apartment was just 3 blocks from one of the wonderful Minneapolis trails), several dark, cloudy, soggy rainy days prevented me from spending any time on my pedal-powered two-wheeler. As it turned out, that wasn’t such a bad thing. By car, I was available to explore neighborhoods I probably wouldn’t have gotten to by bike.

My discovery highlights wound up taking on unexpected themes of bakeries and farmers markets. I had planned to take in the downtown St. Paul farmers market, the oldest in Minnesota. It never disappoints with all of the fresh flowers, herbs to take home to plant, fresh vegetables, honey, meats and this time, even fresh-picked strawberries.

The next morning, a Sunday, I paid a visit to the Kingfield farmers market, a relatively new but charming small neighborhood market. I’d read that a person could find plenty for breakfast at this market and it was definitely true. A strawberry-rhubarb turnover from Sun Street Breads was devoured before I could even snap a picture. A smoothie is always a good breakfast and at this market you could purchase an organic smoothie for 50 cents off the regular price if you pedaled a stationary bike to power the blender.

Look at that huge basket of garlic scapes and the fresh romaine. I liked the idea of the salad baskets, a collection of greens and vegetables that could be tossed together to create a complete salad. Fun.

The Kingfield Farmers Market is every Sunday from
23 May – 31 October
8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
43rd & Nicollet Ave. S. in Minneapolis

And then there were the bakeries I happened upon. My hands-down favorite was Butter Bakery Cafe. Reggae music wafting through the door was a welcoming sound as I entered the neighborhood place that seemed a combination cafe-coffeehouse-bakery. My tummy was telling me it was just about time for lunch, but when I checked out the menu it was hard to decide between breakfast or lunch. Everything sounded tempting and of course, there were all the delicious-looking sweet stuff in the bakery case beckoning me. I finally decided on the beet/cheddar burger. I highly recommend it. As the clock moved closer to noon, the place really started to fill up. All ages welcome here. Don’t leave your dog at home, either. It’s a pet-friendly place with a bowl of water out on the sidewalk and a bucket of doggie treats inside.

I’m anxious to get back to Butter for breakfast. Don’t you just love that name? Butter. And by the way, Hope creamery is where the butter at Butter comes from. The folks at Butter focus on providing fresh, local, natural, and organic ingredients by getting as many ingredients from local sources as possible.

Butter Bakery Cafe is located at 3544 GRAND AVE in MINNEAPOLIS.

At the end of my vacation I stepped into A Baker’s Wife’s Pastry Shop.

 Quaint, with a slight feeling of chaos, this pastry- and bread-packed shop is warm inside and smells just like a bakery should. I chose a loaf of whole grain bread. Remember, it was the end of a vacation filled with food. I had to start eating a little more sensibly.

A Baker’s Wife’s Pastry Shop is located at the corner of 42nd Street E and 28th Avenue S in Minneapolis (4200 28th Ave S.).

Hours: Tue-Sat 6:30 am – 6 pm; Sun 6:30 am – 3 pm; closed Monday

Phone: (612) 729-6898

It felt good to be back home. My own bed, the quiet of the woods, the hummingbirds ouside my window, my own kitchen and my friends and neighbors — just a week away made me appreciate all those things a little bit more.

This evening I went next door to borrow some cornstarch from my neighbor and baker extraordinaire, Alice. She sent me home with a box of cornstarch and two plates holding several pieces of a rhubarb dessert she had made for the weekend. One bite immediately brought two thoughts to my mind:

1. The best rhubarb dessert is right next door. I don’t need a neighborhood bakery when there is Alice creating all kinds of great sweet treats. As long as she is willing to share.

2. I must share the recipe for Alice’s dessert with those who visit my blog. Alice agreed. She says she got the recipe in 1996 from Rachelle Hayes who always made the dessert for their church circle get-togethers. It was a favorite. Alice says the dessert does take a little time to make, but it’s well worth the effort.

There’s no place like home for this rhubarb dessert.

Good Neighbor’s Rhubarb Dessert

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar

Mix as for pie crust or put butter, flour and brown sugar in food processor and pulse until mixture becomes coarse crumbs. Pat mixture into a 9- x 13-inch glass baking dish. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.

  • 5 cups chopped rhubarb
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar plus 2/3 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup flaked coconut

Separate yolks from whites of 6 eggs. Set the egg whites aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat 6 egg yolks until pale and thick. Add 1 3/4 cups sugar and 6 tablespoons flour and blend well. Add milk and mix.

Spread rhubarb over baked crust in glass baking dish. Pour egg yolk mixture over the rhubarb. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake 45 to 50 minutes.

Beat reserved egg whites in a glass mixing bowl until peaks form. Add 2/3 cup sugar, salt and vanilla and continue beating until mixture is stiff. Spread egg white mixture over baked rhubarb. Sprinkle with coconut. Return to oven and bake 8 to 10 more minutes until coconut is brown.

 

 

 

It’s Greek To Me — Orzo Salad with Chicken

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When I lived in Fargo, I used to love going to Santa Lucia restaurant for a big Greek salad. It was a plate filled generously with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and kalamata olives. The colorful mix was dressed with a nicely seasoned vinaigrette. I could easily make that salad a meal. It’s been several years since I’ve had an opportunity to dine at Sanat Lucia, but I’ve often thought of that delicious salad.

The other day I had cooked chicken in the refrigerator. It was meat remaining from my experiment grill-roasting chicken, one propped on a can of beer, another placed right on the grill rack over a shallow pan of water and lemon juice. I was interested to know how the flavor and juiciness would differ.

My pick is the chicken placed over a pan of liquid and cooked over indirect heat. It really is the juiciest and most flavorful chicken I’ve ever eaten. The rub of spices and olive oil on the skin and under the skin of the chicken certainly helps it along. My husband says it’s just as good as the Greek-style chicken he would sometimes have on our visits to Omega restaurant in Niles, IL — moist and juicy with a hint of lemon. The recipe for my outdoor grill-roasted chicken is in my column this week.

With chunks of chicken and snips of fresh herbs from my garden, I created a salad with flavors reminiscent of that classic Greek salad I used to eat at Santa Lucia. It’s a healthful combination of vegetables and herbs, doused with extra-virgin olive oil and feta cheese. We made it a meal at our house. I know I’ll be making it meatless this summer to tote to picnics.

You won’t find any bits of olives in my salad in the photo above. I have an olive-phobic husband. I add whole, pitted kalamata olives to my plate only. What’s a Greek salad without the salty kalamatas?

Greek-Style Orzo Salad with Chicken is not Santa Lucia-style. This salad has no lettuce. But the flavors? They’re Greek to me!

Greek-Style Orzo Salad with Chicken

  • 3/4 cup uncooked orzo
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 chubby garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
  • 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
  • 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, quartered lengthwise and sliced
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
  • 1 (4-ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
  • Kalamata olives, pits removed, chopped

Cook orzo according to package directions.

While orzo is cooking, make dressing by combining olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper, whisking until well blended. Set aside.

Drain orzo. Rinse with cold water. Drain well. Transfer orzo to large mixing bowl. Pour some of the dressing over the orzo and toss to coat. Add chopped fresh herbs, green onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and toss. Add chicken and feta cheese and gently mix into the orzo mixture. Cover and refrigerate until serving time. Sprinkle with chopped olives.

At serving time, allow salad to warm up a bit at room temperature. Stir in more of the reserved dressing if necessary. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

  • Store remaining dressing in refrigerator.
  • One pound of cooked shrimp is a nice change from chicken.
  • Dried herbs can be used, but the flavor won’t be the same in this orzo salad. A rule of thumb when replacing fresh herbs with dried is 1 teaspoon dried to equal 1 tablespoon of fresh.

I’d bike miles for this dessert

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 My biking partners and I did our first organized bike ride on Saturday. I think we registered last January or February for the Tour of Lakes. This year the routes started and finished at the high school in Crosby, Minn. Since it is pretty early in our biking season, we decided we’d take it easy on the 35-mile route, which actually turned out to be close to 42 miles.

We’d never done this ride before, but we’d heard lots of good things about the food served at the stops along the way. In fact, Tour of Lakes has become famous for the food they provide. We were expecting great things. As it turned out, though, the best thing we ate on our Tour of Lakes weekend was not at a rest stop.

We were tired and shopped out by the time we got to Deerwood on Friday afternoon and checked into Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge. We had dinner reservations at Ruby’s, the restaurant at Ruttger’s. We were getting ready for a walk around the reseort before dinner when I opened the little refrigerator in our room. I really couldn’t believe my eyes.

Tucked into that small refrigerator was a plate with three beautiful slices of the chocolate dessert that Ruttger’s is famous for — Bette LeMae. I had sampled it at the Twin Cities Food & Wine Experience last winter. When I mentioned it on my blog, Chris Ruttger left a comment and said they’d be sure there was some Bette LeMae for Tour of Lakes. I thought that meant they would be offering little sample bites at one of the stops along the bike route. After all, Tour of Lakes was known to have awesome fuel for riders.

Yes, we rode more miles than expected on Saturday. But, really, it was Chris Ruttger who went the most important extra mile. He was so kind to surprise us with that decadent melt-in-the-mouth chocolate. He must be a good detective, too. How did he even know we were staying there? That chocolate before bed kept us riding like wild women the next morning, pedaling 21 miles to the first stop. Thanks, Sherlock.

The fresh fruit, yogurt, breakfast burritos, candy bars, granola bars and root beer floats along the bike route were great. But the best food for me and my biking partners was at Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge.

You can make your own Bette LeMae using the recipe on Ruttger’s web site. Click here to get right to the recipe.

To read more about Bette LeMae, you can go to the post I wrote in March. Click here.

 

Be cool with a summer sip from the past: Apricot Slush

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It could have been a hot day over the Memorial Day weekend that made me think of an icy beverage my family used to cool off with on steamy summer days. Or maybe I was thinking of my mom more than usual as May is the month she died 16 years ago. And my mom was the "Queen of Slush" in our family. She stocked our freezer at the lake all summer with at least a couple of kinds of slush mixtures in ice cream buckets. She’d serve slush drinks to friends and neighbors at the happpy hours she and my dad would host on their deck. And she made fruity non-alcoholic slush for her grandchildren to sip.

I wrote about some of my "slush memories" in my column this week.

On Wednesday I stopped at Ace Hardware to pick up a few more clay pots to hold some flowers I still needed to plant, as well as some more potting soil. I couldn’t help taking a quick walk through the nursery area to check out the herbs and flowers. I spotted some morning glory plants tagged with a picture of red and white flowers that would eventually bloom on the vines. I had just been admiring the grand photos of morning glories Rachelle has on her Livin’ Life on Bixby Avenue blog and wishing I had some of those cuties. I knew the ones I had my eyes on at Ace had to be planted in my garden. Three little morning glory plants came home from the store with me.

Not long after I returned home, I was busy digging holes to create a new home for the morning glories. As I pulled the tag from the first morning glory, my heart flip-flopped a bit as I read its name. Happy Hour Rose. Why the flip-flopping heart? My mom’s name is Rose. It hit me as a little strange that right at this time, when I had just written about my mom and her penchant for serving icy slush drinks at the happy hours on her deck, I would unknowingly come home with morning glories called Happy Hour Rose. I smiled as I planted.

Apricot Slush was my favorite. I often had a big container of it in my own freezer. We always served it with lemon-lime soda poured over scoops of the slushy spiked ice, just like a root beer float. These days, I find that’s a bit too sweet for my taste. Sparkling water does the trick for me.

Whether your happy hours are on your deck or patio, or out on the boat, Apricot Slush is a refreshing beverage. It’s a "cool" blast from my past.

Happy sipping!

Apricot Slush

  • 1 (46-ounce) can or bottle apricot nectar
  • 1 (46-ounce) can or bottle unsweetened pineapple juice
  • 1 (12-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed and undiluted
  • 1 (6-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed and undiluted
  • 1 cup vodka
  • 1 cup apricot brandy
  • Lemon-lime carbonated beverage

Combine first six ingredients in 4- to 5-quart plastic container with lid. Freeze.
To serve, spoon frozen mixture into large glasses. Add carbonated beverage to each glass and stir gently. Serve with a straw.