Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and… Anchovies!

Many would argue that broccoli is one of the most universally hated veggies. Some of our parents tried to conceal broccoli in a cloak of pasteurized process cheese product in the hopes that we would clear our plates and eat our veggies. Even our forty-first president, George H. W. Bush, famously despised broccoli. Along with other vegetables in the Brassica family (cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, turnips, etc.), broccoli gets a really bad rap.

My family’s unwavering dedication to Ranch dressing helped me to enjoy plenty of fresh vegetables growing up, including broccoli. To me, raw carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower were nothing more than carriers for Ranch dressing.

There were times when I snubbed the vegetable, though, particularly when it was overcooked. Overcooked broccoli is absolutely inexcusable and is a surefire way to seal the deal on distaste for this vegetable. Perhaps this is why so many folks are anti-broccoli?  Too many servings of boiled, mushy masses of broccoli will do that to a person.

Even though broccoli doesn’t rank as my absolute favorite vegetable – the list is pretty extensive – I probably eat it more regularly than any other. It’s inexpensive, available year-round, quick to prepare and really healthy. I usually just steam broccoli on the stove top and serve it with butter or lemon. Nothing too creative but delicious, nonetheless.

This 100 First Tastes project has inspired me to find a new way to enjoy broccoli and I found a really interesting recipe in my Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook – Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Anchovies. Now I know what you’re thinking but hear me out. Even more than broccoli, anchovies get a really bad rap. This is because they aren’t utilized properly and many people think they don’t like anchovies even though they do like Cesar salad and Worcestershire sauce. This recipe was the ultimate pairing of culinary underdogs so I just had to try it out. Here’s the modified recipe I used:

1 large head of broccoli

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 anchovy fillets, minced

1 teaspoon thyme

I usually steam broccoli and was concerned that this preparation would take too long. Fortunately, this recipe is just as quick to prepare and is ready in about 10 minutes. I enjoyed it alongside the Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf, also sourced from this cookbook. Here’s how:

Adjust your oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Wash up your broccoli and cut off the florets. Remove the outer peel from the stalk (it can be a little tough to chew through) and slice into 1/2 inch thick pieces.

Place broccoli in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper until evenly coated.

Transfer broccoli to a large rimmed baking sheet or baking pan. Roast broccoli until stalks are tender and florets are well browned. This should take about 10 minutes.

While the broccoli is roasting, melt butter in a skillet over low heat. Add minced garlic and anchovies. If you are worried about any residual fishy flavor or the dish being too salty, you can rinse and pat dry the fillets before mincing. Cover and cook until anchovies have largely melted and garlic is softened. Remove from heat and stir in thyme. Toss roasted broccoli with mixture.

Here’s what you’re looking for. Roasted up nicely, with some yummy charred bits in there too!

This was a really delicious way to prepare broccoli. It was also a fantastic way to sneak in some anchovies! Aside from being tasty, did you know that anchovies are actually good for you? Here are some reasons why you should have anchovies in your life:

1. They are full of those healthful essential fatty acids everyone is trying to get in their diet. 
2. Since anchovies are a small and have a short lifespan, they contain fewer environmental toxins which are common to fish.
3. Anchovies add umami – the elusive “fifth flavor”- to your dishes. (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami)
4. They are full of Magnesium, Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus,  B12 and B6. A jar of anchovies is cheaper than a jar of these supplements! Food = Medicine.

There was nothing fishy about this dish and I will definitely be making this again. A little sweet, a little salty, perfectly balanced. Who knew the redheaded step children of the culinary world, with their powers combined, could make such a delicious dish? Cook’s Illustrated knew, that’s who.

Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf: Meaty Decadence

Meatloaf. What can I say?

Covered in brown gravy, fried up for a sandwich, stuffed with hard boiled eggs or slathered in ketchup, there are countless ways to doctor up what is essentially a pile… er loaf… of ground meat.

Like Tuna Noodle Casserole and the meat-filled aspic dishes of yesteryear, the humble meatloaf seems to have fallen out of favor in the modern American kitchen. Until this year, I had never attempted a meatloaf or even had much interest in doing so. But since acquiring a deep freezer and sourcing a large abundance of grass-fed beef, much of which is ground, I have been looking for creative ways to use it up. Since I’m not up for grilling burgers every night, a meatloaf seemed like a good option.

As there are so many recipes for meatloaf and surely thousands of really bad ones, I decided that my best bet for a simple meatloaf was to reference a recipe from my Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook. I was gifted this awesome cookbook, along with a couple pairs of socks (???) by my great friends Brent and Beth. This hefty cookbook boasts 2,000 recipes from 20 years of their magazine publication. If you aren’t familiar with Cook’s Illustrated, you should definitely track down a magazine, cookbook or tune into their PBS program, America’s Test Kitchen. 

What’s so great about this franchise is that they test the hell out of every recipe, cooking technique and piece of kitchen equipment to determine the absolute best approach, recipe or product. Cook’s Illustrated, as the title suggests, does offer plenty of black and white illustrations which are particularly helpful for those of you who are engineer-minded and don’t understand the “add a pinch” or “season to taste” directives.

There were two meatloaf recipes to choose from, but only one promised to be wrapped up in a bacon blanket or as Dan called it, a meat coffin, so that’s the one we chose to make. The recipe we selected was Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with a Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze. True to form, I made some adjustments to the recipe. It did call for ground chuck, pork and veal but I just stuck with what I had in my fridge, organic grass-fed beef. Here’s the modified Recipe I used:

Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze 

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoons cider vinegar

Meatloaf

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 whole milk (can substitute almond milk)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (or more)

2 lbs ground beef

1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (2 slices sprouted wheat bread)

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

8-12 slices bacon

I wouldn’t say this is a weeknight meatloaf. It does take a little prep time and, in my opinion, quite a few ingredients. But, this is a SERIOUSLY delicious meatloaf. You could totally slice up this unassuming meatloaf and serve it at a dinner party. It’s that good. Plus, this recipe serves six to eight people, or a couple for several nights of leftovers, so it’s worth the effort.

This was a great recipe choice since we cook with grass-fed beef, which is notoriously lacking in the fat content found in conventionally raised beef. Wrapping the meatloaf in a layer of fatty bacon helped to impart great flavor and also really kept the meatloaf moist. I am also partial to the ketchup glaze in this recipe since I was raised on ketchup encrusted meatloaf.

First step, get all of those ingredients out on the counter! If you are making fresh breadcrumbs, I’d tackle that task. I just took two slices of sprouted wheat bread and popped them into my food processor with the s-blade on. Pulse the processor until you no longer have large pieces of bread. You can also just use pre-made bread crumbs or almond flour if you want to go gluten-free.

Next you can make the glaze. Just add the three ingredients to a small bowl, mix and set aside. You can also mix this directly into a small saucepan since you’ll need to heat up the remaining glaze to serve on the side once the meatloaf is cooked.

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add to a skillet with olive oil. Cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Mix spices and liquid ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add this to the ground beef, along with the bread crumbs, onions, garlic and fresh parsley.

With a fork, thoroughly combine all ingredients. Transfer to a 13 by 9-inch backing pan. With wet hands, pat mixture into a loaf shape, approximately 9 by 5-inches in size. Once you have formed the loaf, brush with half of the ketchup glaze.

Arrange bacon slices over the loaf, overlapping slightly. Tuck bacon tips securely under the loaf.

Put the meatloaf into preheated oven on the middle rack. Bake for about 1 hour, or until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160 degrees. While your meatloaf is baking, simmer remaining glaze over medium heat until thickened. This can be served on the side if desired.

Remove meatloaf and cool at least 20 minutes. Slice ‘er up and serve with extra glaze and something green and healthy!

And that’s how you make a meatloaf! 

For this recipe, I would really suggest getting the best bacon you can find. I really like Niman Ranch brand when I’m out of my locally sourced bacon. No matter what brand you choose, make sure you have thick-cut so the bacon and loaf will be done at the same time.

Once the meatloaf is done cooking, you’ll find that it’s swimming in a pool of glaze, beef juice and pork fat. For the love of God, don’t throw that out! Scoop a little out to enjoy with your meatloaf or mix with the remaining thickened glaze to form the best sauce you’ve ever had.

If you want to Paleo-hack this recipe, or come close to it, I would use coconut sugar or maple syrup instead of the brown sugar. I would also switch out ketchup for some simple tomato puree. Replace the bread crumbs with almond or de-fatted coconut flour and use some almond milk instead of cow’s milk. There’s an insignificant amount of sugar in the Worcestershire, in my opinion, so I wouldn’t worry about that.

I enjoyed this meatloaf with another new recipe, also from Cook’s Illustrated, Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Anchovies. (Up next!) Any green veggie or hearty salad would be a great accompaniment, but the meatloaf will definitely steal the show.

I’m so glad I tried this recipe out and I hope this inspires a few other folks to give meatloaf the respect it deserves. The recipe proves once again that EVERYTHING is made better with bacon. Everything.

Two Ingredient Homemade Almond Butter

Yes, it can be done! Learn how to make almond butter at home and save TONS of money.

For years, I have been buying organic, raw almond butter and spending an absolute fortune doing so. The “raw” organic almond butter can go for $18.00 (and higher) for a 16 ounce jar. Even the conventional, roasted almond butter can range from $9.00 to $15.00 a jar! For a pantry staple that should consist of nothing more than nuts, and possibly salt, it’s crazy expensive.

What’s worse is that in many jars of almond butter, there are some weird and unnecessary ingredients like sugar (in its many forms), canola oil, palm fruit oil and soy protein. This just baffles the mind. Suckers, like me, who have been buying “raw” almond butter likely think that it’s the healthiest kind of almond butter. What’s more natural than raw, organic almonds? Well, unless you are buying this so-called raw almond butter from Italy, Spain or directly from the farm, you’ll be surprised to know that the raw almonds used have been pasteurized through steam heat (that doesn’t sound raw) or propylene oxide (WTF).

Since 2007, it is illegal to sell and manufacture truly raw almonds in North America with a few exceptions. Even if you don’t care about raw almond politics (and I’m sure not many people do), it should upset you that food manufactures are allowed to market their almond butter as raw even when the almonds originate from the good ol’ US of A. Plus, getting duped into spending twice as much for this pseudo-raw almond butter just ticks me off.

Fortunately, I no longer have to be a slave to store-bought almond butter and neither do you! Even my friends who buy conventional almond butter can save money (and impress their friends) by making it at home! Once again, my favorite cookbook, Nourishing Traditions, came to the rescue. I used the Nourishing Traditions nut butter recipe as a guide but wanted even fewer ingredients in my homemade almond butter.

Molly Chester, a fellow Traditional Foods lover, has a great blog post on how to make homemade soaked almond butter on her blog Organic Spark. This recipe is so simple, and requires only a few ingredients and a food processor. I slightly modified her original recipe to include only almonds and salt. For 2 cups of the tastiest almond butter you’ve ever had you’ll need the following:

1 pound (soaked and dehydrated) almonds

sea salt to taste

First thing’s first, find the best almonds you can! There are many great truly raw almond purveyors online. You can buy directly from almond farmers in California or importers from Italy or Spain. Generally, if you buy five pounds or more, you’ll get a price break. If you aren’t worried about sourcing raw almonds, my suggestion would be to go to your local bulk food store or co-op and get dry roasted almonds, either organic or conventionally grown.

My preference when eating nuts and seeds is to soak and dehydrate them. Many proponents of the raw food movement also see the benefit of soaking, sprouting and dehydrating (in some instances) nuts and seeds. Soaking almonds, and other nuts and seeds helps to break down the enzyme inhibitors and allows for easier digestion, and more nutrient absorption. If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of traditional soaking practices, take a quick look here. Even if you don’t plan on making a habit of soaking and dehydrating nuts and seeds, I’d encourage you to give it a try once so you can taste the difference. Walnuts and almonds have the most drastic flavor improvement through this method. Sweeter and far less bitter!

Here’s a how-to gallery on soaking and dehydrating raw almonds. If you are starting with dry-roasted almonds or prefer not to soak the almonds before processing, you can move on to the next step.

Add one pound of raw almonds to a large bowl.

Cover the almonds with filtered water.

Add a tablespoon of sea salt.

Stir. Cover with a cloth and let soak at least seven hours or overnight on your counter.

Rinse your almonds and dehydrate at 118 degrees until dry, up to twenty four hours or more. You can also put in a warm oven (at the lowest setting) for twelve to twenty four hours. Make sure your almonds are COMPLETELY dried and cool before processing. The crunchier the almond, the better your almond butter will turn out.

Now that you have some soaked and dehydrated almonds to work with, the rest is a breeze! The following steps are the same whether you use soaked and dehydrated nuts or dry roasted nuts.

Put the S-blade on your food processor.

I suggest making this in two batches. Put half of the cooled almonds in the food processor.

This image is with the full one pound of almonds. I wouldn’t recommend doing that. The almonds should actually come about half way up the center blade shaft.

After a few seconds, your almonds will look like this.

After about two minutes, you’ll have something that looks like this.

A few minutes later, the almonds will begin to form a paste. You can add salt at this stage and scrape down the sides.

Around four or five minutes, you’ll have a ball of almond butter rolling around the food processor. Once the ball “falls apart” you will be left with perfectly blended almond butter.

Here’s the final product! Put in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid and store in the refrigerator.

Boom, almond butter bitches! This stuff is so good and incredibly good for you, particularly if you opt for the soaking method. If you find that your almond butter is too dry (remember to wait at least 5 minutes to see if it’ll come together first), then you can add a healthy fat like unrefined coconut oil to the food processor to help get things moving. Any additional ingredients will change the flavor slightly, so keep that in mind. Adding coconut oil will also make the almond butter much harder in the refrigerator. The almond butter should last a few months in the fridge but it’ll be gone well before then.

You can use this recipe as a guideline for any other nut butter your heart desires. The same is true for the soaking method. (Cashews are the exception to the rule, don’t soak those babies too long or you’ll get some gelatinous, light grey sludge.) Get creative and try out homemade walnut butter, cashew butter or even homemade peanut butter. Why not?

Save some money, impress your friends and get ready to become an almond butter addict. Be warned though, once you start making your own, there’s no turning back!

One final note… how did I write an entire blog post without one nut pun or middle school caliber joke? I must be getting rusty.

Chicken Pepperonata – Fastest. Meal. Ever.

It’s no secret that I love to eat good food. Furthermore, I actually like being in the kitchen so don’t mind taking the time to prepare delicious, and some would say, overly complicated food in my own home. Since I have no children and a flexible work schedule, I probably do spend more time preparing food than the average American. Possibly even more than the average “foodie.” Even so, there’s nothing better than putting together a really quick meal that’s healthy, affordable and tasty to boot.

My friend, Herb, requested that I make some meals this year that are quick and easy, so he inspired me to dust off a few books that illustrate how to do just that. Long before the Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals franchise, a cookbook called 365 Great 20-Minute Recipes was published. Take that, Rachel, 10 minutes less.

I’m sure I’ve never opened this book before this experiment and haven’t the foggiest where it came from but I have to say, this one was a pleasant surprise. As the name suggests, there are 365 recipes that take 20 minutes or less to prepare. There are the usual suspects: soups, salads, sandwiches and pasta, which are the obvious choices for a quick meal but there are several recipes that don’t fall into these categories. I found a recipe for Chicken Pepperonata that sounded really good to me, only took 14 minutes and required a handful of ingredients that I had on hand. This recipe is perfect for my busy friends with kids and might I add, is also Paleo-esque, for my CrossFit friends! I made a few modifications outlined here:

1 pound chicken breasts

1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon (or more) crushed red pepper

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 small onion, thinly sliced

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette

1 1/2 tablespoon drained capers (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

The recipe called for 1 pound of chicken tenders but I never buy them because it’s cheaper to get chicken breasts or thighs. My suggestion, just get the chicken breasts and either cut them into strips or butterfly the breasts to create more surface area. Season both sides of your chicken with the Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.

Slice up your red bell pepper and onion. The recipe didn’t call for this but I would also suggest mincing up some fresh garlic as well. Garlic makes everything better. Duh.

In a large skillet, pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. If you don’t have a pan large enough to cook all of your chicken at once, you can cook it in batches.

Brown each side of the chicken breast. This should take a few minutes per side. If you are cooking the chicken in batches, please continue to cook the chicken until fully done, then set aside. If you are able to cook everything in one large vessel you can leave the chicken in the pan and continue on.

Make a little room and add the garlic, onion and bell pepper to the pan. Add salt and pepper to the veggies. Stir occasionally until the vegetables are slightly softened. About 2 to 3 minutes. If your pan is smaller, remove the fully cooked chicken before adding the veggies.

Once the veggies are slightly softened, reduce the heat to medium low and add the vinaigrette and capers. Cook until chicken is done and the vegetables are crisp-tender. I don’t use pre-made balsamic vinaigrette so just made a quick dressing of balsamic and olive oil. The general ratio for that is 3:1, three parts oil to 1 part vinegar. I usually go heavier on the vinegar. Go with your gut!

Give everything a quick stir and you have yourself a batch of Chicken Pepperonata!

This is definitely one of those recipes you can really play around with. If you want it spicier, just add more crushed red pepper. If you want it a little tangier, just add a little more vinegar or try it with a red wine vinegar instead of Balsamic. If you don’t like capers, just leave those little guys out! I think this would be really tasty with some mushrooms added in, maybe I’ll try that next time.

The sweetness of the peppers and Balsamic are a great contrast to the salty brine of the capers and bite of the crushed red pepper. This meal came together really quickly and was really inexpensive too.  I served it with the equally quick to prepare, Arugula and Fennel Salad and enjoyed fast and healthy dinner in less than half an hour!

Next time you are tempted to swing by a drive through or order a pizza in, I hope you’ll give this recipe a try instead. More yummy 20-minute recipes are definitely in my future. Thanks for the inspiration, Herb!

Arugula and Fennel Salad – A Salad for Reminiscing

Salad. It’s green, arguably good for you and as a general rule, nothing to write home about. For some, a salad is just the short stop between a deep-fried, cheese-laden appetizer and the main course. It’s something many people begrudgingly consume as an excuse to eat something far worse, as if salad had the power override our gastronomical bad decision making.

I actually really enjoy a good salad. I like how incredibly versatile a salad can be with its infinite ingredient combinations and dressing options. Being raised in the south, I have a fondness for the classic green salad smothered in Ranch dressing topped with bacon, hard boiled eggs and croutons. If there’s a roasted beet salad on the menu (and there almost always is), I’m all over it. Then, there’s the classic “kitchen sink” salad that I regularly make at home which as the name suggests, is compromised of whatever’s in my crisper drawer and pantry that I fee like adding to a large bowl. When it comes to salad, I’m usually on board.

As my mission to make 100 new recipes continues, I thought it appropriate to try out a few new salads this year. I have a few go-to preparations and am regularly inspired by salads I find on restaurant menus, which I attempt to recreate at home to varying degrees of success.  But truthfully, it never occurred to me to find recipes for salad. No time like the present!

I have more vegetarian cookbooks in my collection than any other subject. This stockpile can be traced back to my early college days when I, and many of my friends, were dabbling in vegetarianism. Obviously this attempt at reinventing myself didn’t stick but I got a lot of fantastic recipes out of the experiment. Flipping through some of these books from that time in my life allowed me to reminisce, not necessarily about the food I prepared but rather, that era. Like looking though old photo albums, I was transported back to a very interesting and consequential time in my life and I am grateful for that.

Although I wasn’t successful at finding a salad recipe from my college-era cookbook collection, I was able to find one in a book I picked up recently. Yes, that’s right a new book… something I most certainly don’t need. My newest bibliophile acquisition is Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods.  It’s part cookbook, part profile on the local food movement in America. This book is 100% up my alley and some of the recipes are really inspiring. One in particular caught my eye, the Arugula and Fennel Salad.

This simple salad has only a handful of ingredients but is really, REALLY good. This salad comes together quickly and is one of those dishes that you can impress your friends with. Here’s the recipe.

4 cups lightly packed arugula

2 small fennel bulbs

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (plus more if needed)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 pound Parmesan (or nutritional yeast to taste for a vegan mod.)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Another reason why I was inspired to make this salad is because it reminds me so much of my good friend and fellow blogger, Dana, who is personally responsible for my love of fennel bulbs. She makes an Italian style sliced fennel salad that is very similar to this recipe so naturally I thought of her first!

If you’ve never tried fennel, I think this is a great starter dish. Raw fennel is crisp and has a mild licorice flavor that pairs really well with the peppery arugula greens. I personally wouldn’t touch a piece licorice candy with a 10 foot pole but LOVE fresh fennel bulb. Now, let’s make some salad!

If you happen to have a salad spinner, put the greens in and let the arugula soak in cool water while you prepare the rest of your salad. When you are ready, remove the strainer, dump out the dirty water, replace the strainer and spin until dry. Add dry arugula to a large salad bowl.

Next, remove the green stalks from your fennel bulb. You can add them to this salad but I personally think they are rather stringy and a little dry. I generally run them through my juicer for a sweet addition to my green juices. You can also compost them or if you have veggie-loving dogs like ours, feed them to your dogs.

Slice off the bottom, root end of the bulb. Cut on the diagonal to remove any hard core that remains. Remove any outer layers that look bruised or dry. Cut the bulb in half, then slice into thin pieces. Add to your bowl of dried arugula.

This recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. I would use that as a guide but add as much as you’d like. I ended up using the juice from a whole lemon and probably more olive oil than the recipe suggests. As I am known to do, I just eyeballed it. Add the salt and pepper, again to taste.

If you are adding cheese to the salad, you have two options.  If you want to be “fancy” use a potato peeler to cut ribbons of the hard cheese then add those gently to the salad. If you want to maximize your cheesy distribution, I’d go with a microplane or cheese grater. If you just want to skip out on the cheese altogether, my suggestion is to add some Nutritional Yeast  in lieu of the Parmesan.  This is a vegan-friendly cheese substitute which I actually really like and use pretty regularly in my own kitchen.

Once everything is in your bowl, mix well until all ingredients are well-distributed. If don’t plan to serve this immediately, I would hold off on the dressing and cheese until right before you’re ready to eat. You don’t want to a sad, limp salad at your dinner table!

That’s one good lookin’ salad and it tastes just a good as it looks! With all of the washing, chopping, squeezing, cheese grating and mixing I had to do, this salad took about 7 minutes from start to finish. Really, not much time at all. It’s a great first course, side dish or complete light meal. I enjoyed it with the next recipe I’ll be sharing, Chicken Pepperonata!

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my salad, I have to say the exercise in memory was even more enjoyable. Thumbing through my old books brought back fond memories of my early college days, reminded me of a great friend and even prompted me to remember how lucky I was to be raised in a home that valued fresh veggies… even if they were covered in delicious Ranch dressing. Who knew a simple salad could elicit such sentimentality? Here’s to you, Arugula and Fennel Salad!

K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) Vanilla Ice Cream

In a world where avant garde ice cream flavors rule, the lowly vanilla variety has certainly fallen by the wayside. I am not immune to the siren song of bacon, red bean, caviar or avocado ice cream flavors and honestly, can’t remember a time when I have ever ordered vanilla ice cream. I’m a sucker for anything on a menu that sounds a little off-beat and interesting so regularly go for the kookiest or – true to my so-called hippy ways – the most local/sustainable item on the menu. Most recently, I was served vanilla ice cream in the form of the ever-popular “boozy” ice cream shake. My vanilla ice cream was accompanied by vodka, ginger beer, milk and lime juice. It was delicious.

But there is something to be said about simplicity and when it comes to ice cream, vanilla is as simple as it gets. And, since what was old  is now new -I’m looking at you handlebar mustaches- perhaps it is time for a vanilla revival?

I have a handful of cookbooks in my collection with recipes for ice cream but decided to go with my old standby, Nourishing Traditions. I went with this recipe for three reasons.

1. This recipe called for the least amount of ingredients and in the spirit of keeping things simple, seemed like the best option.
2. This particular recipe didn’t require any cooking and I could use the raw-unpasteurized  milk and cream I had on hand.
3. I actually had all of the ingredients that were called for and didn’t have to run to the grocery store. The perfect storm.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t always follow recipes exactly as they are given. In this case, I took a little artistic license. Here’s the modified recipe I used:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup maple syrup (grade B preferably)

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds removed

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

The original recipe called for 3 cups of heavy cream but the cream I got from my local dairy was SERIOUSLY thick so I decided to thin it out a little with 1 cup of whole milk. The recipe also called for 1 tablespoon of arrowroot (a natural thickener) but since I hit the jackpot on my cream, I left that out. Finally, the original recipe recommended using 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. I think would be fine but I just got a really good deal on whole vanilla beans so decided to use that instead. My recommendation, use what you have on hand but make sure you have really good ingredients!

Here’s a quick PSA on raw milk and eggs. I live in a part of the country where I am able to access raw dairy through a cow share program. My dairy is grass-fed, organic, free-roaming and cared for by two veterinarians and a group of knowledgable ranch hands. Although my family feels comfortable consuming raw-unpasteurized dairy and have for several years, this is a personal choice and one that I don’t expect everyone to agree with. I encourage everyone to research this subject and come to your own conclusion. There is great information here if you’d like to know more about raw milk. Since this recipe also calls for raw egg yolks, I would recommend sourcing your eggs locally (where you can see where your chickens are living and what they’re eating)  or opt for pasture-raised organic eggs from your grocery store. I have a great local farm that I source my eggs from but when I run out, Vital Farms eggs are a good alternative. End PSA!

Now that we have all of the vanilla ice cream politics squared away, let me show you how incredibly easy it is to make this at home. I didn’t even use any special equipment, just a few ingredients and my freezer. That’s right, I have a juicer, a dehydrator and a drawer full of all of this stuff…

… but don’t own an ice cream maker. Not to worry, you actually don’t need to own an ice cream maker to make your own at home. You do, however have to have a little more patience, for what it’s worth.

Pre-measure your ingredients, grab a large bowl, a whisk and a sharp knife. I’d also recommend getting two smaller bowls to separate your eggs into.

Here’s that heavy cream I was talking about. It really looks more like heavy clotted cream that the British use in their cooking. It was pretty darn hard to get out of that mason jar! If you’re using pasteurized cream, I’d recommend getting organic heavy whipping cream and use 3 cups of that plus 1 tablespoon of the arrowroot. Just skip out on the whole milk.

Add the cream to a large mixing bowl. Set that aside and get your eggs and two smaller bowls.

Gently crack your egg in half and let the whites of the egg fall into one bowl while you keep the yolk in one of the shell halves. Move the yolk from one shell to the next while letting all of the egg white drip into your bowl. Once you have all of the whites out and are left with only the yolk, drop the yolk into your other small bowl.

Working with two smaller bowls rather than the bowl with the cream is helpful just incase you have any mistakes like broken shell pieces or busted yolks. It does take some practice to get proficient at but anyone can master this! You can cook up the whites or freeze them for something delicious some other time!

Next, add the yolks, salt and milk to your cream. If you are using vanilla extract, you can add that. If you are using a whole bean, get the bean, a cutting board and a small sharp knife out.

With a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise into two pieces. Use the dull edge of your knife to scrape out all of the yummy vanilla seeds. These are tiny morsels of delight. Do not eat them out of hand… just add them to the bowl.

Finally, add your sweetener – grade B maple syrup. Despite the obvious connotation of being lower quality, grade B is your best choice when it comes to maple syrup. Grade B is less processed so has more trace minerals and is also richer in flavor. In this case, skip grade A syrup and for the love of God, don’s use any product that’s been anthropomorphized such as  Mrs. Butterworth’s. That stuff is seriously not good for you.

Once everything is in the bowl, mix it up thoroughly. If you have a hand mixer, this would be a good time to use that gadget. That’s yet another kitchen tool I don’t own. I prefer to use my guns and a sturdy whisk. Everything will blend nicely into a light yellow, frothy mixture. I would taste and see if you need to add more salt at this point. Pour the mixture into a container of your choice. I had a glass dish with a lid that just happened to fit in the one open space in my freezer. If you use a metal container, the ice cream will freeze faster. The same is true for more shallow containers.

Now for that patience thing I mentioned. You’ll need to be around to tend to your ice cream baby for the next couple of hours. Set your kitchen timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, your ice cream will begin to crystalize around the edges. All you need to do is scrape that off and thoroughly mix up the mixture. After 30 minutes, here’s what the ice cream will look like:

After another 30 minutes, it’ll be a littler firmer and will look like this: 

Eventually, you’ll have that recognizable ice cream consistency. This could take 2 to 3 hours but I assure you, it’s worth the wait.

You want to make sure to scrape and stir up your mix every 30 minutes or so. Otherwise, you’ll be left with a gigantic milky ice cube that is far from delectable. If you go a little too long, you can put the mix in the fridge until it’s slightly softened then mix thoroughly and return to the freezer. If you go way too long, you’ll have to use this ice cream hack I found on the internet. Take chunks of your ice cream cube and blend in a food processor until softened. I’m 100% certain it’s easier just to babysit your ice cream than to attempt to blend it up.

If you DO have an ice cream maker, you can skip all of the freezer scraping and dump the mix directly into your machine! Follow the instructions outlined by your manufacturer.

This makes approximately 1 quart of the most delicious and certainly far from boring vanilla ice cream I’ve ever eaten. It’s really rich but not too sweet. Plus, all of those vanilla seeds I added makes me feel like this qualifies as the more desirable “French” vanilla ice cream everyone seems to prefer.

So I’ve never ordered vanilla ice cream out before and it looks like I never will. This stuff is so good, I’m sure nothing outside of my kitchen will compare. With only a few ingredients and strikingly little effort, I have finally learned to appreciate the glory that is vanilla ice cream. For those of you out there who doubt me, I encourage you to give this a shot. There may not be a vanilla revival but for an appreciation of something that is simple and delicious, this vanilla ice cream is a perfect start.