Ice Cream!

Obviously, I'm on some sort of manic cooking jag - and it's only going to get worse as more foods arrive on the vine. Last night, in addition to the pesto and boursin, I made my favorite summer ice cream, chocolate mint.

I used the basic Martha Stewart recipe, but instead of adding vanilla, I steep chocolate mint at the creme anglais stage overnight and add 3 oz dark chocolate, 3 oz milk chocolate & a Tbsp cocoa at the custard stage.

Steeping the mint...


Wait.. 8... EIGHT yolks?


Finished base, ready to freeze.


Tonight I was staring at my strawberries trying to figure out what to do. I was thinking about a pie with custard, but ran out of eggs since Martha requested EIGHT (seriously, Martha...). I though about jam, but lack the containers. I really like the simplicity of fresh strawberries with a bit of balsamic vinegrette drizzled over, so I went looking for a recipe and found this one. I added a bit more honey than they call for and added a tetch of salt and pepper, since the flavor is a bit more complex than just sweet.

Finished base, ready to freeze.


The Cuisinart is getting a HELL of a workout this week. Flavors I still want to do this summer: lavender, lemon verbena, salted caramel, mint, chocolate orange, watermelon and come fall, I make a MEAN concord grape sorbet.

Other suggestions are appreciated!