I have Switzerland to thank for some amazing memories, beautiful scenery, and our latest kitchen gadget. (“Kitchen gadget” said with my fist raised, a silent “arrgh,” and scowly look to Jan. My ongoing battles with kitchen gadgets are cataloged here (dehydrator), here (pasta machine), here (ice cream maker), and here (sous vide water bath)).
It’s a Raclette machine.
Much as I wanted to hate it (and did, when it arrived from Amazon.com), I think it’s pretty cool.
To Americans, Raclette is the lesser-known cousin to Fondue, though both are dishes based on combining an assortment ingredients with melty Swiss cheeses. To make fondue, cheese like Swiss cheese and Gruyere cheese are melted together with garlic, white wine, cherry brandy, and spices in a large, heated pot. Chunks of bread and cooked vegetables are dipped in the cheese with skewers or forks once the cheese is melted and smooth. Continue reading →
I’ve been letting my harsh stance on kitchen gadgets slide in recent months, and before I knew it, we had another acquisition. I will admit that I was fearful when Jan excitedly reported that he’d ordered a dehydrator and it would only be a matter of days before it arrived from Amazon onto our doorstep. He told me I should be relieved that he’d bought the Nesco FD-80, as he was tempted to buy the Excalibur (which we got a sneak peek at during our raw foods class: Going raw), but that it was three times the price and didn’t seem worth it. As Jan says, a dehydrator is not a complicated thing; it’s essentially a box with trays and a regulated heating element and a fan, and since the Nesco had adjustable temperature settings, it fit all the requirements.
When the dehydrator arrived, Jan was like a giddy child with a new toy. Continue reading →
A few years ago, when Jan and I first moved into our house from our apartment, our new kitchen seemed like a vast amount of space in which we’d never run out of room for plates, pots and pans, kitchen tools, and gadgets. Moving up from a tiny galley kitchen into a space with more than two under-counter cabinets, three wall cabinets, and two drawers, this feeling lasted for a while. But then, the inevitable happened, I began using the hall closet as our overflow pantry, storing “fancy” glassware, infrequently used roasting pans, a dutch oven, miscellaneous utensils, and a growing collection of kitchen gadgets. Then, after this space got full, a shelf in my office became dedicated to a varied collection of plates and serving dishes.
For about a year, I moved a large rotisserie oven from space to space in an effort to find a suitable location for it to be stored. Not once in this period did we use the gadget. Finally, we found a friend who was thrilled by the idea of making his own rotisserie chickens, and I was thankful I could reclaim those precious cubic feet in the closet. Continue reading →
It’s official. I’ve gone overboard with the ice cream maker. Since stealing the machine from my brother-in-law, I’ve made banana ice cream, mango ice cream, vanilla ice cream, peach ice cream, and blueberry frozen yogurt within a two-week period. I feared this would happen (you can read about my attempts to postpone the inevitable in my first ice cream making experience here).
All this ice cream making comes with some lessons learned. See this conversation between me and Jan:
Anna: Try the fresh peach ice cream I made!
Jan: I really like frozen yogurt (said while taking a bite of peach ice cream).
A: What do you think?
J: It’s good. I like sherbet too.
A: But what about the ice cream?
J: Do you think you could make frozen yogurt? What about sorbet?
A: The ice cream! The ice scream!
J: It’s good.
A: Hmpf!
J: How do you make frozen yogurt? I used to love TCBY yogurt. I would get vanilla with gummy bears when I was a kid.
You can see things went downhill quickly. After I got over my bruised feelings and Jan and I were back to rational conversation mode, we determined that he was dissatisfied with the consistency of the ice cream, not the taste. In my efforts to make “healthier” ice cream with lowfat milk and half & half instead of cream, I ended up with a lighter texture ice cream. I thought it was pretty darn good, light and refreshing, in fact.
But Jan said when he hears the term ice cream, he thinks Häagen-Dazs. But I’ll need some extra-fat-fortified cream to end up with Häagen-Dazs creamyness and texture, I tried to explain to him, quoting from the Cuisinart product manual:
You may substitute lower fat creams (e.g. half and half) and milk (reduced fat or lowfat) for heavy cream and whole milk used in many recipes. However, keep in mind that the higher the fat content, the richer and creamier the result. Using lower fat substitutes may change the taste, consistency and texture of the dessert. When substituting, be sure to use the same volume of the substitute as you would have used of the original item. For example, if the recipe calls for two cups of cream, use a total of two cups of the substitute (such as 1 cup cream, 1 cup whole milk).
Jan said he thought the peach ice cream was good, but hearing the word “ice cream” had set him up for different experience than what he got. I see now why those clever marketers came up with the murky sounding “frozen dessert” label for lower fat frozen treats. So it’s all about the expectations you set. This recipe has been adapted from Cuisinart’s product manual, which features the creamy, full-fat recipe.
Peach “ice cream”
1 pint pureed fresh peaches
1/2 cup sugar 1 cup lowfat milk (I used 1%)
2 cups half & half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peaches ready to go
Directions
Peel and slice peaches and process in a food processor, set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar into the milk until combined. Add the half & half and vanilla extract and combine thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and turn on, leaving for about 20 minutes.
Pour the peaches in during the last five minutes of processing in the ice cream machine (and don’t forget about it like I did here or it will probably overflow). Ice cream will be of soft-serve consistency, and for harder ice cream, freeze for several hours in the freezer. Note: because of the lower fat content, once the ice cream has set in the freezer, it will need to sit out on the countertop for about 10 minutes before serving to become scoopable.
Don't forget to set a timer
Coming soon: blueberry frozen yogurt (and yes, Jan liked it!)
For a while, people have been asking me if I would like an ice cream machine. Perhaps they were in search of finding a kitchen-gadget-gift for Jan and me that we didn’t already own, or they sensed my great love for all things sinfully sweet, frozen, and unhealthy. In any case, I always responded with a polite no. An ice cream maker was the last thing we needed, creating containers full of fresh, homemade goodness only to tempt me into overindulging. Well, all this changed when I recently watched an episode of Good Eats in which Alton Brown made the most delicious looking banana ice cream I’d ever seen. I quickly decided to throw all rules out the window and commandeer the ice cream machine of Jan’s younger brother Adam, which I determined he was using far too infrequently to miss.
For a few weeks, I stashed perfectly ripe bananas into the freezer one at a time. When I had collected about six of them, it was finally time. After letting them thaw for a while at room temperature, it was time to begin the process outlined in recipe below. The end result was an amazingly creamy and rich ice cream. While the color was more subtle than I’d expected (more the color of vanilla bean ice cream than the bright yellow I’d anticipated), the flavor was bold and delicious. With one successful ice cream experiment under my belt, now I’m ready to branch out and try some other flavors. I even purchased a half-gallon container of Half and Half at Costco in preparation, though I think my next attempt will replace some of the cream with low-fat milk for some slightly healthier varieties. I hear that the less fat added to the ice cream, the less creamy and smooth it will be, though I’ll probably make up for it with all the crumbled Oreos and marshmallows when I experiment with cookies & cream and rocky road.
Creamy Banana Ice Cream
6 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Directions
Place bananas in the freezer ahead of time, at least overnight. Remove bananas and let thaw for about 45 minutes to an hour. Peel bananas and place into food processor, along with lemon juice. Pulse for about 15 seconds. Add corn syrup and vanilla and turn the food processor on. Slowly add the cream and process until smooth. Place in a container in the freezer and allow the temperature to get to 40 degrees F. Put the mixture into an ice cream maker and process for about 20 minutes. Place into an airtight container in the freezer and allow to harden several hours before serving.
Our Life in Meals 