MM BLACK SESAME

A while ago, I ventured downtown to get me some black sesame ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. If you ever find yourself ice cream hunting in New York in one of the ridiculous heat waves, stop by here and make sure you get 2 scoops to maximize on their great selection of flavors!

Noryangjin Fish Market: Seoul

This past Saturday, my friend Andrew and I went to the Noryangjin Seafood Market. Basically, it's a giant warehouse where individual vendors sell their goodz. IT WAS SO KOREAN AND GREAT. It's kind of nice to see that, despite how modernized Seoul is today, there are still some things that stay the same. For the seafood you can eat raw, they will prepare it for you on the spot (aka you point to the fish you want, they kill it, and five minutes later it's artfully plated). Watching that happen in a matter of minutes was somewhat unsettling, but at least Andrew and I ate dinner before watching that in full. We ate at a restaurant in the warehouse: spicy seafood soup, fish, unlimited panchan, and rice all for 7,000 won (less than $6). I was so full afterwards I could barely thrust my body forward. Here are some blurry iPhone photos of the market:

Also, I finally made these babies, courtesy of this website.

Korea

Spicy barbecue chicken and cabbage in Sinchon, Seoul, South Korea. More later, but this (among other things) has been my life for the past month.

And aprons, of course.

More Mexican summer

This summer, all I ever ever crave is Mexican food. I have been eating a lot of tacos/quesadillas. Not pictured is the fresh tomatillo salsa that I made earlier (blend: tomatillos, lime juice, jalapenos, cilantro, yellow tomatoes).

For this open faced quesadilla, I first sautéed onions, chorizo sausage, and poblano peppers. Then I melted some pepper jack on a tortilla (freshly purchased from the local bodega, made in my area code of Brooklyn whuddup). Add some cilantro for good measure.

The awesome thing about this is that there are infinite variations. It's good with squash, beets, tomatoes, pretty much any combination of veggies.

Pesto on the roof

Pesto is easy to make! We used basil, walnuts, spinach, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil. I can't remember exactly what else, it was a while ago. If you sauté little tomatoes they become extremely tasty. The other thing we used were garlic scapes. They are the stalk of the a garlic plant before it blooms. They had them at the farmer's market because they are in season right around now. I expected it to taste like a chive, but when you sauté it becomes very mild and delicious. And I grew that basil leaf!

Claire and I rigged up a pulley system using the basket from Nicole's bike, and a few supplies from the hardware store. We ate our pasta on the roof!

oh my mexican days

I lived on the border of Texas and Mexico when I was little, so I grew up on "arroz con pollo"and
gorditas. Imagine my excitement when Natalie from Fashion Intel posted (a way back, mind you) a dinner she had which included QUESO FUNDIDO. sglkajglasgkj my favorite. It's basically melted monterey jack with crumbled chorizo on top. Eat with piping hot tortillas and fresh salsa.

ice cream endeavor, part 8: strawberry

strawberry is technically my ninth, but the peach i made before this turned out so strangely i want to wipe it from my memory. and so did the strawberry, to some extent. i think this is due to the fact that in fruit ice creams, one mixes in a significant amount of fruit purée, which in turn makes the whole thing icier and freeze a lot harder. not really sure. i've just been letting the ice cream sit out for a bit before scooping, and (as you can see) it scoops out in chunks, rather than real scoops. oh well, going to have to keep working on these.

the strawberry ice cream still tastes delicious and fresh despite the weird consistency, so i'll include it.

strawberry ice cream (from allrecipes)

(makes 4 1/2 cups)

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup white sugar

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp light corn syrup

place the berries into the container of a blender of food processor, and purée until smooth. pour into a large bowl, and set aside.

heat 1 1/4 cups of the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble at the edge of the pan. in a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup cream, and corn syrup. gradually pour the hot cream into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. return the mixture to the saucepan, and heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 5 minutes. do not allow the mixture to boil. strain custard into the berry purée through a sieve, mix, and refrigerate until chilled.

fill and ice cream maker with with the mixture, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

ice cream endeavor, parts 6 & 7: ricanelas & mint chip with homemade magic shell

oops—it's been awhile. but just because i haven't been documenting it doesn't mean i haven't been making ice cream. here's my catch-up post. i've made three ice creams (well, technically four but the peach was so weird i'm not counting it) since the honey lavender. here are the first two:

stole this flavor from bi-rite—it's cinnamon ice cream with snickerdoodle pieces.

ricanelas ice cream (adapted from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up

2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

one batch of snickerdoodles (but you'll only use a few cookies for the ice cream, so eat the rest)

warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. once warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour.

meanwhile, make the snickerdoodles, and the ice cream will be better if the cookies are on the softer side. chop or crumble a reasonable amount of the cookies (about 5—you don't want the ice cream to be too full of stuff) into chunks.

rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. add cookie chunks right before churning is done or mix into the churned ice cream.

for mint chip ice cream and homemade magic shell topping...

daily lunch

here's an example of what we have for lunch at school everyday. the mangoes are unreal you guyz - there are at least 16 different types here in india. you cannot beat this. and aren't the trays even cute??
mango, lychee, roti, chana masala, more subgee something, raita, veggies
omnomnomnom

the last supper / ice cream endeavor, part 5: honey lavender / the lightest cheesecake you'll ever eat!

my family is moving out of the 'burbs and into the city this summer. that, in addition to the fact that many of my friends were all leaving at once for their various summer engagements led to to having a last hurrah at my house last weekend.

dinner was very green (homemade pasta with pesto & pinenuts, salad, asparagus, and green beans with ginger & lemon zest)

and i made honey lavender ice cream for dessert, accompanied by my mom's cheesecake. my two favorite ice cream shops (bi-rite creamery and fairfax scoop) both have the most delicious honey lavender ice cream. though after making this, i don't need to go to them anymore for it. it was really really good! though i do still need to go to them for all the other flavors.

note: this ice cream is more time consuming than others; prepare the night before. i didn't chill the custard overnight as suggested, and it came out a bit soft.

lavender-honey ice cream from the perfect scoop

(makes about 1 quart)

1/2 cup good-flavored honey

1/4 cup dried or fresh lavender flowers

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

heat the honey and 2 tablespoons of the lavender in a small saucepan. once warm, remove from the heat and set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavor as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.

in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. add the remaining 2 tablespoons lavender flowers and stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator. the next day, before churning, strain the mixture, again pressing on the lavender flowers to extract their flavor. discard the flowers, sprinkle some back in! then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

for cheesecake:

ice cream endeavor, part 4: grapefruit champagne sorbet

we had a bout of record-breaking rain last weekend, but luckily it has warmed up and actually feels like summer now. i went to the beach yesterday and got a sunburn in the shape of my swimsuit bow on my back, but that's okay because it's summer. in celebration of this lovely season, i made my first sorbet.

pink grapefruit–champagne sorbet from the perfect scoop

(makes about 1 quart)

1 1/3 cups champagne or sparkling wine

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (from about 3 grapefruits)

in a medium, nonreactive saucepan, heat about half of the champagne with the sugar, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved. remove from heat and stir in the remaining champagne and the grapefruit juice.

chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

IT'S BACK.

HEYOOOO VANILLA COKE IS BACK, and I bet you didn't even know it left. I hear that it is excellent with coconut rum, but you didn't hear that from me. 

Nicole ate whale.

Dug up some pictures of food we ate in Iceland. Check out that Scandinavian breakfast spread.

Maduros

I saw some plantains on sale at Mr. Coco, my favorite grocery store. And I was craving Cafe Habana / Habana Outpost plantains so I thought we could give them a try. One thing to know before buying them: if you are planning on making savory fried plantains, buy them greenish, if you are making sweet plantains they should look like an overripe banana. I bought them sort of in the middle, so we had to wait for a few days.


All you do is put some butter in a pan and stick them in there. It takes longer than you would expect, also it's probably better to have the butter pretty hot when you put the slices in. You can add some brown sugar to help the caramelizing process along.



We had one plantain left that I made today. The secret to making it better was more butter and more patience. Probably the solution to many things in life.



When I got home to the apartment today it was at least 75 degrees inside. I had to immediately escape to the fire escape (ha!) but I needed a cold drink to rehydrate myself. This may look fancy, but it is basically a homemade slurpee. All it is is about 6 ice cubes blended with some store-bought grapefruit juice and the juice of a lime.

Naengmyun (냉면)

The summertime calls for some korean cold noodles. Now there's two ways we could do this, the first being mul naengmyun, which is the noodles in a cold broth. The second way is bibim naengmyun, which is served with gochuljang, a spicy korean sauce. "Bibim" mean mixed, and that's exactly what you're supposed to do with dish. Get in there with your chopsticks and aggressively work it so that the sauce gets on every bit of noodle!

There's even a song about naengmyun which is uh, pretty popular in Korea (?).

Bibim Naengmyun Recipe

SOME MOTHER-LOVIN POPSICLES.

Nicole's ice cream project got us pretty jealous, unfortunately we ain't got none ice cream machine. So we did the next best thing: vietnamese ice cream popsicles! (mostly condensed milk) All we did was drop some condensed milk at the bottom of a couple plastic cups, some vietnamese coffee (coffee+even more condensed milk) on top of that, plopped a spoon in it and stuck in the freezer. Cut off the cups and there you have it!

Currently gnawing a mango and raspberry popsicle: just blended up mango with some whole raspberries.

ice cream endeavor, part 3: butter pecan

my ice cream recipe book does not include a recipe for butter pecan ice cream, though it does include a recipe for buttered pecans to mix in. but i wasn't sure if butter pecan ice cream was really just vanilla with pecans in it, or something else. i thought of all the times i've had it and tried to remember just the ice cream's flavor... i couldn't. i asked my dad, butter pecan ice cream aficionado, for his take. "no there's something weird going on," he said, "it's not vanilla. it's BETTER than vanilla."

right he was. the recipe i used makes a very strongly flavored ice cream, more so than any butter pecan ice cream i've had. that being said, it's creamy and buttery and delicious. it's a great combination of salty and sweet. lastly, bourbon goes wonderfully with the flavor and it gives a perfect hint so i would recommend adding a bit to the ice cream, but that's optional.

butter pecan ice cream

recipe adapted from simply recipes (which has great pictures of the process) and the perfect scoop.

(makes 1 1/2 quarts)

for the ice cream:

6 large egg yolks

6 tbsp butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

2–3 tbsp bourbon (optional)

for the pecans:

1 1/2 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups pecan halves

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1. in a medium sized heat-safe bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until well blended. set aside.

2. pour the cream into a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and set a medium-mesh sieve on top. set aside.

3. in a medium thick-bottomed saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter. cook it, stirring constantly, until it just begins to brown. add the brown sugar and salt. stir until the sugar completely melts.

4. slowly add the milk, stirring to incorporate. it will foam up initially, so make sure you are suing a pan with high enough sides. heat until all of the sugar is completely dissolved. do not let boil or the mixture may curdle.

5. whisk in hand, slowly pour half of the milk and sugar mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly to incorporate. then add the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk/sugar mixture.

6. stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 5–7 minutes. a line drawn across the back of the spoon should not flow back together, comme ça:

7. pour the custard through the sieve and stir it into the cream. add vanilla and stir until cool over the ice bath. chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.

8. meanwhile, make the buttered pecans. preheat the oven to 350. melt the butter in a skillet. remove from heat and toss the pecans with the melted butter until well coated, then sprinkle with the salt. spread evenly on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10–12 minutes, stirring once during baking. remove from the oven and let cool completely. chop coarsely.

9. once the ice cream mixture is thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10. once the ice cream has been formed in the ice cream maker, it will be fairly soft. pour in bourbon, if using, at the last minute of churning. fold in the chopped pecans. put in an airtight container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several. if it has been frozen for more than a day, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it before serving.

lunchtime.

om nom nom

Digging through my photos from highschool - this project seems oddly appropriate for this blog. 

chocolate chunk walnut cookies

Last night I dreamt of levain cookies. Even though I brought some home on the plane with me (yeah, really) I still miss them so much and my belly is sad. So today I tried to make them based on this interpretation. They turned out yummy and almost sort of satisfied my craving. The only thing I wish is that they were more gooey on the inside because that's one of the reasons why my heart and tummy cannot resist loving levain. It's hard to get that perfect balance between golden on the outside but raw dough-y on the inside because they're so GIANT. You can experiment around and see what works best.