Chocolate Strawberry Sorbet

After the success of our first two sorbet attempts (based on Martha Stewart's recipe - see my Blackberry sorbet attempt here, My son wanted me to make Strawberry sorbet - he loves strawberries, they're in season AND on sale at the grocery store. He suggested that we add cocoa powder to it so it would be chocolate strawberry flavored.

And so we did.

Same basic recipe -

12 ounces of fresh fruit, frozen overnight;

Process the frozen fruit in bursts to break it up some;

Add syrup (1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup sugar (dissolved)) while processing (for this recipe, I added a large tablespoon of cocoa powder and blended it in well to make a chocolate syrup);

push the mixture down into the process and mix it a bit,
then process it lots more until it's really smooth. It will be slightly frozen at this point.

Transfer it to a container and freeze for an hour or two;

Eat and enjoy!

Like I said up there, I made the syrup with 1/4 cup of sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water, then whisked in a heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder. My son says it has "a very good balance of chocolate to strawberry, neither one is overpowering the other, but they're playing off of each other well."

I'll have to take his word for it since I do NOT eat strawberries - besides the fact that I don't like them at all, they make me break out really badly, so none of this batch is for me...

But you should make this!

Enjoy,

Lorence

Vanilla Peach Sorbet

This is Sorbet recipe attempt #2, a la Martha Stewart's recipe (I previously posted the recipe as I made it with Blackberries). I was ok with the blackberry version, but berries always seem a bit 'grainy' to me - it's a texture thing, what with all of the seeds...the flavor was great, though. Since peaches are in season right now, I thought I'd try them out this way. And for some reason, I thought a bit of vanilla flavor would be great with them. I was almost right - wrong vanilla, but great flavor.

So here's what I did:

Peeled and cut up 12 oz of fresh peaches.

Froze said peaches overnight

Process the peaches as in the original recipe - a few good bursts to break the up;

then whir the crap out of them while adding the 1/4 cup of vanilla'd syrup (1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in it + 1 teaspoon of pure REAL vanilla extract).

Push the mixture back down into the processor and keep processing until smooth.

Freeze for a couple of hours.

Eat.

Say Mmmmm......

It was quite tasty and I ate nearly all of it over the next 3 days - I did share some, though;

I'm not that mean.

You have to try this with your favorite fruit. Next up for us: Chocolate Strawberry sorbet.

Enjoy,

Lorence

Blackberry Sorbet, oh, so easy

A former coworker (now retired) posted a comment on Facebook last week about making Raspberry sorbet in a flash using a recipe from the current issue of Martha Stewart's magazine. Later that night, my wife was raving about the fresh blackberries she had purchased when she went grocery shopping earlier.

Wife: You have to try these, they're perfect!
Me: Hmm, fresh berries, now what did I just read about making something with fresh berries..., Oh yeah, sorbet!
Son: Sorbet? Did you say you can make sorbet? Can we do it NOW?

And out to the store we went for more berries.
We bought two 6 ounce containers of beautiful fresh blackberries and stuck them in the freezer.

<time passed... about 12 hours. 12 very long hours>

Then after less than 10 minutes more of blender splendor, Sorbet.
And not too shabby for a first go at it.

And no ice cream maker needed!

This is Martha's original recipe:
Raspberry Sorbet with Fresh Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup plus 1 T. sugar
1 bag frozen raspberries, 12 oz, OR 3 cups fresh raspberries, frozen
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Stir together water and 1/4 cup sugar until sugar dissolves.
Pulse raspberries in food processor until coarsely shopped.
With machine running, pour in sugar-water; pulse until mixture is smooth.
Transfer to an airtight container, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

Whisk cream and remaining tablespoon sugar until soft peaks form. Scoop sorbet into 4 glasses and top with whipped cream..
Serves 4

I modified the recipe only to use blackberries. I froze fresh berries myself (they were on sale - $1/6 oz pack) and after the initial pulse, I had to run the processor while adding the sugar water, then push the mixture down and process some more to get the right consistency. It was still a bit grainy, but WOW, is it tasty.

Oh, yeah, I skipped the whipped cream. It would work really well, though.

These photos aren't the best, but you get the idea.

The ingredients

After the initial pulsing

Half way there, time to push it down inside my little processor

Ready to put in the freezer for a while

Voila. Blackberry Sorbet.

The boy wholeheartedly approves.

I'm looking forward to trying this technique out with some other flavor combos, like mango, strawberry & chocolate, peach and vanilla, maybe even apple caramel.

Any other ideas?

Enjoy,
Lorence

Quick Chicken Noodle Soup

Got a cold? You need chicken soup, boobula ...
It's January, 2010, winter is here, and it came in with a vengance.

I hate winter, just ask anyone that knows me .

I hate winter. And just like everyone else, I always get at least a bad cold and nothing, but nothing helps a bad cold like a good bowl of Homemade Chicken Soup. A few years back, I discovered an easy way to make a very quick pot of soup, done and ready to eat in less than 15 minutes, an important thing when you or some one you love feels like crap. If I've got leftover chicken, I chop it up and add it in while the noodles boil. If not, I try to add some uncooked chicken (if I've got it) at the beginning.

This recipe uses one of my favorite fast/easy ingredients, Orrington Farms Chicken Base. I use it to make "broth" quickly for many of the dishes I make, including and especially this one!

One of the things I like about this soup is that it needs only a cutting board a knife and one pot to make:
Ingredients:
6 cups water
5 teaspoons Orrington Farms Chicken Base
1 large carrot, sliced very thin
1 stalk of celery, sliced on the bias, very thin
1 small turnip, cut in a small dice
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Chicken, equivalent to 1 breast, diced or chopped up. Use leftover chicken or fresh/frozen.
chopped celery leaves for garnish
Fine Egg Noodles, like Manischewitz , as many as you like (I use about a 1/4 bag, 3 oz)

Method:
Add the water to a small stock pot, then add the chicken base. Turn the heat up to High and bring the pot to a boil.
Slice the carrot and the celery. Add them to the pot.
Dice the turnip and add it to the pot.
Add the seasonings (parsley, celery seed and pepper)
Chop the chicken and add it to the pot.
Add the noodles.
Cook until the noodles are done.
Server with a sprinkling of chopped celery leaves.



Enjoy, and feel better...
Lorence

Quick Dinner - Mock Lasagna

Back in October, we picked out a recipe from one of our old cookbooks that looked like a quick easy meal and wound up with a quick tasty meal that we've made a couple of times since. 

 We love a good lasagna (who doesn't?), but don't ever take the time to make one. 

 This has become a easy substitute. 

Mock Lasagna 

From "Hearty Family Favorites" (Time-Life Books). 

Ingredients: 

1 Medium Onion, coarsely chopped 

1/2 lb Italian sausage 

3 cloves of garlic, minced 

1/2 pound Farfalle (aka bow tie pasta) 

15 ounce can crushed tomato (or diced in juice/puree works, too) 

2 Tablespoons tomato paste 

1 bay leaf 

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil 

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

2 cups grated part-skim mozzarella 

Method: 

1) Preheat the oven to 400. 

2) Bring a large pot of water to a boil (for the pasta). 

3) Coarsely chop the onion. 

4) Remove the sausage form the casing (if using link sausage). 

5) Crumble the sausage meat into a medium skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink. 

6) Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent, 3-4 minutes. 

7) Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente per package instructions. 

8) Meanwhile, Add the tomato paste, crushed/diced tomatoes (including juice), bay leaf, basil, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to Low, cover it and simmer for 10 minutes. 

9) Drain the pasta. 

10) Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. 

11) Assemble the dish - Cover the bottom of an 8-inch baking dish with 1/3 of the sauce. Top the sauce with 1/2 of the pasta and half of the mozzarella. Top the cheese with 1/2 of the remaining sauce and all of the remaining pasta. Top the pasta with the remaining sauce and cheese. 

12) Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, or until heated through. 

 I like to let the cheese brown just a bit. I also add some seasoning (basil/oregano) to the top layer of cheese.

Step 6: Browning the sausage, garlic and onion

Step 8: added the tomatoes and seasonings (yup, that's the bay leaf in the center)

Step 11: first stage, sauce and pasta layers

Step 11: Assembly complete and ready for the oven

The end of step 12: Out of the oven and ready to eat!

Quick and easy - a decent meal in under 40 minutes! 

Enjoy, 

Lorence