Tag Archives: recipes

Individual-Sized Beef Wellingtons for Two

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This classic presentation serves well as the entrée for any special meal. And where did the name originate?

There are two classic ways to serve Beef Wellington. Created from a cut of filet mignon weighed in pounds, it makes for a centerpiece as impressive as whole salmon, striped bass, loupe de mer, or a whole roasted turkey. There is a definite Wow factor with food done large. These are the kinds of presentations that prompt guests to spontaneously break into shared applause – gratifying to any chef.

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This stacked beet salad, made from roasted beets and homemade goat cheese, goes nicely with beef. 

But equally appreciative responses can be elicited with individual-sized presentations. Just as a handsomely baked 15-pound salmon, perhaps stuffed with shrimp and garnished with sliced lemons and fresh fennel draws the focus to the center of the table, a perfectly poached 12 ounce trout adorned with fiddle heads and a side of freshly cut asparagus inspires individual applause and equally broad smiles. There is something wonderfully intimate about being served with an individually prepared whole fish, a cornish hen or small game bird, or a perfectly done melt-in-your mouth individual Beef Wellington.

beef wellington whole

Living in a “dry” (no alcohol permitted) village in Arctic Alaska is a considerable hardship at times. A Malbec, a Malbec, our kingdom for a Malbec! We made do with wild cherry sparklers from our SodaStream.

And the origins of this dish? Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, was reputedly a big fan of beef, mushrooms and pâté cooked in pastry. Another claim is that the dish was named in honor of Wellington, New Zealand. To us, the theory that this dish was named for the Duke of Wellington seems the more plausible. Arthur Wellesley was a field marshall whose troops defeated the army of Napoleon Bonaparte resulting in the collapse of Napoleon’s empire and his exile. Wellesley’s status as a conquering hero earned him royalty status as the First Duke of Wellington. Chefs sometimes name their creations after people they admire, and there was a similar French dish at the time that British chefs may have felt merited appropriate modification and renaming.

Beef Wellington for Two

Ingredients

  • 2 cuts of filet mignon, about 3/4 lb. each, brought to room temperature. The better the grade of beef, the better this dish will be.
  • duxelles – (a mushroom paste: see recipe below)
  • enough puff pastry to wrap each filet
  • enough prosciutto to completely wrap each filet
  • flour
  • whole grain Dijon mustard
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 sheets of plastic wrap large enough to wrap each Beef Wellington
  • parchment paper

Preparing the Filet MIgnon

  1. Place filets in a bowl one at a time. Drizzle with olive oil and turn to completely coat filet while adding pinches of salt and pepper so that all sides are seasoned. Set filets on cutting board.
  2. Add light olive oil to a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Use tongs to sear all sides of filets. This takes about 20 – 30 seconds per side – a total of about 2 – 3 minutes. Do not overcook, but make sure all surface areas are seared.
  3. Save the remaining oil to sauté the duxelles.
  4. Let filets cool.

Duxelles

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb. shitake mushrooms chopped fine (or any firm mushroom). We use dried shitakes which reconstitute nicely, store forever, and retain lots of flavor.
  • 1 shallot, chopped fine (Penzeys dried shallots work well)
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine (Penzeys dried garlic is excellent)
  • 1 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 tsp dried sage
  • 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil (Or sear the filet first and use the remaining oil to sauté the duxelles in the same pan)
  • salt & pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Place mushrooms, shallot, garlic, thyme and sage in a food processor and pulse till finely chopped.
  2. Place butter and olive oil in a pan over medium heat till butter is melted or add butter to oil remaining from searing beef and use that. Add mushroom mixture, reduce heat and sauté for approximately 8 minutes, until most of the liquid is evaporated and mixture is the consistency of a damp paste. Mix in salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Prepare the Beef Wellington

  1. On cutting boards or table, lay out two sheets of plastic wrap sufficiently large to wrap each Beef Wellington.
  2. Arrange prosciutto on plastic wrap making sure there is plenty of extra plastic wrap all around. Overlap prosciutto as necessary to ensure that it will completely cover the filets.
  3. Use a spatula to cover prosciutto with duxelles.
  4. Cover each rested filet with a 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of whole grain mustard – a sparse coating.
  5. Place filets atop prosciutto. Using plastic wrap to keep things tight, wrap beef in prosciutto, making sure everything is tight and sealed.
  6. Place prosciutto-wrapped filets in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This will help the prosciutto to stay in place when the plastic is removed.
  7. After 30 minutes, remove filets from refrigerator.
  8. Preheat over to 400 degrees F.
  9. Lightly dust cutting boards with flour and arrange puff pastry sheets sufficient to wrap each filet.
  10. Remove plastic from filets. (This may be easiest done with scissors.) Place filets on puff pastry and fold or roll up pastry so that filet is completely encased. Brush egg wash onto pastry edges to help get a good seal.
  11. Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Turn encased Beef Wellingtons seam side down and place on baking sheet. Make 2 slashes on top of pastry to allow steam to escape.
  12. Brush egg wash on pastry and place in pre-heated oven.
  13. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, checking toward the end to make sure pastry does no overcook. Beef should have an internal temperature of 125 degrees F.
  14. Remove from oven and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy with a fine Malbec, Zinfandel or Cabernet!

Sweet Nosh – Homemade Lemon Curd and Almond Scones

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Creamy, sweet lemon curd is the perfect partner to a freshly baked almond scone for a light breakfast or an afternoon nosh. See lemon curd and scone recipes below.

Any excuse to make lemon curd is a good excuse. I’ve been playing around with a lemon lava cake recipe and decided the ingredient it needed is lemon curd. With the lava cake in mind, I whipped up four cups of this zesty conserve, which happened to be more than my recipe required. What to do? Enjoy the tangy, sweet, creamy curd with a freshly baked batch of almond scones.

I’ve made many iterations of scones in my kitchen, but lemon curd seemed to fit with savory almond flavor as opposed to blends of fruits or other sweet ingredients.

The curd is a cinch to make. The Meyer lemons that grow in our backyard in Sacramento would have been the choice ingredient, but even without our favorite Meyers on hand in our Arctic kitchen, we can make a darn good curd with Nellie & Joe’s brand lemon juice and Penzeys dried lemon peel. The small scones, too, are a snap to make. The time it took from gathering pantry ingredients to pulling freshly baked scones from the oven was only about half an hour – about as long as it takes to have a first cup of Joe and get fully awake on a leisurely weekend or holiday morning.

Pantry Lemon Curd

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tbsp Penzeys dried lemon peel
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • pinch salt
  • 1/4 lb unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together lemon peel and sugar.
  2. Whisk eggs into sugar mixture, one at a time.
  3. Whisk in lemon juice and salt.
  4. Pour mixture into a medium pot. Add butter in pieces.
  5. Cook over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and let cool before serving with fresh-baked almond scones hot from the oven.
  7. Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Snack-Sized Almond Scones

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • healthy pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp frozen butter
  • 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
  3. Using a cheese grater, grate butter into flour mixture. Stir until butter is well dispersed in flour.
  4. In a second bowl, whisk together whole milk, buttermilk, egg, and extract.
  5. Pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir together.
  6. Stir in almonds. Dough will be sticky.
  7. Coat your hands with flour and divide dough into thirds.
  8. Flatten each third into a disc about 1-inch tall. Place 3 discs apart on parchment-covered baking sheet. Cut each disc into fourths, but do not separate. This will allow the scones to be broken easily when they are finished baking.
  9. Bake for about 15 minutes. Scones will be very lightly browned when done.
  10. Serve with hot tea and homemade lemon curd.

Swiss Spitzbueben Cookies Featuring Alaskan Wild Blueberry Jam

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Two thin, crispy cookies sandwich delicious homemade Alaska blueberry jam. This “anytime” cookie is too good to reserve for holiday cookie trays!

When we received a Christmas package from our friends at Alaskagraphy, we knew that these crispy vanilla cookies would be the perfect canvas for the flavor-packed wild blueberry jam they included. Experiment with your own jam creations!

Swiss Spitzbueben Cookies

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Alaskan blueberry jam, or jam of your choosing
  • 2 tbsp confectioners sugar, for dusting

Directions

  1. In bowl of stand mixer, beat butter until soft and fluffy.
  2. Add sugar,  vanilla, and salt. Beat until completely mixed.
  3. Add egg white. Beat until completely mixed.
  4. Add flour. Mix until flour is incorporated completely.
  5. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
  7. Roll dough out on parchment-covered surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.
  8. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Keep in mind that you need two cookies for each sandwich and the top cookie needs to have a smaller shape cut out in order for jam to show through.
  9. Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes. Cookies should just brown at bottom edges.
  10. Jam needs to be thick. If it is runny, cook down jam over medium heat for a few minutes. Spread jam on bottom cookie and place second cookie with cut-out atop first.
  11. Dust cookies with powdered sugar when cool.

Recipe makes approximately 1 dozen spitzbueben.

Rustic Pear Gallette with Whole Wheat Blend Crust

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The sweet secret to this gallette is a generous layer of homemade cloudberry jam beneath the pears No cloudberries? Try raspberry, blackberry or apricot jam.

A gallette is a beautiful dessert that can whipped up on short notice – a perfect answer to a seasonal abundance of fresh fruit. During the summer, we made a delicious strawberry-port gallette with sliced almonds in the galley of our sailboat. Since it is wintertime, we decided to make the gallette a bit more full-bodied by adding wheat flour and some cornmeal to the crust. We happened to have pears on hand, but many other fruits readily lend themselves to this recipe. Enjoy a slice of pear gallette with a side salad, a favorite cheese and a freshly brewed cup of tea for a satisfying lunch in any season.

Rustic Pear Gallette

Ingredients

  • 1  cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk (we made this from powdered)
  • 2 tablespoons cloudberry jam, or jam of your choice
  • 2 D’Anjou pears, thinly sliced
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar mixed with a pinch of ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Mix together flours, sugar, cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Using a pastry blender, mix in cold butter. Continue mixing until cold butter is the size of peas.
  3. Slowly mix in buttermilk. Stir with rubber spatula until dough forms into a ball.
  4. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for about 30-45 minutes in refrigerator.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  6. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the size of a baking sheet.
  7. Place chilled dough on center of parchment paper.
  8. Roll dough to about a 15-inch circle. This is a rustic dessert, so no need to be a perfectionist here.
  9. Brush the entire rolled dough with jam.
  10. Arrange pear slices atop dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
  11. Fold border over pears, pressing down any folds of dough.
  12. Brush dough with egg.
  13. Sprinkle dough and pears with sugar and cinnamon mixture.
  14. Bake gallette 40 – 45 minutes, until dough is golden brown and pears are soft.
  15. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Homemade Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream in Chocolate Orange Wafer

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To create this ice cream, we use the same brownie as in our ice cream sandwiches. These brownies work well because they retain their chewy, firm, moist texture when frozen. The edible serving cups are created from a modified fortune cookie recipe infused with orange flavor. See recipes below.

Dig in!

Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped brownies, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (see recipe below)

Directions

  1. Melt chocolate chips in top of double boiler.
  2. Whisk cocoa powder into melted chips until smooth.
  3. Whisk in milk a little at a time until completely blended.
  4. Remove from heat and let cool.
  5. Beat eggs in bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
  6. Mix in sugar a little at a time until completely blended.
  7. Mix in cream and vanilla. Thoroughly combine.
  8. Pour chocolate mixture into cream mixture and whisk to blend.
  9. Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
  10. Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes. 5 minutes before ice cream is complete, add chopped brownies to freezer bowl.
  11. Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Brownies for Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • pinch salt
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″ x 9″ baking dish. Set aside.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Mix completely. Let mixture cool slightly.
  3. Beat eggs and salt in a mixing bowl.
  4. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla.
  5. Mix in cooled chocolate.
  6. Mix in flour.
  7. Pour batter in baking dish.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes. Brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before using for ice cream recipe.

Edible Chocolate Orange Ice Cream Bowls (makes 4 wafers)

Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 tsp orange zest
  • 1/2 tsp orange extract
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp orange juice

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Have two small teacups or ramekins ready.
  2. Whisk egg white in a medium bowl until foamy, not stiff.
  3. Add salt and whisk to incorporate.
  4. Whisk in orange zest and orange extract.
  5. Whisk in sugar.
  6. Whisk in flour.
  7. Whisk in orange juice.
  8. Drop a teaspoon of batter onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
  9. Spread the batter around in a circular motion with the back of teaspoon until you have about a 4 inch circle. Repeat to make second wafer.
  10. Bake for 6 minutes.
  11. Immediately remove wafers with an offset spatula and place on an upside-down teacup to cool and dry in the shape of a cup.
  12. Repeat with batter for second 2 wafers.
  13. If desired, dip edges of wafers in chocolate.
  14. Let cool completely before using.

Silver Salmon For Lovers

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The pleasant tanginess of homemade crème fraîche, lemon and leeks harmonize with the buttery richness of wild caught Alaskan Coho salmon presented on a bed of homemade egg noodles. Light candles, play soft music, pop a cork and serve.

Crème fraîche is not available at our local Native store. No problem. We simply mixed two cups of heavy cream, two tablespoons of our homemade plain yogurt and let the mixture sit for 24 hours at room temperature and, voilà, we had crème fraîche.

The leeks in this dish seem to suggest springtime. Endless variations are possible. The lobster base in the sauce lends itself to pairing the salmon fillet with a lobster tail or claw, shrimp or even scallops; freshly picked, lightly sautéed fiddlehead ferns would make a nice addition, as would fresh mushrooms, a sprig of fennel, and so on. Because farmed salmon is environmentally harmful (regardless of what those who profit from that industry might say), if wild salmon is not available we suggest Arctic char (farmed or wild), trout or halibut. Remember, if the salmon in the market does not specifically say “wild” or “wild-caught,” it is farmed, and we urge that it be avoided.

Silver Salmon For Lovers

Ingredients

  • 2 portions pasta of your choice
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 leek, cleaned and chopped moderately coarse
  • salt to taste
  • 1/2 cup broth made from Better than Bouillon lobster bouillon or similar lobster base
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 cup crème fraîche
  • 1 tsp dried tarragon, crushed
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 pinches cayenne pepper
  • 3/4 lb salmon fillet, cut into 2 pieces

Directions

  1. Cook pasta according to directions. While pasta is cooking prepare sauce and salmon.
  2. Melt butter in large pan over medium heat. Add olive oil.
  3. Sauté chopped leek until softened, about 6 minutes.
  4. Season with salt.
  5. Pour lobster stock and lemon juice on leeks. Bring to a boil while stirring in order to deglaze pan. Let sauce reduce until it is nearly all evaporated.
  6. Stir in crème fraîche, tarragon, mustard and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Reduce heat to low and bring sauce to a simmer.
  7. Add salmon fillets to pan.
  8. Cover pan and allow salmon to cook in sauce for approximately 5 – 8 minutes. White-colored fat on top of salmon indicates it’s cooked.
  9. Divide pasta on 2 plates. Spoon sauce onto pasta. Place salmon atop sauce. Garnish fillets with a pinch of cayenne.
  10. Light a couple of taper candles, pour two glasses of buttery chardonnay and enjoy the meal with someone special.

Rich, Custardy Eggnog Ice Cream: A Christmas Tradition

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A big mug of freshly brewed coffee and a couple scoops of eggnog ice cream dressed up with shaved nutmeg: Bring it on, Winter!

This ice cream is divine.

Rich Eggnog Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup sugar

Directions

  1. Heat cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and heat until mixture almost boils, about 5 – 8 minutes.
  3. Reduce heat to low, using a heat diffuser if necessary.
  4. Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar until the mixture is light yellow and smooth.
  5. Add 4 tbsp of hot cream mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined. This will temper the eggs.
  6. Slowly add warmed yolk mixture to warm cream. Stir continuously in order to not cook/curdle eggs.
  7. Cook entire mixture over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon. Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
  8. Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes.
  9. Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce: Delicious on Roasted Turkey or Duck

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Top row: pear butter, smoked salmon, cloudberry jam. Second row: Arctic blueberry jam, cranberry sauce, cloudberry jam. Third row: Arctic blueberry jam, pear butter, smoked salmon.

Small batch canning has become a perfect way to preserve many foods in our Arctic home. We anticipate that this skill will transfer nicely to our galley kitchen aboard the sailing vessel Bandon.

We recently read an article about items that are supposedly “not worth the time to make in your own kitchen.” The three items that topped this rather specious list were yogurt, pasta and jam. Of course, we heartily disagree on each count. The hands-on time for our delicious homemade yogurt is about 15 minutes, and while it takes a little longer to turn out a few servings of pasta, the time invested results in noodles that trump any store-bought variety. And jam can be made between dinnertime and bedtime – including the processing time in the water bath. Knowing where your hand-picked berries and self-harvested salmon come from: priceless. As those in-the-know can attest, the rewards go beyond even that. Our meals are infused with memories of mornings in berry fields as we dip into our jam and of days on water and of the friends we shared fishing experiences with as we open jars of beautifully cured salmon.

Just in time for the holidays, we’ve added ginger pear cranberry sauce to our home-canned collection. We adapted the recipe from Full Circle Farms, which was thoughtfully tucked into a box containing our order of organic cranberries and D’Anjou pears. The spicy ginger and sweet stewed fruit was the perfect complement to roasted turkey.

Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

  • 7 tbsp brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 ½ tsp powdered ginger
  • pinch salt
  • 3 firm D’Anjou pears, seeded and cut into ½-inch cubes
  • 6 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp dried lemon zest
  • 2 tsp dried orange zest
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • ¾ lb organic cranberries

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, vinegar, ginger, and salt.
  2. Bring to a boil over moderate heat.
  3. Add pears. Cover and cook until pears are crisp-tender, about 10 minutes.
  4. Remove pears with slotted spoon and set aside, leaving liquid in pan.
  5. Add granulated sugar, zests, juices and cranberries to pan.
  6. Simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until cranberries pop.
  7. Reduce heat and add pears back to mixture.
  8. Cook for at least 5 minutes to allow flavors to mix. Cook longer if a thicker sauce is desired.

Makes about 4 cups of sauce.

Now THIS is an Ice Cream Sandwich!

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Creamy, homemade butter pecan ice cream sandwiched between chewy, chocolatey, frozen brownies – a guaranteed cure for winter-darkness doldrums! 

Store-bought ice cream sandwiches have the right idea – it’s fun to eat ice cream with your hands. The problem is that the outside layers of the store-bought variety leave much to be desired. We wanted a delicious brownie that would be more than just an edible barrier between ice cream and hands. So we created a not-too-thick brownie that retains its chewiness when it’s frozen. For the ice cream filling, we chose butter pecan to add the texture and flavor of the nuts we like best in brownies. Turned out to be the best ice cream sandwiches we’ve ever had!

Brownie & Butter Pecan Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • pinch salt
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • butter pecan ice cream (see recipe below)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9″ x 5″ x 3″ loaf pans with foil. Butter the foil. Set pans aside.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Mix completely. Let mixture cool slightly.
  3. Beat eggs and salt in a mixing bowl.
  4. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla.
  5. Mix in cooled chocolate.
  6. Mix in flour.
  7. Pour half of the batter in each loaf pan.
  8. Bake for 25 minutes. Brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for about 15 minutes.
  9. Gently lift brownies with foil out of loaf pans and place in freezer.
  10. Place one of the empty loaf pans in freezer.
  11. Scoop out several scoops of butter pecan ice cream* into a bowl. We used about six.
  12. Stir ice cream with a rubber spatula to soften a little. You want ice cream to be spreadable, but not soupy.
  13. Retrieve one brownie and frozen loaf pan from freezer.
  14. Place brownie back into loaf pan.
  15. Spread all the ice cream evenly on brownie.
  16. Retrieve second brownie from freezer. Remove foil.
  17. Press second brownie atop the ice cream layer. Place sandwich in freezer to set, about 30 minutes.
  18. Remove sandwich from pan and place on cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice sandwich into slices of desired size.
  19. Let sit for about 5 minutes to slightly thaw before serving.

*If you want a top notch filling for this sandwich, try making your own butter pecan! Here’s how:

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 cup pecan halves, chopped slightly
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup whole milk

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a heavy pan over low heat.
  2. Add pecans and salt and sauté, stirring constantly until pecans start to brown.
  3. Set pecans aside to cool. Leave melted butter in pan.
  4. Whisk eggs until light and fluffy.
  5. Whisk in sugar a little at a time until completely blended.
  6. Pour in cream and milk and whisk to blend.
  7. Add reserved melted butter from pan. Mix well.
  8. Complete by following the directions of your ice cream maker or method. Add buttered pecans near the end of the ice cream maker’s cycle, when the ice cream has thickened.

Roasted Salted Pistachio and Cherry Biscotti

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This crisp cookie bursts with the flavors of salty, roasted pistachios and tart, sweet cherries. Its attractive green and red colors would make it a welcome addition to this season’s offerings.

We picked up a bag of roasted and salted shelled pistachios last summer at Costco. The large bag of nuts was quickly opened, but we know that a rapidly expanding waistline can be the price for eating too many pistachios in too short a time. So, we put the bag in a mailing tub to be shipped north only partly consumed and forgot about it till recently. To our surprise, the nuts have remained amazingly tasty. Before they fall from grace, we wanted to make good use of them. Enter a biscotti recipe that celebrates their unique flavor. The roasted and salted aspect adds a delicious juxtaposition to the sweet tanginess of the dried cherries. We think these biscotti should be eaten all year ’round, in spite of their seasonal colors.

Roasted Salted Pistachio and Dried Cherry Biscotti

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 tbsp light olive oil
  • 1 tbsp dried orange zest
  • 2 tsp dried lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup roasted and salted pistachios, coarsely chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Combine first 6 ingredients in bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle.
  3. Mix on low speed until ingredients are well combined.
  4. In a separate bowl whisk eggs with next 5 ingredients.
  5. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Beat on low until combined.
  6. Fold in cherries and pistachios.
  7. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface.
  8. Divide dough in half.
  9. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into a 16″ long log.
  10. Place logs on parchment covered baking sheet, about 5″ apart.
  11. Flatten logs to a strip about 2″ wide, so you have two logs that are 16″ x 2″.
  12. Bake cookies until browned and set, about 30 minutes.
  13. Let cookies cool in pan placed on wire rack for about 15 minutes.
  14. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees F.
  15. On a cutting board, using a serrated knife, cut logs into slices, about 2/3″ thick.
  16. Place slices back on the parchment-lined baking sheets, cut side down and close together.
  17. Bake for 20 minutes.
  18. Flip the cookies to the opposite side and bake again for 20 minutes.
  19. Let cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from BON APPÉTIT