Coconut Milk Rice Pudding with Strawberries

I fell in love...with Carolina Gold Rice during a Spring vacation to Charleston SC. The affair continues...

COCONUT MILK RICE PUDDING WITH STRAWBERRIES

3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked Carolina Gold or Arborio rice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise
pinch of salt

1/2 quart strawberries, cleaned and quartered
1/2 cup sugar

Place strawberries and sugar in a small bowl and mix well. Let sit at room temperature stirring occasionally while preparing the rice.

In a heavy (use your heaviest) large pot bring cream, coconut milk, water, sugar, rice and vanilla to a boil. Lower heat to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Gently fluff with a fork when finished cooking. Top a small portion of rice with strawberries and serve immediately. Rice is lovely served just warm, but this refrigerates and reheats really well too!
Enjoy!

Making Shrub

As an "alcoholic beverage retailer" I get tons of publications with all the newest trends in cocktails, which is fun and frustrating. Fun because I always have new ideas from folks at the top of the industry, frustrating because we live in a small rural town in the midwest and "trends" are not the easiest to come by. Occasionally I concoct my own spin on cocktails if I can't find exactly what I need....hence the "shrub" recipe.

In all honesty I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but if it's made with vinegar, I'm usually game. The shrub is an old non-alcoholic beverage and you can read it's history all over the internet with a simple search. (I'm sorry, I hate to just repeat what someone else has said better before me :))

I had a quart of fresh strawberries needing to be used and lemons galore, so that's how I ended up with this recipe. I was a bit hesitant about strawberries as I don't usually care for strawberry flavored anything as it's SO sweet, but the shrub can really use the sweet to counter balance it's tartness. The recipe filled a wine bottle about 3/4 full so maybe yield is about 3 cups-ish.

Strawberry Lemon Shrub
2 fresh lemons, juiced
1 quart strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1 cup Champagne Vinegar (Champagne vinegar is a MUST or any delicate wine or rice vinegar. Do not use apple cider or white vinegar)
1 cup sugar

Combine strawberries, vinegar and lemon juice in a glass container. Stir and leave at room temperature for 48 hours. Add sugar, stir and allow to sit stirring or shaking occasionally up to 4 days.
Strain berries from juice using a jelly bag or cheesecloth and refrigerate before serving.

(This was the only photo I took and it's super tacky, but you'll get the point of what it should look like and the color is stunning!)



I served the shrub at my Preserving Class with Prosecco wine, a fruity, dry sparkling wine from Italy. You could also use and "Brut" sparkling wine. I would be hesitant to use any sweet sparkling wine. While the shrub is tart from the vinegar, it's still sooooo sweet in the layers of flavors. I also thought club soda was fantastic for a refreshing brunch drink! There are many cocktail recipes online, using shrubs in them. This keeps about a month in the fridge.

I think I'd like to try a pear/ginger shrub for the fall! Let me know what you try out and what your thoughts were on flavor combinations!!

Spring Cocktails!

A few months ago, a friend asked me to host a Film Photography Festival of sorts at our market. It was an evening of art, photography and discussions about photography. I decided to create some fun vintage style cocktails that are wine based to get everyone in the spirit!

All of the wines I used are available through most independent retailers and are affordable to use as a mixer.

SPRING SANGRIA

1 quart fresh strawberries, chopped into small pieces
2 bottles New Age White wine
16 ounces Club Soda or more to taste
1 batch Basil Peppercorn simple syrup(recipe below)

Have all ingredients very cold. Add together and stir slightly. Taste and adjust sweetness with Club Soda. Serve immediately as wine will lose it's fizz within a few hours.

BASIL PEPPERCORN SIMPLE SYRUP
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
10 large fresh Basil leaves
20 Whole Peppercorns, any color

Place all in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Allow to cool and refrigerate up to 3 weeks.



KIR ROYALE

1/4 ounce Crème de Cassis (Black Currant liqueur)
2 1/4 ounces Champagne

Pour Crème de Cassis into a Champagne flute or wine glass and top off with Champagne. Now for real....even the cheapest Champagne will be in the $40/bottle range. I used Cremant from Bourgogne which is about $15 and fabulous. You could also use any BRUT sparkling wine. The liqueur is quite sweet, so you ant the dryness of the sparkling to add depth and layers of flavor. If you're looking for just a "Kir", you could use any non-oaked dry white wine.



L'AUNISIEN (MY WAY)

1/4 ounces Campari
1 1/4 ounces Pineau des Charantes white wine
2 ounces Champagne (see above notes on other sparkling options)

Pour Campari and Pineau des Charantes into a Champagne flute and top with Champagne. This has a beautiful salmon color to it and a refreshing hit of bitter orange. I love the layers of flavors as Pineau des Charantes is made with Cognac.

Strawberry Conserves in Fruit Panzanella

During the spring/summer months, I hosted a series of food preserving classes at The Boulevard Market.  We cranked out all manner of food and fun.  One such recipe for me was Strawberry Conserves.

Not a jam or preserve, but more of a syrup with barely cooked fresh strawberries to be kept in your refrigerator.  Interesting concept that worked beautifully (it's now January and still perfect!) and is handy to have hiding in the fridge.  I've not tried making a conserve with other fruits, but it's now on my list for summer 2012.

Fresh fruit is not super great right now (excluding citrus) so we did with what we had.  A "fruit panzanella" if you will.... 

Strawberry Conserves

·         4 cups fresh strawberries (about 1 pound), hulled, halved

·         3/4 cup superfine sugar

·         Peel (with white pith) of 1/2 lemon

·         Combine all ingredients in a heavy, wide pot. Cover; let sit at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours. (The berries will ooze and sugar will dissolve.)

·         Bring strawberry mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring gently, until strawberries are just tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer strawberries to 1 pint jar. Continue simmering liquid until it thickens into a syrupy consistency, 1-2 minutes. Discard lemon peel and pour syrup over strawberries; seal and let cool to room temperature. Chill for up to 1 month.

SO, I extended the 1 month deadline by 7 months....(whoops) still great!

Over a year ago, we made "dessert croutons".  Cubes of artisan, crusty bread, tossed with a bit of melted butter and sugar, then baked.  We find we love them tossed with fresh fruit for a quick dessert without so much work with crusts and the like. 

Dessert Croutons

3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
2 cups cubed Ciabatta or Baguette bread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cube bread into 1 inch cubes.  Melt butter and stir in sugar.  Drizzle over bread cubes and toss until bread cubes are evenly covered.  Bake on foil for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown and crunchy.

I threw a few croutons into some pretty dessert bowls, drizzled with the Strawberry Conserves and topped with a bit of whipped cream.  So good and so easy for a Tuesday evening in January.

The Boulevard Market's Preserving classes will start up again in April 2012.  You can find more information and dates under the "Cooking Classes & Events" tab at the top of the page.
  

The Possibilities of Strawberries

Pierre LOVES Strawberries!

 Yesterday took John, Pierre and I to the family farm just a couple miles away from our home.  My brother has planted acres of strawberries in the last couple years to sell at Farmers Markets and also to fill his CSA customers weekly boxes.  He is always generous to allow us to share his bounty too! 

This week is beautiful strawberries!  It took me only about 20 minutes to pick this huge basket full and begin to indulge in springs finest fruit!  This year we are making conserve (a concentrated jam without added pectin) strawberry shortcake, Verrine with  lemon balm and bowl upon bowl or sliced strawberries with raw sugar!

A dirty but fulfilling job!

I tried a new shortcake recipe that we really enjoyed.  I'm not much for the "biscuit" type shortcake and I detest those weird sponge things at the grocery store (with a 12 year shelf life) so the experiment continues, but I think this recipe is a keeper! 


STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES:
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons self rising flour (you can make your own easily; 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt)
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 stick butter
2 Tablespoons raw sugar or demerara sugar




Mix flours together and cut in the butter until mixture resembles crumbs.  Mix in the sugar until dough just comes together.  Using your hands, form into a log, wrap with plastic and refrigerate about an hour. 

Cut dough into 6 chunks and roll out each one into a thin circle about 4 inch round.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden and just firm.  Remove from parchment immediately and place directly onto serving plates with a large spatula. 


Instead of whipped cream, I beat together a carton of mascarpone cheese with a couple tablespoons powdered sugar and a 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest.  Beat until smooth and spread evenly onto shortbread or drop a nice dollop along side your fresh strawberries.

I can't wait until you see the verrines tomorrow!  I brought back all of our yogurt containers from France JUST for these delightful desserts!  (Yes, there was much eye-rolling in security)

Molten Lava Babycakes=Pure Romance

I meant to post this for Valentines Day, but time (and pasta) got in my way!

One of John's favorite things in the world is chocolate...which is true for so many people.  I would like to say he is extremely picky, but that would be lying.  He will eat and enjoy nearly anything with cocoa in it.  This includes but is not limited to Hersheys, mexican mole sauce, Valrhona chocolates, cake, hot cocoa, brownies (homemade or boxed it matters not) and chocolate milk is a particular favorite!  The beauty of John's love affair with chocolate is that it trancends to me with every chocolate dish I prepare!  Nifty huh?

Molten Lava Babycakes are a particular favorite and so easy to make.  It's a lovely chemical reaction that allows the interior to stay so gooey and soft, yet the outer cake is perfectly delicate and spongy!  A few raspberries (thank you California,USA) and whipped cream are the perfect complement! 

Molten Lava Babycakes

5 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Callebaut 66%)
10 Tablespoons Butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups Powdered  Sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Espresso Powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter together, stir until smooth and let cool about 15 minutes.

Butter 6 ramekins generously and sprinkle with sugar to coat entire interior.

Beat eggs and egg yolks until smooth and stir in powdered sugar, flour, espresso powder and salt.  Fold in cooled chocolate mixture until just combined.

Pour into ramekins until about 3/4 full.  Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake about 15 minutes until edges are firm, but center still have a bit of jiggle.  DO NOT OVER BAKE!!

Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes.  Loosen the sides of each cake with a sharp knife and turn out onto a serving plate.  Garnish with raspberries, strawberries or bananas and whipped cream.


I often put these together in the morning, and pop in fridge until I get home from work.  An extra 2 minutes in the oven is all they need!