CSA! Weeks 1 and 2

We're now approaching week 3 of our CSA from the Many Hands Organic Farm in Barre, MA, and I haven't said a word about it.

So here we go, weeks 1 and 2.

Week 1 was exciting. We woke up (my 30 year old self is a little achier and tired in the morning, or maybe that's from eating the drunken fruit from the sangria), and Clint said, guess what today is!! I thought. I pondered. I said,...Wedne

sday? Duh, it's CSA day. Clint also researched ways to get there. There are 2 obvious/easy ways to go from our house, the annoying road and the pretty, woodsy, windy road. We chose the pretty road. We took an even windier road on the way back, Res

ervoir Rd, which, as you can guess, goes by a reservoir. So the drive itself was very pleasant. We pick up our share at an Episcopal church in Holden, about 15 min away from our house. Someone from MHOF comes with the bags and lines them all up in the function room of the church, and we all go and pick ours up within a certain time range. It's convenient.

Week 1 brought us:

A beautiful bok choy/chinese cabbage

mint

oregano

kale

scallions/green onions galore

5 heads of lettuce

itty bitty little white and red beets!

garlic scapes (hidden by the beet greens, sadly)

a large bag of baby spinach and mixed greens

and little tiny strawberries!

So... now what do we do?

First I used my garlic scapes. The CSA weekly e-newsletter includes a recommended recipe, and fortunately for me, the first week it was a recipe using the one ingredient I'd never heard of- the garlic scapes (which are... the stem of the garlic? We may have garlic scapes at grandma's house, there's some odd, garlic-scented thing growing by the door- we just have no idea where they came from).

White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip From NYTIMES.com

1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling.

1. In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.

2. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.

I used significantly less oil, and about 3T lemon juice total. The bean dip was thicker than hummus, and very, very tasty on carrots, cucumber spears, and crackers. Success!

Then we tried to use the kale. It was unfortunate.

I made these delicious bacon-wrapped pork medallions with cherry sauce that had been on my "recipes to make asap" list for quite some time. I served it with some leftover baguette and used the rest of the bacon (I made extra when I baked the bacon for the pork medallions) in the kale, which was first boiled in water, then added to a frying pan of onions and bacon sauteeing in the bacon fat, with some salt and pepper. The kale was overboiled and an unfortunate pukey green color. I won't pre-boil kale again (at least, not for 10 minutes).

The third CSA ingredient attempt was far better. We had salad.

I would love to tell you that more than just the lettuce in this salad was a CSA acquisition, I'd love to say the delicious salad dressing I made (I made!! Making salad dressings is very new for me) was from CSA herbs, but it was from the basil plant on my kitchen windowsill, which is still pretty cool.

Yes, I can apparently now grow basil.

I can also apparently make salad dressing.

1/2 cup basil

1 garlic clove (or a garlic scape!)

3T cider vinegar

1t dijon mustard

Combine all in a food processor and whizz. Turn it on, and drizzle in some olive oil- I don't like a lot of oil, so I used maybe 1.5-2T.

Fourth (and fifth) and finally, I took advantage of MHOF's recipe page, and found a delicious bok choy and scallion fried rice recipe, and a really interesting sauteed radish recipe.

Before I can tell you about this recipe, I need to introduce you to Week 2.

more scallions!

more lettuce!

snow and snap peas (good in the garlic scape bean dip)

massive amounts of dill

collards

swiss chard

cilantro

radishes
So I immediately set out to make dinner, using as many CSA ingredients as possible. Some of the week 1 stash was still in the fridge: bok choy, scallions, and one last garlic scape.

I made a bok choy and chicken stir fry with scallion fried rice.
(due to the length of this entry, just go there for the recipe. My changes: I used walnut instead of peanut oil (had walnut, no peanut), after removing the rice from the wok, I added 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces, cooked that for a few minutes before adding the ginger, miso paste, garlic and dried jalapenos (instead of canned chili peppers), and used 2 4oz cans of mushrooms instead of fresh- we bought flat of canned mushrooms at BJ's a while ago.)

rice alone- it's very orange, and my rice was still a bit wet (why does brown basmati take so long to cook?!), so it was rather sticky. Still tasty.

The whole stir fry/fried rice dish. Yum!

Also, sauteed radishes!

I have to admit, I've never been a radish fan. I've only ever seen them sliced up on potato salad, or on a garden salad, and they seem like little discs of crunch, not flavor. When we got these in the CSA, I was a little confused, but since one of the main benefits of a CSA is to end up with new veggies and be completely obligated to eat them...

This was super easy.

1 bunch of radishes- chop the greens (they're a bit prickly, surprise), quarter the bulbs

chives (from my garden!)

1 garlic scape (instead of the recipe's green garlic- because what exactly is that? I need to grow garlic and figure out these garlic details)

1T butter

salt and pepper, as desired

Heat the butter in a frying pan. Add the quartered radishes, cook for a couple minutes. Add in the greens and herbs, cook for about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Voila!

The radishes get kind of soft, kind of like a cooked onion, and are a little bitter, but at the same time, a little sweet. I think I'd like to try sauteing radishes with caramelized onions some time- we may get more radishes this week.

(I should note: the night of the bok choy stir fry and sauteed radishes, I magically made my 4 cup pyrex measuring cup explode simply by touching the handle, spilling glass shards all over the cabinet and floor (I'm so talented), and seriously bumped and cut my head on the stove top hood. It was pretty awesome.)

What's up next for Week 3? The weekly e-newsletter predicts more lettuce, more garlic scapes (YAY because that's my new favorite- more pictures to follow), peas, more herbs, and (gasp!) the first batch of raspberries!! Stay tuned to see what I do with it all! (raspberry, garlic scape and pea risotto, anyone? kidding)

oh ps- remember the tiny Week 1 strawberries? We ended up eating some, then I wanted to take half to share with my family, mostly so they could see the adorably tinyness. And they got a little ick. They're currently buried in our backyard, maybe they'll grow. We're not holding our breath, but it's better than chucking them down the garbage disposal (our compost attempts haven't been so great, we've mostly given up.)

Birthdaybirthday!

I recently turned 30. To celebrate/mourn the occasion, I threw a standard Catherine-style posh cocktail party, with a few modifications over the standard hors d'ouerves and finger foods menu.

For one, I converted the pitcher of cosmos concept from a beverage into a cupcake. I also served meat, now that I'm no longer afraid of cooking it. And finally, I came close to providing an appropriate amount of food for the number of guests (the only thing we had unreasonable amounts of leftovers of were the fruit tartlets and old bay biscuits).

Pictured above, clockwise from the veggie platter:

veggies and onion dip

Stacey's naked pita chips

Asparagus tart (using refrigerated crescent rolls instead of puff pastry)

Hummus

Maple kettle corn (I'm not pleased with the recipe- I'm not sure if I should give it to you until I've perfected it)

Sweet and spicy nuts

Sweet and spicy shrimp cocktail

Fennel and melon wrapped in prosciutto (Giada's idea)

Avocado muffins (blocked by the flowers) (and note: you know how avocados always go bad before you eat them? Make this your my-avocados-need-to-get-used-NOW go-to recipe)

Spinach quiches (also blocked by the flowers)

Old bay cheese biscuits (recipe needs work before I share, but it was based on this recipe)

Caramelized onion tart (using cream cheese instead of ricotta)

Tomato basil mozzarella skewers with balsamic fig reduction

Tomato tart (again with crescent rolls instead of puff pastry)

Here are the avocado muffins, quiches and old bay biscuits

the onion tart, tomato tart, skewers, and the veggies again,

and the asparagus tart, kettle corn, nuts and prosciutto-wrapped fennel and melon.

Not pictured: honey cumin chipotle pork tenderloin and peanut teriyaki chicken skewers (taken off the skewers)(fat free 1/2&1/2 instead of heavy cream, please). Both were cooked later, when I was too busy hostessing to photograph.

The dessert table was in the corner

My famous coconut macaroons (ok, Martha's, but I probably make them more)

Cosmo cupcakes (with 1 change: I used the Magnolia Bakery frosting recipe (the one with the cupcakes scared me by the huge butter:sugar ratio, I was worried it made that greasy frosting I hate) and instead of 1/2cup milk, I used a mix of cranberry and lime juices (about 5T cranberry and 3T lime).

Peach raspberry tartlets (crust was Martha's pate sucree recipe, filling was a bunch of peaches diced, a handful of frozen raspberries, a little flour, a little sugar. I followed Smitten Kitchen's construction here, and froze the tartlets a week before baking about an hour at 400F)

And that was just in the dining room!

In the living room were the cheeses.

I bought (from BJ's):

 lemon stilton, Cabot extra sharp cheddar, smoked gouda, iberico (like manchego, delicious) and from Big Y, a small wheel of camembert.

I also served a baguette, some crackers, more spicy nuts, pickled grapes, storebought olive tapenade, homemade olive pistachio tapenade (heavily modified from Anne Burrell, via Smitten Kitchen) and the fabled apricot preserves (delicious with the camembert on a baguette).

The bar was in the kitchen.

Now, minor oopsie on this one- I don't drink beer, only wine, so I wasn't considering what beer we had on hand. I assumed we had some. My husband assumed I was on top of everything (I thought I was). We... had no beer. Like, none. We had sufficient quantities of wine, seltzer, coke and diet coke (which was a feat for us), and the sangria that will go down in family history (2 weeks later, I've made 5 batches of it, that's how popular it is).

Sangria: modified from here. I used the simple syrup left over from the epic candied orange peels (later I used honey). I'd suggest increasing the simple syrup or honey 1.5-2 times over the sugar, especially since I used plain seltzer instead of lemon lime soda (I'd rather have sugar than HFCS).

The best part of the bar was using all the beautiful Simon Pearce pitchers I've bought my husband over the years. He has a real thing for pitchers, but he never used them, and I usually only put flowers in them.

There were 2 items on the table I did not make, both of which were delicious. A made a delicious baked brie (totally rivals mine, hers had the added bonus of not being greasy and messy like mine is), and Bird brought me these adorable and delicious cookies. (I ate the last one on National Wear Lilly Day- is that appropriate or what?)

Apricots, apricots, everywhere!

Oh, excitement at the Coop (fabulous grocery store in Lebanon and Hanover, NH) last week: apricots for $1.99/lb! Now, for you dears in California or other places where apricots grow, you might think, "meh, so?" It's kind of a big deal for New England. So I sent my husband up (he was there anyway) to buy me 3lbs of apricots for me to play with. 

I planned to make coconut&lime's apricot upside down cake, but I was unsure of how to use the other 2.5lbs. After hemming and hawing and looking at all sorts of options, I realized that the apricots had to be used, stat, so I made Martha's apricot jam. I highly recommend both recipes.

Apricot Upside Down Cake, from Coconut&Lime

Cake:

Cream

7T butter, softened

1/3c light brown sugar

together til fluffy. Add in 1 egg, 1/3c sour cream and 1t vanilla, beat for a minute. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together 1cup flour, 1.5t baking powder, 1/2t ginger and a pinch of salt.

Beat flour mixture into butter/sour cream mixture til combined. The batter will be sticky.

In an 8in round baking pan (sprayed/buttered with 1T butter), arrange 4 halved and pitted apricots, cut side down, and sprinkle with 2T brown sugar (my accidental change- it worked fine).

Bake at 350F for about 40 min. Let cool, then loosen edges with a knife, and invert on a serving plate.

For a photo, see coconut&lime's: 1. my computer has issues, and I don't want to make it do unnecessary tasks, and 2. her cake was prettier than mine.

Apricot Jam, from Martha Stewart

2.5lbs apricots

3cups sugar

1/4 water

juice of 1 lemon

Cut the apricots into 1-inch pieces (I left the skin on). Take 4-5 of the pits, smash the hard outer shell with a hammer, and save the soft, almond-shaped inner seed. In a large pot, combine the apricot pieces, soft apricot seeds, sugar and water, and cook over medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Keep stirring until reduced and thickened, about 15-20 min. I kept lowering the heat little by little as the jam starting splattering all over my hand. Once it's thickened/after 15-20min, turn off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and let cool. Transfer to mason jars (I used Tupperware, my pickle-queen mother would be so ashamed to hear her daughter doesn't have boxes of mason jars in the basement! :( ), keep refrigerated. Be sure to lick the pot and the spoon, because there is nothing like warm apricot jam. It's off-limits for me this week while I'm on a 5-day reset diet, and I've been dreaming of it.

Next week I'll tell you how I've used my 4cups of apricot jam. I have plans, oh yes.

Orange cod

When you were growing up, did your parents have a small numbers of recipes they rotated through? Mine did. I despised some of them (minute steaks, stuffed peppers), loved some (beef stroganoff) and was iffy about others- such as mom's orange cod.

My parents love their microwave. My microwave is used onl

y for softening or melting butter. My husband likes to heat things in it, but I could happily live 

without. Needless to say, when my parents cooked scrod in the microwave with some oranges and lemons, I had to restrain myself from stopping them. It's a 

decent dish, just... not approached the right way. In my mind, at least.

I know the microwave is easy, and I don't want to snub anything convenient, I simply try to find a better way.

And when I found Orangette's cider-glazed salmon, I knew she was on to something. So I used her recipe to remake my mom's. And... I developed my very own. Woohoo!

Tilapia with orange cream sauce

for 2

3/4 cup orange juice concentrate

3 1/4 cup water (or just use 3 cups orange juice- I never have OJ on hand, so I like to use Sandra Lee's OJ concentrate trick)

2 sprigs of fresh thyme, just the thyme leaves

1t dried tarragon

1 fennel bulb, cut into bite-sized pieces

a pinch or 2 of orange zest

4 small tilapia fillets

1/2 cup fat free 1/2&1/2

Bring juice/water and herbs and zest to a boil over medium heat in a large skillet/pot. 

Add fennel, cook for 12-15 minutes. Place tilapia fillets in and cook til done, about 5-7 minutes, spooning liquid over them often. When fish is about cooked through, remove fish and tilapia and keep warm on a foil-covered platter.

Continue cooking orange juice until reduced by about half, then stir in 1/2&1/2 and season with salt and pepper as desired. Cook til thickened, like so.

Serve: place fennel and fish on a plate, cover/drizzle with orange sauce. Very tasty with orange jasmine rice.

Note: I've also done this with cod, i.e. 2 large cod fillets. The cod took longer to cook (it was much thicker than the tilapia). one thing: the fennel wants to cook about 20 min total. If you use a longer-cooking fish like thick cod, cook the fennel for less time before you add the fish, since the fish-cooking time will be longer. You can also just pull the fennel out before the fish is done if you're miscalculated. You'll figure it out.

Orange Jasmine Rice

1/2 cup jasmine rice

1/2 cup orange juice (2T concentrate plus 6T water, or fresh squeezed)

zest of 1/2 orange

1/2 cup water

dash of white wine

salt and pepper, as desired

1t tarragon

Bring water, OJ and wine to a boil in a small pot over medium heat, stir in rice and herbs. Cook over low heat, covered, for about 15-20 min, until rice is soft, making sure the pot doesn't go dry (add a little more water if it does). Turn off heat and keep covered for another 10 min, then serve.

I made this rice because Clint usually makes rice. He cooks it well, but his recipe is: rice and water. And it's boring. If I'm going to eat something not solely for its health benefit, I need it to taste good. This tasted good.

On growing up...

When I moved into my first very own apartment (after college), I felt very grown up. About a month after I moved in, I decided something to cement my grown up-ness: I threw my first dinner party. This first dinner party was a potluck and involved 6 people. I have no idea what we served, and I only really keep in touch with one of the guests (sadly), but it was kind of a defining moment in my early adult life. I've been thinking a lot about my early grown up life, especially since my 30th birthday is now only 12 days away (I'm sorry, but that's just bizarre and wrong. I don't mind growing older, I'm simply confused as to where my 20s went. Same with, how have I been married nearly 9 months?)

Yesterday I had another defining moment: my first cookout and dinner party for my family. In some discussions and recaps with my mom afterwards, it seems we have some misconceptions. I used this party to try out some recipes for my big 30th birthday bash, the guest list for which currently hovers around 45 people, by far the largest party I'll have hosted. My mother asked for the theme and other ideas I had for my party, and I said, "it's going to be the typical Catherine-style posh cocktail party," she said, "yes, but what's the theme? What will it be like?" "Mom, it'll be the same as all the other parties I've thrown. You haven't been to a Catherine posh cocktail party yet, but don't worry, it's already thought about and settled on." Mom: " of course I've been to one of your cocktail parties!" "no... you haven't." This isn't to say I throw raucous parties with lots of booze and loud music, dear me, no. My parties are the kind of evening where you dress up a bit and walk around with a fruity drink in a martini glass and spill not a drop, and eat delicious finger food that you can't 1. exactly identify, and 2. believe wasn't catered. That is a Catherine-style posh cocktail party.

Anyway, back to the point. Yesterday's party was about family. It was not a posh cocktail party, it was a casual affair with burgers and dogs instead of prosciutto-wrapped fennel and mini quiches, but it still had dishes (yes, plural) that people couldn't identify. And isn't that the goal, to confuse people culinarily? (side note: I'm making name cards for all the dishes at my birthday party).

Because I fed 10 people yesterday (and had another adventure that I'll share after the food), and my extended family doesn't realize the primary use for my camera, aside from taking snapshots of my cat, is for photographing food and I didn't want to endure any teasing, I took very few photos, and those that I took are probably of worse quality than usual. However! I'm going to give you all the recipes, and trust me, that's the prize.

The Family Cookout Menu.
Appetizers:
tomato tart (recipe shared previously, this time I used 2 pints of small heirloom tomatoes from BJ's, and a reduced fat Italian cheese blend)
low fat healthy onion dip (from June 2010 Martha Stewart Living, recipe at end)
olive tapenade (Hannah's brand)
hummus (Sabra brand)
fresh veggies to dip
Cabot sharp cheddar and crackers
Classic shrimp cocktail (Big Y brand cocktail sauce with extra horseradish)
Sweet n' spicy shrimp cocktail (Sarah's recipe, and boy, every recipe I've gotten from her blog has been great). I chilled this overnight instead of for a few hours, and it was a huge hit, second only to the tomato tart.
(photographed before I added the avocado- oops)
Dinner:
hamburgers (plain ground meat, but I should learn to make better burgers- the ones I made should have been called sliders, they were so small!)
Nathan's hot dogs (I'm not usually a hot dog fan, but yummmm...)
chicken tequila burgers (gasp... I never blogged about these! I made them at least a month ago and we loved them)
Arugula salad, inspired by an arugula and chocolate salad from Orangette's book. Mine was half arugula, half green leaf lettuce, a handful of baby heirloom tomatoes, a handful of dried cranberries, and some grated bittersweet chocolate on top
Fennel and apple salad, also inrpised by Orangette's book. 1 fennel bulb and 2 peeled and cored apples, both sliced on a mandoline, and tossed in 1/4cup fresh lemon juice.
Pickled grapes
Mom's bread and butter pickles (next year, will be mom's and my bread and butter pickles, I'm returning to pickle-making after a long hiatus, caused by grad school and a honeymoon)
Caramelized onions (leftover from the onion dip)
Avocado pound cake muffins
Grapenut bread and banana bread, contributed by my kind aunts.

Dessert:
Ice cream sandwiches
Simon Pearce Restaurant's Lemon Cake with Strawberry Sauce (conveniently included in last week's enewsletter)

Healthy Onion Dip recipe
3lbs (4 medium-large) vidalia onions, chopped
1T olive oil

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat and add onions. Stir often, cooking onions until caramelized- 45 min to an hour.

Add
3T water

to deglaze the pan, continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer onions to a bowl to cool (if desired, pull out some to use as a hot dog/hamburger topping)

To onions, add
1 16oz package nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
2T lemon juice
a dash to 1t salt, as desired
dash of chipotle powder (Martha said cayenne pepper, either way)

Stir to combine. Refrigerate at least one hour, or overnight, before serving. Serve with fresh veggies (healthy!)

My Other Adventure.

My husband, parents and I were all in the screen porch at the back of our house, breakfasting. I went into the kitchen for more coffee, and I could see through the dining room windows that 2 men I didn't know were standing near some furniture that had been mysteriously set at the curb. I alerted the fam, and they all got up to peer out the windows. Mom noticed that there were 2 cardboard signs, which none of us could read, so she got out her binoculars (we have good birds in our backyard, she was using them during breakfast) and announced the signs said "FREE". oooh.

We're now the proud owners of this somewhat scratched (but entirely fixable!) buffet
(see, we put it to use immediately!)
4 somewhat beat-up dining room chairs, now screen porch chairs (we bring them in at night) and a very large fancy bureau with enormous mirror, in good condition. For free. So many minutes of cooking time was taken up by moving our new furniture. And I think our dining room looks pretty fancy now, and I'm thrilled for more storage space for our dishes, which we sorely needed. Plus, getting this furniture was pretty exciting and serendipitous: since we're across the street, we got out there immediately, and by the time other people starting popping up to look, we'd already staked a claim. We left 2 non-matching dining chairs for another neighbor to snatch up.

More foods that make you go, huh?

Pound cake.... with avocado?

This is from my new favorite blog that Bird told me about last week. She thought I'd love it, and she was right. Joy the Baker writes in a fun way, and has a good variety of recipes. But the best part is, she's full of recipes that make you go, huh? I love that!

Here's the first one I've tried from her blog, Avocado Pound Cake. (I know, you're making a face, I don't blame you. I was more in open-mouthed awe when I first read the recipe title)

Whisk/sift together, then set aside:
3 cups flour 1/2 cup cornmeal 1/2 t salt 1t baking powder 1t baking soda
Cream together
1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 3 cups sugar
Beat until fluffy, about 4 minutes.

Beat in 1 cup + 1T mashed avocado (Joy says she used 1.5 avocados, but mine must be small because I needed 3 avocados). The batter turns a lovely green color.
The batter's green. It's awesome.

Beat in 4 eggs, one at a time.

Add 2t vanilla.still green!

Add in half the flour mixture, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and the rest of the flour. Mix until just combined.

Transfer to muffin tins (makes about 30 muffins) or 2 9x5 loaf pans, all greased/sprayed with nonstick spray. green!!
Bake at 350F for 40 min (muffins) for 55-60 min (loaf pans), until bread is set.

Enjoy for breakfast, a snack, part of your dinner, or dessert. The muffins are a lovely soft green color, and you can just barely taste the avocado. My avocado-hating husband has been devouring these since I made him try a bite (skeptic-turned-believer).

Summertime

What's more summery than ice cream? And what's more fun than ice cream you can eat with your hands?

In light of these truths, I made ice cream sandwiches, following an idea from the most recent issue of Everyday Food: ice cream sandwiches using storebought pizzelles.

I made coconut ice cream:
4 cups unsweetened coconut milk (I used 1.5 cans lite and 1 can regular)
1/3 cup sugar (this wasn't very sweet, 1/2-2/3 cup might be better if you want it sweet)
1/2t vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Combine milk, sugar and extract and chill. Stir in coconut and mix in an ice cream maker. Or transfer directly to freezer and stir every 15-30 minutes until frozen (which is what I did, it was too hot for my ice cream maker to work when I made this)
(Note: this ice cream was rock-hard when I took it out the freezer. I recommend letting it sit for about half an hour on the counter before serving)

Blueberry sorbet (somewhat adapted from a Ben & Jerry's recipe for strawberry sorbet)
3/4lb thawed frozen blueberries (or fresh, if you have them)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Combine and let sit in the fridge for a couple hours. Mash the blueberries with a potato masher (I do wonder if I should have cooked them to start, they stayed whole, which was still good, but not really what I was looking for)

Then combine:
2 cups of water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
and add to blueberries.

Transfer to ice cream maker to freeze. This is a really nice, light dessert, good for a hot summer evening, whether or not you're on a diet.
(Like the coconut ice cream, this stuff's pretty hard straight from the freezer, so pull it out a bit before serving)

And I made strawberry ice cream.
1 3/4 cups 2% milk
3 long strips lemon peel
1/2 t vanilla
dash of salt

Combine in a medium saucepan and cook until just barely boiling.

Meanwhile, whisk together
1 egg
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar

And whisk in milk mixture, one ladle full at a time, stirring constantly. Transfer milk/egg mixture back to saucepan and cook, until custard is thickened and reaches about 175F (a meat thermometer is handy for this).

Strain custard and chill in an ice bath for a few hours, or in the fridge overnight.

Puree
3 cups strawberries
1/4 cup sugar

And add strawberry puree to custard. Transfer to an ice cream maker, and just before completely frozen,
Add
1/2 cup quartered strawberries.

Done! (Note, like the coconut ice cream, this was really hard ice cream, I recommend letting it sit on the counter at least half an hour before attempting to serve)

When all of these ice creams were at a soft serve consistency (ideally, fresh from the ice cream maker, before freezing thoroughly in the freezer), I assembled the ice cream sandwiches.

Coconut ice cream and pizzelles (from BJ's, this entire package was $7.99)

Lay out pizzelles on a clean counter. Spoon about 1/4 cup softened ice cream over each pizzelle.
Top with another pizzelle and smoosh gently.

Freeze until dessert. I made these several days ahead and stored them in the basement freezer in tupperware/fake tupperware. The pizzelles softened, but were a nice match for the ice cream, and the sandwiches were very refreshing.

And speaking of sorbet, here's a recipe I haven't tried yet, but want to.
Beer sorbet
18 oz (1 and 1/2 cans) flat dark beer, perhaps Guinness
5T (1/4 cup plus 1T) sugar

Mix, freeze in the ice cream maker.

I love the story that goes with it: Ben & Jerry say that at trade shows, they always ended up next to the beer booth, and no one wants ice cream while drinking a beer (to which my husband says, seriously?), so they decided to just go with it, and have a beer-friendly frozen dessert, beer sorbet. Having really enjoyed a stout ice cream, and loving the beer/honey syrup I make for beer cookies, I'm eager to try beer sorbet. I may play around with substituting honey for sugar.