Lychee Sorbet

I may not have been crazy about my last few frozen dessert recipes, but I love this one!  It seems like lychee has become a trendy flavor over the past few years.  I've been eating lychees since childhood, but I've never had Lychee Sorbet.  It has all the wonderful flavor of the fruit in a slushy kind of texture.

The recipe calls for canned lychees and makes use of the syrup they're packed in.  The fresh fruit (in back) has a rough, thick skin you peel away with your fingers, and the juicy, white fruit has a pit inside.  I once offered a very similar fruit, the longan, to some friends in college, who found the texture too weird and said it was like an eyeball.  Which is funny, because the Mandarin long yan directly translates as "dragon's eye";  (the Mandarin for lychee is li zhi).

The sorbet is a cinch to whip up.  I'll be cooling off again with it on some hot summer days.

Strawberry Gelato

This recipe from The New York Times is actually called Winter Strawberry Gelato becauses it uses frozen strawberries when the fruits aren't in season.  I made it earlier this spring with fresh, fragrant strawberries, but I'm only getting around to posting it close to summer.  Call it the busiest May ever.  I got asked recently when I would be getting back to my blog, but I suffered from ugly photos or dishes that were eaten by guests before I got a chance to grab my camera.  This one looked all right.  And June is the month for strawberries.

Problem was, the taste wasn't that impressive.  It was OK, refreshing even, but it reminded me of diet ice cream.  The texture was more icy than creamy.  That shouldn't have surprised me since it came from the Recipes for Health column.  One rule I have in life: Eat ice cream right, or not at all.  Meaning none of that diet stuff; make it the real deal.  This version uses milk, but it could have benefited from the usual addition of some cream and/or eggs.  It wasn't awful, not by a long shot, but I wouldn't recommend it.

And because I've been so absent, I'll share an "ugly" photo.  This recipe was David Lebovitz's Coconut Ice Cream with Saffron.  This was all I had left after serving the ice cream at a dinner for four.  The recipe was interesting because of the use of saffron, and because it called for palm sugar instead of cane sugar.  I liked it OK, though it wasn't what I expected.  I thought the flavor would be light, but it was kind of warm and rich (if that makes sense).

Stay tuned, because I'm looking to discover more flavors of ice cream and sorbet this summer!

Easter Ham and Pineapple Pizza ... a.k.a. "The Debby"

When my friend Debby and I were college roommates, we'd wake up hungry after the occasional (or semi-frequent?) night of too much drinking.  Debby would phone in a Hawaiian pizza for delivery.  A short time ago, she said I should create a dish for her on the blog, something salty and sweet.

So this one's for Debby: on this Easter Sunday I skipped roasting a whole ham and made a Hawaiian pizza, which is topped with ham and pineapple.  I threw on some grape tomatoes for a quick roast on top because Debby loves tomatoes, and a few pepperoni strips for good measure.  Have a slice with some beer!

The dough recipe makes 6 small pizzas.  Not feeding a frat party?  Throw some dough balls in the freezer for when the next craving hits.  That's 4 pizzas in the making in my freezer.

Forget Peeps... Make Easter Marshmallows!

These are not the marshmallows of Jet-Puffed fame.  Those styrofoamy things taste OK if you've never had the  homemade, creamy variety.  And they're a really appropriate treat this Easter weekend if you cut them in the shapes of bunnies and chicks.  Then coat them in sparkling pastel sugars and fun sprinkles.

They were a bit hit at book club, where I passed out cellophane bags filled bunny and chick marshmallows nestled into Easter basket grass.  The crowd favorite was the Easter egg sprinkles.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this recipe, unlike many others, had no egg whites.  The list of ingredients is smaller than usual as well, but the end product is still perfect.  Interestingly, my first batch using Domino brand sugar produced this honey-colored syrup, while a later batch of generic sugar produced a champagne-colored syrup; the marshmallows from both batches tasted and looked identical.  I had the usual fears of crystallization when cooking with sugar, but after a few batches I had not produced a single crystal.  So, what are you still afraid of?

Maybe a wonderfully sticky mess.  Because it is sticky.  And stringy.  Don't try to scrape the bowl and beater clean, because it's futile.  Not to fret... you'll still have plenty of marshmallows.

Dulce de Leche Napoleons

So before Sis arrived for her visit, she asked that we try making this new dessert together.  Flaky layers of golden puff pastry are layered with pastry cream and dulce de leche in what I'll call a napoleon.  I didn't realize this meant I would be making and assembling the dessert while Sis watched and tasted.  But that's all right.  After all, Sis has her hands full these days.

Look at her adorable peanut!  Or, as I call her, My Little Alien.  I can't help it, I'm in love with 2-month-old Audrey.  She really is a handful.  I tried to help, and felt up to my elbows in diapers all week.

Here she was at 3 weeks old, during Chinese New Year, with a hongbao from my dad for his first grandchild.  But enough baby love (for now).  Let's get back to that pastry.

You can make life much easier by using storebought puff pastry.  I've made it before, and it's a pain.  Just thaw your storebought pastry on the counter for 40 minutes, prick all over with a fork, and bake.  I took the recipe a step further by baking with a rack on top of the pastry, to help with an even rise so it doesn't dome so much in the middle.  Then  cool the pastry, split horizontally, and fill.  Easy!

You do have to make the other components, the pastry cream and the dulce de leche, so you may want to prepare those the day before.  I chose a dulce de leche recipe that didn't involve the risk of an exploding can.  Now I'm wondering what other combinations of flavors I can use to make different napoleons.

And Sis?  She loved the dessert, but has one tip: Serve the rest of the dulce de leche on the side, because you're going to want to pour more on top.

Two Kinds of Chips with Caramelized Onion Dip

One day when Joe asked where the bag of potato chips had gone, I sheepishly said I had finished it.  Neither of us felt like going out in the rain for a replacement bag.  But I had a potato, oil, and salt, so why not make some?  It was the easiest thing and I didn't even use a recipe.  A single spud makes dozens of chips, which he devoured in one sitting.

This time I mixed it up a little, with the addition of sweet potato chips and a caramelized onion dip.  Sometimes Joe will mix a packet of powdered onion soup mix into some sour cream to make a dip.  Now I don't mind jarred dip, but I can't stand that soup mix with the dehydrated onion bits.  So I made my own caramelized onion dip, and it was way better.  The sweet potato chips are made the same way, and add a slightly sweet flavor to the mix.

Use a mandoline to create thin, uniform slices of potato.  It's hard to get them thin enough or uniform with just a knife.  You can even leave the skins on the potatoes.  Just slice, soak, dry, and fry -- that's it!

Some of the sour cream in the dip can probably be replaced with plain yogurt -- if you try that, let me know how it turns out.  Also, I know there are recipes out there for baked chips, but in my experience they haven't turned out very good.  They stuck to the pan, didn't brown evenly, and only some come out crispy.  Frying does a more even job; just make it an occasional treat.

Forgive me, but I had to:

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Gollum: What's taters, precious? What's taters, eh? 

Sam: *Po-tay-toes!* Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew... Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish. 
[Gollum makes a noise of disgust while sticking his tongue out]
Sam: Even you couldn't say no to that.
Gollum: Oh yes we could. Spoilin' nice fish. Give it to us raw and w-r-r-riggling; you keep nasty chips.
Sam: You're hopeless.

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

So we've established that I don't like peanut butter and chocolate confections, but in fact I'm not big on most candy.  I do have a soft spot once in a long while for Werther's, Raisinets, or Whoppers.  My friend Charmie laughingly says, "That's old people candy!"  Maybe, but these Chocolate Malt Cupcakes don't look like something Grandma would have whipped up.

I first spied them on The Culinary Chronicles, and they were so cute I had to make them.  When we decided to lighten up a humdrum Sunday night of work last week by throwing an Oscars potluck party, I thought these were perfect.  I know I enjoy crunching on Whoppers while watching a movie.

I left the Whoppers out of the cupcake recipe because I wanted a uniform cake crumb.  I also tweaked the frosting recipe because I have a personal dislike of shortening.  Use a high-quality cocoa powder; I used Guittard.  The malt flavoring is a bit subdued in the cupcake, but all there in the frosting.