Grapefruit-Champagne Sorbet

I’m not generally a fan of frozen treats. I have very sensitive teeth and the coldness of ice creams, sorbets, and popsicles is usually rather painful.

There are a few notable exceptions. For some reason frozen custard doesn’t bother me, nor did some of the most amazing pistachio gelato last year in Florence. Perhaps it’s the fat content or the method of churning – I’m unsure.

Then there are frozen treats that are so incredibly delicious that I don’t care if they hurt my teeth, I just eat them slowly and carefully. This sorbet is one of those treats.

It’s like a frozen mimosa exploding in your mouth. Which, to me, sounds like bliss. The recipe is from David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop, which is, in my opinion, the definitive recipe book on ice creams and frozen delights.

So far I’ve made a few different things from it. I was pretty “meh” about the Watermelon Sorbetto, but the husband loved it. I adapted the Lemon Sorbet recipe to suit some fresh grapefruits sent lovingly from an aunt in Florida for Christmas, but it was pretty underwhelming – but the husband loved it. In fact, I think he ate the entire batch in about 3 days.

I’ve got a bunch of other recipes on my to-do list: Mojito Granita, Olive Oil Ice Cream, Orange-Szechuan Peppercorn Ice Cream, Rice Ice Cream…

This Grapefruit-Champagne sorbet, however, has rocked my world. The flavor of the wine is prevalent, so be warned. This probably isn’t appropriate for children or non-drinkers. The husband doesn’t drink alcohol, but he found the strong champagne flavor to be “un-offensive,” as he put it. I, on the other hand, want to take the entire container of sorbet, back myself into a corner, and growl at anyone who comes near.

Make this. Then don’t share it with your friends.

Grapefruit-Champagne Sorbet

from The Perfect Scoop

1 1/3 cups Champagne or other sparkling white wine

1 cup sugar

2 ½ cups fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

In a medium, nonreactive saucepan, heat about half the champagne with the sugar, stirring frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, stir in the remaining champagne and the grapefruit juice.

Chill the mixture thoroughly and freeze it according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

*Notes: I didn’t use a saucepan, I microwaved half the champagne and the sugar in a large glass measuring cup a minute at a time until the sugar dissolved, stirring every 30 seconds. Then I chilled the champagne-sugar mixture, as well as the rest of the wine and the grapefruit juice. I combined them all once chilled and then put it in my ice cream maker. This worked perfectly for me and it seemed a lot easier than using the stovetop. It’s up to you.

Charoset

Unlike the majority of our gentile celebratory foods, which gain a spot on our tables simply for being delicious, Jewish cuisine is notorious for the symbolism of each item present.

Matzo and only other unleavened breads because the when the Jews left Egypt they didn’t have enough time for leavened (chametz) bread to rise and/or because it was easy to carry with them on their journey back to Israel.

Bitter greens to symbolize the embittered life of enslaved Jews in Egypt and salted water to represent the tears of the people.

There are many other symbolic dishes that represent various struggles and tribulations in Jewish history, but I admit the most appealing (speaking only of taste) is charoset.

Charoset is said to represent the mortar the Israelites used while bonding bricks in Egypt. There are two different kinds: Sephardi, which is cooked and usually paste-like to more closely resemble the mortar of ancient times, and Ashkenazi, which is more rustic and always contains nuts, apples, cinnamon and sweet wine – ingredients King Solomon used to describe the children of Israel.

I like the Ashkenazi version because, well, I’m not Jewish and I can pick on taste alone. I’d like to try making it with pistachios instead of the traditional walnuts, but I’m not sure if I get in trouble for messing with the recipe too much.

Click to read more ...

bolognese

In many restaurants bolognese is touted as a red sauce, but in traditional recipes there is really only a very small amount of tomato added. It gains it's depth of flavor through the combination of meats used and slow simmering. There's also a debate about whether red or white wine is best. I prefer white. I think bolognese is similar to American meatloaf, there are as many ways to make the perfect recipe as there are people who make it.

I made this first for the husband and I and then again for his grandparents on a lovely weekend trip up to Maryland. It's been a hit both times and I think it will be a solid addition to the "recipes-we-eat-frequently" category.

The first time I ladled it over an achingly tender tagliarelle pasta from Cipriani. The pasta is a little on the spendy side, but I think it's more than worth the occasional splurge.

I also like to add in the rind of a hard cheese like Parmigiana-Reggiano during the simmering if I've got it lying around. I think it adds a lot to the depth of flavor in the sauce.

Click to read more ...

seared chicken with mushroom sauce over barley

A fresh breeze to ruffle the feathers, sun to warm them, freedom to run about and peck at whatever they should choose. Delicious vegetarian feed and a life free of antibiotics and hormones. That's how chickens should be raised.  Not in cages or factory farms where they never see the outdoors a moment of their lives. Not where they crawl with bugs and peck each other to death out of fear, anxiety, and a blind attempt at self preservation.

It's not a very appetizing thought, is it? Sadly, it's the reality of commercial farms, the predominant source of meat throughout the US.

It can be difficult to find an alternative to factory farmed meat, though, and the difficulty often outweighs one's conscious. It's so easy to just pop over to the neighborhood supermarket and pick up a pound or two of chicken for dinner and not think about where it came from.

It's an issue that's plagued me significantly since moving to North Carolina. In California it was so easy to find humanely raised meats at nearly any market, but in North Carolina it's been impossible - at least until last week.

Carolina Grown, a relatively new business in central NC, is offering an amazing new service. Produce, dairy, and meat from solely NC growers delivered directly to your door for a surprisingly reasonable flat fee.

Click to read more ...

red wine braised short ribs

Once relegated to the scrap heap, trendy restaurants all over have revamped the short rib and transformed it into contemporary rustic cuisine. After marinating some in red wine for two days and braising them nice and slow for a few hours I can definitely see why.

Short ribs have long received the same bad wrap as the Boston butt roast (pork shoulder), but that's due in large part to people who have been cooking them improperly. These fat marbled, cartilage ridden cuts of meat require a nice, long, low-heat bath to slowly transform all that greasy fat and yuck into meltingly decadent, fork tender meat that quite literally falls of the bone with the merest of touches.

These are a great weekend meal because they do require attention every 45 minutes for turning - in total about 3 hours or so of braising. But, braising is great because even though it does take a significant amount of time to cook, most of that time is hands off. 

Click to read more ...