Beet ice cream

beet ice cream
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

Probably not going to break into Baskin Robbin's flavor profile, but still a fun experimental flavor.

2 cups of cream
1 and 1/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
2 cloves
1/2 stick of cinnamon
6 med/small beets roasted, peeled and pureed (about one cup)

place the cream, cloves and cinnamon and 1 cup of sugar in a sauce pan and heat till steaming but not boiling

beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar till pale yellow

Temper eggs and combine eggs with cream mixture, bring to a boil while stirring constantly then take off heat.

Add pureed beets and mix to combine.

Chill in fridge overnight.

Follow directions for your ice cream machine, to make ice cream out of chilled mix.

This has a very strong beet flavor, which I like, it's got a bit of a vegetable texture too, I guess the mix can be strained after combining with the cream to minimize that.

Cherry Braised Pork Chops

with thyme
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

This is a variation of the jam braised pork chops, but instead with fresh cherries and thyme as the main flavoring. I had about 2 cups of cherries in the fridge that where starting to loose their firmness so I decided to cook them for dinner. I pitted them by cutting them in half and removing the stone.



I pureed half of them (one cup) with a hand blender, with a quarter cup of white wine, half and onion, a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt.



I then sauteed the remaining half an onion with another clove of garlic and some guanciale till soft.





I then removed the onion, garlic and guancialle leaving just a bit of fat behind and seared the pork chops in the same pan.



As is usual I was flying by the seat of my pants and had not planned any specific side dish, I was about to send out my wife for some spinach when the door rang and the neighbor dropped off two big bunches of asparagus



I put it in a microwave safe bowl, sprinkled with fleur de sel (salt), olive oil and a teaspoon of water. I microwaved it a minute at a time till they where steamed and crisp (less than 3min)



When the porkchops where well browned on both sides, I removed them and deglazed the pan with the pureed cherry mix



I let the liquid reduce a bit then returned the porkchops, onions and garlic and added the remaining cherries



This cooked for another ten minutes or so and then I added fresh thyme over top



The dish was well received by the family, the fresh thyme adds great aroma and earthiness to an already very rustic dish. I thought the cherries were very good, not too sweet and the sauce was great. Thanks to the neighbors for the unexpected veg delivery.