food orleans

I don't make desserts nearly as often as I used to, but when I do, I like to go for what works best. And to honor the romantic side of the melting pot that is New Orleans, I decided to spruce up my old standby of brownie + vanilla ice cream with a little tender loving specialness: instead of just purchasing brownies and ice cream, I would make my own! From scratch! I would use the forlorn ice cream making machine and celebrate the day I acquired it in the best possible way...with vanilla!

I like the way my selection of bowls creates a striking visual irony.

Hooray for huge blurry photos of dessert!!!

Make your favorite batch of brownies, but add about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinammon. This makes them "Mexican Chocolate Brownies" in the most simply but satisfying way--just a little something different, interesting, titillating. If you don't have a favorite recipe, use the one at the bottom of this post--it's my favorite. Then, buy the fanciest French vanilla ice cream you can afford, or if you want to get real crafty, make your own. Put a warm brownie in the bottom of a bowl, top with vanilla ice cream, and use a real small spoon so you get to enjoy more bites. It's the best stuff ever.

Making ice cream from scratch is a great way to learn patience and tempering (tempering means making something that's cold less cold so it won't cause a reaction that you don't want). You have to move rather slowly while you mix the hot cream into the eggs and then the eggs back into the hot cream; if you go too fast, you'll end up with a version of scrambled eggs that you probably wouldn't serve to an alligator. Then, you have to wait while the ice cream hardens further in the freezer, after you take it out of the machine. But it's all worth it. If you have the means to borrow or procure a machine, I say, do it. Here's my little pal:

He reminds me of a Macintosh computer circa 1988. I really love him and I promise to take him on more dates. :)

Mexican Chocolate Brownies (adapted from "Mocha-Chip Brownies" in The Brown Bag Lunch by Susan Epstein, a surprisingly wonderful little book)

1 stick butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350.
Melt butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan or in the microwave; let cool slightly.
Combine sugar, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, flour, and eggs together in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Add butter/chocolate mixture and stir to mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spread batter in greased 8"-square baking pan. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few fudgy crumbs. Cool on a wire rack.
Cut into 12 mean brownies, 9 happy brownies, or 6 jubilant brownies.

French Vanilla Ice Cream (adapted from The Best Ice-Cream Maker Cookbook Ever by Peggy Fallon)

4 egg yolks
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 sugar
pinch salt (important addition!)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Set egg yolks in a medium bowl to come to room temperature or somewhere near that.
Heat cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar (about 8 minutes).
Turn off heat while you do this part. Put 1 cup of the hot cream mixture in a measuring cup with a handle and a pouring spout. Slowly pout the hot cream into the eggs in a thin stream while you constantly whisk. If you have someone help you do this part, it'll be more fun. You've just "tempered" the eggs.
Turn the heat back on under the pot of cream to medium. Slowly pour in the eggs, whisking constantly. Now, heat the cream, stirring, until it's 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. To check this, I hold the thermometer so the pointy end is in the middle of the liquid. Don't touch it to the inside bottom of the pot, because that's the hottest part, so it won't give you an accurate reading.
Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl to cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract.
If you have a new-fangled ice-cream maker that uses a bowl filled with supercoolant, you can put the cream mixture right in there & start it churning. If you have a maker that uses ice and salt, you'll want to chill the mixture in the fridge for several hours first, to make the freezing process go faster later on. Either way, follow your manufacturer's directions and then pack the ice cream in a freezer-safe container to finish hardening.

Makes about 2 quarts.

Riz jaune has appeared in my life right when I really needed a new "dinner magic" kind of recipe--something cheap, on-hand, and easy to adapt to all sorts of quick dinner fixes. Riz jaune (say "ree zhahn") is basically a Cajun version of fried rice. You make a sort of trinity-plus-Pope concoction (that's onion/celery/bell pepper + garlic), add veggie bits or leftovers you have around the kitchen, ditto with meats (sausage is especially nice), and then you stir in cold cooked rice and eggs. Mix everything up, cook till the egg is firm and scattered all throughout, then eat it as-is or in dozens of other ways that I haven't even thought of yet. Here's what we have had: Riz-jaune-and-red-bean burrito, and gumbo served over riz jaune instead of plain rice. Good stuff. I can also see this being a great stuffing for vegetables or an interesting bed for some gravied chicken or pork.

Riz Jaune (a sort-of recipe)

Heat a little butter or oil in a large nonstick saute pan with high sides. Saute an onion, a few cloves of garlic, a couple of stalks of celery, a bell pepper (all diced small) until soft. Add other vegetables if you see some sitting around: chopped mushrooms, tomato, eggplant, etc.--just don't let the mixture get too wet. If you have some cooked ham, chicken, pork, or shrimp, add it now. If you have some chopped andouille or other smoked sausage, put that in too! When the pan starts to dry out and some browny bits start forming, pour in about 1/4 cup of wine or stock and stir until the pan is dry again. Then add about 1 1/2 cups cold cooked rice (leftover rice is great for this), about 1 teaspoon dried thyme, and other seasonings like salt, pepper, Tabasco, or Creole seasoning blend to taste. After the rice is coated with vegetable juices, stir in 5 or 6 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper. Stir over medium-high heat until the eggs have dried out and firmed up and the rice has turned light yellow (that's the "jaune" in jaune). Eat it!