What the Beck?

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Friday, July 8, 2016

What the Beck???

Sur la Table Class
Summer Sweets: Ice Cream & Sorbet

Apricot Vanilla Bean Sorbet

Our ingredients were: pitted apricots, water, sugar,
sea salt, and vanilla bean paste

First, we whisked together the water and sugar.
Then we added in the salt. Lastly, in went the apricots.

We cooked them until they were tender.

The mixture had to cool before the next step!!!!!

Into the blender the mixture went, so we could puree it.
If you don't cool it first there could be a major mess.

I love that the blender does the hard work.

This is why I bought this strainer - we used it a lot!
Even though it was blended, we used the fine-mesh
strainer, so it was lumpless.
Is lumpless a word?? Delumped?? Delumpified???
Oh My!!
Help me Jenny and Steve!!
Help me Rhonda!!!
(I don't know who she is, but she is in the Beach Boys song)

After this step we added in the vanilla bean paste,
and then off to the ice cream maker it went.
No photo of this one - I was too focused on eating it.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

What the Beck???

Sur la Table Class
"Summer Sweets: Ice Cream & Sorbet"
Part A: Buttered Popcorn Ice Cream
with Salted Caramel Sauce

The first step in making this ice cream was to
toss the popcorn with the melted butter and salt.
Then this mixture was heated with the milk, cream, sugar,
and salt. The whole mixture was strained. The school had
already done this step due to the time constraints of the class.
This mixture is in the large container at the top of the tray.

We put this initial mixture in a saucepan

We then added the milk cream, sugar, and
salt to the popcorn strained mixture.

We heated it until it began to simmer,
and then we set it aside.

We tempered the egg yolks by slowly
adding in some of the hot liquid.
Then we mixed all of the mixture together.

We cooked it until it reached 170 degrees and was thickened.

Once again, we strained the mixture.
I bought this fabulous strainer.
It is double meshed and really a great one.

The last thing to do was to add in the vanilla bean paste.
Remember, this was a favorite find of mine.
I vow to never use regular vanilla ever again!!!!

The final step was to mix, and then
transfer to the ice cream maker.
Homemade buttered popcorn ice cream!
Way below is a picture after the sauce was added.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Here are the ingredients for the sauce.
I love that they have pre-measured them for us.

We began by mixing the water and
sugar into a medium saucepan.

We poured the cream into a small pan and heated it until it
boiled, and then we took it off and set it aside.

We went back to the sugar/water mixture and stirred it for
what seemed like forever until it was clear.

Now, we raised the heat until it boiled really
hard, but only stirred now and then.

We cooked the mixture until it turned dark brown.

Now, it is ready to add the cream mixture into the pan.

The burner is turned off and in went the
cream mixture and the vanilla, butter, and salt.

There were 16 people in the class (four per group)
and only four burners,
so we all gathered 'round the stove'

Yeah!!! it was done!!
Buttered popcorn ice cream with salted butter caramel sauce.

We added a few popcorn kernels on
the top. A fun time was had by all.

Take a class at Sur la Table if you have a
couple of hours. They have classes every
day of the week (even at night).

Monday, July 4, 2016

What the Beck???

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Wyatt, at his birthday party last month.

You are so darn cute, Hollywood!!

Recipe Review

Today’s Recipe and Location: Blue Cheese and Chive butter

Found in: The Pioneer Woman blog

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/blue-cheese-and-chive-butter.html

I figured out that there are 72 calories, if 26 Tablespoons are made. (Please note that the calorie counts vary depending on the specific brands of ingredients that you choose to use.)

I love this butter. I have been using it on baked regular and sweet potatoes. It is wonderful for breakfast or on an English Muffin or piece of toast. This one is something I will always have in the refrigerator or freezer. LOVED IT!!

It is imperative that the butter be very soft at room temperature.

I began by placing the butter in the bowl of my stand mixer.

Begin mixing the butter and then...

add in the full container of blue cheese

and the chopped chives

as well as the black pepper.

Finally, I added in the red pepper flakes.

Beat it all together

Lookin' good!!

On the counter, I laid out a piece of foil, and then

put SaraWrap atop the piece.

I spooned out "gobs" of butter on the wrap

I rolled the butter in both wraps and then twisted

the sides so they all merged into a tube.

I gave half away, but kept my half in the refrigerator.