Everybody is talking about ice cream.

Photo by Mo

Personally, I think Ice Cream may be the most over rated food, but I still find myself indulging every now and then.

And so does the rest of the United States with annual sales exceeding $21 billion. But why let the corporates have all the fun.

You can make your own!

Make Vanilla Ice Cream

Photo by Chris Metcalf

Ice Cream Ingredients

• 1 cup Milk
• Pinch of Salt
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped
• 5 egg yolks

Procedure

1. Combine the milk, sugar and salt and heat.
2. Remove the bean from the vanilla; either by snipping one end and running your finger along the hull as if where a toothpaste tube or but slicing the bean with a paring knife down the entire length and extracting it. Add the removed vanilla into the milk.
3. Mix your egg yolk, and gradually add some of the warmed milk while string to combine yolks with the milk.
4. Return milk and yolks to heat and continue to cook of low heat, constantly stirring to avoid scorching, until thick enough to coat on spoon.
5. Strain into the heavy cream.
6. Chill, with the remainder of the vanilla bean to allow for the remaining to be absorbed.
7. Remove the bean a let freeze in cream maker.

Make Ice Cream with out a Machine

1. Prepare your ice cream mixture. (Steps 1-6 above)
2. Pour mixture into a chilled durable bowl and place in the freezer.
3. Let freeze for about 45 minutes. You should see the edges start to form large cyrstals.
4. If so remove and mix thouroghly with a wisk, breaking up all the frozen parts, and return to freezer.
5. Every half hour or so recheck and rewisk, quite vigioursly, for 2-3 hours. You will want to break up as much of the crystals as possible to get a nice smooth and creamy result.

I’ve been eating a lot of Guacamole lately.

Perhaps you could say it may be too much. But I have to make it every day, so why not enjoy the fruits of your labor right?

If your looking for a scientific approach, I wrote an article, How to make Salsa, some time ago that will walk you through some procedure.

So lets get to the recipe!

Guacamole Recipe

Recipe makes 1 qt

• 6 Avocados
• 2.5 fl oz Lime Juice (or lemon)
• 4Tbsp Green Onions, sliced
• 1 Bunch Cilantro, Fresh, chopped
• 1 tsp Garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp Oregano, dried
• 1 Jalapeno, seeded, chopped
• 3 Tbsp Tomato, seeded, diced
• TT Salt

Procedure

1. Cut avocados in half. Spoon out entire inside from the peel with a large kitchen spoon and discard seed.
2. In a bowl break up the avocado. Add the lime juice, sliced green onions, cilantro, garlic, and spices and mix.
3. Now your peppers will vary in flavor so, start adding in small amounts and test for flavor. They can be very hot. (If you want to be smarter than me the other day I would advise using gloves and do not touch your eyes! for hours!)
4. Keep the tomatoes separate until ready to serve.

Notes

1. The fresher your ingedients the better your flavor will be. Adjust meausrments accordingly.
2. Your guacomole will turn brown if left out in the air. Cover with plastic wrap, and put a wet towel on directly on the surface of the guacamole.

Photo: sobodda

A couple weeks ago I presented a video tutorial on making Homemade Cheese from a recipe I got from my godmother (Greek Orthodox). Well she also gave me a couple more great milk based Greek recipes while she was at it. One of these is Homemade Yogurt.

Making yogurt is something I have been waiting to tackle for some time now, but the weather has been all but permitting. When making yogurt from this recipe you must let it sit out in a very warm area, so it has been too cold. Now that June has approached and this heat advisory has rolled up on us here in Philadelphia, the perfect yogurt making weather has come.

Ingredients

• 1 Gallon Whole Milk or 2% depending on preference
• Small Package Quality yogurt that has “active cultures” that is plain with no fruit or sugar added

Procedure

1. To begin bring 1 Gallon of milk to a simmer.
2. Mix 3 tablespoons of yogurt to one cup of warmed milk.
3. Once mixed, Add the remainder of warmed milk.
4. Leave and let rest 6 or more hours, with lid on, in very warm area with no draft, to thicken until a water appears on top.
5. Hang the yogurt up in cheese cloth to remove liquid until desired thickness is reached (approximately 4-6 hours)
6. Chill and Serve.

For a more Greek style yogurt let hang for the greater portion of time. The more whey that drains the thicker the yogurt will be. You can also use a splash of white wine vinegar to help the curds separate from the whey with a dash of salt.

This yogurt can replace sour cream and milk in recipes and is excellent served with fresh fruit, raisins, nuts or sweetened jams.

Shelf life is usually 2 weeks, but I would keep a close eye.

Enjoy!

-Jimi

If your interested in other milk based Greek recipes:

• Feta: My post on homemade cheese, just substitute the cows milk for raw goats milk.

You may also be interested in our article on Vitamin D in Milk

Today we will be making a white curd cheese. This is an old recipe from my Greek god mother, she used goats milk and called it feta. For ease of availability I am going to use pasteurized whole milk. The end result will more a ricotta style cheese. Get out a gallon of milk, 2 cups of white vinegar, a little kosher salt and we’ll get started:

What you will need:

1 Gallon Milk (Whole milk or you could use 2%)

2 cups White Vinegar

Kosher Salt

Cheese Cloth

Procedure:

First we are going to bring our gallon of milk to a boil. It is important that you do not use pots that may react with milk and acidic products, such as aluminum, brass or copper. Stainless steel is a good choice.

Stir generously. This will prevent any burning at the bottom and give you an even consistency. Milk also has the tendency to boil quickly and rapidly once it is brought to your point. Keep a close eye and stir it often.

Once your milk has come to a boil, lower the heat and add your vinegar. Stir. You will see the vinegar pull the curds away from the whey.

Once stir in add salt, mix and remove from heat.

Line a strainer with cheese cloth over a bowl. Straining into a bowl will allow us to use the whey latter.

Drain all the liquid out of the cloth. If you prefer a harder cheese hold the cloth up and allow to drain. The less liquid the harder the cheese will be.

Put onto a plate or bowl, cover with a pinch of salt and from.

This could right in a stuffed shells etc. or place it in the refrigerator where it will last a week.

Best of luck,

Jimi