Celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Germany

What’s cooking? Dulce de Leche and Spicy Pineapple-Tequila Sorbet

Yes, the Kitchen Goddess is in Germany, but that doesn’t stop her from wishing you a happy Cinco de Mayo! I’m not really sure if they recognize May 5 as having any special significance where I am – we’re just getting over celebrating King’s Day with the people in Amsterdam, and one national festival in a week is quite enough for me.

King's Day Revelers in Amsterdam

King’s Day in the Netherlands is a celebration of the King’s birthday, and the entire country parties, but nowhere as intensely as in Amsterdam. Everyone wears something orange, and many dye their hair orange, in  honor of the House of Orange-Nassau, which rules over the Netherlands. Orange plastic hats, orange synthetic leis, and orange wigs are everywhere – it’s sufficiently well-known that the population of Amsterdam doubles on that day. A day filled with eating and drinking and singing and drinking and parading in the streets and drinking and even a bit of marijuana smoking in the streets... Let’s just say that, unlike the Kitchen Goddess’s Dutch ancestors, these Dutch know how to party. The fellows in this photo are typical of the sort of over-the-top costuming that takes place.







By contrast, Cinco de Mayo isn’t nearly as significant of a holiday in Mexico as it is in the States, where it has become widely recognized by Mexican-Americans as a celebration of their heritage. And since the rest of us enjoy a good celebration as much as anyone – especially if it involves food and alcoholic beverages – you’ll find a large number of non-Mexican-Americans joining in the fun.

There’s nothing like dessert to help you celebrate. I served these at a recent group dinner party where the theme was Mexican cuisine. I give you two ways to make dulce de leche [pronounced DOOL-say day LAY-chay], which is sort of like the Mexican version of Nutella – a delicious caramel spread made from (1) milk and sugar, or (2) sweetened condensed milk. The second way is so easy it’s almost laughable, but being the KG, I of course had to try it both ways. The first produces a deeper, darker, thicker caramel, but given the ease of the second way, I’ll probably choose that when I do it again.

Spicy Pineapple and Tequila Sorbet

Adapted from Max Falcowitz at SeriousEats.com

For this sorbet, there’s nothing tricky at all and you will love the sweet-tart flavor of the pineapple-lime combination. I reduced the amount of sugar from the original recipe and doubled the lime, but you should play with the flavors however you like. The KG couldn’t really taste the tequila, even after doubling the amount called for in the original recipe (on the theory that you can never have too much tequila), but the alcohol does help keep the sorbet from freezing too hard.

Makes 4-5 cups.

Ingredients
2 pounds peeled, cored, and chunked ripe pineapple (about 1½  pineapples before trimming)
kosher salt
¼ cup water
¾ cup sugar
1½  teaspoons Aleppo pepper
2 tablespoons silver tequila
Juice of two limes (or to taste), plus zest of one of the limes (using a rasp)

Directions
KG note on pineapple: I had no problem finding already trimmed, ripe pineapple at my grocery, but if you are not so lucky and find only semi-ripe pineapple, apparently you can toss it with ½ teaspoon of the kosher salt and bake it at 450º in a glass baking dish for 1-2 minutes, or until pineapple is sweet and aromatic. Do not overbake.

Load the pineapple chunks with the water into a blender and purée until very smooth (at least 2 minutes). You should have about 4 cups of juice. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until sugar dissolves. Add salt to taste.

Pour the purée into a bowl or plastic container and cover tightly. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours, or until very cold.

Process in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Chill in an airtight container in your freezer for 2-3 hours before serving.

Dulce de Leche (two methods)

Adapted from Epicurious.com

I served this as a dipping sauce with churros – the Mexican equivalent to doughnuts, but you can also stir some into your coffee, or drizzle it over ice cream, or spread it on toast. You may find yourself eating it straight with a spoon – that’s okay, too.

Makes 1¼-1½ cups

For the classic method:

Ingredients
4 cups milk
1¼ cups sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
In a large (3-4 quarts) heavy saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, and baking soda.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat enough to simmer the liquid, uncovered, for 1½ to 1¾ hours, until it thickens and caramelizes. For the first hour, you will need to stir only occasionally and make sure the mix doesn’t settle on the bottom. After that first hour, the milk will begin to caramelize more intensely, and you’ll need to stir more often, to avoid burning.

After 30 minutes...

After one hour...

After 90 minutes.

When the mixture is well caramelized, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl to cool.

Kitchen Goddess Recipe for Disaster: If you are making dulce de leche in the condensed milk method and asking someone – like your darling husband – to pour the water into the pan for the water bath, be sure to let them know that it goes into the larger, roasting pan and not the pie pan containing the milk. Because there’s no way to cook it down enough to get rid of all that extra water and you will end up with a small marital crisis on your hands and no way to get a picture of the final product unless you start over with another can of milk, which you might not have. Just saying.

Sweetened condensed milk method:

Ingredients
One 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk (not the same as plain evaporated milk, which has no added sugar)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Move one of the racks to the middle of the oven.

Pour the contents of the can of sweetened condensed milk into a 9-inch pie pan (deep-dish if you have one) and place it in a roasting pan with sides at least 2 inches deep. Cover the pie pan tightly with foil. Add enough hot water to the roasting pan to reach halfway up the pie plate.

Bake the milk in the middle of the oven for 1½ hours, checking the water level at the 45-minute mark and adding additional water if necessary. Check milk at the end of the 1½ hours – if it’s not thick and brown, replace the foil and cook another 15 minutes.

Once the milk is thick and brown, remove pie plate from the water bath and cool, uncovered. Makes about 1¼ cups.

Dulce de leche will keep for a month, refrigerated. You can also freeze it. Even better, make Dulce de Leche Ice Cream, from this epicurious.com recipe.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Frozen Desserts Every Which Way What’s cooking? Eggless Peach Ice Cream, Blueberry Frozen Yogurt, and Rhubarb Sorbet

The Kitchen Goddess is away on vacation with excruciatingly limited internet access for two weeks (I know – what was I thinking???), but that didn’t stop her from racing around –  while she should have been packing – to put together this post for you. There’s a lot for you to work on here, with previously posted recipes and new ones, too – all designed to help you remain cool and calm until the KG returns.

It is one of the most magical aspects of nature that fruit ripens at a time of year when frozen desserts are most welcome. We have all these beautiful berries and stone fruits showing up in our markets, and it’s hot as hell outside. So, naturally, the best way to cool off is to let that bounty of fruit become ways to make you not so hot. To help you enjoy the summer in all its sunny glory.

Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt

The Kitchen Goddess has practically lost her mind in a whirlwind of frozen dessert activity this summer. In addition to the Lemon-Basil Buttermilk Sorbet I posted about in late June, I’ve also made Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt and Cherry Sorbet from recipes posted last year.

Now I have three new ones for your ice-cold pleasure. And in case you run through those, here are four others that have appeared on these pages.

Apricot Sorbet

■ Apricot Sorbet

■ Sugar Plum-Cantaloupe Sorbet (can also be made with regular plums)

■ Spiced Blueberry Sorbet (can also be made with strawberries)

■ Peach Frozen Yogurt

Peach Frozen Yogurt

 Before I continue with today’s triple header, I thought it would be useful to mention a couple of the Kitchen Goddess’s notes about sorbets/frozen treats. I included them in a post about this time last year, but they bear repeating:

1. Some ice cream/sorbet/frozen yogurt recipes call for cooking fruit in a non-reactive saucepan. Generally, that means anodized aluminum, glass (e.g., Pyrex), enamel-coated cast iron (e.g., Le Creuset), or stainless steel. Highly acidic foods – most fruits (including tomatoes), wine, and vinegars – react badly with aluminum and untreated cast iron, causing a metallic taste to leach into the food, changes in the color of the food, and pits/discoloration in the pan itself. Aren’t you glad you asked? You can use a copper pan, but only if you’re cooking fruit WITH sugar. Me, I just go with stainless steel.

2. My friends at America’s Test Kitchen recommend “super-chilling” your dessert base by freezing a small amount (about ½ cup) of it, then remixing it into the larger part before transferring it to your ice cream machine. That seems to be effective in producing a smoother, less granular dessert.

Lots of recipes for ice cream start with a custard made from egg yolks and cream. This one is waaay easier, and still delivers that creamy, peachy flavor that fills your mouth with the feeling of a cool summer breeze on a hot August day. Even if you haven’t got time to make the ice cream, at least get some juicy local peaches while they’re still in season. You can chunk them up and cook them in water (the first step of this recipe), then just pour them into a zip-lock freezer bag and freeze them until you have time for the rest.

Eggless Peach Ice Cream

Adapted from David Lebovitz in The Perfect Scoop

Makes 1½ quarts.

1⅓ pounds ripe peaches (20-21 ounces, or about 5 small)
½ cup water
¾ cup sugar
½ cup light sour cream or sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Peel and chunk the peaches (no larger than 1-inch cubes), removing pits. Combine the peaches and the water in a large, non-reactive saucepan. Simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The peaches should be soft and cooked through.

Stir in the sugar, then let the peaches and their juices come to room temperature. Purée the peaches, juices, and all other ingredients in a blender just until well mixed if you want some of the peach texture in your ice cream, or up to a minute if you want the ice cream perfectly smooth.

Chill the mixture well in the refrigerator, then process in your ice cream maker according to your manufacturer’s instructions. Kitchen Goddess note: You will have to restrain yourself with this recipe, as the ice cream will be very soft when it finishes processing, and needs to sit in the freezer for at least a couple of hours before serving. But hold back – the reward is so worth it.

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Adapted from David Lebovitz in The Perfect Scoop

3 cups blueberries
1 ½ cups Greek-style yogurt (2% or whole)
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon kirsch or French ginger liqueur

Combine the berries, yogurt, and sugar in a blender and purée. Press the mixture through a strainer to remove the seeds. Chill thoroughly, at least an hour.

Before processing the mixture in your ice cream machine, stir well, as it will separate while it sits. Process in your ice cream maker according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

Rhubarb Sorbet

Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1995

Kitchen Goddess note: As wonderful as fresh rhubarb is, the season is short. Thankfully, most grocers carry frozen rhubarb (already chopped!), which when thawed, is also excellent in this sorbet. Use the frozen pieces as they come in the package – no need for further chopping.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup water
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 pound fresh rhubarb (or frozen), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

In a large, heavy skillet or saucepan, combine the sugar, water and lemon juice and stir over low heat just until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then add the rhubarb. Simmer until the rhubarb is tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Stir in the corn syrup and refrigerate the mixture until cold, at least 1 hour.

Process the chilled mixture to an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Just Getting Out of Town Could Kill Me What's cooking? Minted Honeydew Sorbet

Once again, I’ve made the trip north for the summer. Closed up the house, stopped the newspapers, forwarded the mail, and turned the thermostats up to 82º. Threw out strange leftover bits of sauces I once thought surely I’d use, a few cheeses that were already rock-hard and one or two that appeared to be turning into early life forms. Ironed two sets of sheets and half a dozen shirts I won’t wear until September, and spent more hours than I should have watching the finals of the trials to choose the U.S. teams for the world bridge championship. Then I made minted honeydew sorbet, after which I stayed up half the night packing.

Why the sorbet? you ask. Because I had this lovely, ripe honeydew melon in my kitchen, and I just couldn’t see carrying it on the plane north. Throwing it away was not an option, and I couldn’t offer it to my neighbors at that hour. I’ve never tried freezing melon, but by the time you’ve cut it up into small enough pieces for that, you’ve done most of what you need for the sorbet, and I do love sorbet.

Kitchen Olympics What’s cooking? Watermelon Sorbet with Wine-Basil Gelée

Tomato Gymnastics

I was in Texas a week ago, and thanks to an excellent sprinkler system, my garden has taken on Olympic qualities in spite of the toasty temperatures and my absence. Admittedly, what I have planted there is mostly basil and tomatoes and green beans, all of which you have to work pretty hard to kill.

My husband joined me for part of the time, then decamped back to New Jersey where the golfing can take place in more reasonable temperatures. Which left me alone with the beans and tomatoes and basil. And no one around at night to tell me (a) that I should probably go to bed, or (b) that if I insist on staying up, I can’t be banging around in the kitchen. You see where this is headed, don’t you?

A Time for Frozen Fruit What's cooking? Rhubarb Compote and Spiced Blueberry Sorbet

What is happening here? We left Austin for Jersey City in order to escape the summer heat, and for the last several days, the weather forecast has actually been worse in NJ. Where is the justice??!! I can’t even imagine what it has been like for all those poor souls who’ve endured this wave without A/C.

When I was in my teens, and central air was something you only got if you had a brand-new house, my parents splurged and installed window air conditioners in the upstairs of our house. And I would actually close off my room and open the windows because I didn’t like the smell of the cool air. Deep in the heart of Texas. Thinking about it now, I can only imagine it was a combination of teenage hormones and just outright lunacy. In general, I’ve recovered from that phase of my life, although there are days in Austin when my husband will return from the golf course and find me in the house with all the doors and windows open and all the fans going... at 84-85°. He would tell you I’m still a bit nuts, and maybe he’s right.