Covid Cafe: Very Chocolate Ice Cream

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Eggplant flower

 

Well, chefs, if I had an actual ice cream maker like Holly I'm not sure I'd eat anything else. Today she returns with a recipe that's really a custard since it includes eggs, and the result is all the richer for it.

Holly writes: I didn't remember to take pictures during the cooking...I guess I was too focused on stirring.  

 

Very Chocolate Ice Cream

•     3/4 cup sugar 
•       1 cup milk
•      1/4 teaspoon salt
•      2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
•    3 egg yolks, lightly beaten·     
•    2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped 
•     2 cups heavy cream 
•     1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, milk, salt, and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer. 

Place the egg yolks into a small bowl. Gradually stir in about 1/2 cup of the hot liquid. and return to the saucepan. Heat until thickened, but do not boil. 

Remove from the heat, and stir in the chopped chocolate until chocolate is melted. 

Pour into a chilled bowl, and refrigerate for about two hours until cold, stirring occasionally.

When chocolate mixture has completely cooled, stir in the cream and vanilla.

Pour into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

From Chicago to SW Michigan

This delicate pink hydrangea was being dug up from Rob's Chicago parkway. Happily, he called me and I rushed over with a bag and transported it here. Yesterday it was encrusted with pollinators, best friends of the garden.

Music

I Remember Everything 

The last recorded song by John Prine. 

Written by Prine and his longtime collaborator Pat McLaughlin.

I’ve been down this road before 

I remember every tree 

Every single blade of grass 

Holds a special place for me 

And I remember every town 

And every hotel room 

And every song I ever sang

 On a guitar out of tune 

I remember everything 

Things I can’t forget 

The way you turned and smiled on me 

On the night that we first met 

And I remember every night 

Your ocean eyes of blue 

How I miss you in the morning light 

Like roses miss the dew 

Summer squash

from our CSA box

Poetry

The Health-Food Diner

by Maya Angelou

No sprouted wheat and soya shoots
And Brussels in a cake,
Carrot straw and spinach raw,
(Today, I need a steak).

Not thick brown rice and rice pilaw
Or mushrooms creamed on toast,
Turnips mashed and parsnips hashed,
(I'm dreaming of a roast).

Health-food folks around the world
Are thinned by anxious zeal,
They look for help in seafood kelp
(I count on breaded veal).

No smoking signs, raw mustard greens,
Zucchini by the ton,
Uncooked kale and bodies frail
Are sure to make me run

to

Loins of pork and chicken thighs
And standing rib, so prime,
Pork chops brown and fresh ground round
(I crave them all the time).

Irish stews and boiled corned beef
and hot dogs by the scores,
or any place that saves a space
For smoking carnivores.

Covid Cafe: More Pickles, A Trellis Shortage, and Art's Partial Sun Solution

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Cukes: Cornichon, medium, and large

Hello chefs and welcome to the pickle palace. Those bread and butter pickles we made a few days ago are nearly gone, but before we made a second batch we tried some fridge pickles, beyond easy with three ingredients (cukes, salt, and vinegar), four if you count the dill but I didn't have any so left it out. You could add any fresh herb, really. These are a lot of fun. You assemble, put in fridge, and then shake the jar periodically.

Recipe is here,

again at Smitten Kitchen

Stand by. Next we're going to make fermented pickles.

Trellis shortage

A funny think happened a couple weeks back when I phoned our local hardware store and asked if they had trellises to tame my rampaging cucumbers. 

"How many do you need?," the woman asked. "Well, I'd take ten if you have them," said I. 

Whoa, she said, you must have a lot of cucumbers. She asked me to wait while she checked their main storage facility on the computer, came back a moment later, and in a low, serious voice said: It appears we have a trellis shortage.

This made me laugh for days, which tells you a lot about my state of mind.

I did finally pick up ten trellises, fastened together as shown here with zip ties to make a nice support for cukes or tomatoes. Then I phoned back and the same woman picked up and she immediately said: Heidi, do you need more trellises? (I did.)

 

 

Jimmy Fallon, the Original Hamilton Cast & The Roots 

Sing "Helpless" 

(At-Home Instruments)

 

Art's solution to partial sun 

The other day a big package arrived. I had no idea what it was, but soon found Art assembling an outdoor movie screen. "What's playing tonight?" I asked. "ET?"

 

Instead, it was his attempt to boost the hours of sunlight on our newly developed garden space. Most vegetables (and cannabis) are happier with maximum sun. This spot gets about five hours daily but I longed for more. So here we are, reflecting sun toward the back of the garden where large trees cast shade.

He's a crazy guy,

but he's my crazy guy

Poetry

 America

 By Claude McKay

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,

And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,

Stealing my breath of life, I will confess

I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,

Giving me strength erect against her hate,

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,

I stand within her walls with not a shred

Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.

Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,

And see her might and granite wonders there,

Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,

Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Covid Cafe: When Life Gives You Shrimp...

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Welcome, chefs of Covid Cafe. What are you making for the holiday weekend? Grilling may be tradition, but we had a summer squash stir-fry this morning, with leftover ground lamb and feta. Rob joins us today with an on-sale shrimp creation.

Row 7 centercut squash

in flower

Rob writes: On the last day of the shrimp sale I bought two bags, half off. I riffed on several recipes, pulling heavily from the basil in the courtyard. Shrimp, leftover Hazan tomato sauce (ed. note: if you've never made Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce with onion and butter, click here and prepare to be amazed when you do), basil, garlic, capers, lemon, and more diced tomatoes.  Perfect!

 

Shrimps in the pan.  Basically a par sauté.

Shrimp came out and in went the sauce ingredients, finished with the butter, basil, and capers.  Plated up nicely over a smidge of rice.

Summer 2020 still life:

sun tea with drying masks

Music

Laura Nyro

Save The Country

Dustin's bountiful

Nashville garden

 

Poetry

Freedom

By Langston Hughes

Freedom will not come

Today, this year

            Nor ever

Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right

As the other fellow has

            To stand

On my two feet

And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,

Let things take their course.

Tomorrow is another day.

I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.

I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

            Freedom

            Is a strong seed

            Planted

            In a great need.

            I live here, too.

            I want my freedom

            Just as you.   

 

Carly's growing outsized poblano peppers

in Orlando 

(remember her banana tree?)

 

Covid Cafe: A Day in the Life of Vegan TikTok Star Tabitha Brown

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Organic raspberries

in this week's farm share

Smile this weekend. Tabitha Brown is an absolute delight...

A Day in the Life of a Vegan TikTok Star | Tabitha Brown

The actress and vegan TikTok star is so recognizable that she’s casually known as “TikTok’s Mom” to her millions of followers.

Covid Cafe: Egg Toast/French Toast Omelet Sandwich

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More pickles 
in the offing

Chefs, hello! I'm laughing as I write because Holly's been trying to get her egg sandwich to look like the one in the video below. Under pressure from me, she finally sent some photos of this quick anytime sammie. She still doesn't like the look of it, but it's a fun easy option (bread, cheese, eggs in one pan) with a thousand possible variations.

Holly writes: This is one example of many you can find online.  I think my attempts break down when I try to flip the entire thing, but even if I do flip successfully, I do not have nice edges to tuck in. I keep trying!  At least my attempts are good enough to eat, even if they don't look sterling. Many times I add ham, too. 

Here's the step-by-step vid...(and if I'm honest I see what you mean about perfect edges).

Rob Walks Chicago:

catalpa tree

Poem to My Yellow Coat

Lucille Clifton

today i mourn my coat.
my old potato.
my yellow mother.
my horse with buttons.
my rind.
today she split her skin
like a snake,
refusing to excuse my back
for being big
for being old
for reaching toward other
cuffs and sleeves.
she cracked like a whip and
fell apart,
my terrible teacher to the end;
to hell with the arms you want
she hissed,
be glad when you’re cold
for the arms you have.

Phyllis writes about growing her own food: This is our first lettuce cutting. So exciting--a first for me. We made a nice salad with veggies and leftover steak. 

7082 cukes from Row 7

are coming on strong

 

Check out the Grilled 7082 Cucumbers with Fried Dill

via Chef Dan Barber, Blue Hill at Stone Barns