Sherbet photo shoot

I took some good pictures of the sherbet in this post, so I thought I'd share them here.

This is the ice cream maker churning away. I used up all the ice my ice maker can hold at one time plus another Cafe Bustelo can full and about 20 oz of salt. Have you ever made ice cream using ice and salt? The salt both melts and lowers the freezing point of the ice, so at the end you have a ton of this ridiculously cold water. You put your hand in there, and your bones start to hurt. It's pretty neat to see chemistry in action like that.

Here is a super-close up of a little espresso cup full of sherbet garnished with half a home-grown strawberry and a mint leaf.
And here's another. How pretty.

Jalapeno-serrano cornbread with honey butter

This was the winning entry at the iron chef party. It's "just" jazzed-up cornbread from a mix, but it really hit the spot.

Jalapeno-serrano cornbread:
1 large poblano pepper
2 small serrano peppers
2 Parade instant cornbread mixes
2 eggs
4/3 cups milk
1 tbsp sugar
handful frozen corn kernels
1 cup pepper jack cheese, divided

Char the peppers. Place under broiler and turn often until they are black on all sides. Put the peppers in a ziploc bag in the fridge until they are cool enough to handle. Peel off the skin and discard the seeds unless you want really spicy cornbread. You might want to wear gloves if you have sensitive skin. Dice the peppers. Mix everything except 1/2 of the cheese together and pour into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top. Bake at 425 F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Honey butter:
butter
salt
honey

Let the butter come to room temperature. Add salt and honey to taste. Spread thickly on warm cornbread.

Iron Chef: Battle Pepper

Yesterday was the big Iron Chef party. The theme ingredient was peppers, and people really delivered. There was a lot of creativity and tastiness. In no particular order, here are the dishes, besides any ones I forgot about:

Muhammara, a Syrian red pepper-walnut spread
Roasted red pepper hummus
Roasted red pepper, roasted onion, and cream cheese dip
Tortilla soup with all the fixins (avocado, tortilla strips, queso blanco, and lime)
Poblano-serrano cornbread with honey butter
Inverted stuffed peppers (baked potato halves stuffed with peppers, onions, cheese, etc.)
Fried red bell pepper rings (like onion rings) with avocado ranch dip
Macaroni and goat cheese with roasted red peppers and fresh basil
Broiled bell pepper pieces with mozzarella cheese and crushed red pepper
Mushrooms stuffed with red peppers and other stuff
Green chile enchilada casserole
Tangelo-red pepper sherbet
Vanilla ice cream with avocado, lime, and jalapenos
Vanilla ice cream with chocolate-chile topping
Dark chocolate with chile mixed in (not brownies, but soft)

In the "not actually containing peppers category":
A nice Chianti with strong pepper flavor
Tequila and limes
Pineapple and rum
Pineapple soda and beer

The last two were based on someone's "hilarious" "joke" that the letters of "pineapple rum" can be used to spell "pepper" and the copycat joke that rum can be replaced by beer.

I intended to take nice pictures of the dishes, but with all the hubbub, I kind of forgot. I did get this one after we had eaten most of the food.



Iron chef parties are always really fun. People like being creative and eating weird food. And there are prizes. The three categories are best tasting, best presentation, and most creative. I forgot to get prizes until the day before, so they weren't as awesome as they normally are. I got Pickapeppa sauce for everyone. It's a tasty A1/hot sauce combo with "peppa" right in the name. The poblano-serrano cornbread with honey butter won best taste. I am going to try to get the recipe from the guy who brought it and post it soon. My sherbet won best presentation. I filled half a tangelo peel with sherbet and put it in a dish of salted ice water to keep it cold. I had wanted to do a bunch of those, but we mangled the tangelo rinds pretty badly when juicing them and that was the only one that held up, so it was the "display model". The prize for most creative went to the vanilla-avocado-jalapeno-lime ice cream, which was also pretty tasty, actually. When you think about it, avocado makes sense as a dessert ingredient. At least after you've expanded your mind by eating three different ice creams involving peppers.

The only other picture I took was Jon tallying the votes:

Tangelo-red pepper sherbet

I am having an "iron chef" party tomorrow night to celebrate the end of the semester and the end of qualifying exams for the first- and second-years. The theme ingredient this time is peppers. Yesterday I did a test run on the recipe I'm making for the party, a tangelo-red pepper sherbet. I saw a recipe for tangerine sherbet on a NY Times "Tiny Kitchen" video, and while I was brainstorming things to make for the party, I remembered it and thought that tangerine would pair well with red bell pepper. The grocery store didn't have tangerines, but I usually get tangelos anyway, so I went with those. We went the fresh-squeezed route, but the results would probably be fine with regular juice, even just orange juice or an orange-tangerine blend. I used gelatin. I know that it isn't vegetarian, but I've had it in my pantry for a long time, and I wanted to see if it helped with stabilization. It didn't really seem any different from other frozen desserts I have made, so I don't think I will use it next time.

I decided to "roast" my peppers in the microwave following a suggestion of Barbara Kafka in Vegetable Love. I wasn't too fussy about peeling them, and although the peel was definitely noticeable in the final product, it was not objectionable. The microwave technique worked, but I might do them in the oven next time since I'll have a lot more peppers, and microwaving plastic wrap for that long seems a little foolish.

I actually own three ice cream makers of various types right now. How excessive. They were all given to me by relatives who don't use them much. I made this one in a little ice cream maker with a canister you freeze for several hours. It's Donvier brand, probably bought by my grandmother in 1973. It doesn't freeze things very solid for me, but it's convenient, and I just wanted a small batch. It makes about a pint at a time. Tonight I am going to make the "real" batch for the party using my more traditional Waring ice cream maker that makes about 1 1/2 quarts and uses ice and salt. It will probably freeze a little better. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you should borrow one of mine or freeze it in a metal pan and scrape it with a fork every once in a while. After it's frozen, you can whirl it in a food processor to incorporate some air.

Jon and I both really enjoyed this, so it's not just my crazy hippie tendencies talking. Or maybe we're both crazy hippies. I decreased the sugar slightly from the tangerine sorbet recipe, and I liked it. It would probably even make a good palate cleanser between courses of a fancy dinner if I were the kind of person who made fancy dinners that required palate cleansers. Jon suggested maybe adding some lemon juice the next time for a bigger citrus presence, but I don't think I will. The success of this idea has led me to brainstorm a lot of other slightly odd sherbet, sorbet, and ice cream flavors, and now that I have the little ice cream maker out and remember how easy it is to use, you might see some more weird ice cream creations on here.

Tangelo-red pepper sherbet (inspired by "Tiny Kitchens" from the NY Times):
1/2 tsp gelatin
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 large red bell peppers
3/4 cup tangelo juice (about 3 tangelos for us)
zest of 2 tangelos
3/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Sprinkle the gelatin in the water in a small saucepan. Leave it alone for a while as you prepare the red peppers. Cut out the cores, remove seeds and white stuff, and cut into large pieces. Remove whatever peel is convenient to remove, more if you don't want peel in your sherbet. Put all the pieces on a large plate or bowl, cover tightly (I used plastic wrap, but I don't know if I should be advising others to put plastic in the microwave for long periods of time), and microwave for three minutes. Maybe add another minute for good measure if they don't seem roasted enough to you. Transfer the peppers to a food processor and process until quite smooth. You should end up with about 3/4 cups red pepper puree, but the volume isn't that important.

Now go back to the saucepan with the water and gelatin in it. Put some low heat under it and stir it gently until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Add the tangelo juice, zest, red pepper, and sugar and stir until blended. Remove from heat and transfer to refrigerator until cold. Combine this with the cream, which should also be cold, and freeze in whatever way you normally freeze ice cream. This recipe makes about a pint. If you have a large ice cream maker, you should probably double it.

**Update, 05/07/09**

In case you were curious, here is the recipe I ended up making for the party. It makes about 1 1/2 quarts of sherbet and got good reviews.

2 1/4 cups tangelo juice (from 11 tangelos)
zest of 4 tangelos
4 large red bell peppers
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cream

Get Jon to juice the tangelos. It takes a while. Meanwhile, broil the red peppers, turning often, until they are soft and a good amount of the peel has turned black. Place in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap until the peppers are cool enough to handle. (You can help Jon juice and zest the tangelos while you're waiting.) When the peppers are cool, peel them and puree them until quite smooth. Combine juice, zest, pepper puree, and sugar in a large bowl and chill. When it is cold, add the cream and process according to ice cream maker instructions. It's nice if you can freeze it for at least an hour afterward to get it to harden up.