mid-summer update

i’ve really lost track of my writing lately. the fact of the matter is, moving is unsettling in so many ways. it’s easy to lose interest in things that once kept you spellbound. it’s hard to maintain old habits as you settle into a new routine. with new causes of stress, the old cures can lose their potency.

but all of these are excuses.

happily, in spite of my appalling lack of daily writing--the major reason i started this journal--i’ve managed to keep cooking. not every day, not by a long shot, and not with as gung-ho a philosophy, but i think these have turned into favorables instead of unfavorables. i’ve stepped back and learned to approach things more calmly and more systematically. with my CSA, i’ve learned to eat new foods and seen new ways to cook old things. with all of the fresh fruit, i’ve got six kinds of ice cream in the freezer. i’ve made pies, and cobblers, fillings and flummeries.

best of all, i’ve finally gotten on my way toward two goals: cooking through the kitchen diaries, and cooking through a passion for desserts.

it’s true that i made a list. probably a bit anal, especially considering my generally sloppy tendencies, but it’s been invaluable to me. every time i pick up some fresh fruit or get a new CSA dropoff, i can look at my list and pick something accordingly.

i carry my list around with me like a kind of talisman. i stare at it and make grandiose plans or daydream on a boring day. i learn new techniques and add new tastes to my repertoire. this has been particularly true with ice creams. last summer, i had a few favorites that i made over and over. this summer, it’s like i’m trying a new one every day. i’ve been hoarding summer fruit in the freezer like some kind of fruitarian squirrel--sour cherries were my most elusive quarry, to be sure.

i’m not settled in yet. i look at the mess i call a pantry and long for the will and the time to pull it all down and organize it properly. i still hate doing the dishes and watch them pile up for days at a time. six types of ice cream have left my freezer with little space left over for real food, and i’ve fallen into bad lunchtime habits with a string of fast-food restaurants on west 48th street. my stomach rebels.

and in the interim, i keep working on my list.

Asian Wraps
Flaky Curry Turnovers
Lotus Chicken Packages
Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes
Curried Coconut Chicken
Tandoori Chicken with Mango Chutney
Seared Steak with Wild Mushrooms
Fried Wild Mushroom Rice Wraps

East & Southeast
Vietnamese Pork Balls
Bok Choy Rolls with Spicy Chicken
Bulgogi
Chinese Dim Sum
Indonesian Chicken Martabak
Japanese Soba Noodle Salad
Japanese Fresh Corn Soup
Vietnamese Pancakes
Braised Duck and Ginger

The New Spanish Table
Truffled Turkey and Wild Mushroom Croquettes
Patatas Bravas
Tomato and Bread Soup
Castilian Garlic Soup
Rosa’s Wild Mushroom Soup with Garlic Shoots
Potato Soup with Fried Almonds
Chicken Soup with Mini Meatballs
Cherry and Beet Gazpacho
Chilled Potato and Bacon Soup
Frisee with Pears and Honeyed Lardons
Potato Tortilla
Eggs over Smoky Bread Hasg
Pork Tenderloin with Lightly Seared Strawberries
Braised and Glazed Pork Ribs with Applesauce
Albondigas
Catalan Meatballs
Garlicky Roast Chicken with Apple Compote
Chicken Flamenquin
Chicken and Apples Braised in Hard Cider
Smoky Mashed Potatoes
Creamy Basque Smoked Cheese Risotto
Inma’s Baked Macaroni
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms with Ham and Allioli
Basque Cream and Cherry Tart
Yogurt Cream with Honey Gelee

My Vue
Potato Ravioli with Mushroom Essence
Morels Stuffed with Chicken and tarragon mousse
Wild Duck with Cherries
Duck a l’orange
Apple Crème Brulee
Madeleines

Everyday Pasta
Jamie’s Italy
Fried Ricotta with Tomato Salad
Baked Mushrooms Stuffed with Ricotta
Sliced Mushrooms with Melted Mozzarella and Thyme

The Kitchen Diaries
Lemon and Basil Linguine
Lamb Chops with Lemon and Mint and Potatoes Crushed into the Pan Juices
A really fast cake with blueberries and pears
Roast Pork with Lemon and Potatoes
Raspberry ricotta pancakes
A chicken roasted with new garlic
Chicken and rice salad
Vietnamese Beef Salad
Orecchiette with roast tomato and basil sauce
Strawberry Mascarpone Tart
Strawberry Water Ice
Roast Lamb Rolls with Oregano and Garlic
Lamb-filled flatbread
Peach and Blueberry Sour Cream Cobbler
Orange Yogurt Water Ice
Grilled Chicken with Garlic and Lemon Butter

A Passion for Desserts
Honey Cream-Strawberry Parfaits
Ice Wine Ice Cream with Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote
Strawberry Ginger Sodas with Orange Sherbet
Best-of-Summer Shortcakes
Berry Crème Fraiche Cake
Bing Cherry Filo Rolls with Ice Cream
Lemon-Raspberry Bread Pudding
Candied Ginger Shortbread Stacks with peach-blackberry compote
Peach Blueberry Trifle
Red Berry-White Chocolate Trifles
White Peach Melba

A Passion for Ice Cream
Blackberry Sorbet-filled Peaches
Bountiful Berry Compote with Buttermilk Ice Cream
Cherries Jubilee with Butter Crunch Ice Cream
Iced Bellinis
Apple Cider Sodas with Penuche Swirl Ice Cream
Very Berry Sodas
Lemonade-Strawberry Floats with Mascarpone Ice Cream
Tangerine Creamsicle Sodas
Profiteroles with Orange Custard-chocolate chip Ice Cream and Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

The Perfect Scoop
Chocolate-Rasberry Ice Cream
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
Orange Popsicle Ice Cream
Toasted Almond and Candied Cherry Ice Cream
Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt
Blueberry Frozen Yogurt
Peach Ice Cream (Frozen Yogurt)
Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Fresh Mint Ice Cream
Watermelon Sorbetto
Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet
Cherry Sorbet

SHF: my one true dessert love

i’m not sure i can pinpoint, exactly, my first experience with profiteroles. i *think* it was at chez jenny, an alsatian chicken joint in paris that my dad found in his dk guide, lovingly referred to as “the bible.” chez jenny is the perfect amalgamation of brasserie and hofbrauhaus, serving up that paragon of simple french artistry: the roasted half of free-range chicken.

with sides.

and, as it happens, with dessert. and here is where my crush began, as i looked skeptically at the dessert menu. it was my first night in paris, my first time in paris, and yet another family vacation that did not include a beach or warm weather. i was jet-lagged and suffering from sensory overload and looking at a dessert menu that i could not begin to comprehend. “what,” i am certain my 17-year-old self would have asked, “are profiteroles?” profiteroles au chocolat chaud, glace vanille, to be precise.

the exact mechanics of it escape my memory but i was, at length, persuaded that profiteroles would make an enjoyable dessert choice. and i was smitten.

my second most-memorable profiterole experience comes in london, several years later. it is, sadly, possible that i was unable to experience profiteroles at any time between these two events. this second encounter was nearly as inauspicious as the first one: a classically cold, rainy fall night in london, where the sun had set depressingly early. i had been meant to spend the day in paris, watching tennis matches at roland garros (this continues to be an ambition of mine), only the eurostar had been unexpectedly stopped due to some sort of calamity farther down the tracks. two of my friends, each of whom spent much less time wandering aimlessly around the streets of london than i, were content to follow me as i led them toward an italian place in seven dials i had been meaning to try.

dinner was simple and lovely, with wine on the side. and my heart leapt when i saw the dessert menu included profiteroles. these were positively smothered in hot chocolate sauce and delicious.

which is as a profiterole should be.

so you can imagine my great delight when i first began learning how to cook and saw, deep in the pages of my martha stewart baking book, a recipe for pate a choux…and profiteroles. i became determined to make a choux and yet for nearly two years could not find the time, the occasion or the inclination to do so. mostly i was concerned about leftovers (silly me).

then, last month, at the behest of daring baker helene of tartette, i undertook to make a gateau st-honore. and guess what one of the components includes?

this time, being free from all restraint, i pulled two recipes. one from the sinfully well-photographed seven sins of chocolate, for the choux. the second was from emily luchetti’s passion for ice cream, where she includes a profiterole recipe with orange custard chip ice cream.

i confess that i had originally tried ms. luchetti’s recipe, last week for my saturday dinner. my saturday dinner last week got turned on its head by the dying of my beloved mixer, right in the middle of rolling out fresh pasta dough. since my mixer is also my ice cream maker, i put the orange-custard-ice cream back in the fridge and watched my profiteroles, which were already baking, collapse because i slammed the oven door too hard.

i needed a clean slate this time. i rolled up my sleeves in my newly-cleaned kitchen and made the choux. the seven sins recipe is actually completely simple, eschewing the use of a mixer or anything fancy. i pulled out a wooden spoon, collected my csa fresh eggs, milk and butter, and set to with a vengeance, determined to get it right this time.

for ice cream, i took a pound of my csa strawberries and blended them with still more fresh milk, some sugar, and a squeeze of fresh lemon for a light and super-fruity philadelphia-style ice cream. i highly recommend this method—it was the sweetest, most strawberry-flavored ice cream i’ve ever enjoyed.

at long last, i pulled the choux puffs out of the oven and set them to cool. i was baffled at first by the moistness of the choux interior but eventually grasped that the delightful web of pastry forms as the choux cools. i left well enough alone and came back after dinner to slice the pretty little things in half, scoop a fresh bit of strawberry ice cream on them, and drizzle several generous spoonfuls of fresh strawberry-rhubarb compote (also from my csa) over the result.