brunosdream

The other day I was invited for a barbeque at a friend’s house. I volunteered to bring a dessert. As I threw around some ideas, he mentioned that didn’t like the eggy flavor of gelato but did like bananas. Thus, an idea was born – banana ice cream. This was my first try at making ice cream. Bananas, dark chocolate and almonds – what a great flavor combination!! My friends were calling it “chunky monkey” but I dubbed it “bananarama”!!! Whatever you call it, if you like bananas, it’s worth a try! It’s easier to make than gelato because you don’t have to make a custard… just blend the ingredients and voila!!

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds

1 cup sugar

4 ripe bananas

1 quart heavy cream

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate (roughly chopped)

Procedure:

1)  Place almonds on a parchment lined baking pan, sprinkle w/ cayenne pepper and sugar, then roast in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes  – let cool

2) Puree bananas in a food processor, add cream and sugar, pulse until well blended, then chill mixture in fridge for at least 4 hours

3) Churn mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding nuts and chocolate during last 10 minutes

4) Pour ice cream into a 2 quart plastic container and quickly stir to evenly distribute the nuts and chocolate

5) Place a piece of parchment paper cut to size on the surface of  ice cream (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of the ice cream), seal container and freeze until firm 

 Yield: Approx. 1 ½ quarts

German Queen Heirloom Tomatoes

The rabbits and squirrels got the rest…

Bruno

I now realize a lot can happen in a garden in a short amount of time. When I arrived back in town last weekend I noticed that my zucchini plant had rotted from all the rain we had while I was gone. I’m not sure how to avoid this next year. Veteran gardeners, any suggestions?

Also, my tomato plants have become so loaded down w/ fruit that the stakes I’m using this year are having trouble supporting the plants. Solution – I used twine to tie the stakes to the fence for added support. Next year I think I will use tomato cages to contain the plants more effectively. I harvested my first ripe Lemon Boy tomato and it was delicious!! The heirloom tomato plants are loaded, but no ripe ones yet.

Much to my surprise, the broccoli plants (one of my favorite vegetables) are still producing so there’s no need to buy any at the grocery store this week! My first butternut squash has grown so tremendously that I may be making a home grown butternut squash dish next week!

My orange bell pepper plant died and my other bell pepper plant has yet to start producing. The hot banana pepper plant dropped the only fruit it had on it and no new fruit is appearing. Possibly this due to their location in the garden – the plants are being crowded out and overshadowed by the gargantuan tomato plants! Lesson learned for next year – better plant placement and spacing according to potential size and height (how was I supposed to know how big or little things would get… after all, I’m a novice). Veteran gardeners please don’t hesitate to share your knowledge… I would love to hear your pearls of wisdom!

July 17th photos:

First Lemon Boy; more broccoli; baby butternut

Heirlooms; lone banana pepper; more Lemon Boys

July 27th photos:

Rigged tomatoes; yet more broccoli; rotten zucchini

Adolescent butternut; newborn butternut; thriving zinnias

Happy gardening…

Bruno

Two years in the making, but well worth the effort…

In the summer of 2006 I put up a retaining wall to keep the ivy from taking over a corner of my yard. I then tried to kill it w/ regular Roundup but the ivy won that battle. The following spring I mixed a batch of extra strong Roundup. It took 3 or 4 applications but the ivy lost this time! Fast forward to 2008… It was an exceptionally rainy and cool spring in St. Louis so the planting of my garden was delayed by a few weeks. I had a brief window of opportunity in mid-May to get my plants in the ground, and I do mean brief! As I was getting the trenches finished for the asparagus it started raining again, but I pushed on and was able to finish. The weather remained cool and wet until early June. As a result, my plants didn’t prosper very well. The tomato plants were dropping their flowers, the squash plants remained small, the bell pepper plants were wimpy and the asparagus struggled to pop out of the dirt! I thought I was doing something wrong, but as the weather became drier and warmer things started happening – the broccoli ripened, the tomatoes started appearing, the asparagus ferned out, the squash has gone crazy (so much I’ve had to cut back the leaves so they wouldn’t block out the sun for the other plants!), and my wimpy bell pepper plants are starting to get bigger and flower. The zucchini is flowering like crazy but is not producing much fruit yet. As you can see in the photos, two of the zucchinis rotted before ripening. I don’t know why, so if any of you veteran gardeners have any answers please share them w/ me.

Below is a photographic chronology:

June 2006

June 8th, 2008

June 22, 2008

July 4, 2008

Broccoli; Lemon Boy tomato; zucchini

Hot banana peppers; butternut squash flower; herbs

Things are looking good, and the broccoli and first banana peppers were delicious!! I will keep you posted as the summer progresses.

Ciao for now…

Bruno

Here’s an unusual dessert that incorporates some of the best flavors of summer into a cool, palate cleansing treat! My friends’ friends brought them back a bottle of 15 year old balsamic vinegar from a trip to Rome last year. Ever since then they asked me to come up w/ a dinner menu to showcase this delicious vinegar. I came up w/ a menu but it’s been difficult to get everyone together due to our schedules. So last night we did the dinner, minus the friends who brought this gift from Rome… oh well, some other time for them. We’ll be sure to tell them what they missed! The main dish and vegetable that I planned to make wasn’t made, but we did put together a delicious spur of the moment pasta dish w/ shrimp, tomatoes, asparagus and a light sauce of olive oil, roasted garlic, herbs, red pepper flakes, white wine and butter. The dessert was the only showcase for the aged balsamic vinegar.

I know, you’re probably thinking “caprese gelato – yuk…that’s weird”, but it actually tasted good… very much like a sweet caprese salad. A small drizzle of the vinegar on the plate added an extra component of sourness and twang! My friends’ kids, ages 14 and 11, even liked the gelato (minus the balsamic vinegar drizzle), so despite being weird conceptually, in reality this recipe is worth making if you like the flavors of caprese. Try it and judge for yourself!!

Caprese Gelato

Ingredients:

2 cups tomato puree

1 cup sugar

1 quart half and half

6 egg yolks

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil 

1 cup fresh mozzarella pearls

Procedure:

1) Blanch and peel 2 large tomatoes, puree in a food processor then press through a fine mesh  strainer to remove the seeds

2) In medium saucepan heat half + half gently to a simmer, then turn off heat

3) In a large mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar and beat together until pale yellow

4) Beat 2 tablespoons of the warm half + half into the egg mixture (do this slowly to avoid curdling the eggs), then beat in the remaining half + half little by little

5) Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (do not let temperature exceed 170 degrees or mixture will start to curdle)

6) Cool in an ice bath

7) Stir tomato puree into custard and liquify in the food processor so the puree is well incorporated

8) Place custard mixture back into bowl and chill in fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight like I did)

9) Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding the mozzarella pearls and basil 3/4 of the way into the churning

10) Pour gelato into a 2 quart plastic container and quickly stir to evenly distribute the mozzarella and basil

11) Place a piece of parchment paper cut to size on the surface of gelato (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of the gelato), seal the container and freeze until firm

 Yield: Approx. 1 ½ quarts

Enjoy the flavors of summer!

Bruno

I’m crazy about pizza! When my best friends, Bob and Kristin asked me where I wanted to go for my belated birthday dinner I suggested the new pizza place just east of the U. City loop, Pi. I was curious to taste their pizza, which was being described as San Francisco style. During the 2 1/2 years I lived in San Francisco I had never heard of this style of pizza.

One of the owners, Chris Sommers, stopped by our table to say hello, so I took the opportunity to ask him about San Francisco style pizza. He explained that there is a pizza restaurant there called Little Star which opened about 3 years ago. They make a unique deep dish pizza using corn meal in the crust. Chris said the corn meal not only gives the crust a great flavor but also makes it sturdy enough to support the weight of the extra ingredients of deep dish pizza. Pi purchased the rights to the dough recipe and introduced it to the St. Louis pizza repertoire.

With my curiosity satisfied, my friends and I proceeded to place our order. We decided to create our own deep dish pizza w/ roasted garlic, mushrooms, campari tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. We also ordered one of the signature thin crust pizzas – The East Loop – which is topped w/ mozzarella, pesto, roasted chicken, mushrooms and onions. 

The pizzas were both delicious! I preferred the thin crust, but Bob and Kristin loved the deep dish so much there was a battle over the last piece!! We ordered a bottle of the Renwood Syrah to go with our pies. A great match! To finish off our meal Chris brought out a complimentary  piece of apple pie which is also baked w/ the deep dish corn meal crust. The apple pie was exquisito!

The service at Pi was excellent and the atmosphere is laid back and fun!

Deep dish; thin crust; apple pie

Shots of the interior

The side room; the patio out front; Bob and the birthday boy

Thanks Bob and Kristin for treating me to a delicious birthday meal!!

Ciao,

Bruno

Unfortunately I had to go on the road during the week of my birthday this year. But, as luck would have it, we overnighted in Monterey, California on the eve of my day. I wanted to eat a special meal on my birthday so we went to a place I tried last year where I ate some great seafood and drank some great California wine – Monterey’s Fish House!

Fish House exterior and interior

more interior shots; the menu

Hama Hama oysters; scallops, scampi style

close-up of scallops; wine of the evening; Sal, our bartender

If you enlarge the picture of the exterior you may notice the police tape on the hand rail in front. I’m assuming someone overdosed on the delicious seafood and wine, then crashed through the railing on their way out (ha, ha)! If I lived in Monterey or in the vicinity, this would soon become one of my restaurant hangouts. Nothing fancy, just damn fine food and wine at a reasonable price; friendly, knowledgeable staff and a laid back atmosphere – definitely my kind of place! They serve some of the biggest oysters I’ve ever seen – Hama Hama oysters from the deep water pacific caught off the shores of Lilliwaup, Washington. For dinner I had the scallops, scampi style which consisted of about a dozen sea scallops perfectly seared then served over fettucini w/ a sauce of fresh garlic, white wine, butter, green onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. Divine!! I broke the rules by having w/ the scallops one of my favorite red grape varietals, Zinfandel. California produces some of the best, so I chose the Boeger 2006 Walker Vineyard Zinfandel from El Dorado, California. Usually I have room for dessert, but not tonight!

 If you happen to find yourself in Monterey, I highly recommend you give Monterey’s Fish House a try!! If Sal’s tending to the bar, tell him Bruno sent you :-)

A votre sante’!

Bruno

 Daring Bakers challenge for April hosted by Elle at Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah at Taste and Tell.

 I’m finally getting this posted after being delayed by blog hackers. My blog is still not working completely (the text on this and many previous posts has weird symbols showing up, and the photos on previous posts cannot be enlarged by clicking). At least I can post my photos again!

I love Ovaltine, so I coated some of the pops w/ the stuff to satisfy my craving, and coated the rest w/ chopped hazelnuts and pistachios. The last time I craved Ovaltine was when I was lost overnight in a redwood forest in northern California, but that’s a whole other story… (if you’re interested in what I ate while lost click here). Before I digress too much, let me get back to the lollipops.

Cheesecake Lollipops (makes 30 – 40 lollipops)

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

 Ganache:

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped)

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspooon cayenne pepper

Place chocolate in a mixing bowl w/ cayenne. Place cream in a pot and bring to a simmer. Pour hot cream over chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Toppings:

1/2 cup unsalted pistachios (finely chopped)

1/2 cup hazelnuts (finely chopped)

1/4 cup Ovaltine

 Procedure:

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

Dip lollipops in ganache then roll in toppings.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Baker’s notes:

Add 1/4  teaspoon more cayenne to ganache next time (if there is a next time!).

I found the scooping and shaping of the cheesecake into round lollipops very difficult and frustrating so I probably won’t make this recipe again despite getting many compliments at my friends’ party where they were devoured.

The cheesecake had a very nice flavor (not too sweet and a nice texture too!).

It took 75 minutes for my cake to be baked until firm and golden brown on top.

See ya next time (hopefully!)…

Bruno

Unfortunately my blog has been malfunctioning for the past couple of weeks due to some malicious hackers corrupting my template. I had a friend help me reinstall everything but it’s still not working properly. So, as a result I cannot upload any photos and when you click on the photos from previous posts they no longer enlarge. This whole situation has me very frustrated!!

I have completed the challenge for April, took photographs and have feedback from my taste testers but all this will have to wait to be posted until I can get brunosdream operational again (hopefully within the next week). I figure what’s the point to post the text without photos since my fellow Daring Bakers want to actually see the end results, not just read about them!

Please check back within the next week. Hopefully I will have this mess resolved by then and have some visuals for your viewing pleasure.

 Until then, Happy Baking!

 Bruno

This gelato was created for A Taste of Yellow – an event put on by Barbara at winosandfoodies for LiveSTRONG Day. I know several people who are courageously battling against cancer and I hope they win the fight! This post is my tribute to them and in memory of my friends who have lost the battle.

Saffron Gelato

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 quart half & half

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1 cup fresh dates (pitted, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and soaked in cognac overnight)

1 1/4 teaspoons saffron threads (half crushed)

Procedure:

1) In medium saucepan heat half  & half gently to a simmer w/ saffron, then turn off heat and let mixture steep for 15 minutes; reheat before adding to egg yolk mixture

2) In medium size mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar and beat together until pale yellow

3) Blend 1/4 cup of the warm half  & half into the egg mixture (do this slowly to avoid curdling the eggs), then blend in the remaining half  & half little by little

4) Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (do not let temperature exceed 170 degrees F or mixture will start to curdle)

5) Cool in an ice bath and chill for at least 4 hours in fridge

6) Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding the dates and pine nuts halfway through the churning process

7) Transfer gelato to a 2 quart plastic container, cover surface  w/ parchment paper cut to size (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of gelato), and freeze until firm

Yield: Approx. 1 ½ quarts

Gelato maker’s notes: The saffron flavor wasn’t as pronounced as I would have liked, so next time I will add less of the dates which tended to overpower the saffron as the flavors opened up on the palate.

 Have a yellow day : – )

Bruno