“Make sure to save room for dessert.”
…almost! There are still a few green tomatoes hanging on the vines. We had our first near freezing temperatures last night so I hope they aren’t ruined.
Butternut squash; Yellow Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Red Brandywine and Pineapple tomatoes; Jalapeno peppers
Looking forward to next year’s growing season!
Until then…
Last weekend I had a bunch of friends over for a fall feast that was 3 days in the making. We had a great time filling our bellies! On the menu was a 6 1/2 pound grass fed beef brisket from Missouri. The brisket was braised in the oven at a low temperature for 6 hours with a potpourri of veggies and mushrooms which created a delicious broth. Two sauces were made that are traditionally serve w/ braised meats at the fair of the fatted ox in Piedmont, Italy (one is a tomato based sauce, the other is a horseradish based sauce). I made a pizza for my vegetarian friend and used the remaining dough to make bread to go with the brisket. For dessert I churned up a fennel gelato and served it w/ a bottle of nice cognac and fortune cookies. The consensus from my friends was the fennel gelato is one of the best flavors I’ve created so far. It was a beautiful crisp fall evening so we all went outside after dessert to light a fire in the chimenea and sip our cognac. We were having such a good time that we hung out for a few hours by the fire and nearly finished off the entire bottle of cognac!
Fennel Gelato w/ Fennel Fronds
Ingredients:
1 fennel bulb thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fennel fronds – minced
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 quart half & half
Procedure:
1) In a metal bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until mixture becomes smooth and pale yellow
2) Place half & half and fennel in a heavy pot and heat until scalded
3) Pulse half & half mixture in a food processor then strain out fennel
4) Very slowly whisk warm half & half into egg/sugar mixture so as not to curdle the mixture
5) Place bowl w/ mixture over a pot of simmering water, stirring continuously w/ a heat resistant spatula until mixture coats the back of a metal spoon (do not let mixture exceed 170 degrees F to prevent curdling), then quickly place bowl in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and promote rapid cooling
6) Once cool, refrigerate mixture for at least 4 hours or overnight