honey « (y)our food choices™

Albeit small but delicious scoops; Orange-Tangerine Gelato and Cardamom Ice Cream, with chopped pistachios and blackberry honey.

With our upcoming trip to Paris, and summer right around the corner, thoughts of ice cream have been popping up for us. Since there was a ½ pint of heavy cream left over from Steve’s ice cream creation and only a few days left until it expired, I needed to come up with another flavor to compliment the delicious cardamom ice cream he made a few days earlier. Scouring our cookbooks and seeing what fresh fruit we had in abundance, I found a delicious gelato recipe from Martha’s Classic cookbook. Although she calls for blood oranges I made ours with a combination of naval and tangerine oranges. The result is reminiscent of eating the Creamsicles of our childhood. The orange goes perfectly with the cardamom. With a few chopped pistachios and a little drizzle of honey, the double scoop makes a simple childhood favorite into a sophisticated palate pleaser.

Orange-Tangerine Gelato

Adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook; The Original Classics

2 cups milk

zest of 1 orange (use a vegetable peeler and remove only the orange zest, no pith)

1 cup fresh orange/tangerine juice

5 large egg yolks

¾ cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

In a medium sauce pan, heat milk and orange zest over a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and let the milk seep for 30 minutes. In a small sauce pan gently heat the orange juice and reduce until only about ¼ cup remains, about 30-40 minutes. Allow the orange juice to cool completely.

Prepare an ice bath. Reheat the milk and orange zest. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. Slowly add the milk to the egg yolks while whisking, then return the egg and milk mixture to the sauce pan. Continue to heat and stir with a wooden spoon until slightly thick. The custard should coat the back of the spoon.

Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and place the custard on the ice bath. Stir in the orange syrup and allow to completely cool before pouring the custard into an ice cream maker. Process the gelato according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze in a container.

Fall’s First Oranges

Oranges, Pistachios, Whole Milk Yogurt, Honey and Cinimon

Oranges, Pistachios, Whole Milk Yogurt, Honey and Cinnamon

The oranges have started to arrive. Though their skins aren’t quite bright just yet, the flesh of the fruit in this week’s CSA box is firm and bursting with sweet juice. As we mourn the passing of summer and all those beautiful tomatoes, the sting of loss is tempered by the transcendent fragrance of orange oil. The smell and taste of orange reminds us of winter salads to come with their bitter greens and fatty bacon bits. The zest will flavor crab quesadillas and beef or venison stews, add colorful tasty flecks to sweet clouds of whipped cream or Grand Marnier soufflés, and garnish plenty of cocktails. They’re just as good with goat cheese and a sprinkling of nuts as with chocolate deserts and we plan to add segments to our muesli breakfast, our frisee lunch salads and the occasional crème fraiche ice cream.

We’re sharing a few of our favorite orange inspired recipes and welcome your comments and suggestions. If you have recipes to share, we’d be delighted to hear about them. Here’s to a festive fall food season!

Cheers, Steve & Jason

We’re sad to see Gourmet go, and to show them the love, we’re linking to a few of our favorite orange inspired recipes. We’re grateful to have access to the library of Gourmet recipes at epicurious.com and hope you’ll find inspiration for your own cooking by searching the recipe database.