Tessa’s Tips: Strawberry Rose Ice Cream

One of my most vivid and favorite childhood memories is that of eating homemade ice cream during the height of summer from a picnic table in my neighbor’s back yard. What more could a ten-year-old kid ask for than having cold ice cream run down her sun-kissed chin and elbows and into the warm grass beneath her barefoot feet!? Chocolate and vanilla were frequent classics but my all-time favorite was made with the fresh strawberries picked from one of the two plots my family tended every summer.

Using one of those old-fashioned hand-cranked ice cream makers that required a little bit of rock ice and a lot of patience, I could barely stand the wait for the strawberries and the cream to freeze. Today, my recipe for homemade strawberry ice cream has drifted a bit from what my mother used to make (I prefer egg-heavy, custard based ice creams these days) and I’ve resorted to using an electric ice cream maker (faster and a LOT easier). Despite those differences, it’s still as sweet and delicious as I remember it—now all I need is a picnic table with my family and friends gathered ‘round and my neighbor’s back yard.

Did you know that roses and strawberries come from the same botanical family? I came across that little factoid recently and immediately wanted to know how they’d taste together in an ice cream. Below is my recipe created especially for you. Hope you all enjoy…

Strawberry Rose Ice Cream
2 lbs of washed and hulled strawberries
6 oz  of sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla pod
10 egg yolks
1 TB lemon juice
1.5 teaspoons rosewater

How to:
1.)  Hull and roughly chop the strawberries. In a medium-sized bowl, sprinkle the sugar on the strawberries and break it up, letting the mixture sit while you pull together the rest of the ingredients in the recipe

2.)  Pour both the milk and cream into a heavy-based saucepan, add the vanilla pod (split down the center lengthwise). Heat up the mixture until nearly boiling then turn off the flame. Add the strawberries to the cream mixture, allowing the ingredients to marry for about 15-20 minutes

3.)  In another medium sized bowl add 10 egg yolks

4.)  Remove the vanilla pod from the cream mixture (you could strain to remove it but then the sweet chunks of strawberries get taken out and that¹s my favorite part. I just use a spoon and dig around in the cream until I find it)

5.)  Whisk the egg yolks until lightly whipped, just a couple of minutes to aerate them

6.)  Gently re-heat the cream and strawberry mixture

7.)  Slowly add about 1/4 cup of the cream mixture to the egg yolks, whisking quickly. Keep adding in 1/4 cup increments, whisking to incorporate each add, until you have added about 1 cup. Add the rest of the cream mixture to the eggs and blend well (you don¹t want to add the eggs to the hot cream or you will end up with runny strawberry scrambled eggs and that just sounds, well, horrible)

8.)  Over a low heat, bring the cream, egg and strawberry mixture up to a light simmer until the custard thickens. You know it is done when you sweep your finger across the back of the spoon and it leaves a visible trail behind

9.)  Remove from heat and cool down in an ice bath.
Once cooled, add 1.5 teaspoons of rosewater and stir. Add mixture to the ice cream maker and wait patiently!

Tessa’s Tips: This is one snack that likes to have a good time.

Homemade Candied Popcorn and Peanuts

Baseball’s opening day is almost here. So why not take some of your own candied popcorn and peanuts out to the ballgame?

• 8 -cups popped popcorn
• 1 -cup peanuts
• ¾-cup brown sugar
• ¼-cup butter
• 3-tablespoons corn syrup
• ¼-teaspoon salt
• ¼-teaspoon  baking soda
• ½-teaspoon vanilla

Arrange the popcorn and peanuts on a well-oiled 9 x 13 pan.

In a 2 quart sauce pan, combine the brown sugar, margarine, corn syrup and salt. Cook over low heat.

After the butter melts, cook without stirring for 3 minutes. It should be bubbling gently during the 3 minutes. Stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

Quickly pour this over the pan of popcorn. Mix gently to coat the popcorn evenly. Bake the pan at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Break it up into pieces and serve.

Boiled Peanuts

I grew up in the south where boiled peanuts were pretty much a staple of any household. They get soft when you boil them and have a salty, mild peanut taste. They’re perfect for a party when you want to do something different. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

• 3 lbs green raw peanuts
• water
• 1 cup salt
• 1 lb smoked ham hocks

1. Wash peanuts thoroughly.

2. Place peanuts in large saucepan and cover with water.

3. Add 1/2 the salt and bring to a boil for approximately 15-20 minutes.

4. At the end of 20 minutes, drain the peanuts, add the rest of the salt and the smoked meat, and cover with water.

5. Cook until tender, about 2 hours on medium heat.  Drain and serve.

Tessa’s Tips: Cooking Pork with Wine

You don’t traditionally think of cooking pork with wine, but this dish, courtesy of The New York Times, works really well with a nice light-bodied type like a Beaujolais or Pinot Noir. Pair it with some warm, crusty French bread, a nice tossed salad and you’ve got the perfect meal.

Braised Red Wine Pork

• 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into large chunks
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 cup stock
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons butter (substitute olive oil for a lighter take on this dish)
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish.

1. Combine pork, salt and pepper, wine, stock, carrots and garlic in a saucepan, Dutch oven or slow cooker. Bring to a boil, then adjust heat to a simmer. (If using a slow cooker, just turn it to “high” and let cook for at least three hours.)
2. Cook until meat is very tender and falling apart, stirring every half-hour or so (most likely an hour). Use a slotted spoon to remove solid ingredients to a bowl, then turn heat to high. (If using a slow cooker, transfer liquid to a saucepan for this step.) Reduce to about a cup, or even less. Taste and adjust seasoning, then lower heat and stir in butter.
3. Add vegetables and pork back to the sauce and garnish with parsley. Serve over noodles or with bread.

TESSA’S TIPS – CHEERS TO CHEESE

Now when I say cheese loving antics, I’m not talking about wearing a cheese hat. I’m referring to the simple joy of celebrating cheese. For example, I recently had an aged French Gruyere paired with a wonderful German Riesling from the Dr. Loosen winery in the Mosel River Valley. The interesting thing about aged cheese is that often micro salt crystals form within it a cheese as it ages giving it a rich and complex flavor. I was in heaven!

Now let’s talk Burratta. It’s a creamy, fresh Southern Italian cheese that has an outer mozzarella shell with panna (cream) on the inside. It’s sometimes a little difficult to find, but well worth the hunt and is delicious served with roasted vegetables or prosciutto and a crusty bread. I like to call that dinner.

Last, but certainly not least (there are more than 900 types of cheese for pete’s sake), is Manchego. This is a sheep’s milk cheese that hails from the La Mancha region of Spain. It comes in different varieties depending on its age. Personally, I like the Curado variety for its sweet, nutty flavor – not only to munch on, but to cook with as well. I make an arugula salad with it that I think you’ll really love! Check it out: http://epi.us/bL5FB5

Provided by wisconsincheesetalk.com

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UPDATE: Contest now closed.

You never know what you’re going to find when you venture beyond your own borders. For us, it’s where we go to be inspired and find amazing new flavors. Post your favorite locales and exotic food below and we’ll pick our top five favorites and award a one-year subscription to AFAR magazine! Happy Holidays!

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Tessa’s Tips: It’s Rice Krispy Season

Get creative with your Krispy treats…it’s easy!

Sweet treats are in high demand this time of year. Which means it’s a great time to experiment with Krispy treat recipes. They’re super easy to make and everyone always loves them. It’s also fun to get kids involved in making them – sometimes their ideas sound crazy but end up tasting great.

So go out there and get creative with your Krispy concoctions. Of course you can always play it safe too. To get you started, here are just a few of the recipes I’ve done in the past. Enjoy!

For all the recipes below, start with 5 cups of krispies, 1 bag of marshmallow and a stick of butter.  Melt the butter and marshmallows until completely smooth, then add the krispies and mix.  I’ve learned that it’s best when you add half the krispies and marshmallow mixture in the bottom of a greased pan and then cover with ingredients. Then put the other half of the krispies on top. I’ve given an example using the Chocolate Peanut Butter variety.

Chocolate Peanut Butter
Base recipe plus:
3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1.5 cup peanut butter
Melt chocolate and peanut butter together on double boiler.  Place half the krispies in pan. Cover with melted chocolate, peanut butter and then remainder of the krispies.

Raspberries & Cream
Base recipe plus:
Additional 7oz (about half of a bag) marshmallows
4 TB raspberry powder

Oreo Cookie
Base recipe (using chocolate krispies) plus
Additional 3.5 oz marshmallows
1 pkg crushed Oreos

Sweet and Salty
Base recipe plus
Add:
½ cup salty peanuts
½ cup mini pretzels
¼ cup semi sweet chip

White S’mores
Base recipe plus
Add:
1 cup graham cereal
½ c milk chocolate chips
1 ½ cups marshmallows

Tessa’s Tips: Homemade Roasted Vegetable and Sausage Lasagna

Earlier this month, a couple of my co-worker’s kids came by the test kitchen to be sous chefs for the day. Since rolling homemade pasta is one of my top 3 favorite things to do, I thought it’d be a great dish to make with them, as well as share with you all. Sorry it has absolutely nothing to do with Thanksgiving (you can find that all over the internet anyway) but think of how much fun it would be to do with your kids while they’re out of school for the holidays. Or something for you to make ahead and freeze to have on hand for all of those out of town holiday visitors.

I’ll post the recipe at the end but thought these pictures would give you an idea of how much fun we had.

First we started with some of my favorite vegetables…All vegetables were thinly sliced (about ¼ inch thick) and rubbed with a little bit of olive oil before going into the hot oven to roast.

Next step: brown a little Italian sausage and add your favorite spaghetti sauce. I, of course, used our secret Noodles spaghetti sauce—it has just the right amount of oregano, basil, garlic and onion that marries perfectly with the sweet tomato.

For the cheesy, creamy filling that goes between the layers of vegetables and pasta sheets, we combined ricotta, parmesan cheese, a couple of eggs, fresh parsley, steamed spinach leaves and….Roasted garlic!! It really adds a wonderful earthy sweetness to your lasagna.

If you’re going to go to the trouble of making a homemade lasagna, you simply have to make homemade noodles (especially if you have a couple of helpers like I did). They’re so easy to make and their texture and flavor are outstanding!

Once we had all of our ingredients prepped, all we had to do was assemble them in layers. My two sous chefs had a lot of fun with this part.

Ready for the oven and your dinner table!

Here’s the recipe:

(this is where I should apologize for not having exact quantities for the ingredients. But I find all that measuring takes away from the fun of it all!)

For the lasagna noodles:

On a clean kitchen table, mound 4 cups of flour. Make a small well in the center and add 3 eggs. Gently begin stirring the eggs with your fingers, pulling in a little bit of the flour each time until both ingredients are fully incorporated and dough forms. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until smooth. Form a small ball out of the dough and let rest (very important—this allows the gluten to relax!) for a minimum of 15 minutes. Dough can then be rolled out into sheets by hand or with a pasta roller.

For the lasagna:

1.  Take your vegetable/s of choice—I used eggplant, zucchini and red peppers. Thinly slice, rub with a little olive oil and roast in a 375 degree oven until soft and pliable. Set aside. (I did not add any salt here as I thought the rest of the ingredients already had enough for the whole dish).

2. For the filling—take 32 oz of ricotta, 2 eggs, a handful of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, a lot of fresh spinach leaves (steamed and drained of liquid), freshly ground black pepper and a couple of mashed cloves of roasted garlic. Stir to combine. Set aside.

3. Brown about 10 oz of Italian sausage, add your favorite spaghetti sauce and a little water if necessary to achieve the consistency you want. Set aside.

4. Mise-en-place* a good amount of shredded mozzarella cheese, parm cheese, and some pesto (if you like and have on hand).

5. Layer ingredients in an oven-proof casserole dish. Start with a little spaghetti sauce on the bottom, then a layer of noodles. The rest can be added in any order you like, just make sure you don’t either put too much sauce in (will make the lasagna runny) or not enough (it will be dry). Bake in a 375 degree oven until bubbly—about 30-40 minutes. I like to finish mine off under the broiler for a few minutes so that the cheese melts and turns brown and delicious.

I hope you get a chance to make and enjoy with your kids—we had a blast cooking together (and dinner was made to boot!)

Happy cooking all.

Tessa

*A French phrase meaning “everything in place”.

We Threw a Party for Pork

The addition of slow-braised, naturally raised pork to our menu is changing the way people think about Noodles.  So we wanted to do something fun to celebrate the best thing to hit our menu since the noodle.

To encourage folks to give the new pork a try, we figured we should host parties at restaurants across the country.  But hosting parties just didn’t seem like enough – we had to make it a bigger deal with lots of fanfare.  And, what’s a party without music?  And why not give back to the community while throwing this party for our new pork?  That’s what got us thinking, we should host parties to celebrate pork and “hire” local marching bands to be the entertainment.  We’d pay the bands for their time and give a $1 of every pork add-on sold back to the band.

Well, it worked!  We hosted parties at 91 restaurants where more than 3,000 people tried the new slow-braised, naturally raised pork.  And the best part is that we raised more than $24,000 for local bands.  Now THAT’S what we call a party!

If you’re thinking, “man, I didn’t get to help Noodles celebrate their new pork”, not to worry.  There’s no need to feel left out.  Here’s a video showing how it all went down.

Now come in and get some pork.  It’s sure to be the best pork you can fork!

No longer the other white meat

Pork. It’s gotten a lot of attention in recent years. It’s a main meal staple the world over, beating out both chicken and beef. It also packs a bigger protein punch than chicken and is high in zinc, iron and B-vitamins. But here’s the best part – it’s now at Noodles. So if you like pork, we think you’re going to love our new naturally raised, slow-braised pork.

The deliciousness starts with a shoulder cut of pork that’s dry rubbed with a mixture of pepper, salt, oregano and thyme. Then it’s seared to lock in the juices and braised under low heat, sous-vide style, for five hours. The result is what cravings are made of – tender, juicy, shredded pork with the perfect peppery taste. It’s simply prepared and simply cooked…which we think makes it simply delicious.

We want to know what you think! Tell us the dish pork perks up for you. Is it the Bangkok Curry? Pesto Cavatappi? Med Salad? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s just in a bowl all on its own.

Want to learn more? http://www.noodles.com/slowbraisedpork/story/

Tessa’s Tips: Seared Sea Scallops with Cauliflower Two Ways

Although I can’t eat broccoli, for some reason cauliflower doesn’t bother my tender belly. So I take full advantage and try to eat it every which way I possibly can. Cauliflower is a member of the Brassicaceae family, along with broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and kale. It’s planted in mid-spring for an early summer harvest or in mid-summer for a fall harvest. Cauliflower’s versatility is what I love most. Roast it to bring out its nutty flavor, puree it as an alternative to mashed potatoes or sauté the florets serve as a side. It also contains Vitamin C, is low in calories and has known cancer-fighting properties. What’s not to love?

To make the cauliflower in this dish, I took chopped, raw cauliflower and cooked it in a shallot infused broth. Then I puréed it with some butter and cream until I got the consistency of thin mashed potatoes. That became the base for this dish. I also roasted cauliflower florets in a little olive oil with mushrooms and fresh sprigs of thyme, rosemary and oregano (with salt and peppa of course). To add a textural contrast, as well as a savory note, I dry toasted pine nuts with some pancetta, added some fresh parsley, lemon zest and…I was in cauliflower heaven.