Tastes Like Home

I don't remember my Grandma baking very much when we were kids. She was an excellent cook and made the best pot of beans, skillet fried chicken and potato salad, just to name a few. I always loved her potato salad just after she made it when the potatoes were still warm and soft. She always saved a bowl for me to enjoy at room temperature while the rest of it went into the refrigerator. In July, we took a road trip and visited my cousin for his 1st birthday and stayed at my grandparents house. On our last night there we had a cookout and I was able to enjoy her potato salad again. It's little things like that that take me back to my childhood. My mom still makes potato salad, and while it's similar (and delicious), it's not my grandma's. 

This little guy had a field day playing with the ice cream maker. When he thought I wasn't looking, he'd stick his fingers in the top and sneak a few licks of gelato. At one point he even climbed up onto the island and tried to put his face into the machine. You could say he's a fan of this rice gelato, just like his momma. 

When my grandma did make "dessert" it was often a bowl of atole de arroz, which is kind of like rice pudding but not as rich or creamy. It's more of a rice porridge, made with white rice, sugar, water, milk and cinnamon sticks. During the summer months, a man would walk all over town pushing a cart of Mexican popsicles, called paletas. We called him "The Paleta Man" :-). And just like the ice cream truck, we'd hear him ringing his bell, run outside and flag him down as he approached our house. We would make our requests and he'd reach into his mint green chilled chest and pull out colorful treats on sticks. I liked the fresh strawberry and the rice paleta the best. The rice paleta was milky, creamy, lightly sweetened and had a dusting of cinnamon on it. What made it different from the rest was that it had nibbly bits of rice in it. I loved that. 

When I came across this recipe for Rice Gelato from The Perfect Scoop, I knew it would be making an appearance in my future. The original recipe called for adding strips of orange zest to the rice mixture, but cinnamon sticks seemed more up my alley. It's what reminds me of home, so that's what I used. I also added a bit of ground cinnamon to the mixture after the rice was cooked. The smell of the sweet rice cooking filled the house like perfume. This gelato is much creamier and richer than anything my grandma ever made, but this is gelato after all, and it should be creamy. The rice softens and plumps up during the cooking process- half of it is blended really finely and the other half stays whole for optimal texture.While this dessert is frozen and is great on an end of summer day, there's something about it that comforts and soothes the soul. And that to me, is the best of both worlds. 

Rice Pudding Gelato 

adapted from The Perfect Scoop

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• 1/2 cup Arborio rice
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 large egg yolks 
• 1 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a 2 quart baking dish, mix together the rice, milk 1/4 cup of the sugar and the salt. Add the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and cover the dish with aluminum foil. 

Bake for 1 hour. Remove the rice from the oven and remove the foil. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, then continue to bake the rice, uncovered for an additional 30 minutes.

Remove the rice from the oven a second time, remove the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and briskly whisk in the egg yolks at once. Then whisk in the half and half or cream, round cinnamon and nutmeg.

Puree half of the rice mixture in a blender or food processor until finely chopped. Then stir it back into the cooked rice.

Place the rice mixture in the fridge until completely chilled. Then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

NOTE: This gelato freezes really hard. Let it sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving, if necessary. 

Finger Lickin' Good

Yesterday was my first day back to work since Thanksgiving. The family I nanny for goes to visit familiy during the holidays every year so I had some time off. I was dreading going back to work but the boys have been great so far. Although we are only on day 2 :-) Yesterday, the older kiddo was napping and when I went to wake him he was wearing his birthday shirt and the first thing he said to me after 5 weeks of not seeing me was about his birthday cake! His mom said he talked about it to anyone and everyone that would listen. Today the first thing he said to me after waking him up was "You have cookies?" and I did! I was a hero for the day :-)

In fact after he woke up we went to the kitchen and opened up the box of Christmas cookies I had been saving for him. He went straight for the colorful ornament cookie covered in icing and the bacon and eggs. It took him almost an hour to eat in between putting puzzles together. Then it donned on me at almost 4 o' clock that I forgot to feed him lunch! He didn't seem to mind though that he got sweets instead of real food. Again- hero (or lousy nanny) for the day!

Speaking of hero, I had to pat myself on the back when I made this meal. It was so good! I wouldn't lie to you. Not everything I make it worthy of a pat on the back but Mr. H and I kept mmm-ing through our bites and finger licking. I made this and with my first bite all I kept asking myself was "Did I really make this?" followed by "I really made this!" Make this, you'll be a hero too. For those of you who appreciate my tasting notes, this chicken was wonderful. It was like a satisfying take out meal. The sauce was garlicky, and sweet, but tangy and only the slightest bit hot. The chicken was moist and sticky and a great compliment to white rice and mixed veggies. It was complex in flavor but oh so simple to make. Let the sauce puddle in the bottom of a bowl and stir it into the rice. oooh!

Garlic-Chile Chicken Legs from Everyday Food

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 chicken legs (2 1/2 pounds total), drumsticks and thighs separated
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup sugar

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook until skin is golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook 2 minutes more. Transfer chicken to a plate.

Discard all but 1 tablespoon fat from pan. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in vinegar, soy sauce, red-pepper flakes, and sugar. Return chicken to pan, skin side up. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low; cook 15 minutes (liquid should be gently simmering; adjust heat if necessary). Uncover, raise heat to medium, and cook until sauce is reduced by half, 10 minutes.

Serves 4

NOTE: I cut the recipe in half and used only chicken legs instead of whicken quarters. Leftovers were not that great the next day so only make what you plan on eating that night.

Pure And Simple

One of my favorite things to eat and smell is rice pudding. I.LOVE.IT! So much that, I even bought half a dozen candles from Yankee Candle called "Rice Milk". It smells sweet and vanilla-y and yummy!

My grandmother used to make rice pudding with cinnamon water (water with cinnamon sticks simmering in it) and milk, and long grain white rice. It was never as rich as this one, but it wasn't as creamy either. Her version reminds me of my childhood. It was always simple and fuss free- nothing extravagant, but consistently good.

When I was older, I saw rice pudding in the grocery store- Kozy Shack. It was good too, but different. It was creamy and sweet, and had a nice hint of vanilla instead of the cinnamon. I loved it too. My only problem with this was that the rice almost seemed dessicated. It wasn't whole and plump and creamy. So I turned to this recipe to make my own.

Arborio Rice Pudding from Gale Gand

• 1/2 cup arborio rice
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split*
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 1/2 pint raspberries (optional)

In a large saucepan, place all the ingredients, except the almond extract and raspberries. Bring it to a gentle boil and then turn it down to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom, for about 30 to 40 minutes. Taste the rice to check for oneness. The rice should be very soft and plump.

Take the pudding off the heat and stir in the extract. Pour into dessert bowls and stir in some fresh raspberries. Serve hot, warm, room temp or cold.

NOTE: *I don't have a vanilla bean on hand, so I added a teaspoon full of vanilla extract at the end when the pudding was done cooking. If you add the extract to the milk before it's cooked, the extract will cook away and won't be as flavorful- resulting in a waste of extracts.

If I am missing my grandmother, I'll add a cinnamon stick to the simmering milk. That's the way she used to make it and the cinnamon vanilla milk smell always reminds me of her.

Wanna bite?

Say Cheese!

Cheddar Cheese Risotto from Nigella Lawson

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 baby leeks or 2 fat scallions, finely sliced*
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 ½ cups risotto rice
• ½ cup white wine
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 4 cups hot vegetable stock or chicken broth
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, cubed or shredded**
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)

Melt the butter and oil in a medium stock pot and cook the sliced leeks, scallions, and garlic until softened.

Add the risotto and keep stirring for a minute or so, then turn up the heat, add the wine and mustard, stirring until the wine is absorbed.

Ladle in the hot stock, while still stirring, allowing it to completely absorb before adding the next one. Stir and keep adding stock until the rice is al dente and all the stock is absorbed, about 18-20 minutes.

Then add the cheese, stirring it into the rice until it melts. Take the pan straight off the heat, still stirring as you do, and then spoon into warm bowls. Sprinkle with chopped chives.

NOTE: You don't want to add all the stock at once. Slowly adding it to the rice and allowing it to absorb in between ladlefuls allows it to become creamy.

If you don't like Dijon mustard, leave it out, but you can't really taste it in the final product.

*I don't usually have baby leeks or scallions on hand, so I used half of an onion, finely chopped. And I don't sprinkle food with chopped chives or parsley just for the sake of garnish, so I skipped that step.

**Freshly cube or grate your cheese. The pre-shredded variety has stuff added to it to keep it from sticking together. This can sometimes make the final product grainy, and not creamy, which would ruin all your hard work. So buy a block of cheddar and cut it up yourself- it's usually cheaper in block form anyway.

This makes 4 generous servings. We ate this twice, once with sausage (ie: lil' smokies- slightly white trash, but good) and broccoli. And with pan seared shrimp and asparagus spears. I do have to say the leftovers were even better the second time around.

Good Luck Dish

I don't like black eyed peas. I never really have, but I'm going to eat them this year. Maybe that's what has been my problem- I never ate them in the past. Every year on New Years Day, my MIL makes this nasty cold black eyed peas salad. (Can you tell I don't like them?) Everyone eats them but me. I pass. Last week I made our neighbors some cream cheese pumpkin bread. (Don't ask for the recipe, cause I made it up and I don't even know if it tasted good.) She returned the favor by bringing us a rice dish. I thought "Great, now I don't have to cook dinner." Then I took a closer look and saw it was black eyed peas and rice. Um, no thanks. I read the card she sent along with the dish and it said to eat on New Years Day, but I tasted it first. It was good! I am surprised. That doesn't mean I'm going to start eating them on a regular basis, but maybe this year I'll give them a try. I don't think my life can get any worse, so black eyed peas and rice is what I will be eatin'. We'll see if they bring me luck. Charlseton Hopping John by Martha S.

• 1 c. rice, cooked
• 1 can field peas or black eyed peas
• 2 slices bacon (crumbled)
• 1/4 c. onions
• Dash of soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cook rice. While rice is cooking, fry the bacon. Pour off some of the grease. Add onions, saute with bacon. You may use some pea juice from the peas to cook onions. Add soy sauce, thyme poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add peas, then fold in rice. Serve on New Year's Day for good luck!