Honeydew Sage Sorbet

I was walking past the fruit section in the market this weekend, when I realized that I was born to make honeydew sorbet. The white melon, about the size of my head, called out, beckoning me to cut it into cubes and feed it to the blender as a sacrifice to the ice cream gods.

Since we both seemed destined for this end, I obliged the melon, taking it under my arm and whisking it away to my kitchen where it was joined by sugar water and sage. Hopefully my true motivations are not found out: to encourage summer's approach so that I can relax and perhaps, if I am so inspired, make more sorbet...

I have recently learned that honeydew's optimal season is between August and October unless you live in California, but due to the wonders of modern agricultural techniques, I have always seen them as portents of summer. They remedy humidity as efficiently as ducking under a breaker in the middle of July. Honeydew is what summer would taste like if it had a flavor and if I'm not mistaken, it's a staple of fairy food.

Nothing warranted a refreshing melon as much as this weekend did with its 90% humidity and on again off again showers to ensure that you couldn't make solid plans. So while the little fan in my room tried to help, I turned to the surest method I know: my ice cream maker.

This is my third foray into the land of frozen heaven and each time, I feel more daring and more excited. It has yet to get old. However, I had never made sorbet before and learned that after purchasing the honeydew and nothing else, I was in possession of all the ingredients.

To begin, I added 1 cup of cold water to a bowl and then added 1 cup of sugar, 1/8 tsp salt and a little less than 1/4 cup light/dark corn syrup (this is to soften the sorbet apparently). I then turned my attention to the melon, peeling it and cutting it into chunks to put in the blender.

I added the chunks in batches and the entire melon yielded about 5 cups. However, I made sure to set aside (before I added it to the blender) 1/2 cup of finely chopped honeydew to add for flavor at the end. Feeling daring, I decided to add three leaves of fresh sage, which I crumpled in my hands to make into tiny flakes.

The sage complemented the honeydew very well, adding a delightful suprise in texture and taste as your gustatory receptors enjoyed the honeydew. I put the mixture, which resembled pea soup before it was frozen, in the refridgerator for a few hours so that it was cool when I put in the ice cream maker.

I then poured the mixture into the ice cream bowl and put the mixer on stir speed 1 for about 5 minutes. This froze much faster than ice cream partly due to the ingredients and partly due to the volume (slightly less than usual). The sorbet needs to sit in the freezer for a few hours until it is the proper consistency.

On my ride home today from the lab, wading through people in the east thirties, and then inserting myself into a rush hour F train, I used the image of my honeydew sage sorbet as a coping mechanism. No matter how many sweaty bodies crammed into the car or how many impatient people knocked in to me, I just pictured the soft, green sorbet and I survived.

Chocolate Chip Orange Scones and Cardamom Lassis

I was sick all last week and Mother's Day seemed so far in advance that I hadn't even begun to think about it. On Saturday, I sat in solitude trying to come up with an idea that rivaled my past endeavors. Luckily, my new love of baking and my mother's love of my baking came to mind and I decided to make her breakfast, not in bed, but at the table filled with sunshine and the sounds of little ones laughing as they played outside. Welcome back spring, you were missed.

My cousin, Harper, slept over and he helped me not only bake the food, but do the dishes because as he said it "Anything to make the scones come faster!" At least someone had his priorities straight. I made scones from the Rose Bakery cookbook and cardamom lassis from food and wine's website. For the scones (the recipe makes about 24 or so), I added 3 1/3 cups of flour to a large mixing bowl.

I added 2 "heaping" tbs baking powder, 1 tsp salt and 2 tbs sugar. Harper mixed this all together and then I kneaded in 1/2 cup (one stick) of unsalted butter. He then poured in exactly 1 1/4 cups of milk, and asked me why I added the extra 1/4 cup, it seemed so arbitrary.

After explaining the fragile chemistry of scone making, I used a fork to blend the flour mixture with the milk and then I kneaded it with my hands until it was completely incorporated.

At this point I also added some chocolate chips and the zest of one orange. You can roll the dough out and then cut scones with cookie cutters but I just spooned them out onto a buttered tin like I would cookies. I glazed each scone with a beaten egg and put them in the oven at 400 F for 15 minutes (until golden on top).

While the scone baked, I started on the cardamom lassis, which I first had at Saltie, an amazing sandwich shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I added 1 quart of yogurt to a blender along with 7 tbs sugar, 1 tsp ground cardamom and 4 ice cubes. Blend this until it's frothy and keep in the fridge until you're ready to serve. We set the table and invited my mom in to see her present. Mother's Day accomplished.

After a relatively unproductive weekend with regards to work, it was very satisfying to successfully do something...even if it was making breakfast.

Black Pepper Ice Cream

I actually thought that no flavor combination could beat the cardamom ice cream that I made a few weeks ago. Perhaps that was a correct assessment, but this taste was at least tied. It's unconventional and definitely odd to put a spicy, savory flavor into a dessert and I am the plainest jane that there is, but the contrast between the vanilla cream and the peppercorn is dramatic to say the least. If your mouth is too hot from the pepper, the milk neutralizes your taste receptors making for a pleasant journey into the kingdom of spectacular ice cream.

Last week, I was at al di la, a northern Italian restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The Slope is slightly lacking in quality food, especially for dinner, but al di la's cuisine truly makes up for the relative mediocrity of the neighborhood's fare. When I first started going to al di la, I was a little girl completely disinterested in what the menu had to offer. I knew what I wanted before I went into the restaurant and while the grownups placed orders for exotic dishes like risotto negro and tortelli di zucca burro e salvia, I promptly requested pasta and butter.

I can't even begin to impart to you the regret I feel today at having wasted so many opportunities to eat some of the most delicious food in New York City, but I do understand that I liked plain food that didn't intimidate my unseasoned palate. What I'm trying to say, is that I forgive little Nika for her misguided orders for all those years.

When I was five, my parents and I went to Italy for two weeks and while we were there, I became very sick. After wandering through the streets of Venice all day trying to find the hospital, we decided that we needed food and returned to the restaurant we had been going to for the past few nights.

I don't know how accurate the rest of my recollection is, but I remember that we had the same waiter every night. I used to know his name; in fact I think I even wrote him a card from Brooklyn. He tried to trick me into eating but I held out, the pickiest and most stubborn customer he had ever served.

Determined not to feed me pasta and butter while I was in Venice, he told me that he had prepared goldfish for me. Something about his description must have intrigued me because I ate what he brought me ravished after being sick all day. Looking back it was probably some white fish, breaded and fried. I had to hand it to him though, he got me to eat, simple as the dish was, and my parents were grateful.

While I am still rather selective in what I choose to eat (I do have some bizarre dislikes including but not limited to eggs, raisins, peanut butter and pancakes), I have become more adventurous. And so the last time I was at al di la, I had black pepper ice cream for dessert. It's really difficult to impart the flavor of this dish particularly because we rarely have pepper as the primary ingredient in food and thus we haven't all isolated its taste for an immediate association. But please, take my word for it and one day when you're inspired, try it.

I used the same base ice cream recipe as I did in the cardamom ice cream post, but with slight variations. Instead of adding cardamom and vanilla to the milk, cream and sugar, I added 1 tablespoon of peppercorns, which I ground in a mortar and pestle. Eventually these peppercorns will be sifted out, so don't worry about the texture. I also added 1 tsp vanilla extract, although you can use 1/2 of a vanilla bean instead.

Before I added the 3 cups of cream to the mixture, I sifted out the peppercorns and then added 1 1/2 tbs of ground pepper. I also added about 1 tbs of the sifted out peppercorns back in. Be careful not to overload with spices and taste the batter before you add each tbs. I put it in the fridge for three hours, which was not enough, so I suggest leaving it all day or overnight. I saved it by putting the batter in the freezer still in the ice cream bowl for 30 minutes (not recommended) and then finished mixing. I froze it in containers and now I have pepper ice cream to my heart's content.

The once plain jane, who ordered pasta and butter no matter where she was, has graduated into the realm of exotic flavors and cuisines. She is surprised by the adventurous spirit that lay dormant in her for so many years. Welcome to this brave new world.

Cardamom Ice Cream

Ice cream. Cardamom. The final frontier. Well, no, but I still can't get over the fact that I can make ice cream as if it's some super human power that I was bestowed, by none other than my father (as a birthday present). It actually transforms a bowl of milk and sugar into a scoopable solid. Remarkable.

I have an obsession with ice cream. It's unfortunate but I really don't want to try overcoming it...yet. And I don't want to brag or anything, but I'm something of an ice cream connoisseur. The following statements are all subjective truths of course, but take my word for them. The best gelato in the city is at Grom, which has about three locations throughout Manhattan. If you happen to be on Shelter Island for some reason, look up Redding's and try theirs, it's insanely good.

Pinpointing the best ice cream shops in New York is a behemoth task, one that I don't feel entitled to execute. But I'm perfectly fine giving you some of my most frequented venues. Van Leeuwen Artisan ice cream in the East Village (7th Street between 1st and 2nd) and Greenpoint is wonderful and they also have a truck that drives around the city selling flavors like rose water, espresso, cane sugar and earl grey. Finally, Marlow and Sons on Broadway between Wythe and Berry in Williamsburg has flavors like basil and lemon verbena (don't knock the basil before you try it).

I also had amazing cardamom ice cream at the now defunct Puffs and Pastries in Hampden, Baltimore two years ago and ever since I've been trying to find a substitute. When I went back last November, while I was interviewing at JHU, my mouth watering for cardamom ice cream, I discovered that it had turned into a burger joint.

So I took it upon myself to make my own cardamom ice cream using this recipe with minor variations (I increased the amount of cardamom and I didn't add the lemon zest). This turned out to be a two day process, although it is quite possible in one day, don't despair. I began by adding 2 cups of milk and 1 1/2 cups of sugar to a saucepan and stirring in 2 tablespoons of flour. I let this thicken, mixing it occasionally, until there were small bubbles but it wasn't boiling. Simultaneously, I whisked 4 egg yolks in a separate bowl (glass or metal) and poured in 1 cup of my milk/sugar/flour mixture and whisked vigorously so I didn't make scrambled eggs.

I left this to the side and then returned to the saucepan. I added three cups of milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 3 tsp ground cardamom (I wimped out and used already ground spice). Then I added the other bowl to the saucepan and kept it on a medium high heat until it boiled. I covered it with saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight. It has to be really cold, so don't be impatient.

The next morning, I added 3 cups of heavy cream and whisked it all together. My dad assembled the ice cream maker after I gave up in complete frustration (we've now got it down to a science), and I added the mixture (all of it) to the bowl. It's amazing! The bowl has liquid surrounding it that freezes after it sits in your freezer for a minimum of 15 hours. I set the kitchen aid (this is an accessory for it) to stir speed 1 and let it run for 30 minutes. It's only soupy after this, so I put it in the freezer for a few hours and poof there was delicious and simple cardamom ice cream.

There are so many flavors to try and I can't wait to get started. My great aunt Jean had a best friend for a very long time named Olive P. Cummings who would order pints of ice cream from her local creamery and have it delivered to her house every week...until she was 98. That is my goal.