Featuring my thick and nuggy Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookies, these ice cream sandwiches are the stuff that summer dreams are made of. If you've ever had the Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich at Disneyland , you are going to LOVE these! These big and bold chocolate chip cookies are based on a recipe from my culinary school studies at Auguste Escoffier, but with a few modifications to give them that Jennuine touch. They make the perfectas book for a fat slice of real vanilla bean ice cream. And those mini chips? You just gotta have that extra cronch! Thank goodness this recipe only makes 8 sandwiches, otherwise I would be eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner. This way, my big family can help save me from my inner child diet-saboteur. Print With Image Without Image Chonky Boy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Yield: 8 Author: Jenn Erickson Loaded with chocolate chips and buttery, brown-sugary vanilla flavor, these mall-sized cookies form a perfect partnership with a
Wild Nasturtium flowers have long been prized in the culinary world for their vibrant petals and peppery flavor that lend themselves well to salads, compound butters, and garnish. But how about the leaves? This is a question I asked myself a while back during one of my foraging forays. Nasturtium leaves are so abundant, I just had to try something!
It turns out, the leaves are perfect for a quick blanching, then used as a vibrant green wrapper for tasty fillings. I came up with this very simple way of wrapping mild chevre inside the blanched leaves, then letting them cure in olive oil, black peppercorns and lemon zest overnight.
If you're curious about how the leaves taste, they are very mild. Blanching removes any bitterness and bite. The texture is very delicate. They are more tender than grape leaves.
Served the next day over toast points rubbed with a garlic clove, these small bites are not only beautiful, but the taste is out of this world. If you love goat cheese, you can't go wrong with the combination of garlic, bread, cheese, good olive oil and aromatics. If you don't care for chevre, try soft feta or even herb cream cheese.
Sometimes pretty foods are all about the novelty and lack the flavor to back up the visual temptations -- not so here.
I put together a short video to demonstrate how these were made, including a hack for blanching large leaves without them curling up and sticking together (Thank you, Chef Stone at Johnson & Wales University for teaching me this trick).
Chevre Nasturtium Cigarillo Tutorialhttps://youtu.be/rh2W5ZguIscHow to make olive oil cured Nasturtium leaf and Goat Cheese Cigarilloshttps://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtnk2Rovbt7itY4bc6tFHVYU_1rQyNGleI7UeYcVm1x4vWtnyt9Yyteq7uYm9UMEtJiBlVzwaNYk4gTYIklmOGo__jyH4MF3iw7K3oxI36KwT32TLYC3niQXOLvSjYVwBJiekr7algjL3W/s640/nasturtium+chevre+goat+cheese+crostini+olive+oil+foraging+recipe6.jpg
GOAT CHEESE CIGARILLOS WITH OLIVE-OIL CURED NASTURTIUM LEAVES
Author: Jenn Erickson
How to use foraged wild Nasturtium leaves to make a beautiful and delicious appetizer with goat cheese, garlic toast points and lemon-black pepper olive oil.
Ingredients:
Quantities are up to you, based on how many you want to make)
Nasturtium leaves (medium size work best because they are still young and tender, but big enough to roll)
Nasturtium blossoms/petals for garnish Olive oil (a light tasting one, or a combination of oils that you like)
lemon zest
black peppercorns
4 cups boiling water (approximately, depending on the number of leaves
goat cheese (or soft feta, or herb cream cheese)
toasted baguette slices a large garlic clove
Instructions:
Step 1: Fill the container that you'll be using to cure the cigarillos with about 1/2 inch of olive oil.
Step 2: Add lemon zest and black peppercorns. Crush a few peppercorns to release a bit more pepper flavor. Stir.
Step 3: Arrange your gently washed and dried leaves on a wire rack. The wire rack should be set over a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the boiling water over the leaves until they begin to wilt.
Step 4: Carefully remove the rack from the pan. Place a dry towel over the leaves and rack. Flip towel and rack over. Remove the rack. Arrange the leaves on the towel.
Step 5: Fill each leaf with cheese, then roll up tightly. Put each roll into the olive oil. Continue until finished rolling. Cover the container and refrigerate for 24 hours. If, after 24 hours, your olive oil has set and gone cloudy, just let it sit out for a few minutes.
Step 6: Enjoy the cigarillos on top of a salad, on crackers, or serve on toasted baguette slices rubbed with a raw garlic clove. Drizzle some of the oil on the toasts before adding the cigarillo.
Notes:
Tip: The leftover oil is awesome for making a vinaigrette or using as a dip for a good crusty bread. You can also reuse it to make more cigarillos. Just make sure to keep uneaten cigarillos in the refrigerator.
With the Christmas tree curbside, and the ornaments all neatly packed away, I'm thankful for my small collection of winter decorations that can be left out a bit longer to grace my home with their snowy sparkle and winter whimsy. I would have loved to have had the time to share this sweet little tutorial earlier in the season, but the holidays were busy (as they always are). Now that things have slowed down, this may be, perhaps the best time of all to fix yourself a mug of cocoa or coffee and enjoy the process of creating a vintage style paper mache snowman at your leisure. He is sure to bring smiles to all that behold him, all winter long! This is the snowman that my 7-year old made. The real stick arms were her wonderful idea! This is a fun project t o do with children as well. The process is very simple , versatile, and inexpensive. The fram e for the figure is ma de from aluminum foil which can be worked into the shape of characters for any occasion . I
I recall, as a child, going to The Chart House restaurant and looking forward to the basket of freshly baked breads. My favorite was always the dark brown, slightly sweet bread that the servers called "Squaw Bread". I've heard that a similar bread is served at The Cheesecake Factory. The name has gone out of fashion, since "squaw" is a derogatory term for a Native American woman. The history of this bread can in fact trace its roots to Native American origins when German pioneers combined their traditional German Brown Bread recipe with ingredients available to them through trades with the native people during their westward travels. No matter how you slice it, this New World German Brown Bread is easy to bake and so wonderfully delicious to eat. Print With Image Without Image New World German Brown Bread Yield: 1 large loaf Author: Jenn Erickson Prep time: 1 H & 50 M Cook time: 45 M Total time: 1 H &am
One of my favorite characters from vintage Halloween folk art is the black cat ~ always sporting a mischievous look and a cheeky grin. Last year, I transformed a trio of styrofoam pumpkins from the dollar store into paper mache folk art . This year, with the same $1 budget in mind, I set to work on a classic blown plastic jack-o-lantern treat bucket -- the same jolly guy that's been around since I was a kid. Although I'm nostalgic for his familiar orange mug, I thought it would be fun to transform him into a wiley black cat. So, one afternoon, my daughter and I grabbed an old newspaper and our Mod Podge and set to work... Vintage-style Halloween Folk Art Black Cat 1 blown-plastic pumpkin treat bucket, any color Newspaper Mod Podge or Paper Mache paste E ar template (download HERE ) Heavy card stock or a manilla folder for the ears pencil and scissors Paint brus hes of various sizes Black acrylic paint Assorted acrylic pa