Farewell, my trusty KitchenAid

I think my KitchenAid is dying.

If so, it's had a good life. I've used it almost daily for ten years. I've lugged it into eight different residences, bought and replaced various attachments, and taken a screwdriver to it more than once. I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it (especially since it was a gift in the first place).

But now, there's something not quite right with it. The top part is sagging, so that the attachments scrape the bottom of the bowl. I've tightened, and loosened, all the screws, to no avail. Also the top wobbles from side to side.

I think it's time to bid a fond farewell and upgrade to the Professional series, with the six-quart bowl.

That KitchenAid has been the cornerstone of my kitchen for a decade. I can't recommend one highly enough.

Grapefruit ice cream

Grapefruit lends itself particularly well to sorbet (as in this grapefruit-Campari sorbet), but I was feeling like something with a little more fat to it. Hence grapefruit ice cream.

I used this recipe, reprinted below. The result was a delicate, creamy grapefruit flavor, and a really light-bodied pale ice cream. Really delicious.

1 cup grapefruit juice with 1 tbls zest
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Begin by making a simple syrup, place all the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer until the syrup begins to reduces, about 15 minutes. Cool, refrigerate overnight and strain.

1/3 cup whipping cream
1 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks with 1/3 cup sugar

Make the custard by heating the cream, half and half and 1/3 cup sugar to just below a boil, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until they are doubled in size and a pale yellow. Temper the eggs with the hot milk, return everything back to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the custard coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat, cool and allow to rest in the refrigerator overnight.

1 cup of whipped cream
1/4 cup sugar

Whip the cream and the sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the cooled custard, add the grapefruit syrup and then pour into ice cream maker. Process according to the manufacturer's directions.

Dill risotto, with smoked salmon

My salmon toasts kick from last week is almost done--I'm just about out of salmon. This leaves me with most of a bunch of fresh dill, just a little smoked salmon, and most of a container of sour cream. The sour cream I'll use in a sour cream coffee cake--the dill was more problematic, as it's such a pungent herb, and doesn't have universal applications like parsley.

So I made dill risotto, and topped it with smoked salmon.

Follow the standard risotto recipe (without the butternut squash and chard, of course); at the end, add a bunch of chopped dill and a big scoop of sour cream. (Adding parmesan cheese at this point is strictly optional.) Salt and pepper to taste.

Spinach and fresh mozzarella lasagna

It's the last lasagna of the season, folks. Using the first of the spring spinach!

Lasagna is another great way to use up random ends of stuff. Veggies and cheese lend themselves particularly well. I use no-boil noodles, this tomato sauce, and a ricotta mixture made up of ricotta, an egg or two, a splash of milk, and some pesto.

I've also made spinach and red pepper lasagna, sweet potato and red pepper lasagna, beet lasagna, chard lasagna, and butternut squash lasagna. But I think this one is especially tasty, as the spinach is really fresh, and the fresh mozzarella gets ooey-gooey.

You can use this lasagna  recipe as a template. Layer sauce, noodles, ricotta mix, slabs of fresh mozzarella (3-5 per layer), handfuls of fresh spinach to cover, parmesan cheese, in that order. Continue until you run out of something (noodles, sauce, an ingredient, or room in your lasagna pan). Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

No-tomato tabbouleh

I've made tabbouleh with cilantro many times; to me, tabbouleh is a summer dish, full of tomatoes and fresh herbs, something that can be eaten room-temperature (so it's great for work lunches, car rides, etc.).

I harvested the first of my mint and cilantro yesterday, and realized I had some parsley in the fridge. The first thing I thought of making was tabbouleh, but I didn't have any tomatoes. (Nor will I, until they're officially in season. I refuse to eat tomatoes before their time.)

So I made tabbouleh without tomatoes.

Which is essentially bulgur wheat salad, with herbs.

Start with one cup of bulgur wheat, uncooked. Cover it with enough cold water so there's an inch of water above the grains, and let soak for 20 minutes. While it's soaking, chop:
a big handful of mint
a big handful of parsley
a big handful of cilantro
some very finely chopped onion or a few green onions (I went light on the onions since I'm not a huge fan of raw onion)
Drain the wheat and add this stuff to it, along with the juice of one lemon and maybe 1/4 cup of olive oil, and salt to taste. Let this sit for another hour or so, to allow the flavors to combine. Eat. 

Salad as a way to use things up

In winter, when I have a lot of random bits of things that need to be used up, I make soup. In spring and summer, I make a salad.

Salads are a great way to use up veggies, meat and cheese. Limp carrots, a last bit of cheese, a handful of nuts and/or dried fruit, a last slice or two of lunch meat, eggs, bacon, croutons, mushrooms, half a pepper, the last blueberries, all those things and more can be chopped up and thrown onto a bed of spinach to great acclaim.

Last night I made four salads (in Tupperware, for future use) with spinach--thanks, garden!--the last of some fresh mozzarella cheese, four sliced mushrooms, croutons, a sliced roasted red pepper, and a shaved carrot. The dressing was my mom's raspberry vinaigrette. Each salad is a meal, so we've got fresh healthy veggie meals for a couple of days.

Barritt's ginger beer

A good Dark n' Stormy is one of my favorite drinks. It makes me think of summer and the ocean (regardless of when and where I'm drinking one).

Of course, I'm particular about the ingredients. Goslings rum is best, and Barritt's ginger beer is by far and away the best. It's smooth, it's sweet, it's not as aggressively carbonated or gingery as other brands of ginger beer.

The problem with that is that Barritt's is, for some reason, notoriously difficult to find these days. I haven't been able to find a steady supply anywhere for the last few years; I managed to score a couple of cases for my wedding, but I haven't had any since then. Every long once in a while I'd stumble across a bar that served Barritt's, but had no luck finding any in grocery or liquor stores. I was forced to use either Goslings ginger beer or Reeds (both acceptable substitutes in a pinch, but nowhere near as delicious as Barritt's).

But o happy day! Yesterday I discovered the liquor store near my house sells Barritt's!

I bought two cases.

I'm ready for summer.