So its been awhile since I last posted, but, at least, this time I have an excuse. I was off at a family reunion for the past week, and since I don’t own a laptop computer I didn’t have any way of posting from the house we rented. But even if I did, I have to admit I probably wouldn’t have posted. I wanted a week away from the computer (at least as much as possible) and that included updating the blog.

It’s not that I didn’t have stuff to post. My family (on my Dad’s side) is full of great cooks and since we all shared the cooking we were never in want of a good meal. In fact, if any of us left that reunion less than 5-10 pounds heavier it would be a miracle!

One tradition, that had stopped a few years back, was re-instituted this year-making home-made ice cream. When my Grandfather was around it just wasn’t a summertime family get together without homemade ice cream. Luckily, this past Christmas both my brother and I received old fashioned, hand cranked ice cream makers from our Dad so the decision to start up the tradition again was an easy one.

Of course, I don’t think the youngest generation was all that thrilled. There were numerous looks of, “You mean I have crank it to get ice cream?!” But in the end I think everyone enjoyed gathering around the ice cream machines and taking a turn either cranking on sitting on top of the maker to help steady it as the ice cream got harder and got tougher to crank. I also don’t think many of them knew what to make of the icy treat that was produced. Let’s face it, home cranked ice cream can be kind of icy. It certainly isn’t as smooth and creamy as that $5.00 a half gallon stuff you buy at the store. But for those of us who have grown up making ice cream occasionally, it was a treat that brought back many childhood memories.

But let’s face it, what really makes homemade ice cream great is all the homemade sauces that accompany it. So we also had a strawberry sauce, a rhubarb sauce and homemade hot fudge to pour over top. Or use your own favorite homemade sauces.

The recipe for this ice cream comes from the booklet included with the White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer. The recipe is for 2 quarts of ice cream but it can easily be scaled up. We ended up making 10 quarts to feed our large group (with just a little left over!).

Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
makes 2 quarts

2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
dash of salt
1 cup half and half
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream

Scald milk (cook just until bubbles start to form around the edges. Remove from heat and add sugar and salt. Stir until full dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and chill for, at least 30 minutes, before placing in the ice cream freezer. Freeze following the manufacturer’s directions for your ice cream freezer. The ice cream will then probably need to be packed with ice or placed in a regular freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour to harden a bit. Scoop and serve with your favorite toppings!

On Sunday the family headed a few miles south to Kelley’s Country Creamery, a new ice cream place in the area. We were originally drawn to it because they sell hard pack ice cream, a novelty in this part of Wisconsin where frozen custard reigns supreme. This was our second trip even though the place hasn’t been open for a month yet, and I see many more trips there before the season is over. While we were drawn by the promise of hard pack ice cream, we have been hooked by the excellent quality, and the farm to table approach they take. You see, the Kelley’s also own the farm that produces the milk they use in their ice cream. It is my understanding that they send their milk to a local dairy producer who pasteurizes it and turns it into an ice cream base that the Kelley’s then flavor and churn. Supposedly, they have 61 flavors that they produce, on a rotating basis. While I haven’t seen, or tasted all of them, I have been impressed with the quality of the ice creams I have tried and inspired by their creativity. Of course they offer up the standards of chocolate, vanilla (which looks and tastes like homemade), and strawberry, but they also offer up more interesting flavors such as Purple Cow (grape), Root Beer, Orange-Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate-Raspberry, and Moo Luau (banana split ice cream-banana with swirls of chocolate, strawberry and pineapple). They are located just south of Fond du Lac, WI on County Rd. B (exit off of Hwy. 41 and drive east a few miles). Their website is here. Check it out, and if you find yourself in the area, definitely stop by for a scoop or two.

In the meantime, you can use this Hot Fudge Sauce to make your own Sundaes. This recipe has a great, old fashion flavor and is the perfect foil to a dish of vanilla ice cream. On try of this simple recipe and you’ll never buy store bought again!

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 Tbsp. butter
3oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine cocoa powder, sugar and 3/4 cup of cream in a sauce pot and stir to combine. Add corn syrup, butter and chocolate. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once at a boil stop stirring and cook until mixture reaches 236°F. Remove from heat, allow to cool for 5 minutes then add remaining cream and vanilla extract. Store, covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. To serve, gently heat over a double boiler or in a microwave at half power.

Apricot season is short, usually running from the end of May to the end of July, sometimes as late as August in good years. With such a short season one must take full advantage of these golden fruits in the few weeks they are available. Unfortunately, this year hasn’t been a good year for apricots, judging by the ones we have gotten in Wisconsin. They aren’t overly sweet and when ripe most of the ones I have purchased have become mealy. All is not lost though. Sure they may not be perfect for eating out of hand this year but when grilled, slightly underripe apricots make a great topping for a variety of items from pork to ice cream. The simple recipe I offer today makes good use of this year’s so-so crop of apricots and makes an excellent ending to any dinner centered around the grill.

Vanilla Ice Cream Topped with Grilled Apricots and Honey
Serves 4

4 each Apricots (slightly firm and just a little underripe)
1-2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
4 Tbsp. Honey (your favorite kind)
1/4 cup Almonds
4 large scoops Vanilla Ice Cream

Earlier in the day toast the almonds in 350 degree oven until slightly browned. Cool and finely chop. While your main entree is grilling, cut the apricots in half and remove the pit. Once your entree is done, brush the grill clean. Brush the cut sides of the apricots with the oil and place on the hottest part of the grill. Grill for about 30 seconds turn over and grill 20-30 seconds more. It’s okay to get a little char on the cut flesh but try not to burn the skin side. Remove from the grill and set aside. After dinner, slice or roughly dice the apricots. Place ice cream in individual bowls and sprinkle with the apricots. Drizzle the honey over top of the ice cream and apricots and finally garnish with the toasted almonds.

A few years ago my wife and I went out grape picking at a local “U-Pick” farm. The farm offered a variety of u-pick options, including raspberries and a number of different apples along with the grapes. We enjoyed ourselves, filling pint after pint of raspberries, a couple basketfuls of apples, and way more grapes than we could possibly use. The apples were turned into Apple Butter, pie filling, Apple Dumplings while the raspberries were all turned into jam including my favorite – Raspberry Jalapeno Jam. With the grapes, my wife canned our own grape juice and a couple varieties of grape jelly, but we were still left with a considerable amount of grapes, way more than we would eat, fresh, before they went bad. Wanda searched through cookbooks, and surfed the web for grape recipes and happened upon a number of recipes for Concord Grape Pie. Neither of us had ever heard of it, but it sounded interesting, if not a little time consuming so Wanda whipped up a pie and we fell in love with it. A Concord Grape Pie is like everything good about grape jelly and grape juice but none of the other’s downsides. The pie is sweet, but nicely balanced by a tartness that is provided by using the skins. It is also very “grapey” but not overwhelmingly so. Now when we go grape picking we make sure to pick more than we need and get our fill of Grape Pie during harvest. We also freeze a quite a few pounds of the little purple spheres so that we can enjoy a Concord Grape Pie anytime of year.

I am someone who believes that pie any fruit pie is best served with ice cream. That being the case, the first few times Wanda made grape pies we ate it with vanilla ice cream. While this proved to be a good pairing (and what fruit pie isn’t enhanced by a scoop of vanilla ice cream?), I began to think that I could come up with better. What is the ultimate kid inspired pairing? Peanut butter and jelly, so why not serve peanut butter ice cream along side this pie instead of vanilla. It’s not easy to find straight up peanut butter ice cream. Most of it is peanut butter cup or some other mix of chocolate and peanut butter. While not bad, I really wanted an ice cream with just peanut butter to create the Ultimate PB&J’s.

Each of the recipes below are wonderful on their own, but I hope that you try them together for a great adult take on a kid favorite. One thing to take note of ; the recipe calls for peeling the grapes. Don’t worry, Concord grape are not like the standard table grapes which are very difficult to peel. To peel Concord grapes just squeeze them between your thumb and finger, the skins should slip off. Don’t discard the skins as you will be adding them back to the grape puree.

Concord Grape Pie
Adapted from bhg.com

1 each Pie crust for a 9 inch pie
1 1/2 pounds Concord Grapes (about 4 cups)
3/4 cup Sugar
1/3 cup All-purpose Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Butter, melted
1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
For Topping:
1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Butter

Line pie plate with crust and set aside. Remove skins from grapes (see note above), setting skins aside and place grape pulp into a nonreactive saucepan. Bring pulp to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Pass through a strainer to remove all the seeds then add the skins back into the puree. In a large bowl combine sugar, flour and salt. Mix well then add the grape mixture and the butter. Mix well again then pour into prepared pie shell. Cover edges with foil to prevent over browning and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile make the crumb topping by mixing together the flour and sugar. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Remove the pie from the oven. Remove the foil edging and sprinkle crumb mixture over pie. Bake an additional 25 minutes or until the pie is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool completely and set before cutting and serving.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

3 cups 1/2 and 1/2
3 each Eggs, large
1 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Peanut Butter
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 pinch Salt

Heat 1 cup of the 1/2 and 1/2 over medium heat. Meanwhile combine the eggs and sugar and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. When 1/2 and 1/2 comes to a simmer pour 1/3 of it into the the egg mixture to temper the eggs, stir and add the egg mixture back into the sauce pan. Stirring constantly, over medium heat, cook the custard mixture until it thickens slightly and just starts to steam. Don’t overcook or you will curdle the eggs. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and salt. Stir until they are dissolved. Pour into a large bowl and add the remaining 1/2 and 1/2. Place in the refrigerator to chill then freeze in an ice cream machine, following the manufacturer’s instructions. When done scrape into a container, cover and freeze until hardened.