strawberry elderberry ice cream.

We love to make cold treats in the summer. Granita, sorbet, ice cream, frozen custard...all have their place. My favorite quick make ice cream recipe is really just that - quick and easy to make. It is not the mild fruit flavor of most ice creams - this is triple the fruit and 100% of the flavor. It isn't too sweet either, and it really tastes more like frozen strawberries and cream than ice cream. Perfectly delicious.

::ingredients::

1 pound hulled strawberries
juice and zest of half a lemon
9 Tbsp raw honey
5 Tbsp elderberry syrup
1 cup whipped cream, chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract or scraped seeds from half a vanilla bean
a few grates of fresh nutmeg (optional)


In a food processor* pulse the strawberries, honey, vanilla, lemon juice and elderberry syrup. Don't liquefy, just pulse so that the strawberries are chunky but not huge.
(*You can just macerate in a bowl with pastry cutter or fork too.)

By hand or with a kitchen aid whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.


Fold the puree of strawberries into the whipped cream, including all the liquid. Add the lemon zest.


Pour into your ice cream maker and run for 20-30 minutes. Transfer into a freezer container to set.


This is the most simple ice cream - and has such an intense strawberry flavor (and color!) that nothing can compare. Being such a simple recipe it is super easy to put together and have in the freezer in no time at all. Leaving more time for summer fun.

I used heavy cream for this recipe, but you could use coconut milk too. You won't get the light whip cream air from the coconut, but will still have the nice berry flavor. If you use regular sugar instead of honey let it sit in the bowl with the strawberries/vanilla/syrup/lemon juice for a bit to dissolve before pulsing. If you don't have elderberry syrup you can substitute - rose water would be wonderful - or just leave it out.

.

csa box: week 2!

We went through our first box quickly - I'm excited to see beets in this box, and while I normally buy as many extra beets as are available each week so I can make my favorite pickled beets, this weekend we have visitors, so I'm trying to keep my workload on the food front down. I have a bunch of fresh herbs and I plan to dry about half of them as well as make a batch of pickled daikon. Yum.

In our box this week:: beets, new garlic, kohlrabi, dill, snap peas, snow peas, broccoli, kale, romaine, leaf lettuce, daikon


My extras this week are:: mix of mushrooms, marjoram, lavender, sage, parsley, bag of basil

We are drying another bunch of lavender to make more goodies -- this week we made lavender bath salts & lavender sugar, and plan to make more of the bath salts as well as lavender honey this week. I think scones are in my future!

garlic scape pesto.

ingredients::
1 cup chopped garlic scapes
4-5 sprigs parsley (or basil)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & pepper to taste
juice of 1 lemon
(1/3 cup pine nuts optional)


instructions::
In your food processor whiz the garlic scapes & parsley together until they lie flat in the bottom (10-15 seconds). Add the olive oil, lemon and Parmesan cheese one at a time until it looks like pesto. ;) You may need to add a bit more oil if you have big scapes. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Some recipes call for pine nuts or walnuts (about 1/4 - 1/3 cup) but I like the base recipe without. Why? I like using this as a base for many things, and it is easier for me to tweak the basic pesto for each recipe!

• Of course it is awesome as a pesto on pasta (if you want the nuts, add roasted pine nuts when you toss it with pasta).
• It makes a great base for salad dressings (just add more olive oil & a squeeze of lemon to thin and toss into your salad).
• It is wonderful as a condiment on burgers/brats/grilled veggies.
• It is a delicious dressing for steamed veggies like peas, swiss chard, spinach, etc. (after steaming, toss in bowl with the pesto...yum).
• It makes a great dip for veggies or pretzels...mix with some fresh sour cream!
• Use it instead of red sauce on pizza.
• Make it using ramps (instead of scapes) in early spring...oh yeah.

I like making a lot of something at a time - it really makes it easier to just get a bunch done at once. From there, I can freeze small batches, store it in canning jars in the fridge, and of course use some immediately for dinner. It is pretty easy to double/triple this recipe during scapes season - we got some in our CSA box, and found them for sale by the bag full at our neighborhood farmer's market!

Scapes are part of the garlic plant, so contain the same health benefits as the cloves, such as immune system booster and inflammation reliever as well as good calcium, vitamin c iron and even protein! They just have a milder flavor than their bulby base.