Maida Heatter's Little Havana Coconut Ice Cream

Ms. Heatter describes this ice cream as follows: "smooth as honey, rich as Rockefeller, with an evasive but tantalizing coconut flavor."
I call it manna from heaven and, as ice creams go, it's almost as fabulous as the rhubarb ice cream I posted this spring. And that's really saying something!

Maida is from Miami, a dessert genius, and she explains this recipe is a result of experimenting by some of her Cuban/American friends along with some adaptation from a recipe by Roland Mesnier, who was pastry chef at the White House for many years. Her books don't include all that many ice cream recipes, but when you see one, you can be certain it will be a winner.

Serving suggestions: in a real coconut half sprinkled with browned shredded coconut, or with fresh strawberries, or the most decadent of all: covered in bittersweet chocolate sauce. 
I wanted the coconut flavor to shine through and it's very rich, so I served it in some teacups belonging to a tea service made from coconuts I found years ago on a trip to Hawaii.

Little Havana Coconut Ice Cream
From Maida Heatter's Book of Great American Desserts

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
4 cups light cream (NOT half and half, but real coffee cream)
12 ounces packaged shredded sweetened coconut (and a little extra if you want to toast some for the top)
16 egg yolks, graded large
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons canned Cream of Coconut (I used 3 tablespoons) 
(Coco Lopez is the brand and it's found where you find mixed drink components in your supermarket)

Method:
Place 1 1/2 cups of the whipping cream (reserve the remaining 1 cup) in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the light cream and the coconut. Bring to a low boil and then simmer, stirring, for 5 minutes. Take off the burner and let stand for 30 minutes.
Using a very fine strainer, strain the mixture, pressing down on the coconut to get all the liquid out. Ms. Heatter suggests straining through a linen dishtowel, but I used some gauze. Squeeze the gauze hard. Discard the coconut.

In an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, sugar and cream of coconut for several minutes. Remove from mixer and slowly add the strained coconut milk mixture. Place in another heavy saucepan over medium to low heat and cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon or reaches 175 degrees on a thermometer. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL. The eggs will curdle and you'll have to start all over.

Immediately, to stop the cooking, pour through another strainer, add the last cup of whipping cream, and stir until cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Freeze following  manufacturer's directions. 
Makes a generous 2 quarts.

Fresh Tomato Clafoutis and the Giveaway Winners

Much as I like recipes from Patricia Wells (our 11th Game Changer), this one was not exactly what I expected. I was all for trying a savory tomato claufoutis with some Roma tomatoes I had on hand but was surprised the clafoutis base ended up like a custard. Well, Mary from One Perfect Bite did mention the recipe resembled a frittata rather than a clafoutis and there's no flour, so I shouldn't have been surprised. The flavors are really good...all that Parmesan, thyme and lovely summery fresh Romas. For a light lunch, it can't be beat, but I don't think males in your family are going to like this much. Not enough substance.

The tomatoes MUST be dry...that is key. Which requires a lot of tomato preparation before you get to the simple recipe. After I drained them for an hour on paper towels, I wiped them dry, squeezing a bit. Once the tomatoes are prepared, the ingredient list is short. If you're having a friend or two over for lunch, this would be ideal served with some lightly dressed greens or a lovely fruit salad.


Tomato Clafoutis
From Patricia Wells via Mary at One Perfect Bite 

Ingredients:

2 pounds Roma tomatoes, peeled, cored, quartered, seeded and juiced

Salt

2 whole eggs + 2 additional egg yolks

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 10-inch round baking dish. Set aside.

Remove the skin from the tomatoes by dipping them in boiling water. Remove the seeds and as much juice as you can. Salt the tomatoes and drain on several thicknesses of paper toweling for 60 minutes. Wipe dry and sqeeze lightly to remove most of the juice.

Place eggs, cream, half of Parmesan cheese and half of thyme in in a small bowl. Whisk to

combine. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Layer tomatoes on bottom of baking dish. Pour batter over tomatoes. Sprinkle with remainder of cheese and thyme.
Bake until batter is set, about 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

The winners of the Make It Now, Bake It Later cookbooks are:
1) Lisa from Lisa is Cooking and
2) Rocky Mountain Woman
Please contact me at bsmithw@gmail.com with your name and mailing address. 
Have fun with them!

White Rice Browned and a Retro Giveaway

If you raised a family in the 50's, you'll know all about this series of paperback cookbooks. I used them constantly when the kids were little, still have every single one and still make our favorites from them. If this series is new to you and you'd like some make ahead meals for your busy life, this will be a fun addition to your cookbook library.

Here's the skinny:

Homemaker Barbara Goodfellow was the wife of a Navy Admiral who didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen cooking when she could be with her guests in the living room. She put together a bunch of recipes that could be prepared ahead of time and cooked in an oven without further attention. She self-published her first Make it Now, Bake it Later cookbook in 1958. (Half of all proceeds devolving to Mrs. Goodfellow were donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.) 

The first book and its subsequent five sequels went on to sell 1.5 million copies. Barbara died a few years ago, but her family still receives numerous requests for recipes from the original books - even though they've been out of print for 20 years. However, you can buy them (used) at Amazon.

One of the retro giveaway prizes today will be the first three cookbooks, numbered 1-3, plus the last three which are combined in one book, so you'll get three smallish paperback books and one thicker one.

The second retro giveaway has all six of Barbara Goodfellow's cookbooks under one cover.

(You might be interested to note there is also a "next generation" book: Barbara's son, Scott, and his wife, Ann, revived the Make it Now, Bake it Later phenomenon. It includes more than 200 new recipes that have been updated for today's palate, as well as a few of the most-requested recipes from the original books.)
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To illustrate I made an easy peasy side dish: White Rice Browned. Because using browned butter is all the rage right now, perhaps this retro dish isn't quite as retro as one might have thought. Have you ever read shorter directions? And yes, I used salted butter....which I'm fairly certain was all that was available back then. It's even better warmed up the next day. 

White Rice Browned
From Barbara Goodfellow's Make It Now, Bake It Later

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups raw white rice (I used Uncle Ben's)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste as this is salted butter)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cans beef consomme (Campbell's, undiluted)
2 cups water
1/2 cup slivered almonds ( I always add more 'cause I love the crunch)

Method:

Melt butter and brown the rice and almonds. Place in casserole and add seasonings and water and consomme. Bake 300 for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

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Two of you will win these fun, retro cookbooks. All you have to do is leave a comment. Sorry guys, but U.S. and Canada only please! And make certain I have your email address. I'll announce the winners July 29th, so you don't have much time.