Strawberry Basil Ice Cream

In almost every childhood memory I have surrounding a summer holiday weekend, either my mother or grandmother made a batch of homemade ice cream for our family to enjoy and take relief from the Texas heat. As Robert and I discussed our Fourth of July plans this past weekend, I knew I wanted to make some homemade ice cream. I don't know that I even made the correlation to it being a Thrasher family tradition until after I was well into making this delicious summer treat.

I think what I like most about this ice cream recipe is how surprisingly well the flavors of strawberries and basil go together. I first encountered this pairing at Central Market during their Herb Festival last year and simply could not get the flavor out of my mind. So I did what one should do in such circumstances: search the internet for a recipe! After sifting through the search results, I came across this recipe in Fine Cooking magazine that, with a few changes, perfectly matched what I had in mind. It's creamy, fresh, sweet and certainly compelling.

Finally, according to several food blogs I read, July is apparently Ice Cream Month, so it's only natural that we post at least one homemade ice cream recipe here on A Thyme To Eat. Who knows, maybe the heat will inspire many more to come.

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Strawberry Basil Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
Table salt
1 cup hand torn basil leaves
5 large egg yolks
1 pound fresh strawberries, trimmed and pureed

Instructions
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the heavy cream,

 the milk (I used whole, because if you're going to indulge in ice cream, you oughta do it all the way),

 sugar

 and a pinch of table salt.

Warm the mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is fully dissolved and tiny bubbles appear along the edge of the liquid, about 5 or so minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the basil leaves.

Stir and cover and let steep for about an hour. After an hour remove the basil leaves from the cream using a slotted or mesh spoon and discard.

In a large bowl, prepare a water bath of ice and water.

Set inside the bath a smaller bowl and pour the remaining heavy cream inside. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and set aside.

Reheat the cream mixture over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Carefully pour half the cream mixture into the egg yokes while whisking continuously to keep the eggs from curdling.

Pour the egg mixture into the remaining cream mixture and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

Be sure not to let the mixture boil or overheat or the eggs will curdle and ruin the custard.

Pour the custard into bowl with the cream in the ice bath and stir to cool the mixture and end the cooking process.

While the custard cools, puree the strawberries in a blender until smooth.

Pour the pureed strawberries into the custard and stir until thoroughly blended.

Cover and let chill in the fridge for at least four hours.

After the mixture has chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the instructions. I use an old fashioned Rival ice cream freezer and it took about 40 minutes to churn the cream into ice cream.

Place in air tight containers and place in the freezer for about 2 hours to harden.

It's ok to take a taste before putting in the freezer, but if you're serving this to guests, you don't want to skip the hardening phase! This step allows you to get the perfect scoops of ice cream everyone loves.

Source: Adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine

Bunker Sliders

My husband makes the best burgers. They are always so flavorful and juicy, nicely balanced, and especially fun because he loves making them. So I call his burgers "Bunker Burgers" as they are so special and unique! He spent many tailgating years at Notre Dame perfecting his technique and recipe, and since then, he has tried out all kinds of new combinations, often to meet the tastes of his wife, a self proclaimed picky eater.

Happy 4th of July!

These sliders were born from our nostalgia for the Little Leaguers from "Ball's Hamburgers," a mainstay in the lives of anyone who grew up in Dallas, Texas. The one in our neighborhood (in Snider Plaza) closed a few years ago, and was replaced by, of all things, a Dunkin' Doughnuts Shop. I was unhappy for quite a few reasons, and very pleased when Dunkin' Doughnuts left that location after about a year. Ball's Hamburgers is still open on Northwest Highway and Midway, the burgers are still yummy, but the atmosphere is just not the same. Anyways, Bunker and I grew up eating these sliders after soccer games, during birthday parties, and for off-campus high school lunches. It is a sweet memory and an easy one to recreate at home!

These have a sweet twist by featuring Hawaiian Sweet Rolls!

My husband did ALL of the cooking on this one!

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Ingredients:
-We purchased .6 pounds of ground meat which equals .1 pounds of ground meat per burger (we used rather lean meat...98% lean...but you can use whatever you like).
-1 Tablespoon BBQ Sauces of your choice
-1 Tablespoon Ranch Dressing
-1/2 Tablespoon Horseradish
-Jack's Burger House Seasoned Salt to taste, at least 1 to 2 teaspoons (or your seasoning of choice...Jack's Burger House is another local burger joint that is just delicious! I think it is just called Burger House now, but people that have lived in Dallas for a long time remember it as Jack's...it is one of those places you could carve your name into the tables and write on the walls...those walls actually can tell a lot of stories!)
-Sliced cheeses of your choice, cut into four pieces each. Bunker used Muenster on his and he used Cheddar on mine.
-6 Hawaiian Sweet Rolls cut in half

Steps:
1. Mix together the ground meat, Tablespoon of BBQ sauce, Tablespoon of Ranch Dressing, 1/2 Tablespoon of Horseradish, and seasoned salt.
2. Form the mixture into 1/4 cup sized patties.

3. On your outside or inside grill, cook the burgers for about 2 minutes per side.

4. Add the sliced cheese to the burgers and cook for another 2 minutes. We covered the burgers to let them steam.

5. Stack on top of your sliced Hawaiian rolls and enjoy!

 Cort was on the move!

Puppies cooperated far better than we expected!!

 

Eggs Benedict on Popovers

I think one of the most fun things to do in the kitchen is to play around with the classics, turn them upside down a bit and make them your own. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but that is what is fun about cooking, you can laugh at the failures and you can enjoy the deliciousness of those which succeed.

This particular experiment, Eggs Benedict on Popovers succeeded wonderfully...albeit...messily! A classic Eggs Benedict consists of an English Muffin, a Poached Egg, Ham or Bacon, and all topped off with Hollandaise Sauce. My reinvention consists of a Fresh Popover, a Poached Egg, Prosciutto, and Hollandaise Sauce from a blender! I hope that you enjoy this whimsical treat as much as my family did!

I love my puppies. This is how we start each morning. 

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Ingredients for Blender Hollandaise Sauce:
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper depending on how much of a kick you want, I used 1/8 teaspoon
1 tablespoon of cream
1 cup of sweet cream butter, melted
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

Ingredients for Assembly:
1 recipe of popovers
6 poached eggs
Prosciutto

Steps for Blender Hollandaise Sauce:
1. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. You can discard the egg whites, or you can whip these up for a small amount of meringue. I honestly just tossed mine, and then thought about how I could have used them...too late! Melt your butter and gather all of your ingredients.

2. Place the 3 egg yolks, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and 1 tablespoon of cream in a blender.

3. Blend until smooth and frothy, like shaken whole milk, but with a soft yellow hue.

4. As you continue to blend, add half of the melted butter to the blended mixture in a slow and steady stream. Your sauce should begin to thicken.

5. After you have added half of the butter, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the mixture.
6. Then finish adding the remaining butter to the sauce, blending the entire time.

7. Enjoy drizzled over your warm Eggs Benedict for a lazy weekend breakfast!

Original recipe from Epicurious 1962, for Blender Hollandaise, clearly a recipe that has stood the test of time. 

Steps for Assembling the Eggs Benedict:
1. Prepare the popovers (click for recipe link) so that they will be finished baking right after the eggs are poached and the sauce is ready. Your popovers will fall very quickly. They still taste yummy after they fall...and actually...come to think of it...you will cut them in half anyways for serving...so do not stress about timing it perfectly. Take a mental or actual picture of how beautiful the popovers are right when they come out of the oven, and then enjoy how delicious they taste after they have fallen and are covered in the yummy toppings.

2. Prepare the Hollandaise Sauce.

3. Poach 6 eggs. This was my first time to poach eggs. I was a bit nervous, I was fully prepared to do scrambled eggs as a back-up plan. However, it was really not that difficult and the result was so tasty, I will prepare my eggs this way far more often. Basically, bring a wide and shallow pot of water to almost boiling, it should be simmering but you know that at any moment it could actually boil. When the water hits this point, stir a spatula in the water to make a little eddy, and then slide the egg gently into the water. Wait patiently about 3 minutes and then gently remove the egg. I will do a post on this later with pictures.

4. Slice the Prosciutto into smaller pieces.

5. Assemble the Eggs Benedict by cutting the popovers in half, add the prosciutto slices, and then one poached egg per popover. Then drizzle the whole composition with a generous stream of Hollandaise Sauce.

It is a beautiful creation, complicated and artistic. But don't let this stop you...Enjoy this delightful play on the classic Eggs Benedict!