Saturday, February 26, 2011

Ridiculous II

Talk about the 11th hour...  My box of goodies from Marx Foods for the Ridiculously Delicious Challenge arrived when I was in Philly for work, so I returned with only a couple of days before I was supposed to post my creation.  And one of those I happened to be having some friends over for dinner.  A dinner which I was cooking...  oops.


A day to stew (and smell!) over the ingredients, most of which I had never used before!  I went back and forth between a few ideas, but eventually settled on one.  Oh wait, my ice cream maker bowl isn't in the freezer.  Oh, I need to chill the ice cream base ahead of time!  ...and I'm dog-sitting this weekend.  Eek.  Can I add some hours to the day??



I really wanted to play with the grains of paradise, which are described as being spicy, peppery grains with hints of citrus, cardamom or nutmeg depending on who was talking about them!  I decided to use them to flavor an ice cream, and then pair it with something sweet.  The sweet?  A blueberry crisp, studded with dried tart cherries and a little bit of Szechuan pepper just to make it a little interesting :) 


Blueberry Cherry Crisp with Grains of Paradise Ice Cream
Recipe by Shannon
Serves 2-3, easily doubled for an 8 or 9" sq pan

For the crisp filling:
2 1/2c blueberries (fresh or frozen, unthawed)
1/4c dried tart cherries
2T coconut sugar
pinch of salt
1/8t Szechuan peppercorns, crushed
2-3T flour (AP or white whole wheat)

For the crisp topping:
1/2c oats
1/4c flour (AP or white whole wheat)
1/4c coconut sugar
1/2t cinnamon
pinch salt
2T butter, melted
3T (heaping) yogurt (I used a goat's milk yogurt)

For the ice cream:
1 can light coconut milk
1/2c coconut sugar*(or white/brown sugar)
pinch salt
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
1t-1T coarse cracked grains of paradise
1T arrowroot (or cornstarch)

For the crisp:
Preheat the oven to 400deg.

In a large bowl, combine filling ingredients and mix well so the berries are evenly coated with flour.  Pour filling into a 4"square dish.

Add oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl and mix well.  Stir in melted butter and yogurt and stir until mixture comes together.  Sprinkle over fruit.

Place baking dish in the oven and bake for 20-25min, until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden.  Let crisp set for ~15min after baking.  Serve warm or room temperature, with Grains of paradise ice cream.

For the ice cream:
Reserve 2-3T coconut milk.

To a medium saucepan add coconut milk, sugar, salt, vanilla bean and grains of paradise.  Heat slowly until mixture just comes to a boil.  To the reserved coconut milk, whisk in arrowroot (make sure there are no lumps).  Remove paradise coconut milk from the stove and stir in arrowroot slurry.  Let cool (refrigerate, can be prepared ahead of time...  if you have time!!).

When the base has cooled, it's ready to churn in your ice cream maker (according to manufacturers directions), making sure to strain the mixture before loading it into the bowl.  Serve with blueberry cherry crisp.

*If you're making this ice cream to eat on its own, I'd use 3/4c white or brown sugar



Anyone have fun plans for the weekend??

18 comments:

The Purple Carrot said...

I think it looks delicious!

My weekend plans are pretty low key ... hope you have a great one! :]

Lauren @ Healthy Food For Living said...

Very creative! I'm intrigued by the coconut sugar. I love crisps, and this one looks fantastic :).

Unknown said...

just came across your blog! it's fabulous! you have some great insight on your posts! that looks amazing! so creative!

Joanne said...

This post REALLY makes me hope that I move onto the next round so that I can remake this! And yes, more hours in the day would be LOVELY.

Elizabeth said...

First off, warm fruit crisp with ice cream is one of the best things ever. Second, that grains of paradise ice cream sounds amazing! Would love to be able to taste that.

Shannon said...

Very impressed! I love fruit crisps!

Anonymous said...

The crisp sounds absolutely scrumptious and I am very intrigued by the ice cream with Grains of Paradise, what fun flavors it must feature!

Erica said...

Well that looks like it turned out pretty darn perfect! Crisps or crumbles are one of my most favorite desserts- they are so freaking good! And this one looks amazing- especially with the ice cream on top. Weekend was wonderful! Lots of time outdoors with friends

Kerstin said...

I'm so impressed you pulled this off in a day! Sounds like a lovely treat.

Simply Life said...

oh this looks incredible! nice work!!!

Unknown said...

oh yes, going to go vote for this!!!
:)

Lawyer Loves Lunch said...

This sounds delicious! You've done such a great job mixing up the sweet and savory elements in this dish. Good luck :)

Unknown said...

Always been a fan of fruit crisps. I bet the grains of paradise give it a nice little kick!

good luck on the competition!

Deana Sidney said...

It looks delicious. Grains of paradise are one of my favorite things... I use them in my pepper mix... great idea to put them in an ice cream! The blueberry crumble is lovely... that coconut sugar was delish... nice to find your blog!

Donna Currie said...

Fruit crisps are so nice - I don't know why I don't think of making them more often. I had plenty of time to mull over the ingredients, and it was still hard to decide. Nice job creating something so quickly. Good Luck!

Donna said...

I've been trying to come up with new grains of paradise recipes - wish I'd thought of ice cream!

The Food Hunter said...

I'm drooling over this.

Leslie Uhl said...

Great job! I think there should be more hours, at least on some days, and your recipe sounds delicious indeed!

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