Kitchen Toro: FRIDAY FORAGING: THE KITCHEN PANTRY

Foraging Friday documents Kitchen Toro's exploration of New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods, stores and their ingredients and flavors.

In the spirit of yesterday's Thursday The Long Way: Ice-Cream History, today's Friday foraging consists of foraging for ingredients for a homemade ice-cream to ward away the heat. As I'm salivating over the prospects of a salty flavor I've done my own version of Chubby Hubby, complete with pretzels and a surprise ingredient, popcorn.

The foraging? My own disorganized pantry that needs a real shake-up. That's possibly Saturday's task-- fun, I know. In the meanwhile, there's plenty of stuff to go foraging for in there that can be used for an inventive ice cream. In the upper left corner, Reese's Peanut Butter cups. The problem is that my kitchen is a little smaller than I'd prefer. I've only got about a square foot of counter space on which to do my cutting. Mise en place? Yeah, I do it at home but don't try to open up the microwave while I've got it set up. I can't see all my spices at the same time and the wine rack is now an extra shelf system.

The pantry is actually pretty big, deep actually which means more space but it also means you lose track of what's in it. On the second shelf we've got a bag of pretzels (and behind them the ice cream machine) and on the first shelf on top of the dried chili peppers, some Nestle Crunch candy bars.

I used the recipe for from Bruce Weinstein's book as the ice cream's base.

Vanilla Ice Cream #2 (Extra Rich And Creamy), Bruce Weinstein's The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, p. 131

With so many egg yolks in this recipe, it's easy to "scramble" this custard. So either use a very low heat or cook this custard in a double boiler or stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water. This takes a bit longer, but it is a safe way to ensure a smooth custard.

1 Cup Sugar
¼ Teaspoon Salt
7 Large Egg Yolks
1½ Cups Half-and-Half
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar and salt into the egg yolks and sugar. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over very low heat or in a double boiler. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the hot custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. When finishe, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream, trasnfer to a freezer-safe contianer and freeze at least 2 hours.

FRIDAY FORAGING ICE-CREAM

1 Cup Sugar
¼ Teaspoon Salt
7 Large Egg Yolks
1½ Cups Half-and-Half
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 Nestle Crunch Candy Bar
3 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
4 Thin, Medium, Salted Pretzels
½ Popcorn
3 Tablespoons Peanut Butter
3 Tablespoons Ubett's Chocolate Syrup

Procedure:

Mix the cup of sugar and the ¼ teaspoon salt then beat in the 7 large egg yolks. Separately, simmer the 1½ cups of half-and-half then slowly pour into the sugar/yolk mixture stirring constantly.

Pour it all back into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon over low heat (don't scramble the eggs!) until it thickens slightly. Remove from heat, strain into a clean bowl and chill then stir in one cup heavy cream and one tablespoon vanilla extract and refrigerate until cold.

Stir the chilled custard into ice cream machine and when it's almost finished (when you're ready to put it in the freezer to set a bit) add crushed candies, then pretzels, popcorn and finally the peanut butter and syrup.