Tag Archives: American food

Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble with Vanilla Custard Sauce

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Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble with Vanilla Custard Sauce

Serves 4-6

 

Filling

3 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces

2 cups fresh strawberries

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

½ cup fine sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

 

Topping

½ cup light brown sugar

½ cup flour

½ cup quick cooking oats

½ cup unsalted butter, chilled

1 vanilla pod, add just the seeds

¼ cup ground almonds

 

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x13 pan. In a bowl add the rhubarb, strawberries and Grand Marnier , let sit ten minutes. Then add the sugar , cornstarch and salt. Mix and pour into the greased pan. In a medium bowl ,mix together the brown sugar, flour and oats. Cut butter into mixture with pastry blender until crumbs are pea size. Spread across the fruit mixture. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until rhubarb is tender. Serve with ice cream , whipped cream or vanilla custard sauce.

 

Vanilla Custard Sauce

Makes 1 cup

¾ cup whole milk

¼ cup fine sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Whisk yolks in a bowl until blended. In a medium sauce pan bring milk and sugar to a boil without stirring. Remove from heat and whisk slowly into the bowl with the egg yolks. Return the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Sauce is thick enough when it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour the sauce through a sieve into a bowl and place the bowl into another large bowl with ice and cold water. Stir in vanilla and whisk occasionally until custard is cool. Once cooled , cover the custard with wax paper to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hrs. before serving with Rhubarb Raspberry Crumble.

 

 

 

New York City Wine and Food Festival with Train



The New York City Wine and Food Festival just wrapped up. I attended the Trucks and Train event on Sunday night. It was sponsored by the New York Times and Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co. and hosted by Andrew Zimmern. There were 24 terrific food trucks. Some of the highlights from the food trucks were succulent hand rolled and pan- seared Tibetan dumplings in broth from Chinese Mirch,  warm charcoal grilled pork wrapped in pita with tzatziki from Souvlaki GR, who won the honors as best truck ,a delicious take on a cuban sandwich from the Bongo Brothers which was made with slow roasted pork, smoked honey ham, swiss cheese and homemade pickles on medianoche bread and for dessert the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck went with an awesomesauce sundae and awesome it was with a vanilla soft serve ice cream, spicy chocolate sauce, crunchy candied pepitas topped with fresh whipped cream. There was also plenty of  fine wine provided by the San Francisco Wine Co. – Calling All Angels Chardonnay, California 37 Cabernet and Drops of Jupiter Red.  As if all this good food and wine was not enough there was a special performance by the grammy- award winning group Train. They gave a powerhouse performance which rocked Pier 36 where the event took place. It was a fantastic event and a beautiful evening in one of the best cities in the world.

http://www.savemesanfranciscowineco.com/  



Participating Trucks



The Big Gay Ice Cream – awesomesauce sundae, inspired me to make a spicy chocolate sauce and candied pepitas to make my own sundae. Here are my recipes for those two ingredients!

Spicy Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir together until chocolate and butter have melted and the ingredients come together. Let cool before serving on top of ice cream.

Candied Pepitas

Ingredients
1 cup pepitas, crumbled
5 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg white beaten
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix together. Spread them on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. Bake until the pepitas are golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Let cool before using.

http://voices.yahoo.com/worth-holding-food-musings-singer-songwriter-11812335.html?cat=22