Popsicle-palooza

It's time.

I've been saving this one up for a while, trying to make as many kinds of popsicles as I could before posting. And while this is nowhere near 'as many as I could', it's still a heck of a lot of popsicles. I'll probably update as the summer goes on. Hell, why stop at summer, I'll probably update indefinitely. But summer is nice in that there's all sorts of wonderfully delicious fruits and herbs and things popping up in the garden and the farmers market, which makes for some spectacular pops.

Clockwise from top: stone fruit medley, cucumber gin & tonic, jasmine rhubarb, blueberry basil lemonade, honeydew-mint, and mixed berry smoothie.

It started early this summer, when I got a craving for ice pops that just wouldn't go away. Specifically the apricot rice pudding pops from last summer's Bon Appetit, which are fantastic (tweaked recipe below). After a week or so I gave in and ordered some molds from Amazon (pro tip: I later found the same ones at TJ Maxx for half the price), and started pureeing and freezing basically everything I could. And then I caved again and bough a recipe book from People's Pops, who make incredible if super-hipstery pops in Brooklyn, and tried a few of their recipes. And it was all delicious.

Matcha green tea, piña colada, roasted plum with rosemary, and blackberry-nectarine.

Here's some things I've learned about making popsicles:

1.  All you really need is something you can fill a mold with. I was gonna say 'liquid', but actually that's not true. Thick glop works pretty well too (see i.e. banana fudgesicles below). That can be as simple as fruit juice or a pureed plum, or as complex and full of spices and herbs and alcohol and whatever as you like. Personally I like a little textural contrast, like chopped cherries in a nectarine puree, whole blueberries in lemonade, or nuts and granola in an almond milk-banana mixture. (Yes, really. Best breakfast ever.)
2. Almost everything will work, but not everything everything. I tried two different black tea-based pops, and both ended up tasting funny. Pureed blueberries end up kind of slimy, making for a not-great pop: either strain out the juice and use that, leave them whole or halved in the mix (very pretty), or make sure they're just a small percentage of the total pop. Carbonated beverages will expand more than other things, so leave more room than usual at the top. Too high a percentage of alcohol and it won't freeze (though then you just get a booze slushie, and there are worse things.) 
3. Taste the mixture before you freeze it and adjust as necessary. Add a little acid to make the flavors pop. Supposedly things taste less sweet when they're frozen (?), so some say to add a little more sweetener (sugar, maple syrup, honey) than you normally would. I dunno. Experiment. If you hate what comes out, run some hot water over to melt it down the sink and try something else.
4. Know how much your molds hold, so you can make an appropriate amount. Mine are a half cup each, but models will vary, particularly if you're using juice cups or ice cube trays instead of actual molds. If you make too much, or don't have enough to fill a mold, remember that these are basically smoothies and can be drunk directly from the blender. A glass liquid measuring cup is good both because a) it's a measuring cup and b) the little spout makes it easier to pour into the molds without dripping everywhere.
5. They're really photogenic.

Ginger-peach, apricot-pistachio, and watermelon-kiwi-lime.

These are all vegan (I think one calls for honey, just use sugar), and (almost) totally fruit-based, so I see nothing wrong with eating, like five a day. As always, play around with these. Where I use almond milk, sub in real milk, or coconut milk, or hemp milk, or whatever. Replace my maple syrup with white sugar/brown sugar/agave/honey/dates. Sub peaches for nectarines. Roast the fruit to intensify the flavors, or not. Strain it for a more refined texture, or leave chunks in the puree. I like to leave the skins in for berries and stone fruit (looks like confetti!), but you can take it out. Same for berry seeds. If you don't wanna buy molds, use cups, with spoons for sticks. Just for the love of god use good, ripe fruit. Crap fruit = crap popsicle, so don't expect to use rock-hard peaches and underripe strawberries and get a good result. If it's good to eat, it'll be good to freeze.

Ginger-peach and peach-tarragon.

I've put a bunch of pop recipes here that I made and liked. More are described in the photos but not spelled out; a general recipe for those is to chop/puree the things in the name, then freeze. If there's an herb or aromatic (tarragon, ginger), you can either blend it straight into the mix or get a more pervasive flavor by steeping it in a little boiling water and adding that instead, either straining out the herb or, again, blending it. You can find more ideas on my popsicle board on Pinterest, as well as this one, this one, and this one. Or just google 'popsicle recipes' and wait for the 4.5 million or so hits to pop up.

Stewed apricot with star anise, bubble tea, jamaica (aka hibiscus flower, aka red zinger), banana-granola, chocolate banana faux-fudgesicle.

Banana-Granola Breakfast Pops
Ok seriously, I was skeptical when I first tried these. But for real, after all that, they're my favorite. (Well, tied with the stone fruit bonanza pops below. Those things were awesome.) Think of it kind of like oatmeal, but frozen. And wonderful. The original recipe came from The Frosted Vegan.

3 parts banana
1 part almond milk
A few drops of vanilla (or almond) extract
A spoonful of maple syrup
2 parts granola
Half as much fresh berries
A small handful chopped nuts (optional. Actually, everything but the banana, milk, and granola is optional)

1) Toss the first four ingredients in the blender, and puree til smooth. (Add more milk if the bananas won't puree, but give it a good go before you do.) Taste, and adjust for sweetness.

2) Pour the banana goop into a pyrex measuring cup (or something else with a spout; this gets gloppy). Stir in everything else. Pour into molds. Freeze.

The best place for a popsicle: a backyard barbeque.

Stone Fruit Cornucopia

Stone fruits are my favorite fruits. To make this pop I basically went to the grocery store in mid-June, bought every kind of stone fruit they had, and mixed them together. Turns out that was a great idea.

Ok, so I skipped the peaches and apricots, so sue me.

White nectarines
Plums with white/pale yellow insides
Peaches
Red/purple/black plums
Sweet cherries

1) Chop the nectarines, peaches, and light plums. Eat the peaches. Put the nectarines and plums in the blender and puree.

2) Chop the cherries and dark plums into a small dice. Mix everything together and pour into molds. Freeze.

Blueberry Basil Lemonade
Boil enough water to fill half your molds, and add torn basil leaves and a bit of sugar. (I used Thai purple basil.) Set aside to cool. Add a squirt of lemon juice. Halve about half your blueberries and leave the other half whole. Mix, pour, freeze.

Apricot-Star Anise
Slice your apricots into wedges and add to a pot with enough water to half-cover them. Add a pinch of sugar and a few star anise pods. Simmer til the apricots get nice and soft and fragrant. Pull out the anise - these don't puree well. Blend, taste for sweetness and acid,  pour, freeze.

Apricot-Pistachio
Slice your apricots into wedges, and add to a pot with some almond milk. Smash up some pistachios and add them too. Simmer til the apricots get nice and soft and fragrant. Blend, taste for sweetness and acid,  pour, freeze.

Piña Colada
Blend 3 parts coconut milk, 2 parts fresh pineapple, a pinch of cinnamon, a bigger pinch brown sugar, and a splash of rum (Malibu?) until smooth. A squeeze of lime would be nice in place of the cinnamon too. Freezing is totally optional for this one, though if you're just gonna drink it you should up the rum content.

Cucumber Gin & Tonic
Cut into matchsticks enough cucumber to half-fill the molds. Mix one part gin to two parts tonic (or seltzer water), enough to almost fill them the rest of the way. Add a bit of sugar (seriously) and a squirt of lime. Leave enough room at the top of the molds so these don't bubble over everywhere like mine did.

Add mint and call it a mojito.

Banana Faux-Fudgesicle
Blend bananas with a good bit of cocoa powder, a spoonful of maple syrup, a touch of vanilla extract, and just enough almond milk to make it go. A bit of cinnamon or some chopped almonds would work well too.

Roasted Plum and Rosemary (yes, really)
Halve your plums, pull out the pit, and roast them at 400 for about 10 minutes til they get nice and soft. Meanwhile, boil a sprig of rosemary leaves and a bit of brown sugar in some water. Take out the rosemary (too tough), blend it all together, etc.

Roasted plums, rosemary syrup.

Apricot Rice Pudding Pops
(adapted from BA)
1 1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 lemongrass stalk, pounded with a mallet and tied into a knot
2 tbsp ginger, minced
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp short grain rice (arborio, sticky/sweet, etc)
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt

1) Soak the rice in a bowl of water. Simmer the milks, lemongrass, ginger, and vanilla in a pot. Don't let it boil, or the coconut milk can separate.

2) Pull out the lemongrass and toss it. Puree the spiced milk and ginger until smooth. Drain the rice. Put the rice in the milk/ginger mixture, add the sugar and pinch of salt, and simmer about half an hour, without stirring.

3) Stir in the apricots, pour into molds, freeze.

Watermelon-lime-kiwi. Figure it out yourself.

Peach-Tarragon or Ginger-Peach
Steep some tarragon leaves or chopped ginger in boiling water. Puree with sliced peaches and a bit of sweetener.

Rhubarb-Jasmine
Brew some strong (but not bitter) jasmine tea. Chop some rhubarb into inch-long pieces. Just cover with the tea, add honey, and simmer til the rhubarb gets all soft and starts to fall apart.Mash the rhubarb up a little with a fork, pour, freeze.

Blackberry-Nectarine
Puree nectarines. Set aside. Puree blackberries with a little coconut milk, some lemon juice, and brown sugar. Pour alternating layers of nectarine and blackberry purees into molds.

Raspberries work well too.

Etc, etc.
Make a smoothie. Freeze it. Bam.

The End.

Sweet & Sour

Continuing on the theme of spring... Last weekend at the farmer's market I bought a big bunch of rhubarb. I love rhubarb - it's nice and tart, with pretty red and green stalks, potentially deadly (only if you eat the leaves... didn't Agatha Christie write a story about that?), and borderline unusual (how many people do you know who actually cook wit the stuff?). Of course, like most of my borderline-unusual farmer's market impulse purchases, I buy it expecting great things and then immediately go blank on what to do with the stuff. Like, Bon Appetit just had a whole article on cooking with rhubarb, but suddenly I didn't want to do any of that. I just made compote, and how boring to repeat. So I left them in the bottom of my fridge for a week. (In my defense, it's been waaayyy too hot to turn on the oven lately. Not that that's stopped my from making socca [post coming soon] or apricot applesauce cake [see below] and bringing my apartment up to a toasty 84 degrees according to the thermostat, but whatever.) Somewhere along the way I got the brilliant idea to mix the rhubarb with apricots and plums, because as I've said before, apricots in baked goods are basically the universe's way of giving your tongue a hug. Smitten Kitchen had a rhubarb snacking cake that looked like about what I was hoping for, but it calls for 1/3 cup of sour cream, which I haven't got and didn't feel like going out to buy. So what's a girl to do?

Not for the first time, Mark Bittman came to my rescue. After coming up empty handed from Alford & Duguid's Home Baking (I've also said this before, but they're brilliant and you should buy all their books, including this one, 'cause even though it didn't have an appropriate thickened-dairy-product-free cake for this particular project it still makes me want to make everything in it every time I open it) and the big yellow Gourmet cookbook, How to Cook Everything yielded a beautiful orange-almond cake. (And I didn't even have to go out and buy butter!) So I didn't actually have any almonds, but nuts are nuts and everything else was in my pantry/freezer. (I've started keeping my flour in the freezer to avoid the moths. Lord help me, I'm turning into my grandmother.) I waited til after dark when the temperature had gone down and I could open up some windows (to no avail; it still got hot as hell in here), roasted some rhubarb, sliced up some stone fruit, poured the whole mess on top of the cake batter, and voila! Sweet orange nut cake with tart spring/summer topping. Breakfast of champions.

All the coconut sprinkled on top makes it look blurry.

Orange Nut Cake with Summer Fruit
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (the original, not the new revised version, though for all I know it's in there too)
Bittman writes that "this cake is low in saturated fat but not flavor". Sure thing, Mark.

For the cake:
1/2 cup olive oil (He says light. I used extra virgin. Just don't waste your really good stuff on this.)
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup nuts, optionally mixed with flax seeds if you're feeling virtuous (He calls for almonds. I used walnuts. I bet pistachios would be spectacular.)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp spice (I used cardamom. Cinnamon would be good if you used apples on top. Mix 'n' match.)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp almond extract (or vanilla, maybe anise depending on your fruit choice)
1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional) (see below)
You could probably throw in 1 tbsp orange zest or minced ginger here if you like

For the topping:
1-ish lbs rhubarb
8 or so stone fruits - I used apricot and plum, but peaches or nectarines would go well here too. so would cherries. Or apples and/or pears. Maybe toss some berries in there. Pretty much pick two or three of your favorite seasonal fruits and go to town. Strawberry rhubarb, peach blueberry, apple cinnamon, papaya with lime juice, whatever. Tweak your spices above to go.
1 tbsp sugar (less for sweet fruits, like pear or apple; it's mostly to counterbalance the tartness of things like rhubarb and apricot)
3 tbsp orange juice (only if you're using rhubarb)

Coconut sprinkle:
This is totally optional, but I had some left over from making Papuan steamed buns (ba pao), so I tossed it in. You can use plain (sweetened or unsweetened) shredded coconut instead, or just forget it altogether.
2/3 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 tbsp dark brown sugar (or palm sugar, if you're weird like me and keep some in your pantry)
1-2 tbsp hot water

1) Preheat the oven to 350. If you're doing the coconut thing, dissolve the sugar in the water, then stir in the coconut. Use as little water as you can get away with. Set aside.

2) Start roasting the rhubarb: Chop the rhubarb into 1cm-long chunks. Put in a 9x13x2 (or so) baking pan. Sprinkle with 1tbsp sugar and the oj, stir, and pop into the oven. (This is probably optional; the Smitten Kitchen recipe just puts raw rhubarb right on the dough. If you do that, leave out the oj and just mix the chopped rhubarb and sugar with the chopped stone fruit in a bowl.)

3) Make the batter (and here I'm paraphrasing Bittman): Mix the oil and sugar, then add the eggs and beat for about 5 minutes. (Unless you've got forearms like an Italian grandma, I recommend you use an electric mixer for this one.) Stir in the almond extract.

4) Toss the nuts (and flax seeds, if using; I swear they're delicious) into a food processor and grind  until fine. Mix them in another bowl with the flour, spice, baking powder, & salt.

5) Stir your roasting rhubarb so it doesn't burn.

6) Mix a little of the flour bowl contents into the wet ingredients, then a little oj (of the half cup from the batter list), then repeat til it's all in there. Stir in 1/4 cup of the coconut mixture (or not) and whatever zests you're putting in there. Lick the beaters. Set aside.

7) Cut your fruit into bite-sized chunks. (For small apricots and almonds, I cut around the crease in the fruit, pulled it in half, took out the pit, then cut each half into four slices and cut those in half the short way.) Pull the rhubarb out of the oven and dump it in a bowl (possibly the same bowl you're holding your chopped fruit in.

Cut like so.

8) Grease the rhubarb pan with a little oil, then pour in the batter, smoothing it out like you would a brownie into an even layer. Spread the fruit chunks on top, more-or-less evenly. Save the juice from the bottom of the bowl to mix with seltzer and drink. Scatter with the rest of the coconut mixture (or if you do a nice fruit crisp topping that's work well here too.) Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took about an hour, but start checking at about 40 minutes; a lot will depend on how much fruit you use and how wet it all is. Thank Mark Bittman and the farmer's market for the inspiration.

I've got no in-progress pictures, so here's another one of the slice.

While we're on the topic of oil-based cake (see also: this), here's a bonus recipe, thanks to the fact that I've been cooking like mad recently and if I don't combine these two into one post I'll never ever get everything up here that I want to. The Co-op had samples set out the last time I was there on my grocery run of organic applesauce blends: plain apple, apple-apricot, peach, etc. And coupons. And they were delicious. So I bought a jar of the apple peach, and then immediately realized I had no idea what to do with it. (C.f. above rhubarb idea paralysis. This happens way too much.) So when Dolly had a party this weekend and I had to come up with something to bring, I pulled out my mom's old applesauce cake recipe and tarted it up with some slices of the apricots I had waiting in the fridge to accompany the rhubarb. So easy, so reliable, so awesome.

All that was left post-party.

Basic Applesauce Cake
This is the basic recipe. Feel free to mess with the spicing (I subbed out most of the cinnamon for cardamom to go with the apricot), use blended applesauces, and/or add slices of fruit, nuts, or berries on top.

2 cups flour
½ cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
less than ¼ tsp ground cloves
3 beaten eggs
16 oz applesauce
½ cup oil

Preheat oven to 350º. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in eggs, applesauce, and oil until thoroughly combined. Bake in greased and floured 15 x 10 x 1 pan for 25-30 minutes. (Or halve everything for an 8x8 pan)

While Rome Burns

Sausage + fiddleheads = dinner

It's spring, finally. (Or did we skip straight to summer? It broke 90 up here yesterday.) So after a month or more of reading about all the MIA seasonal delights - ramps, rhubarb, fiddleheads - that ought, according to magazine editors and food bloggers everywhere, to be overflowing at my local farmers' market, I finally managed to find two of the above. No ramps, alas, but the Co-op had rhubarb and ferns. I had no idea what to do with either, so naturally I bought them anyway.

Washed fiddleheads

Google, as usual, was quick to provide inspiration, with a nod to some French blog I'd never heard of for the rhubarb compote and Saveur for a link to a ramp recipe I didn't really follow. I usually go to Saveur first when I'm looking for something in particular, and they rarely disappoint. Anyway I didn't take any photos while making the rhubarb, so apologies for that 'cause it's all bright and colorful (ETA: I've added photos of the finished product), but the fiddleheads should make up for it. They're photogenic little things, that's for sure, all green and smooth and curled up. The ferns I'd eaten in Indonesia weren't nearly so pretty. At some point I'm gonna have to find some to transplant to my garden so I can pick my own - $10/lb at the store, ouch - because this was delicious. The taste of spring, while it lasts.

Herbs & garlic

Rhubarb-Berry Compote
1/2 lb rhubarb
6 tbsp orange juice
~5 tbsp brown sugar
2 handfuls mixed berries, fresh or frozen (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.)
1 tbsp minced ginger
lemon juice to taste

1) Preheat oven to 375. Cut the rhubarb stalks lengthwise, then chop into centimeter-long pieces. Put these in a glass baking dish, sprinkle with 2 tbsp of the sugar and 3tbsp of the oj, and roast uncovered for about 45 minutes, stirring halfway through.

2) Put the berries, ginger, the rest of the sugar, and the rest of the oj into a pot and simmer for about 5 min. Add the rhubarb and all the juices from the pan and simmer another 5-10 min, until things start to thicken up. Mash the berries a bit with a fork.

3) Take a taste. If you want it tarter, add a squeeze of lemon juice. If you want it sweeter, add a little sugar. Let cool until just warm and serve over ice cream, yogurt, biscuits, or on its own with a spoon.

C'est parfait.

Fiddleheads and Sausage (inspired by this)

1 link sweet Italian sausage
1/3 lb fiddleheads
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 small handful mixed herbs, chopped (I used oregano, sage, and tarragon. Loooved the tarragon.)

Post-chopping.

1) Rinse & trim the fiddleheads. Make sure to rub the sides of the coil to get the little brown bits off. Set aside.

2) Cook the sausage in a pan over medium heat. (Cast iron works well.) Let it brown well on all sides, then cover a bit so the inside cooks. Cut it open to make sure it's not too pink. Set on a plate, leaving all the juices in the pan.

Mmm, Nica's sausage

3) Add the fiddleheads to the pan with the sausage juices and a little olive oil. Add the garlic and herbs and saute until the ferns are just cooked through but not soft or limp, 5 minutes tops. You want these fresh, not mushy. Add salt & pepper to taste.

4) Serve with the sausage and some good bread to mop up the liquid. If at all possible, eat outside on a patio while slapping away the season's first mosquitos and sipping prosecco.

Mid-saute.