Today Julia (a good friend of mine from high school) came over for some sketching fun and lunch (plus dessert).  Here is what we made:

• Mirin-glazed salmon, a Nigella Lawson recipe that I modified to include a bit more brown sugar and a bit less soy sauce and rice vinegar, so it was sort of like teriyaki salmon with a light mirin flavor.  So very good.  So good, in fact, that we dug in right after it was done and forgot to take any pictures.  My friend Liz made this for me when I visited her in England and it was better than today’s.  But I am an amateur cook.  So it was good enough~
• Green tea ice cream, with a 1-pint Donvier ice cream maker.  It basically uses a basic french vanilla custard ice cream base, and I add about 1  tablespoon of matcha green tea powder that has been dissolved in a bit of hot water so that it becomes a paste.  Once the custard base is done, I pour the matcha paste in and beat vigorously with a whisk until it’s mostly blended.  Then I chill it in an ice bath until it’s cool and churn it in the Donvier.  Excellent, though I’d probably add even more matcha powder next time, since I like it strong.  You can pretty much use any vanilla ice cream base, but ones with eggs are the most creamy.  Here’s a  quick recipe:
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup whole milk or 2% milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

  For a pint of ice cream, I beat two eggs with 3/4 cup of sugar until the eggs are a nice lemony yellow color, then add in milk and beat until it’s all mixed.  Then heat in a saucepan on low-medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Then take it off and pour it through a strainer into a bowl for chilling.  This process may be facilitated by placing the bowl into a bigger bowl filled with ice and stirring occasionally (replace the ice if it melts).  When the mixture cools you add the cream and use it immediately or…not.   There’s another green tea ice cream recipe that uses just egg yolks that’s also pretty good.  She talks about how easy it is to make ice cream without an ice cream machine–just use a food processor.

• Pecan Pie Cupcakes.  I found the recipe on recipezaar.com, and really wanted to try it because it got such rave reviews.  It’s really does taste like pecan pie.  Crispy on top and soft and moist on the inside.  When it’s done a fork should should out clean from it, though the inside will still be soft like…lemon bar filling?  It’s because there’s so much butter and brown sugar and not so much flour.  My mom was worried about eating it because she thought it was undercooked, but it’s really not.  So so yummy, esp. with ice cream~  I cannot stress how easy this recipe is to make.  All you do is put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix.  Then bake for 18 minutes.  There’s really no messing this up.  *__* Delicious.