LouieNep Food

(by Lorraine) Louie’s love of ice cream and frozen delights is something I don’t share. Blame it on my super sensitive teeth, my aversion to brain freeze, or my macrobiotic diet as an infant- the fact is that I’d rather have a slice of chocolate cake for dessert any day than a scoop of ice cream.

But it’s the peak of summer here. Stepping outside is like stepping into a pizza oven, and the only highlight of being in the kitchen is that I’m able to stand in front of the freezer for a few seconds. The thought of lighting up our hotter than hot oven in this weather to bake a cake or one of my famous desserts is plain crazy, and yesterday I decided that it was definitely time for something COLD:

Espresso Granita
Brew 4 cups strong espresso coffee. While it’s still hot, stir in 6 tablespoons granulated sugar until sugar dissolves. Let cool to room temp. Pour coffee mixture into a metal baking pan (I used my trusty square brownie pan), and place in freezer. Freeze until ice crystals begin to form (about 30 mins)- once they do, stir with a fork and return to freezer. Do this for a few hours, freezing then stirring every 30 minutes, until mixture is very thick and scoopable. Serve in chilled glasses, topped with chocolate shavings or chocolate chips.

Brain freeze time! But I’ll admit, the reason I, a coffeeholic, liked this is that it’s basically frozen coffee. Non-coffee lovers should try out this recipe for Lemon Granita. Enjoy!

(by Lorraine) After using a tabletop electric oven for so long, we were excited to finally get a huge gas-heated oven a few days ago. How to break it in? The first thing I thought of was pizza. Specifically, a simple but elegant Margherita- thinly sliced ripe tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, a hearty chunk of mozzarella cheese on a thin and crispy crust. Meat-free, and perfect for Lent.

Now I knew the oven had the capacity to be very hot, much hotter than I was used to with our little electric model. But I didn’t realize just how hot. To make a long story short, after five minutes of baking, my “perfect” pizza was burnt to a black-bottomed crisp. I had ruined our dinner.

I did, however, have some fresh basil left over. There was a nice chunk of parmesan cheese in the chiller, half a pack of shelled walnuts left over from last week’s Baklava bake, and some uncooked penne pasta in the pantry.

So, to dinner:

Quick Pesto Penne
While penne is cooking, throw the following in a blender: 1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 cups fresh basil leaves, � cup shelled walnuts, 4 cloves chopped garlic, salt & pepper. Blend for a few seconds, or until the pesto is well-mixed. It will be thick and creamy, but still pourable. Once pasta is cooked, drain in a colander, transfer to a large bowl, and pour on pesto sauce. Mix well. Serve.

Had I found some pine nuts in our pantry, the pesto would have been more traditional- but the walnuts worked out very well. The penne was delicious with a glass of chilled fruity red wine, but best of all, the pizza was forgotten.