Tasty Tips from the Valley

As some of you may know, I was out in California a few weeks ago. That's where I snapped the photo of the...grapes that had dried into raisins seen in the last post (while out with the Senior Gleaners).

While there, I went to the Taste of the (Salinas) Valley, an event where local chefs created finger food from the abundant local produce. During the two hours of heavy hors d'oeuvres, three things stood out.

A Monterey BBQ joint--Willy's Smokehouse--combined beef brisket and pulled pork (or, as it's called in Carolina, barbecue) to good effect. Served on thin slices of French bread with a bit of (local) cole slaw, this was right up my alley. As you probably have guessed, I'm more likely to appreciate this mixture more than any cabernet sauvignon blend.

Next, I picked up the idea of making salad dressing with apple cider vinegar. The chef serving me said that this works really well when the salad includes chopped apples. Of course, a salad topped with pink slices of tenderloin, candied pecans and gorgonzola cheese would probably taste great with motor oil vinaigrette.

Creamy Lettuce Soup sounds like something that wasn't meant to be. I'm happy to report that it's great and I'm not alone in this assessment. Served by the literary folks of the Steinbeck House, it combined the best of lettuce and, well, half and half. Of course, it didn't hurt that the lettuce was grown about two miles down the road. You can try to emulate the recipe, albeit with a few more food miles:

Creamy Lettuce Soup
Melt 2 Tbs. butter in a two quart pan.
Add 1/2 Cup chopped onion and cook until soft.
Stir in 2 Tbs. flour and 1/2 tsp. white pepper, blending until bubbling.
Add 2 Tbs. dry chicken soup base, 3 shakes of Tabasco sauce.
Cook 15-20 minutes.
Add 2 Cups half and half, heating slowly to just below boiling.
Shred 2 Cups iceberg lettuce just before serving to retain crispness.
To serve, put 1/3 Cup of shredded lettuce in bowl, add hot soup, serve topped with grated nutmeg or parsley.

Name That Food Item

OK, people, what are you looking at? Write in your answers as comments.

Stick a Fork in It...

..this column's done. I had fun experimenting with ice cream sandwiches, but all good things...have a deadline.

My ice cream sandwich column is in Wednesday's Chapel Hill News. You non-townies can read the column online.

Happy sandwiching!

Squishy Science

Well, I finally broke down and bought some Cakesters. It had to be done--in the name of science.

Allow me to explain. I'm trying out some new ice cream sandwich combinations for my upcoming column. In the research, using regular Oreos, dismantled, as the exterior of the sandwich didn't work too well. The ice cream squirted out the side. You know like Newton theorized, every action (biting into the sandwich) has an equal and opposite reaction (the ice cream fleeing out the sides).

We needed softer "bread" for our sandwiches. Hence, Oreo Cakesters, billed as "soft snack cakes," seemed like the answer.

Split in half, they certainly worked better than regular Oreos as an ice cream pseudo-sandwich. In general, though, I'm not wild about the Cakesters' texture. But I never liked Devil Dogs,either.

As for the name, I think they'd sell better as "Fluffy Oreos." Then again, maybe not.

When I told the Spoonstress' visiting friend Jeanne about this "project," she made a day-saving suggestion: 'Have you tried assembling the ice cream sandwiches and then freezing them?'

Of course I hadn't, because that would have made too much sense. Not only does this method help the sandwiches keep their shape, it reduces the "squish out the sides factor." Freezing the ice cream into shape--now there's some science for you.

Sandwich Situation

The Spoonstress, Peter and I had fun playing with our food last night. More specifically, our dessert.

We were testing different ice cream "sandwiches," the definition of which was pretty flexible. Some combinations of filling and "bread" were better than others (I'll spell that out more in the column), but one thing that doesn't work is any kind of ice cream between two Oreo halves.

As you can see, it got messy. The filling--orange sherbet here--squirted out upon first bite. The conclusion: Oreos are too hard for ice cream sandwiches. In the long term, soft is good. In the short term, we went with the open-faced ice cream sandwich (pictured here).

It wasn't a solution for making an ice cream sandwich, but it was a tasty solution to a messy situation. Learning from our mistakes, I was resigned to not using Oreos in ice cream sandwiches. Then I saw them.

Oreo Cakesters.

They're supposedly "the classic taste of Oreo in a soft snack cake." While opinions on this new product vary, I'm sure they'll at least hold the ice cream well (Even if they are a blatant Devil Dogs rip off). Then again, aren't they just regular ice cream sandwich wafers??

Cookie Conundrum

It's been a week and I've been thinking about ice cream sandwiches day and night. Well, mostly day.

The good news: I've come up with a laundry list of versions I'd like to try. The bad news: There hasn't really been much testing. I better get on it, because a week from now (hopefully), you'll be reading my column on the topic.

In all honesty, I've been slowed by ambition. I want to use fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to try out my Cookies and Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich. I had imagined trying it with those little Entenmann's cookies I adore, but they're not available here.

So unless I get lazy and use those bake and break versions, I'm off to Toll House land. Then the testing can begin. As for the extras, I'm sure we'll put them to good use...