Recipe: Rootbeer Float...My Way

This dessert was literally years in the making.

I began playing with this concept in later 2006. My original thought was a hot or warm rootbeer dessert, but at that time I didn't have the skills, techniques or tools. But I do now...

My original desire to make a from scratch rootbeer remained throughout the project. Here is the base recipe I used (you can get almost all of this from your local herb shop):

1 oz Sassafras root
.5 oz Dandelion root
1 oz Wintergreen
.5 oz Hops
1 oz Juniper berries

16 oz Sugar
8 oz Brown sugar
4 oz Palm sugar
4 oz Honey

2 gallons, water

Rinse sassafras and dandelion in cold water. Crush juniper berries and add along with hops and wintergreen. Boil water and pour half over the herbs. Simmer for a half hour.

Strain to get out everything you can. [I had to use sassafras powder since root is not easily accessible due to FDA warnings, so the powder is hard to get out. I tried paper coffee filters, gold tone filters, chinois and ultimately did a gelatin filtration. You may not need to be as picky as I was.] Add the sweeteners and the rest of the water. Let stand until just warm. Strain again.


Now that you've got this thick syrup that is intensely rootbeer-ish. You can use this for all sorts of things (which I'll be doing this weekend). Most importantly, take the opportunity to mix some into a glass of club soda and enjoy a fresh herbal soda.

But, let's get back to the dessert!

First I used my smallest half sphere silicone mold and made a simple geleè. I believe I did 1 sheet of gelatin to 1 C. Slovakian sour cherry syrup - just warm the syrup and add the softened gelatin. If you only have powdered gelatin, I believe the conversion is 1 t. I let this set up and threw it in the freezer for a futile freezing session (too high in sugar to actually freeze).

Next I made an intense vanilla bavaroise for my "ice cream."

150 g Milk
30 g Sugar
2 Egg yolks
1 T. Vanilla paste (or seeds from 2 beans)
5 Sheets gelatin (or 5 t. if my conversion is correct)
200 g Whipped cream

Bring milk just to a boil. In separate bowl, combine yolks, sugar and vanilla. Add a half cup of the hot milk whisking to temper the mixture. Pour mixture back into remaining hot milk and continue whisking. Whisk/stir until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat and add the softened gelatin. Let cool and fold in the whipped cream. Continue cooling until it starts to get thick enough to support weight. Pour into the next smallest half sphere silicone mold and fill almost to the top. Press the geleè into the center of the bavaroise. Freeze. The bavaroise will freeze but the geleè still won't.

Finally the rootbeer cremeux.

30 g Rootbeer syrup
180 g Heavy cream
3 Egg yolks
1 Sheet gelatin

Heat heavy cream until hot. Add syrup and combine. In separate bowl, whisk yolks. Pour a bit of the hot cream into the yolks and whisk, returning yolk mixture to remaining cream. Whisk in the softened gelatin. Cool until thick enough to support the weight of the bavaroise. Fill the largest half sphere silicone mold with cremeux about half way. Set the frozen bavaroise into the cremeux and level the tops. Freeze until hard.

Because of the way I devised this dish, you now need something to serve the float in, so let's spray a dish on! (any chance to pull out my Wagner power painter!) I simply melted cocoa butter, let it rest until room temp, then sprayed a few coats on to the bottom of the spheres. I was concerned that this might cause an awkward/slimy mouth feel, but it didn't. It was just "shell" enough to hold it all together, but crumbled instantly with any pressure (see pic below where I'm holding it).

Now, how about some garnish.

Roll out these barrels into a food processor and powderize them. Form them into a shape on your silpat. 400F and watch them until they melt

Once melted pull the sheet out and shape the strips. I used a half round of a PVC but you could drape them around a glass, make them wavy, whatever. I was attempted to elude to the shape on the side of a rootbeer float mug...didn't quite achieve what I was going for.

Drizzle a bit (sparingly because it is so intense) of the syrup and voila!







And finally...munch!

Crock Pot Recipe #2: Rachel's Spanish Rice

Rachel at The Crispy Cook offered this Spanish Rice recipe.

And then I went ahead and burned it!

Okay, so let's be real for a second. In the world of crock pots, I'm a crack pot. I have rarely used them and don't know much about the damn things. So yes, I burned rice. Are you happy now - I fessed up!

Fortunately I could look past the burnt taste and also had some tamales delivered to me today from up the street. It ended up being a really good meal. I think my crock pot is more powerful than most, or maybe our altitude has something to do with me overcooking things in the pot. Either way, I appreciate everyone's recipes and keep them coming!

Rachel's Spanish Crock pot Rice

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced

2 cups brown rice
1 (28 oz.) can crushed or diced tomatoes and water to make 4 cups liquid

Couple of glugs of hot sauce
1 Tbsp. chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil in frying pan. Add onions, garlic, pepper and celery. Saute until softened.

Dump into large crock pot. Add remaining ingredients.

Cook on high heat for 4 hours, then turn to low for at least another 3 hours, until rice is done. Stir every once in a while. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

My rice received none of the stirring that Rachel called for since I couldn't get to the pot. Anyway, thank you Rachel for the great recipe!

Recipe: Flourless Almond Orange Cake w/Kalamata Olives

Don't stick your tongue out at the idea of olives in your cake just yet mister!

Look. If you haven't discovered how great the sweet and salty thing is yet, you need to get on the bus! I use it in my Brownies, my Peanut Butter Shortbread, and a slew of caramel based desserts. In proper proportions it is a can't miss combination.

So here I took it in a slightly different direction.

8 oz. Blanched almonds
1/2 C. Sugar, divided
4 Eggs, separated
Zest of two oranges
2 T. Sherry (Amontillado is preferred)
1 T. Orange blossom water
1/2 C. Kalamata olives, pitted

Oven to 375F; Butter a 9" springform and line with parchment

Process the almonds and 2 T. sugar until finely ground. Whip the yolks and 2 more T. of sugar until combined, then add the zest and salt and beat for a good two minutes on highest speed. Mix the sherry and blossom water into the almond mixture and then add the almonds to the yolks. Combine well.

Beat the whites until soft peaks form. Add the remaining sugar and whip until firm peaks. Take a third of the whites and incorporate them into the almond/yolk mixture. The idea here is to loosen up the glop and make it easier to fold into the whites, so work at it until things loosen. If you need to add a bit more of the whites. Add the chopped kalamata. Finally fold this into the remaining whites until thoroughly incorporated. Pour into pan and bake around 30 minutes until you get a clean toothpick.

This is a wonderful nighttime dessert to be enjoyed with a dessert wine or cappuccino. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Recipe #1: Pam's Pork Ribs

I've said it a zillion times and I'll say it again - Pork is the most unphotogenic food there is!

My first crock pot recipe came from Pam. To repeat what she posted in the comments of the contest post...

Sprinkle boneless (I used bone-in) country style pork ribs with your favorite seasoning. I used Cape Herb Co. Crystal Pools grinder. On the other side of the pot she calls for good sauerkraut. Since our town apparently doesn't believe in good sauerkraut, I bought Claussens jarred "Crisp" kraut. As Pam suggested I added two apples, some brown sugar (can't go wrong with that!) and a few ounces of apple cider. She called for it to cook 6-8 hours. I didn't have that luxury, so it cooked from 6 am until 7:30 pm. When I went home at 2 to walk the dogs the moisture had all dried up so I added a couple more cups of cider. I served it with a baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar.

This fit the bill for sure - very fast to prepare (less than 10 minutes), and it was very tasty. I would definitely make this again. The meat was super! Thanks Pam.

Cuteness Pause

Take a break from food and check out how cute our little girls are! We don't get snow too often so when we do the pups have lots of fun.


And is this not the cutest thing ever!

TGRWT #14: Malt & Soy Sauce

Its chilly in the Northern half of the world and we're burrowing in for the long, cold winter. The holidays are past and we're watching the days grow longer. What a great time of year for a Malt and Soy Sauce challenge!



For newcomers: TGRWT (They Go Really Well Together) is a regular open invitation to come up with dishes that combine certain given ingredients that are supposed to match well (You can read the wrap-up from TGRWT #13 Cocoa & Caraway HERE). The hypothesis is that foods containing one or more common major volatile compound will work well in combination. The result of this might thus be a range of new and, sometimes unlikely, good combinations of ingredients. For further introductions to the topic, see the foodpairing website and the introduction to the topic at khymos.
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This is how you can participate in TGRWT #14:

1. Prepare a dish that combines malt (in any form...powder, grain, beer, etc.) and soy sauce. You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own.

2. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by February 1st with TGRWT #14 in the title. Readers will be particularly interested in how the flavor pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the taste and aroma and whether you liked it or not.

3. A round-up will be posted here (with pictures). Please send an email to rob at connoley dot com with the following details: Your name, URL of blog, URL of the TGRWT #14 post and a picture for your entry in the round-up. If you don't have a blog, email me your name, location, recipe and a brief description of how it worked out and I'll be glad to include it in the final round-up.

Deadline: February 1st

Seeking a month of crock pot recipes

Tyler is leaving for a month! That means I am home alone, watching the dogs, minding the store, and...oh yeah...feeding myself! Normally these barren times lead to me eating crap, so I thought, what a better time to offer a contest to my dutiful readers! All you have to do is post a simple crock pot recipe that I can put in first thing in the morning and enjoy when I get home after my 12-14 hour day. It should be simple. It should come together quickly (I leave for work around 6:15 in the morning so I don't have much time). And, it should be good. Don't try to play to the audience (me) here. Give me your favorite and I'll make it. Top recipe, as judged by me, gets either a $100 gift certificate to my store* or to Amazon (we'll work out the details so you're happy). Your choice. So let's see what you've got.

*We don't have an online store yet, but let's just say that people from both New York and San Fran have said we have things they can't find in their cities. I'll work with the winner to pick out some great stuff. And yes, I will send it overseas unless you want something really heavy.