Gooseberries are so cool. They are a little pop of flavor in an ornate wrapper. Serrano chiles are also cool, but in a more terrifying way. This week's popsicle, then, is very cool, while also being quite hot. Gooseberry Serrano Popsicles
Ingredients Serrano chiles, sliced Gooseberries, sliced Any citrus juice Directions Add sliced gooseberries and chiles to mold. Pour citrus juice to fill. Freeze until solid.
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My first memories of St. Patrick's Day are specific moments. The night Fiona and I saw green lights coming from the bush across the street: peering beyond the concrete from behind our expansive windows, kneeled against the couch, already in our pajamas, all of the books mom and dad had read us about leprechauns becoming real. Or the day we Irish danced in the back of the local Irish pub for so long that my legs gave out and my little wig-laden body fell to the floor. But my strongest memory of St. Patrick's Day is not a scene. It is a thread--a constantly changing image--not in one specific kitchen or time. It is my dad, wearing a flannel and adidas sweatpants, hands sticky with buttermilked-up flour, peering over his favorite Jesuit bread baking book, making his yearly week of Irish Soda Bread loaves. He would make it at night, with promises of us being able to eat it come morning. But he would inevitably cave, cutting us off a bit of the large, flat loaf before bed. Of course, an irish soda bread popsicle would NOT work. So instead, this week's popsicle celebrates St. Patrick's day in a much more light-hearted way: lucky charms cereal milk!
Cereal Milk Panna Cotta Popsicles Yield: 6 popsicles | Prep Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 6 hours Ingredients 1/2 cup of your favorite cereal 2 cups milk 1/3 cup brown sugar ½ tsp sea salt 1 (1/4-ounce) packet unflavored gelatin Directions Combine cereal and milk in a large jar and mix aggressively. Let stand at room temperature to infuse for about 20-30 minutes. Strain cereal out. Add in brown sugar and salt. Warm 1/2 cup of cereal milk and pour gelatin in. Once homogeneous, mix in the rest of the cereal milk. Pour mixture into molds, populating with extra cereal if you wish. Freeze until solid. In the summer of 2008 I worked at Novakovich Orchards preparing apricots to be dried. My role was to stand in front of a large, waist-high flat, cut each apricot in half, remove the pit, and return the apricot to the flat. I managed a small part of the apricot-drying process, but I took pride in the entire chain of events (picking, slicing, drying, packaging, etc). Whenever a customer came and purchased a bag of chocolate-dipped fruits, I smiled. My work station was conveniently placed in the shade of the orchard's market stand, so I got to observe the comings and goings of the customers. The older girl (I was eleven, so I imagine she was around thirteen) who worked the cash register had a long, thin ponytail, a fantastic half-apron to store her cash, and a sense of authority over the market that I lusted after. I wanted nothing more than to ring up orders and maintain polite conversation with the hungry customers of Saratoga, California. While I spent the summer with my eyes on the cash register, I managed to also have even bigger dreams. The Jonas Brothers were coming to Shoreline Amphitheatre, and Eve and I were saving up go see them. Each time I slipped and slit my thumb a bit, or opened an apricot to find nothing but maggots, or had to decline a hangout invitation to go to the high school's pool for the afternoon (that is a joke-my only companions at eleven were Eve and Fiona-Eve making her own Jonas Brothers money and Fiona to my left, also slicing apricots) I focused on the image of Nick Jonas crooning his songs as I breathed in the warm summer air of the bay area's greatest open-air arena. That slightly shorter and plenty tanner version of me is still very much alive this week as I present the apricot pudding pop and listen to the Jonas Brother's new song. Life is round. Apricot Rice Pudding Popsicles
Yield: 6 popsicles | Prep Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours Ingredients 1 1/4 cups white rice, rinsed 2 1/2 cups water 1 tsp kosher salt 1 cinnamon stick 2 1/2 cups milk 1 cup sugar Zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/3 cup diced dried apricots Directions Bring the rice, water, and salt to a boil and then cover and let simmer until most of the water is absorbed. Add in the milk, sugar, and zest and bring to a boil once more. Again, let the mixture simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and apricots. Pour into molds. Freeze until solid. I had always planned to release this fantastically-summery pop in the depths of winter. I imagined-in mid-July when I made it-that I would need a boost of minty green, backyard sunshine. Boy was I right. As I write this (Thursday morning), snow is falling, our heat is sort-of cranking and the wind is whipping past my corner-of-the-house bedroom...This bit of summer in a popsicle is much needed.
One afternoon, with my cousin Zoe in town, I made mint popsicles that we then dipped in chocolate. It was a messy, delicious affair, all done in shorts (a concept I can barely imagine at this moment) and with little regard for responsibility, chapped lips, or snow boots. Aah. |