wedding mexication

My sweetie and I recently returned from celebrating two friends as they joined their lives (for better or for worse!) among the jungles and white sand beaches of Tulum, Mexico.  More than a wedding, more than a vacation,  it became known as the "Wedding Mexication."

A beautiful bride, handsome groom, heartfelt speeches and palpable love, it was surely a special wedding.  But add to it barefoot guests, mariachi serenading, bottomless margaritas, and flan as the wedding cake, it had a uniquely Mexican touch.

While the weekend was primarily about our friends, we extended the "weekend" to Tuesday, allowing a fair amount of time to create our own version of Mexication.  Beach vacations aren't typical for us, but we quickly found we could be tempted to change our ways!

We lounged on the beach with books and layers of sunscreen, far longer than I imagined two active people could.  The lounging was often interrupted by the draw of the turquoise surf to cool down and attempt body surfing (his skills FAR exceed mine!).  Renting bicycles, we were able to find our way to the Mayan ruins of Tulum and stumble upon public playas along the road.  But what we did best as vacationers, was find delectable food and drink.

It was pretty hard to go wrong, though.  Fresh pressed juices, hours-old seafood, and refreshing ceviche were all ubiquitous.  Even though we were indulging in vacation foods, most meals still felt light and relatively healthy.  The casual open-air dining added extra ambiance to the meals and made it feel truly vacation-y; it isn't often that we are able to dine comfortably out-of-doors in SF (especially after the sun has gone down!).  The tropical cocktails didn't hurt, either!

Our favorites:
Mateo's - "World Famous" fish tacos with freshly made tortillas.  A welcome lunch, alongside a cold Mexican beer, for hot and hungry bicyclists. 
Casa Banana - Here, we enjoyed fish and shrimp skewers in a break between rainstorms.
La Luna y Estrella - Ocean views and an over-hanging jungle canopy accompanied our delicious breakfast of huevos rancheros.
El Tabano - Upscale Mexican cuisine - we enjoyed tamarind meatballs and mole shrimp while watching the cooks in the open kitchen. 
Casa Violeta - Beach-side dining with seafood pizza and inspired ceviche. 
La Zebra - Order the 'Lina's feast' for a taco bar that gets an personal and delicious upgrade.
Hartwood - Fresh fish and meats prepared in the wood-fired oven alongside creative cocktails.   Their octopus and ribs were some of the best I've had.

toasted coconut ice cream

I've been on a coconut kick lately.  I don't know what it is, but I just can't get enough, in any shape or form.  Coconut in my granola, road-trip Mounds bars from the gas station, chocolate coconut ice cream. 

Recently, my sweetie surprised me with a pint of toasted coconut ice cream from the nearby grocery.  This grocery is amazing - beautiful and elusive produce, cheese, and wines.  They also make a lot of their own items, from marinades to cakes.  But their most special house-made items are their ice creams.  So special, they have a creamery across the street from the primary market, solely for ice cream.

San Franciscans love this ice cream.  In the rain, in the cold, in the dark, there will be a line of patient ice cream lovers wrapped all the way around the corner.  When it is hot and sunny (those 15 days a year!),  all of SF is getting their Bi-Rite ice cream to enjoy while lounging in nearby Delores Park.  (There is a secret, though: for soft serve and other delicious but limited selections, you can go to the window around the corner where there is virtually no line!)

Inspired by both coconut and this SF delicacy, I decided I needed to make my own version: not overwhelming coconut, but perfectly toasty and sweet.  And the best part? No line!

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

inspired by Bi-Rite Creamery

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups 1% milk

3/4 cup sugar

4 large egg yolks

2 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut 

2 tsp. salt

Spread the coconut on a sheet pan and toast in a 325'F oven until brown and toasty, about 5 minutes.  Watch it closely, though, as it is easy to burn.

Combine 2 cups of the toasted coconut with milk, cream and salt and heat to just simmer.  Do not let the milk boil.  Turn off the heat and let sit for about 15 minutes to steep the coconut flavor. 

While the milk is steeping, combine the egg yolks and sugar in a small metal bowl.  Whisk together the eggs and sugar while holding the bowl over a steaming saucepan until fluffy and light in color,  creating a sabayon.

Remove sabayon from the heat.  

Strain the coconut from the milk.  Discard the coconut (so sad, I know!!).

Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking all the while.  

Strain the base through a fine mesh strainer and chill the base for at least two hours.  Overnight is better.

Freeze in your ice cream freezer. 

When the ice cream is sufficiently frozen, move the ice cream to a freeze-safe container.

Mix in the remaining 1/2 cup toasted coconut (or save to sprinkle on top). 

Freeze to harden, 2-3 hours or overnight,  if you can wait that long!  I couldn't.

Tricks and Tips:
I used turbinado sugar for a deeper "brown" flavor that helps to accentuate the toasty notes.

You could add vanilla to your steeping milk if you like - it helps potentiate the sweetness and round the flavor a bit.  However,  I chose to keep this as coconutty as possible so I left it out this time.

When separating eggs, I put my egg whites in a mason jar to save for later.  They are great to have on hand for egg white scrambles, dutch babies or egg white cocktails like the Edith Day or Ramos Fizz.

By creating a sabayon, you are gently cooking the eggs without curdling them.  This is the basis of any custard, and the essential method for making a hollandaise.

Slowing adding the milk to the sabayon tempers the eggs and prevents them from cooking when the hot milk hits them.  But don't worry too much about it after you get the first 1/3 of your milk in, it will be more tolerant at this point.  Straining through the fine mesh helps to remove any accidentally cooked egg.

This ice cream is really, really good with some melted dark chocolate poured over top. 

pizza cheat

I have been grain-free for nearly three years now.*   I feel so much better when I don't eat grains at all and my gut thanks me tremendously, but sometimes I am willing to suffer a bit for the sake of a "worthwhile cheat."   While that list of cheats is short, it has really delicious pizza heading it up (in capital letters!).

*I should note that, while I have symptoms similar to celiac, I do not suffer from the disease.  My gut is intolerant to all grains, except oats for some strange but awesome reason.  Cheating causes no long-term damage to my gut as it would for someone with celiac.

As a college student, one of my many jobs was manning the wood-fired oven at a local bistro.  I mastered the skills of this oven, from cooking evenly blistered pizzas to maintaining the heat (if you can hold your hand in the middle of the oven for 5 seconds, its about 500F: perfect!),  even polishing the coppery facade  (the cut side of half a lemon dipped in salt will polish that copper to look like new!).

Since the days of working with that copper-clad oven, I longed to replicate those pizzas at home.  I struggled with soggy, flavorless crusts while fantasizing about owning a wood-fired oven one day.   Luckily, in the time since, I have learned the tricks; and with no need for a special pizza oven imported from Italy, a stack of firewood outside the back door, or even any fancy equipment!   With the help of a really hot oven, a pizza stone, and a good dough recipe, that seemingly unattainable wood-fired-style pizza can easily be made at home.  It's definitely worth it.  

Pizza Crust

adapted from Saveur Magazine

I recommend starting the dough 24-48 hours in advance for best texture and flavor.

Makes 4 large or 8 small pizzas.

7 cups "00" flour, preferably Caputo brand

2 tsp. active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water (~85'F)

1 tbl. sugar

3 tbl. olive oil 

1 1/2 cups ice water

4 tsp. kosher salt

Combine yeast, sugar and water in a small bowl.  Let rest about 10 minutes or until foamy.  If it does not foam, throw out the mixture and start again.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and yeast mixture.

Add the olive oil and cold water and mix until well combined.

Knead with the dough hook for approximately 7 minutes, or until elastic.  If you are using a stand mixer, use your dough hook for this.  If doing it by hand, be prepared for a little workout!

Make a well in the dough and add the salt.  Mix it in by kneading for approximately 2 more minutes. 

Shape the dough into 4-8 balls and place on a lightly floured sheet pan.

Loosely cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Shaping and preparing the pizza:

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 500'F and place pizza stone in the oven to heat as well.

On an overturned sheet pan (or pizza peel, if you have one!) generously dust with flour and cornmeal.

Working with one dough ball at a time, dust it generously with flour and flatten to a disk.

To shape, hold the dough disk like a steering wheel, turning and stretching the dough as you work your way around and around the "wheel" until it is uniformly thin. 

Dust one side of the dough with flour and cornmeal and place that side down on the sheet pan/ pizza peel.

Slide your sheet pan around to ensure the pizza crust moves easily.

Brush with crust with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Top with crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh whole basil leaves (or other toppings, as desired).

Slide the pizza onto the stone.  Starting at the back of the stone, let the pizza touch the stone and slide the sheet pan/ peel out from under the crust, letting it land on the stone.

Let bake until blistered and bubbly, about 5 minutes, turning halfway, as needed.

Remove the pizza and place on a serving dish.  

Slice and serve!  

Tricks and Tips:

Keep the stone in the oven the entire time - pretend like you can't remove it.

The dough is pretty resilient - stretch it to help make it thinner in spots that need help.  If you find you've created holes, simply repair them by pinching the dough together. 

Make sure you have plenty of space to work in your oven, above your stone.  I remove all of my racks and work in the lower third.  This helps prevent burned hands.  

While working on building your pizza and before you slide it into the oven, check to ensure it slides freely on the sheet pan or peel.  If it doesn't scrape it up with your spatula and get some flour/ cornmeal under it.  

A giant fish spatula or other large metal spatula works really well for turning and removing pizzas.

sweet inspiration

I receive a lot of magazines. Nearly every week, I have something new waiting on my stoop with awe-inspiring mountains or drool-inducing dishes popping from the covers, surrounded by sensational headlines: "Lost on Everest!" or "Epic Rib Feast."

Recently one of my magazines had a large feature on donuts.  It told of the history and development of the fried pastry (did you know that the hole is in the donut to help prevent an undercooked center?) and shared many images and recipes of donuts from around the world.

I've never been one for donuts so this article didn't really ignite any inspiration in me (I much preferred learning about the Red Cross "Donut Dollies" handing out hot donuts to troops during World War II for a taste of home).   But my sweetheart has a special fondness for donuts and has been fascinated with this magazine since the day it arrived.  HE was inspired.  Leafing through the pages, eyes and grin wide, he dog-eared a few recipes he wanted to try.  New England-Style Cider Donuts were the pick for his first homemade donut experience.  And they were pretty delicious, I must say.

New England Cider Donut

adapted from Savuer Magazine

2 -2½ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter, softened

½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup apple cider
3/4 cup buttermilk
Canola oil, for forming and frying

Heat about 2 inches of canola oil in a cast iron skillet to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  

Add egg yolks, cider, buttermilk and vanilla. 

Mix together dry ingredients and add to the rest of the mixture. 

The dough will be rather sticky, but you want to be able to handle it a bit - add more flour as needed (picture below, for reference). 

Pour a little canola oil on your hands and rub it around.  

Pinch off a small ball of dough and form it into a disk, about 3 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick.  Using your thumb, form the donut hole in the center.

CAREFULLY slide the donut into the oil. 

Let it cook until golden brown and delicious, then flip it over.  

Remove the donut using a slotted spoon when both sides are nicely browned, about 3-4 minutes total.

Let donut drain on a wire rack or on paper towels until completely cool. 

Dust with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Tricks and Tips:

If you don't have a cast iron skillet, any saute pan will will do.  The cast iron maintains a more stable heat, but it isn't necessary.

Make sure your hands are good and oily for forming the donuts, otherwise you will have dough all over your fingers! 

Be VERY careful when placing your donuts in the oil and when flipping them over.  The oil is really hot and can burn you easily if splashed. 

Work with one donut at a time, until you get the hang of it.  It moves pretty quickly and it would be a shame to burn a donut!

A dash of nutmeg and a pinch of salt in the dusting sugar adds a nice little something.

These donuts are really great with coffee.  But I am sure you already knew that!