PALETA TEST KITCHEN, PART 2

Here's the other thing I learned during my week-long paleta frenzy: as much as I would like to make my pops out of nothing but fruits, juices, herbs, and dairy, the key to softer pops is sugar. Sugar lowers the freezing point of liquid, acting as a "lubricant between ice crystals," so they don't turn out so rock hard. (Thank you Marthastewart.com)



PINEAPPLE CRANBERRY KIWI POPS

INGREDIENTS
1 pineapple
8 kiwi
1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
sugar
1 lemon

DIRECTIONS
Heat equal parts sugar and water to make SIMPLE SYRUP. Let it cool. Puree chopped pineapple in a food processor. Add quarter cup of simple syrup. Strain pineapple mix to remove the leftover pulp. Fill molds half way and freeze. Puree chopped kiwi in food processor. Add the juice of 1 lemon and 1/4 cup simple syrup. Remove the molds filled half way with pineapple from the freezer. Distribute the pieces of chopped dried cranberries between them, then top with the kiwi mixture. Return molds to the freezer. After about 50 minutes, insert popsicle sticks and let them freeze overnight.

PALETA TEST KITCHEN, PART 1

To set things straight: "Popsicle" is a brand. Like Kleenex, or Band Aid, or any of the other brands that have successfully worked themselves into the American lexicon in place of generic terms without us (me) knowing. What we're talking about here is "ice pops," frozen water-based desserts on a stick, and "paletas," like Latin American ice pops, though not necessarily water-based. Paletas are not necessarily frozen either, but that's a subject for a different post.

Two weeks ago I became overwhelmingly inspired to test kitchen paletas. I can no longer remember what sparked it, but I imagine that while cruising my favorite crafting blogs I stumbled across a batch with particularly charming shape and bright happy colors and became smitten. That's usually how it goes anyway. So I spent the better part of a week in the kitchen, making a mess, buying ingredients that I thought I'd use but didn't (Greek yogurt), dying the tips of my fingers, running out of space in the freezer, eating Lean Cuisines to make room in the freezer...and ultimately concocting a proud batch of pops. I found that some of my favorite recipes were the traditional fruit and simple syrup mix, but if I weren't so terrified of wasting fruit (fresh berries are ridiculously expensive in L.A. right now) I would've tried to incorporated some gelatin a la estilo mexicano. Maybe next time we're in Oregon.

I'll run the recipes one at a time.



MEXICAN MANGO CHILE AND LIME

INGREDIENTS
4 mangoes
1 enormous, juicy lime
1/4 cup sugar
Arbol chile powder

DIRECTIONS
In a food processor, puree the mango until free of chunks. Add lime juice and sugar. Add arbol chile a little at a time, to taste. Remember that freezing dulls all of the flavors, so if the mix tastes too sweet or too spicy, it will probably turn out right. For more spice, run a lightly lamp towel on the inside of the pop mold. Sprinkle chile powder inside of the mold so that it collects at the top. Fill your molds and freeze. If you don't have ice pop molds, use Dixie cups. First stage freeze time will depend on the size of your mold. After about 30 minutes, insert a sticks into the pops. Freeze overnight.

WE'RE IN PRINT!

I had planned to throw a party when this happened, but it caught me completely off guard. I could not be happier.

a taste of things to come...

pomegranate blueberry ice pop

beanworld action figure

Battle damaged bean, one of the many attractive bean action figures offered at Larry Marder's Beanworld table at San Diego Comic-Con 2010.

Liège Waffle makes me feel fine

Feeling positively filled lately. The past few months have been a stream of wonderfully haphazard, exciting, intercity adventures, which strangely, have produced in me a most welcome calm. My legs have browned (finally) and the impromptu over-the-bathroom sink haircuts I've been giving myself have actually begun to settle nicely. And, after fighting myself for well over a year, a tributary battle in the life-long war of Am I smart? Can I have a public voice with any legitimacy?, I'm finding a place in the world of food writing where I fit. It might be too early to say, but I think I love my place.

Shaky Alibi Serves the Holy Grail of Waffles, the Liège Waffle
A new post with photos by Aaron.

business card prototype

There are a lot of changes I want to make. For one, I think my name should be at the top left. So maybe I'll switch the positions of the utencils, put the knife at the top, because it's straighter on the left side. Then I'll try black text, and see how it looks from there. Of course, it took me an hour to figure out how to isolate and export this one draft in Lightroom, so who knows when I'll have them printed. But, true progress happens slowly (is my new mantra).

I love the rough edges of the utencils. They look like they were drawn by a Swedish child, though really they were drawn by me, a helpless Merimekkophile, during one particularly monotonous 4 p.m. at the office. Special thank you to John Bobrow for developing this draft for me, and for my two-hour crash-course in Illustrator.

strawberry preserves

When we used to work the counter at Clementine, I would have to wait until Christmas for a single jar of jam from Amanda, who was then still a part-time home-baker, and my personal cultured butter queen. With only slight embarrassment, I confess one particular jar of Davis Strawberry jam was so good that I'd sneak sips straight from them jar when we had run out of bread. Recently, after what seems like years of planning, Amanda and finally got together for a Sunday preserve tutorial.

Here are some of Amanda's notes:
Fruit: some of it should be on the under ripe side, for extra pectin and complexity. Wash it if it's covered in pesticide or dirt. Cut it into bite-sized pieces.

Taste them. If they're super tart, use more sugar. Fruit preserves are at least 1/4 sugar by volume. (That's 1 cup of sugar to four cups of fruit).

For every four cups of fruit, add a lemon. The seeds of that lemon should be added separately in a tea strainer or cheesecloth bag or something.

Boil it until it's syrupy.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. There should be enough water in the pot to fully submerge the jars.

When the preserves is syrupy it's ready to pack into jars. If it's foamy, go ahead and turn off the heat under it. Let the foam settle and skim it off before you proceed.

To sterilize the jars, drop them carefully into the boiling water. After ten minutes, use your handy-dandy jar lifter to get them out. [ed note: Amanda got a her jar lifter from Big Lots or Tuesday Morning or some such. If you don't have one, use tongs.] Next, boil the lids to the jars for exactly five minutes. More than that will damage the rubber seals, less won't necessarily be sterilizing enough.

It's easiest to sterilize the lids in a strainer of some sort, because picking up flat heavy objects that are at rest in a large pot of boiling water is one of those things that life is too short for.

Drain the jars. Fill them to within 1/4" of the top with jam. Wipe the rims off with a paper towel or something that you have dipped in boiling water (we must keep everything very, very clean at this point). Put the lids on, then screw down the rings. Boil for another ten minutes.

AND YOU'RE DONE!



Occasionally Amanda teaches classes on rustic, seasonal baking at FOOD, a neighborhood market/cafe in West LA, where she's the head baker.

mouth pleaser

Excuse the absence, we've been very busy. Movie making, berry picking, nerd proming, cream cheese frosting. I'm hoping to get settled long enough to share our photos and recipes this week. That is, before Lil's bday and There Will Be Blood Roadshow consume my attention and my milkshake. In the meantime, enjoy the amuse bouche:

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