Thin Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches

Easy, impressive snack or dessert.

Soften (just soft enough to work with) some Boulder Sweet Cream Ice Cream (or your fava flave).

Put some parchment paper or wax paper onto a cookie sheet.

Scoop about a tablespoon of ice cream onto a Thin Mint, don't worry about it hanging over the sides, it's better that way.

Press another Thin Mint onto the top. Put onto parchment paper, stick in your freezer until frozen completely, then transfer to a freezer bag or container until you're ready to serve em up.

LarkBurger's French Fries

French Fries from LarkBurger

• 2 large russet potatoes
• 1/2 gallon canola oil
• Sea salt
  

Cut potatoes in 3/16 inch sticks and soak in water for 24 hours to remove excess starch. Heat canola oil to 325 degrees in Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pan. Drain and dry potatoes and then fry them in hot oil for two to three minutes. Remove potatoes from oil and lay out on a rack in a single layer to cool completely. Heat the oil up to 375 degrees, put the fries back in the oil and cook three minutes until golden brown and crispy. Remove fries from oil, drain and toss with sea salt.

The LarkBurger

Thomas Salamunovich of Larkspur and LarkBurger has given it up - LarkBurger's very own recipe.

And he says “Not one single ingredient can be taken off the burger because it all works together. The mayonnaise mixes with the meat juices, the tomato acids and the lettuce crispness. All combine to create the classic Larkburger.”

Wow! His French Fries tomorrow.

The LarkBurger

• 28 ounces all natural ground beef
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese
• 4 sourdough hamburger buns
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 4 leaves iceberg lettuce
• 1 vine-ripened tomato, sliced
• Red onion, sliced

Form four 7-ounce hamburgers that are 4 inches across. Mark sure the edges are squared and form a small indentation in the center of each side of each hamburger. This allows them to swell into a flat disk once the juices move to the center. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the burgers for seasoning. Grill and turn burgers frequently to get even carmelization. Place one slice of cheese on each burger for 30 seconds, then put burgers on a rack above a sheet pan, and keep warm for four minutes. Reserve the juices from the sheet pan for mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise

• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup blended oil (80% canola, 20% EVOO)
• 4 tablespoons EVOO
• Black pepper
• 2 teaspoons hamburger drippings

Whisk all ingredients except oils. Slowly add both oils until a smooth emulsion is formed.

Assemble

Brush each side of the buns with melted butter and place them on the hot griddles. Toast until dark golden. Spread mayonnaise on both sides of the buns. On top bun, layer one leaf of lettuce, one slice of tomato sprinkled with salt and pepper, and one slice onion, then sandwich with hamburger patty on bottom bun. Surround with French fries on the plate. Serve with extra mayonnaise for dipping. Serves four.

Watermelon Mojitoritas

I told you to freeze your leftover watermelon this summer. This is why.

Fill your blender with

• frozen watermelon chunks

Add

• Juice of 1 large lemon
• a couple springs of fresh mint
• 1 1/2 tbl simple syrup*
• 6 shots quality tequila

Blend
Drink

*Simple Syrup

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream

I buy at least 10 boxes of Thin Mints from the 1st Girl Scout that hits me up, and then at least one from every other that asks. (I know what it's like to peddle the things.) They freeze really well.

I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker.

Pour into the frozen cylinder:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 sleeve Thin Mints, crushed roughly
• add milk to 1 inch below top - skim works just fine

Turn it on and wait for the goodness.

Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

Trying to replicate an old secret recipe from way back (someone else, who wouldn't reveal her secrets. If she had, she would have been fired, since her employers wouldn't have needed her any longer) I didn't quite make it, but will let you know when I do. In the meantime, this was pretty good.

Saute until slightly browned:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped

Add:

• 1 1/2 tbl chili powder
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2 can cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbl Worchestershire sauce
• 1 can Dr. Pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Simmer for a while and use on whatever you like. It's really good on chicken.

Wild Cherry Cough Drop

Clair and I are sick! So I made this and was amazed at how good it is!

Juice 1 lemon and stir in a tablespoon of honey. Microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir in 1/4 cup of Leopold Brother's Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur. Drink warm for medicinal purposes, or pour over ice for a wonderful sipper.

Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips

From Real Simple Magazine

Two of my favorite things together!

• 4 oz semisweet chocolate
• 24 ridged potato chips
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, (1 minute, stir, another minute, stir, till melted)

Partially dip each chip in the chocolate, place on wax or parchment paper. Sprinkle with a little salt.

Refrigerate until firm, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Cherry Spiked Sparkling Wine

Pour your sparkling wine into a nice flute (0r a jelly jar - no wine glass snobs here).

Put a little cherry liqueur in it. I like Leopold Bros. Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur.

Yummy and a nice pinkly drinkly!

Crusty Potato Galette

Also from Gourmet Magazine (RIP)

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 pound boiling or baking potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
• 1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary
  

In a small bowl stir together the butter and the oil. In a food processor fitted with a 1-millimeter slicing blade or with a mandoline or similar hand-held slicing device, slice the potatoes thin.

Working quickly to prevent the potatoes from discoloring, brush the bottom of a 9-inch cast-iron skillet with some of the butter mixture and cover it with a layer of the potato slices, overlapping them. Brush the potatoes with some of the remaining butter mixture, sprinkle them with some of the rosemary, and season them with salt and pepper. Layer the remaining potatoes with the remaining butter mixture and the rosemary in the same manner.

Heat the mixture over moderately high heat until it begins to sizzle, transfer the skillet to the middle of a preheated 450°F. oven, and bake the galette for 25 minutes, or until it is golden and the potatoes are tender. Cut the galette into wedges.

Gourmet

October 1990