Lilac ice cream. Candied lilacs.
It almost seems like once you’ve been drunk off springs first cherry blossoms that it’s easy to take the consequent lilacs for granted. With the craziness at the restaurant last year I made this mistake, and there was no way I was going to do it again. In fact, after our cherry blossom cream & candied lemon verbena leaves at The Willows Inn we were inspired to celebrate the season with the lovely lilac in ice cream with candied blossoms to top it off. I’m giddy to report that it was UH-MAY-ZING!
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Candied Lilacs
We tried a few different methods for candying the lilac blossoms, but really the only real winner is painted-on egg whites dusted with caster sugar. While it was the most time intensive I should also say that it was the most rewarding, and even therapeutic. Add together fragrant flowers, a delicate paint brush, silky egg whites, and crystally caster sugar and there’s no way you could not have a good time.
Ingredients, tools, and mise en place
- Fine tip paint-brush (made of food-grade materials or cleaned really well before use)
- Wax paper dusted with sugar
- 1 egg white slightly beaten, just until there is a collection of small bubbles at the top
- Lilac blossoms, pluck the individual flowers from the bunch selecting the best ones to be candied and leaving the rest for the ice cream
- Caster sugar in a shallow bowl or plate
- Optional: tweezers. (I quickly found the lilacs were sturdy enough for my fingers, so the tweezers may not be necessary for you either.)
1. Hold each flower by the stem and lightly paint the front and back of the petals with the egg white.
2. Dust each side with caster sugar, lightly shake off any excess
3. Set on the sugar-coated wax paper and let dry overnight. No cheating here! They must be completely dry before storing in a container with sugar.
Some notes
- Only use blossoms that you know have not been sprayed…from your neighbors yard.
- Only use egg whites if you’re comfortable with this method. We use local, organic, and untreated farm eggs that we love. Other candy methods include simple syrup in place of egg whites. If you’re more comfortable with this give it a go.
- Washing the blossoms was a difficult call. After some research we found some washed the flowers while others didn’t in order to preserve the fragrance. It’s your call.
Lilac Ice Cream
Here’s a glance at our recipe for the ice cream. In addition to the lilacs we wanted to add as much springtime flavor as possible so we added an additional egg yolk and chose to use goat milk. It was a good call.
Be sure to read your ice cream machines instructions and adjust if needed.
Lilac Ice Cream
- 2 cups organic raw goat milk
- 1 cup organic heavy cream
- 5 organic egg yolks (initially we planned on 4, but 5 was better.)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 4 cups lilac blossoms
- 1 Tablespoon arrowroot powder
In a heavy saucepan mix the cream and goat milk thoroughly and add the lilac blossoms and maple syrup. Bring to a high simmer, but below a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside for five minutes.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and add the combined the sugar and arrowroot powder. Whisk until the color pales and the mixture is creamy.
Strain the lilacs from the milk and cream mixture and bring the liquid up to a simmer again. Temper the mixture by gradually adding it to the egg yolks. Batches of 1/3 worked well. Add the entire combined mixture back to your pot and gently heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and strain again if needed (in the case you notice any gobules of fat that have formed). Chill the mixture for a few hours or until it is cold enough to add to your ice cream maker (my machine recommended 12 hours, but we didn’t need to wait quite that long).
From here, your ice cream maker takes over, so be sure to read the instructions.
One thing I can share is that once you see the consistency you like, don’t wait! Turn off the machine, sneak a taste or two, and freeze overnight (or as long as you can wait).
To Serve
The ice cream is mildly fragrant with the lilacs and has a lovely, faint taste on the back-end. If you’re looking for a more punchy lilac flavor, that’s where the candied blossoms come in. I’d say aim for one or two in a bite, but also be sure to enjoy a few bites without.
Voila!! Lilac ice cream.
The setting. Willows Inn. Lummi Island.
We had the meal of a lifetime at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. One year earlier, venturing into Stumptown Coffee’s Seattle roastery, frazzled, trying to get coffee set for the restaurant that was days away from opening, I met the guy that would tell me about this hidden gem, and eventually, one year later take me away for the meal of a lifetime. So yeah, it was an anniversary of sorts…the restaurant had just turned 1, I had three days off, and it was the “the first day we met” kind of celebration.
Really it was completely serendipitous that Chef Blaine Wetzel would be awarded one of Food & Wine magazine’s best new chefs only days before. Although to be honest, to me this title can in no way encompass the forward thinking and talent that Chef Wetzel and his entire staff possess…especially when considering the other Seattle chef that was also honored. This restaurant and the team behind it are in a class alone.
So mushiness and a touch of cattiness aside, let’s look at some food porn!
First, here are a couple of quick notes that elevate this experience:
- Nearly every element that was on our plate was hunted, fished, foraged, or gathered from Lummi Island. Really something to be celebrated.
- As sad as it makes me to hold back, I’m only going to share the photos that photographed best. The meal was so beautiful that I just can’t bear to post the crummy photos I took after sunset. It just wouldn’t do justice to the team that worked so hard to create this meal for us. Trust me, it’s hard not to share but what I do have will still keep you satisfied, I’m sure of it.
- The first and final courses were each served by the chefs, including Chef Wetzel.
- My guy had the wine pairing and I had the juice pairing. More on that below.
The welcome. A tiny cedar box filled with moss, smoke, and smoked sunflower roots. A perfect way to set the tone for the rest of the meal. Inventive in it’s core ingredient but so basic in how it was prepared. So much meaning in this first course–history in a single bite.
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Mini crepes filled with herring roe, crema, and chives. It’s going to be hard to choose, but this was definitely one of my favorite bites: the wafer thin crisp of the crepe, the salty and slippery roe, the richness of the cream, and the punch of the most fragrant chives I’ve ever had.
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House potato chips and sauerkraut with smoked wild halibut. Doesn’t hurt that the halibut was caught that morning. Truly, an amazing bite. For the super finicky gastronomes out there, I’m sure you’ll be expecting one or two gripes, so if I MUST say anything I’d say the chip was a tad soggy. But really, as it was it, and if I had a hundred afterward, it really was splendid. The tartness of the kraut with the rich, smokiness from the halibut was truly dreamy.
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Shigoku oysters marinated in sauerkraut juice, tapioca pearls, sorrel. Heaven! Never would have guessed it, but the addition of the tapioca (underneath each oyster) was a brilliant touch. I had initially thought that they were the ones with the vinegar taste, serving as a mignonette of sorts, but it was actually the oyster that was marinated, lightly. A truly thoughtful and elegant dish. Also be sure to note the presentation: beach stones, iced. Muah!
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Charred kale, truffles, bread crumbs. Light with the crisply toasted kale leaf, but slightly decadent with addition of the truffled breadcrumbs. All I could think was: “If I had a tub full of this I’d pop it like popcorn.”
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Fresh scallop, milk, island arugula. This dish was DIVINE. Like the chives with the crepe, the arugula was more fragrant and peppery than any I’d ever had. This was a subtle dish for sure, but elegant in its simplicity. The milk was just beyond; a delicate touch that was just so sexy.
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Fried scallop roe. Alright, so we’ve had conflicting stories of which part of the scallop anatomy this actually is, but regardless it’s another one of my favorite courses. To be clear we did not ask the chef to clarify, but in recent weeks here in Seattle we’ve heard different stories from different restaurants. Male or female organs…no one knows right now (and a super quick google search revealed nothing of much help), but regardless, this was slippery and buttery. Taste and texture-wise, think uni or monkfish liver. I feel like this course might seem out of place or odd to some, but for me the importance lay in the fact that this amazing piece of sea life is most often thrown out. Decandent to the very end.
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Geoduck sashimi, organic grains, watercress. Geoduck has to be one of the most unpleasant things to look at, but it’s quintessentially Northwest and when it’s done right it’s amazing. I loved this dish. The briny and tender geoduck (not chewy at all) was the perfect accompaniment to the mix of grains and watercress juice.
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Venison heart tartare, house capers, island greens. I will never get enough tartare of any sort, but this was truly stellar. There wasn’t an iron-y heart taste here as I’d expected, but somehow I was able to taste the venison (Psychosomatic? Perhaps.) The homemade capers really stood out here also. Again, I could have popped these endlessly.
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Smoked salmon. This was the most intensely amazing bite of salmon I have ever had, and growing up with a hobby salmon fisherman, in Seattle, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about salmon. Here’s the scoop: Chef Wetzel sampled the locals take on smoked salmon. He took the best components of each and created this masterpiece.
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One other important piece to note here is the use of Reefnet fishing. Along the shoreline we noticed large platforms with four towers at each corner. These pontoons of sorts are rolled out to the bay where each tower has a fisherman with a corner of the net. They trap the salmon and pull uniformly to raise the catch. Can you imagine the muscle this takes?
Reefnet fishing is a historical method that allows for a more humane and sustainable way to catch the salmon, but it also allows the fisherman to select the best catches and set free those that don’t meet culinary standards with minimal shock. I firmly believe that similar to cattle, toxic shock has everything to do with how our food tastes.
For me the skill here goes beyond the smoking, but lies in where he knew how to let the fish be what it is.
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Local squid, kohlrabi, oyster emulsion. The charred bits of squid with the decadent pistachio-colored oyster emulsion was unbelievably good. The addition of the raw kohlrabi added a great bit of crunch and freshness. This was “the second” of the five listed courses.
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Stinging nettles, fresh cheese, young pine needles. For me this dish sums up the importance of eating local and seasonal. Nettles are incredibly healing but also a culinary delight. The young pine needles, so clean and only lightly fragrant. These are the things we’re meant to eat at this moment in spring. We both agreed that we felt very “connected” to the island, feeling clean and almost euphoric after this course. This was the first tasting I’ve had where I wasn’t gorged (yet sluggishly happy). Instead I felt nourished, gastronomically* inspired (and happily envigorated).
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The remaining courses (the unphotogenic):
- House bread and butter. The bread was very Tartine-esque, and the house churned butter was unbelievable.
- Smoked local shitake mushrooms (whole).
- Octopus
- Baked oyster, brown butter, tequila.
- Fried halibut skin with abalone.
- Chicken drippings as a dip to accompany the bread. SERIOUSLY. This actually happened.
- Halibut, bone sauce, house capers. This was the final savory course. The perfectly cooked halibut was incredibly juicy and toothsome. (Yup, toothsome.) The bone sauce, from what we could tell, was the result of extracting the fatty marrow from the halibut bones. It was incredibly flavorful and creamy, and when paired with the house capers again it was magical! Once again the best I’d had.
- Wild flowers, lemon verbena granita, cherry blossom ice cream, elderflower meringue. The single best dessert of my life. Cherry blossom ice cream? I mean, come on! It was gorgeous.
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The little touches that meant so much:
- The juice pairinings. GENIUS. The sommelier is in the process of relocating to Lummi Island, and while my guy thoroughly enjoyed his wine pairing we both agreed that my juice pairing was beyond brilliant. The selections are made and created by Chef Wetzel and to sum it all up, his decision to pair huckleberry juice with the last course of halibut and bone sauce was the pinnacle of the evening. There really are no words.
- Coffee & tea. With this course we got the most incredible mini chocolate, chocolate chip cookies.
- The first and final courses: With the chefs serving it created the most wonderful, relaxed atmosphere. They were genuinely interested in sharing their food and conversing with each table. A lovely and meaningful touch!
- The service team was unparalleled. Relaxed, genuinely happy, and in turn the dining room atmosphere was the same. Unlike other tastings this dining room was quietly abuzz. Not a touch of stuffiness anywhere (just a note this was aThursday night).
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In Conclusion
The meal for us was epic in its execution and in its message. Northwest cuisine finally has a place, a face, and a name. Until now, we’ve been lost: Seattle as a gastronomic* destination is lacking and with cities like San Francisco and Portland leagues ahead, I’m happy that Chef Wetzel is poised to help shape our culinary culture. I truly can’t wait to go again.
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*Soap Box Moment: I am purposefully avoiding the word “foodie” here. This is another post for another time; but for now, I feel like this experience cannot be summed up, in anyway by that term.
Like this:
Josie Maran’s Cream Blush
I was so over pressed powder blushes. Even with the lightest of dustings I just felt like the powder looked cakey and dry, so the natural blushy glow I wanted was just not going to happen. I swear every morning I had flashbacks to the severe blushlines of the 80′s.
I knew I needed a cream blush, but also knew that it couldn’t be shimmery…another decade-specific cosmetic downfall, but this time from the 90′s (glitter anyone?). So really with very little effort I came across my new-absolute-favorite blush from Josie Maran Cosmetics.
It’s so lovely and effortless looking it’s precisely what blush is intended to look like: creamy with a light, natural glow (NOT shimmery). For me it’s really long-lasting but I feel like this is one of those features that differs from skin type to skin type. I only ever wear tinted moisturizer on my face so the Argan oil in the blush pairs perfectly with my oil-free Tarte tinted moisturizer. I’m wearing all of these in the picture I shared before. It really is just a nice spring/summer look.
In addition to the perfect blush, Josie’s line has some other really great and important features:
- Organic oils
- No Parabens
- No Sulfates
- No Synthetic Fragrance
- No Petrochemicals
- No Phthalates
- Biodegradable compact
Give it a go and let me know what you think!
Josie Maran Cream Blush in Sun Kissed $22.
(Check back tomorrow for food porn pics from my getaway last weekend!)
Like this:
Avocado & Ak-Mak crackers for breakfast
Check out my new favorite breakfast/snack courtesy of my guy. We don’t do much shopping at Trader Joe’s except to get the ingredients for this, but the avocado, lemon, and Ak-Mak crackers are all organic and quite the deal when compared to other stops. Seriously, the avocados come 4 to a bag and are perfect every time, and that’s hard to come by. Oh how I love cutting into a perfectly creamy and smooth avocado, but conversely how much does it suck to have to salvage bits from a bruised and battered one. Just be sure you make time to sit on them for a few days, by about day three or four there should be at least one for you to dig into.
(Be sure not to skip the olive oil. It may seem like gilding the lily, but it’s essential.)
Ingredients:
- Avocado
- Finely chopped shallot, scallion, or garlic
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Sprinkle of sea salt
- Drizzle of olive oil
- Ak-Mak crackers
Throw in a bowl and mix lightly.
Variations or additions
- Finely chopped cucumber
- Organic micro-greens (From TJ’s too)
Like this:
White Coconut Crème tea
I came across a wonderful online resource for tea a few months ago while searching for a supplier for the restaurant. The LA-based Art of Tea hand blends each of their imported teas in small batches using organic ingredients and high-quality botanicals. The teas are some of the best I’ve had and I’m not alone either, at the restaurant we can’t keep enough in stock it seems.
I’ve had quite a few really great blends, but my absolute favorite is a white tea blended with coconut and flowers. It’s unbelievable! The crème part isn’t just part of a fluffy title either, it really does have a lovely creamy texture with a perfect balance of coconut. Look, you can see the coconut pieces! No artificial tastes or fragrances anywhere; the natural flavors are clean and real. Oh and here’s a tip, add a piece (or two) of chocolate to your tea routine with this and you’ll be in heaven. No joke, a bite of really nice chocolate after a sip will send you floating. I’m really not exaggerating, it’s that good.
Another great selling point is that white tea is the least processed of any tea variety, so you get the health benefits of green tea and more. A huge part of a clean lifestyle regimen, tea is the ultimate anti-cancer staple!
Various sizes available at Art of Tea: a tea tin serves about 25 cups for $10.99. I started small but ended up buying the 1 lb bag for $44.
Early girl and heirloom tomatoes, canned. Bam!
I did it! I dove head-first into canning this past weekend. I sort of half expected that I’d have to write the blog equivalent of a retraction, but happily there’ll be none of that today…and I am freakin’ ecstatic! There were no tears, but plenty of sweat and blood if you count the tomato seeds stuck to the arm (and maybe even a few stuck in the hair). While it was great fun it was a lot of work; I’m getting ready for bed right at this moment. I need a weekend from my weekend, so while I recuperate I’ll share my finished product above.
Hope you all had a great weekend. Monday’s already over, dare I say this week is going to fly by?
I’m not a coffee girl, but oh how I wish I was; just the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans makes me feel warm and cozy, and if I could wear it as a fragrance I totally would. Coming from the land of Starbucks you’d think I’d be a pro, but somehow, my love affair stops there as I just haven’t ever been able to drink a full cup of it.
If there was any place where I could be schooled on the delicacies of a proper cuppa joe it would be at Bluebottle Coffee Company – artisanal microroasters of organic, pesticide-free, shade-grown, coffee beans that are off to you within 48 hours of roasting. I love everything about this place, and I wish I could camp out at the Mint Plaza location everyday. I’m officially on a mission to earn some coffee badges.
One thing that could help me along with my coffee training is the Affogato, a generous scoop of ice cream with a shot of espresso for drowning the ice cream with. (I don’t want to offend true coffee connoisseurs and loyal fans of Bluebottle, but I’ve got to start somewhere.) Oh my gosh, there are no words….
It was really big, so it’s perfect for sharing. I can’t wait to go back for an afternoon date so we can share this and sit by the window for some people-watching. I LOVE people watching, especially when it’s over something this good.
So, even though it may take a bit of time for me to appreciate all of the wonderful drinks they offer at Bluebottle, I’ll be be here every chance I get to pick up a bag as a gift or for an afternoon snack with visitors. This is an amazing company and I love what they do: not only are they experts at their craft, but they’ve truly infused environmentally-conscious practices into every aspect of their business. Check this out:
- All our coffees are certified organic, sustainable, and shade grown. We make occasional exceptions for beautiful shade-grown coffees grown responsibly without pesticides but not yet certified organic.
- We use cellophane-lined bags instead of plastic or polypropylene-lined. Cellophane is made from wood cellulose, so it is 100% biodegradable. Because of the slight porosity, cellophane is not used by roasters who are worried about shelf life, but because our coffee does not sit on store shelves for long periods, we can use this material with no trade-off in quality. Once the metal tie is removed from our bags, they are recyclable or compostable.
- We use food-safe stainless steel bins to mix our blends instead of the plastic bins which are standard in the industry. Your beans literally never touch plastic or aluminum from the time they are packed into burlap sacks at the country of origin to the time they are poured into your grinder.
- We compost coffee bean chaff (a waste product of the roasting process) and pay extra for paper (compostable) half gallon milk jugs, rather than plastic gallon milk jugs.
- All test batches, expired batches, or batches that do not meet our requirements are composted or donated to local food banks
- All inks we use are soy-based. All papers (except for our coffee bags – we’re still looking for cellophane-lined recycled paper bags) have post-consumer recycled content of 50% or greater, and are unbleached. All cleaning products are greenest non-toxic products we can find, and all appliances are the most energy-efficient on the market.
- All customer communications are done over the internet whenever possible.
They’re official!
[Thanks Ed for taking the Affogato pics. Still have stage fright with the camera.]
[Thanks Brian for leading the way.]
This is a great story!
Bob’s Red Mill Natural Products has been a staple in my kitchen for years because of their awesome selection of organic, whole grain, and gluten-free products. (Flaxseed meal, whole wheat flour, and polenta corn grits are a few favorites.) The name may not grab you, but I bet the label will seem familiar. With over 400 products and over 30 years in the business, chances are you’ve bought something or at least seen it on the shelves.
Ok, here’s the coolest part…
On Bob’s 81st birthday last month, it was announced that an Employee Stock Ownership Plan would be created, making Bob’s Red Mill an employee-owned company, even with several opportunities to sell for much, much more. I love stuff like this! Somehow I can’t wait to restock.
We eat a ton of salad every week, so here’s my favorite quick and easy recipe for a basic vinaigrette. If I’m really on my game I’ll triple the recipe so I have enough for a few days. (Just store in a mason jar or a leftover glass jar and it’s ready and waiting.)
I think a true basic vinaigrette would use regular dijon mustard and champagne vinegar, but for this go-round I used a coarse stone ground mustard with apple cider vinegar. So I don’t get bored, I’ll usually try to switch or add an ingredient here and there. Sometimes I’ll add a finely grated clove of garlic, or a diced shallot. These small changes make a big difference in the taste of the salad, so it’s a nice little cheat.
Basic French vinaigrette (Serves 2)
- 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
- few dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, honey, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. (Or just add it in with everything else…I don’t really notice a difference.)
Toss gently with salad greens just before serving.
A few years ago, I started transitioning to organic products both in and out of the kitchen. While looking for organic produce and proteins are fairly simple, it is a very different story with health and beauty products. For one, many, many brands claim to be All Natural or Organic, but in reality there are not. Secondly, finding the organic product that’s right for you can be daunting and overwhelming. With on-going help and research with mom we now have a solid arsenal of products that we rely on every day.
One of our staples is organic cocnut oil; a wonderful treat for your skin and hair. (I haven’t tried the scalp massage method as my hair tends to be on the oily side, but hope to try one of these Sundays.) With its antioxidant and antibacterial properties, coconut oil not only acts as a great moisturizer but also a remedy for premature aging and various skin conditions. Also available for use in the kitchen, there are other benefits that come from using it in cooking as well.
Some tips:
- Available online at Amazon, or from health food stores. Whole Foods has a few different brands to choose from.
- I use it at few times a week, but as it’s an oil it’s not always practical to apply it if you shower just before bed. I’d say it takes about 15 minutes to absorb.
- If you buy a big jar, split it into two jars so you can save the other half for later, and that way you’re only sticking your hands into one jar at a time. [via mom 
]
