Peanut Butter & Ritz Ice Cream Sandwiches

Oh man.

These are good.

I mean, they should be right? Peanut butter and ritz crackers are a classic combination, and turning that into an ice cream treat was maybe one of my more brilliant ideas. 

Apparently they look yummy too, based on the fact that my roommate told me, "I don't know what those ritz cracker things are in the freezer but they look insane." That's always nice to hear! I immediately told her to eat as many as she wanted, because these little guys are too easy to eat, really, gone in two bites and then all of a sudden I've had four and I'm wondering why I thought I could show any restraint around them.

Good luck with that. I've mentioned before my love of ice cream sandwiches, but these easy, mini sandwiches are among my favorite ever.  These are sweet and creamy and peanut buttery, with a hit of salty goodness from the crackers, all encased with the crisp chocolate.  The cracker sort of softens from the ice cream the longer it sits in the freezer, mimicking the feel of that classic chocolate and vanilla treat we all know.

Excuse me, I need to go check if I still have some in the freezer.

---

Peanut Butter & Ritz Ice Cream Sandwiches

Makes 16 

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/8 cups sugar
• 3/8 cups smooth peanut butter
• pinch salt
• splash vanilla extract
• 1 sleeve ritz crackers (or similar round butter crackers)
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Warm the milk, half the cream, and the sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add to a blender with the rest of the heavy cream, the peanut butter, salt and vanilla. Blend until combined thoroughly and chill completely.
2. When ice cream mixture has chilled, freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
3. Spoon into a plastic wrap or parchment-lined 8x8 pan, and smooth into an even layer. Freeze until hard.
4. When ice cream is hard, use a small biscuit cutter (1 1/2 in) to cut out rounds, or use a shot glass as a guide with a paring knife. Sandwich rounds between crackers and freeze until solid. I was able to cut out 12 rounds and then scooped the remaining ice cream into 4 more sandwiches using a small cookie scoop. 
5. When sandwiches are frozen solid, melt the chocolate with the coconut oil over a double boiler, and stir until smooth. Let cool slightly, the dip each sandwich halfway in the chocolate. Let set in the freezer, then enjoy! 

Notes:

• As an alternative to steps 3 & 4, you can scoop softened ice cream with a small cookie scoop, but I found the method I used to be better for minimizing broken crackers.
• Instead of making the ice cream, feel free to use your favorite variety of peanut butter ice cream. You will need about a pint.

Strawberry, Watermelon, and Burrata Salad

What to do when you get gloomy about the state of the world?

I don't really want to turn this food blog into a political space but for me, reading the news this summer has triggered an emotional rollercoaster of giddy highs and depressive lows, leaving behind a gloom that's proving hard to shake. It's becoming difficult to muster more than a tired sigh every time I read a new headline. What to do?

I couldn't exactly head to the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport, but I still went down a British route and buried myself the Great British Bake Off, because, if that tent were a real place I could live, it would be where I choose to spend the next three months, wrapped in a cozy blanket of meringue, butter, and bad puns.

Unfortunately, I blew through all 6 seasons in an astonishingly short time, so instead of cuddling up with Paul and Mary and oregaaahno and pidda breads, I have to use other sources of comfort. There really is only so much rose a person can drink by herself and not cause another set of problems entirely, so I turned instead to another thing that always cheers me up, colorful food! It never fails to make me happy, and so I built myself a giant salad mountain of strawberries and watermelon and put some burrata on it because emotional distress is never not helped by a too-large serving of dairy, amirite? 

This salad is super easy to throw together, full of juicy, ripe summer fruit (seriously, this is a juicy salad), topped with delicious things like basil and pine nuts, and most importantly, vibrant enough to shine a little sun on a dark mood. I'll take seconds, please.

---

Strawberry, Watermelon, and Burrata Salad

Makes 2-4 servings

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• fresh ground pepper
• sea salt
• 1 lb strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 3 cups watermelon, diced small
• 2 cups arugula
• 8 oz burrata
• 3 tbs basil, chiffonaded or torn
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
• baguette slices, for serving
• maldon salt or other flaky sea salt

1. In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, pepper and salt to taste. Add the arugula, 2 cups of the strawberries, and 2 cups watermelon, and toss to coat.
2. Divide desired amount of salad mixture among serving bowls and top with remaining strawberries and watermelon. 
3. Top each bowl with a portion of burrata, sprinkle with the pine nuts and basil, then drizzle with more dressing and garnish with flaky sea salt and more fresh ground pepper. 
4. Toast the baguette slices and serve.

Feta Brined Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken Project #6 - Feta Brined Roast Chicken

Welcome to the halfway point of the Roast Chicken Project! We've had classic versions of roast chicken, both Julia's and Judy's, a lazy version, a time saving cast iron version, and an aromatic,  milk-bathed version. And in this most recent RCP installment, I've continued the chicken in dairy trend from last month and progressed to soaking my chicken in actual cheese!

Well, sort of. 

This roast chicken is my very first brined bird! I mean, I've brined chicken pieces in buttermilk before before frying, but I've never brined a whole bird before roasting. Everything I've read about brining always seemed like way too much work and mess for a debatable payoff, with some devotees claiming brining is the only way to get a juicy bird, and others claiming it's the best way to ensure your poultry comes out tasting like a sponge. No thank you. 

But, feta brining is something I'd heard about that intrigued me, if only because I absolutely adore feta above almost all other cheeses, and because I first encountered the idea from one of my favorite restaurants in SF, where I had only never tried the chicken because they insist on serving it with fennel (it's ok, they make lamb). I thought maybe it would be like combining the benefits of a buttermilk brine with the saltiness of a dry brine. Plus, this method didn't call for a ton of aromatics and spices, only a hunk of feta and some water. Seemed easy!

So, I whizzed up some feta and water in a blender, added some extra bonus brine from the feta container, and plopped my chicken in to relax overnight. Then I shoved a lemon and some fresh oregano in the cavity, rubbed it with some more oregano, lemon zest, and salt and pepper, and roasted it.

And the result was by far my favorite chicken I've made so far for this project, and one I'm going to be looking for any excuse to make, aka, "Oops why did I buy so much feta, whatever will I do with it?" 

I completely forgot to baste it, but it turned out beautifully burnished and crispy anyway, with succulent meat imbued with lemon and oregano. I have to admit I'm not sure if the brining added any real contribution to the final result, but it definitely didn't taste spongy, so yay? I also didn't really notice any feta flavor in the chicken, but that's what the sauce is for! 

Definitely put this one in the "win" column.

And by the way, if you look at this recipe and decide you don't want to bother with the sauce, let me tell you that is a terrible idea because 1) it takes two seconds and 2) I would honestly drink it by the bowlful, it was that good.  

---

Feta Brined Roast Chicken

Adapted from Melissa Clark.

• 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled (plus 1/4 cup feta brine, if using a brined feta)
• 3 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• One 3.5 lb whole chicken
• 2 tbs pepper
• a few handfuls fresh oregano
• 2 large lemons
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large bunch peppery greens, such as arugula

1. In a blender, puree 2 oz feta, 2 tsp salt, and 4 cups of water in a blender, and add the feta brine if using. 
2. In a large bowl or brining bag, submerge the chicken in the brine, cover, and refrigerate overnight, or at least 8 hours (my chicken wasn't completely submerged in the bowl, so I flipped it halfway through brining time).
3. When ready to roast, remove chicken from brine, pat dry, and bring to room temperature for 1 hour. Discard the brine. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
4. After 1 hour, in a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, 2 tbs chopped oregano, and the zest of both lemons. Spread over chicken and massage into the bird. Halve the lemons and place 3 halves into the cavity of the chicken with remaining oregano. Tie the legs together.
5. Preheat a heavy skillet over high heat, add the olive oil and heat until it is just smoking. Place the chicken, breast side up, in the hot pan (it should sizzle!) and transfer the pan to the oven. Roast for 50-60 minutes.
6. Remove chicken from oven. Remove the lemons from the cavity and carefully tip the chicken to drain the juices into the pan. Transfer chicken to a cutting board to rest, at least 10 minutes. Stir the remaining feta into the hot juices in the pan whisk into a sauce. 
7. Toss the greens with a bit of the sauce, then carve the chicken and serve with the greens and remaining sauce.