On 3, Thermidor, we celebrate the melon! I’ve made some cantaloupe popsicles to ring in Heat month.

Cantaloupe Raspberry Popsicles

1 ripe cantaloupe

1 cup of fresh raspberries

1 cup simple syrup

2 limes, juiced

dash of salt

Cut the cantaloupe and remove the seeds and rind. First, pure the cantaloupe in a food processor and reserve in a bowl. Then, puree the raspberries and strain the seeds with a strainer over a bowl. Add the two juices together along with the simple syrup, lime juice and dash of salt. Place in popsicle molds and freeze. If you have any remaining juice mix, it makes for a refreshing cocktail. Enjoy!

Mes amis, today we are celebrating our last day of Messidor with oatmeal! I love, love, love oatmeal and I love the way that Baker Miller makes and prepares their oatmeal. I have attempted an homage to their oatmeal here, but nothing beats the real thing.

Oatmeal with Pecans and Cherries 

1 cup oats

2 tbs butter

1/2 tsp salt

chopped pecans

cherry jam or candied cherries

heavy cream

brown sugar or sugar in the raw

clotted cream or thick, plain yogurt

First, boil two cups of water in a small pan along with the salt and the butter. When the water starts to boil, add in the oatmeal slowly (so it doesn’t clump) and whisk briskly. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for as long as needed. 15 – 20 minutes. If I remember, I will prepare the oatmeal up until the simmer, then remove from the heat and cover and leave it overnight for delicious morning oatmeal.

Now, I am not 100% certain exactly how Baker Miller prepares their oatmeal, so this is my best guess: portion out about a half cup of oatmeal into a bowl, pour some cream around the edges and add in the chopped pecans. On top, place a dollop of cherry jam or candied cherries along with the clotted cream or yogurt. Sprinkle some sugar over all of it and enjoy!

 

On this, the 19 of Messidor, we celebrate mint! And boy, do we have a lot of mint with which to celebrate. We have a section of the yard with strawberries and mint growing and this year the mint has gone absolutely crazy. I’m making plain mint ice cream with chocolate cookies to form sandwiches. The cookies come from this recipe.

Mint Ice Cream 

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

6 egg yolks

large handful of mint, with the leaves torn

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream and salt in a medium pan. Heat to a simmer and then remove from heat. Separate the eggs and temper the warm milk mixture into the eggs and then pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Heat at medium low until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and then add the vanilla, the torn mint leaves and then the other cup of cream. Chill overnight.

I have a five-year-old, so I added a few drops of green food color to the ice cream base. Strain out the leaves and freeze in your ice cream maker. I lined a half sheet pan with plastic wrap and poured the ice cream in and then covered with plastic wrap. I froze the ice cream and then was able to cut the ice cream easily into the correct size for the chocolate cookies. Enjoy!

On 9 Messidor, we celebrate wormwood! We’ll be making a sazerac with absinthe, Peychaud’s bitters and rye. Wikipedia has the origin of “sazerac” coming from the name of the brand of Cognac first used in the drink, Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. The man importing the Cognac to New Orleans also ran an establishment called the Sazerac Coffee House wherein he first served the cocktail.

 

Sazerac 

3 ounces rye whiskey

1/4 ounce absinthe

1/2 ounce simple syrup

dash of Peychauds’ bitters

In an old fashioned glass, pour in the absinthe. Traditionally, you are to rinse the glass in the absinthe and then discard the remaining. Then, add the rye, simple syrup, bitters and ice. Mix with a spoon and enjoy!

Hooray for Cherry Day of Harvest Month! We’re skipping around Messidor a bit, but it’s just so chock-full of edible foods. On this day, 19 Messidor, I have made candied cherries which I then used in an almond ice cream. I was hoping to replicate Amarena Fabbri cherries and I think if I had a darker, more bitter cherry it would have been a closer match. However! the candied cherries still turned out great thanks to a recipe from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. When we were in Paris, we found a large jug of Amarena cherries for sale for something like… 9€. A steal compared to the price of a small jar here. I didn’t even think of the cherries as a liquid, so we packed it in our overhead bag for the plane only to have the Charles De Gaulle x-ray operator remove them for violating the 3 ounce rule. I hope she enjoyed many cherry sundaes!

Candied Cherries 

1 lb of fresh cherries, pitted and de-stemmed

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 tbs lemon juice

1 drop almond extract

Place the cherries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a pan that can easily fit everything and heat to a boil. Once they’ve reached a boil, reduce to a low boil and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the liquid starts to thicken. Remove from heat and add a drop of almond extract. Let them cool.

Cherry Almond Ice Cream 

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole almonds, chopped

5 large egg yolks

1 cup of drained candied cherries

Warm the milk, sugar, salt and 1 cup of cream in a heavy pan. When it starts to simmer, remove from heat and add in 1 cup of the chopped almonds. Cover and let the mixture steep for an hour.

Once steeped, strain the mixture over a colander or strainer to remove the almonds. Discard the almonds and re-heat the mixture. Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks in a bowl. Temper the yolks with some of the warmed milk mixture, then add the yolks to the pan and cook. Cook over medium, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens slightly. Pour the thickened mixture over a strainer into a bowl and add the remaining cup of cream. Let cool overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, freeze in an ice cream maker and when ready, scoop out into your container and sprinkle in the chopped candied cherries and reserved almonds. Freeze and enjoy!