Frozen Blackberries with Labne and Honey by Alison Roman

Frozen yogurt had its moment in the sun in the late 2000’s-early 2010’s. Everywhere I looked, a new yogurt place opened up, promising to have the best toppings and the best yogurt flavors. As a broke high school student, I confess that I would sometimes ask for a sample cup, fill it up with every flavor one by one, and then *decide* I just wasn’t interested in buying yogurt that day. (Yes, I’m ashamed.) When I did decide to shell out a few dollar bills, I would almost always get the plain flavor topped with mochi squares because they were the lightest topping by weight, and therefore the most affordable. I’m a true Dutch woman at heart. 

Just as soon as frozen yogurt started to lose popularity again, and the overly saturated yogurt shop market began to dwindle, I swiftly forgot about my love for frozen yogurt. I hadn’t given it one thought until it was time to make this recipe (my second to last dessert for the project!). By using labne or full-fat Greek yogurt (the only ingredient I could find), Alison creates a frozen yogurt much more akin to Golden Spoon than Yogurtland. My fellow Southern Californians know what I’m talking about. Golden Spoon had a creaminess and thickness much closer to ice cream. It was a true stepping stone between ice cream and frozen yogurt, and I believe it was one of the first shops to start the froyo trend. 

Alison takes it a step further in the creaminess direction by adding freshly whipped heavy cream to the yogurt, so it’s almost a yogurt-ice cream hybrid. The cream made this dessert much richer and thicker, which tasted amazing, but I would love to know what it’d be like without so much cream. Next time, I might cut the amount of cream in half and see how it goes. I also think it would have frozen much quicker with less cream. She says it takes 2 to 3 hours to set properly. I think it could have used a fourth hour, but I was honestly too impatient and dug in sooner. The edges had frozen well, but the center was still on the colder, rather than truly frozen side. Perhaps that’s what she’s aiming for, but the instructions are rather vague. 

To prepare the dessert, I started by simmering a pint of blackberries with honey until bubbling and starting to break down. This took about 12 minutes before I transferred the juicy fruit to a bowl to cool in the refrigerator. This sped up the cooling process significantly, so it only took 20 minutes for the mixture to cool. Meanwhile, I whipped the cream in my stand mixer and combined it with the yogurt and a big pinch of salt. Then, just barely, I stirred the blackberries into the creamy yogurt before pouring it in a loaf pan covered in saran wrap. Like I said, it could have used another hour to freeze, but I took it out at the 2.5 hour mark and served it up to my parents and Jordan. 

Everyone loved it and had seconds. We essentially finished off the entire loaf pan that evening with no regrets. I can’t wait to make this dessert in the summertime. It’ll be just the right thing to serve to guests on our apartment balcony. 

209 recipes cooked, 16 to go.

Turmeric-Roasted Carrots with Seeds and Labne

I love a good roasted carrot, don’t you? If you’re like me, you almost always have a bag of carrots on hand. And if you’re like me, you also typically wait until they’re about to go bad to consider eating them. The carrots usually sit hidden in a drawer, and then one day I’ll catch a glimpse of orange and realize that if I don’t act fast, I’ll lose the whole bunch to old age. When these situations arise, I almost always place them on sheet pan, turn the oven to 450, cover the carrots with olive oil and various spices, and roast them until tender. If we don’t eat them all for dinner, I have the leftovers for lunch with whatever else I’m eating that day. 

Alison treats her carrots the same way. Exactly the same, in fact. Here she prefers to use turmeric, coriander seed, and fennel seed as seasonings of choice. But the beauty of carrots is that they pair well with so many different spices! Most often I choose cumin. Sometimes smoked paprika and chile powder. I liked this particular combo that Alison uses, especially the seeds, which are fun to bite into. 

Alison also loves some good dairy mixed with lemon and garlic to go with her veggies. I’ve noticed it’s kind of her thing. And you might notice that I chose to skip that here. While I could have gone with some goat’s milk yogurt for my base instead of labne, I had a particularly discouraging episode with dairy the night before, and let’s just say my body would not have thanked me for giving it more. Sometimes, ya gotta call an audible and listen to your body’s cues. 

If you have a bag of carrots in your fridge, don’t neglect them. Cherish them. Give them the oil and spices they deserve and heat them up until your fork can’t help but pierce one. And then another. And another. 

122 recipes cooked, 103 to go.

Labne with Sizzled Scallions and Chile (Almost Ranch) by Alison Roman

There’s a reason Alison’s friends call this “The Dip,” and why it’s the first recipe in nothing fancy. It’s fantastic. It’s creamy, spicy, and tangy. I served it as a dip with carrots, radishes, and almond crackers, and as a salad dressing. I savored every last drop. 

To make it, you just need about 20 minutes of time and some organic green garlic on hand. Which means this is decidedly a late spring, early summertime appetizer. Perfect for those early days of summer when the sun is finally setting later and the deck is once again warm enough for a dinner party. It’s for when you start craving chilled white wine instead of warm red. (Of course, yes, you can substitute scallions for green garlic and make it all year round. But letting this dish be seasonal adds a level of specialness to it all, I think.) 

Green garlic, you ask? Right, I hadn’t heard of it either. I knew about bulbed garlic, but I’d never seen green garlic. At least, I didn’t think I had. Towards the beginning of April, I noticed a small bin of what looked like extra long scallions appeared at Whole Foods. Their long fronds mimicked that of leeks, but they were thinner in size. I did some investigating, and sure enough, it was filled with bunches of green garlic. This recipe requires using the light green and white parts of it, just like a scallion. The thinly sliced garlic, though still potent, gave a more muted punch than would grated white garlic. 

The bits of green garlic are simmered in olive oil along with cilantro and red pepper flakes. Alison says to do this until everything begins to “sizzle and frizzle” and the oil turns a “fiery orange.” To keep anything from burning, the pot is set over medium-low heat. For me, the sizzle-and-frizzle began about 5 minutes in, but the fiery orange never did. I let it all sizzle for 15 or so minutes, but the oil remained a golden yellow. My only hypothesis is that my pepper flakes were not potent or quality enough? But I’m open to other theories. 

Once the oily mixture cools slightly, it’s swirled into a bowl of labne or yogurt and lemon juice, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and more fresh cilantro. (I used goat’s milk yogurt due to my stomach’s vendetta against cow’s milk.)

This one was a hit with the entire family.  

71 recipes cooked, 154 to go.