Sustainable Ballard’s 100 Mile Diet

Raspberry–Blackberry Fool (or any local fruit)
from Nina Chambers

Ingredients:
4 C of berries, rinsed & mashed (pressed through a seive to de-seed)
or 3 C apricots
1/3 – 1/2 C sugar
2 T dessert wine or sweet sherry from local vintner (optional)
1 1/2 C whipping cream from Wilcox Farms or other local dairy
Very fast, very easy.
Put a few of the whole berries or fruit of choice into the bottom of about 6 wine or dessert glasses.
Mash rinsed berries or other fresh fruit & press through sieve to remove seeds.) Sprinkle fruit sauce with half the sugar & stir. Stir in sherry or dessert wine if desired.
Whip cream till large bubbles form & add half the sugar. Continue beating until very soft peaks form (not stiff or buttery!) Fold in fruit sauce mixture. Pour into glasses & chill or serve immediately.

Maison du Miel’s Heather Honey Ice Cream
From The Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells (Harper Collins, 2001)

2 plump, moist vanilla beans
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heather honey (or substitute another aromatic honey such as chestnut or eucalyptus)
Flatten the vanilla beans and cut them in half lengthwise. With a small spoon, scrape out the seeds. Place the seeds and pods in a large saucepan. Add the cream, milk, and honey. Stir to dissolve the honey. Heat over moderate heat, stirring from time to time, just until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan, 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let steep, covered, for 1 hour.
Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (hs note: v. important)
Remove the vanilla pods, and stir the mixture again to blend. transfer it to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.