Dessert= Frozen Strawberry Tellicherry Souffle + Spiced Pecans

"Yesterday, after a blazing hot trip to the park, my son wanted ice cream. Realizing my ice cream maker was still packed away in the far corner of a cramped storage room, and having already shortened my life by climbing up slides and squeezing through plastic tubes that had baked to a temperature close to the surface of the sun, I concluded that I would not be scaling the peaks and valleys of cardboard boxes in search of a machine that would do the churning for me. Without the spinning paddles of my machine, stirred custard in the traditional ice cream form was a no-go. I decided on a frozen souffle recipe that could be accomplished with a whisk and a bowl, and little else. When finished, I stored and served the souffles in little mason jars, essentially creating little ice cream cups."
 P.S. When I'm making this for myself, I cook the strawberries down in Heitz Cellars Ink Grade Port.


Yield: 8 - 4 oz Mason Jars
what you need:
Egg yolks, 6 each
Sugar, 4 oz.
Orange zest, 1/2 tsp.
Whipped cream, 2 cups
Fresh strawberries, quartered, 10 each

Ground cinnamon, 1 tsp.

Tellicherry pepper, cracked, 10 peppercorns
Orange blossom honey, 1 Tbsp.
Water, 3 Tbsp. (or Port wine if you like)

Fresh mint, for garnish, 8 leaves

Fresh strawberries, diced, for garnish, 8 each

Spiced pecan halves, recipe follows, 16 each

for the spiced pecans:

Pecan halves, 1 cup
Orange blossom honey, 3 Tbsp.
Fleur de sel, 1/2 tsp.
Cinnamon, 1 pinch
Tellicherry pepper, cracked,  4 peppercorns
how you make it:
1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Place the pecan halves on a non-stick cookie sheet and warm the pecans for about 5 minutes. (This step is very important to keep the pecans from clumping together.)
2. Warm 3 Tbsp. of honey, pinch of cinnamon, and 4 of the cracked Tellicherry peppercorns in a saucepan.
3. Pour the nuts into a bowl and add the honey mixture and the salt. Toss to evenly coat the pecans. 
4. Spread the pecans into a single layer and bake for 1 hour, rotating once. Remove and cool.
5. In a shallow pan over medium heat, cook the 10 quartered strawberries with 3 Tbsp. water, the 10 cracked Tellicherry peppercorns, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, and 1 Tbsp. of honey. Cook the strawberries until tender and the liquid has reduced to a syrup. Mash the strawberries. (If you would like a smoother souffle you can puree the strawberries at this point.) Cool the strawberries in a bowl over an ice bath. Set aside.
6. Whip the heavy cream to medium peak and refrigerate. 

7. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in a non-reactive bowl and whisk over a water bath, heating to 145 degrees. (Be careful not to scramble the eggs). 

8. Using rubber spatula fold in the mashed strawberries and orange zest, then fold in the chilled whipped cream slowly.
9. Immediately divide the mixture evenly among the mason jars and place in the freezer until frozen completely.

10. When frozen, garnish with spiced pecans, mint, and diced fresh strawberries. Serve.


*note: pull out of the freezer about 15 minutes before serving to allow to soften a bit.