*photo by Matthew Craig

This past Monday night, Hungry in Brooklyn hosted our Season One Wrap Party at the Brooklyn Kitchen to honor the chefs, purveyors, and supporters of the show.  It was an amazing night - Anthony and Angelo from Roberta’s did their magic right in front of us, busting out delicious pizzas all evening long. Salty sweet snacks and desserts from our friends at Ovenly, and Sixpoint Beer on tap made for a night to remember.  

*photo by Matthew Craig

Thanks to our friend Matthew Craig, we’ve got some gorgeous photos!  Matt’s responsible for the amazing and awe-inspiring REVOLUCION(ES) exhibit at the Instituto Cervantes, running through May 7th, 2011.  It’s a gorgeously curated selection photographers’ work on the front lines of the North African political revolutions.

Check out the next post for rotating photos of the evening, and stay tuned for next season as Hungry In Brooklyn expands to other cities, kicking off our season with Pittsburgh.  You heard me, Pittsburgh!

Ice cream is by-far my favorite dessert, and it’s actually really easy to make at home provided you have an Ice Cream Machine. The beauty in making your own ice cream is that you control everything about it.  Buy the freshest cream from the farmers market, the best milk from grass-fed cows, organic and fair trade vanilla beans, farm-fresh eggs…you get the picture. When you have taken care to source perfect ingredients, then put those ingredients to use in a decadent dessert, it tastes that much sweeter. Gives new meaning to “guilt free.”  

Here’s a quick demonstration on how to make the perfect vanilla ice cream, straight up. If you care to add anything to it-fruit, chocolate, marshmallow, cookie dough-do so in the last couple minutes of churning.  I served mine Paulie Gee style with Ovenly’s Spicy Bacon Caramel Corn, which I’ve been obsessed with ever since meeting them at Thrillist’s Bacon and Blues party last October.  It really is the perfect complex accompaniment to this super simple, classic ice cream. 

HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM: 

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 vanilla bean, scraped 

6 egg yolks

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat the milk, sugar, scraped vanilla beans and pod, and salt over medium heat until warm. Whisk the six egg yolks and slowly temper the warm milk into the egg yolks, bit by bit until it’s all incorporated.  Be sure to take your time so that the warm milk does not cook the yolks.  Return the milk and egg mixture back to the pot and stir constantly over low heat until the custard reaches 170 degrees.  

Set up an ice bath in a large bowl, and place a smaller nesting bowl inside it with a strainer over the top.  Pour the cream and vanilla through the strainer, and then the heated custard.  Stir to incorporate and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, though overnight is best. 

Remove the vanilla bean pod, and freeze the ice cream in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer instructions.  Put it back in the freezer to harden before serving.  Dig in and enjoy!

Our good friends over at Thrillist threw their second annual Bacon and Blues party last night as part of the NYC Food and Wine Festival. Since Bacon is one of my favorite food groups (right up there with cheese, chocolate, and pickles), I couldn’t pass this one up. The event was hosted by celebrity chef Todd English of Olives fame, and he certainly was the host with the most:  if giving a pork demo to a crowd of photo-taking foodies wasn’t enough, he serenaded them by hijacking the mike from the blues band at the end of the night. Perhaps it was the whiskey - or perhaps he was high  - like the rest of us - on bacon. 

Favorite dish of the night?  The bacon basket!  Mable’s Smokehouse, slated to open in November in Williamsburg, did this fine animal some serious justice by creating a perfect little cup of bacon to cradle the deliciously succulent pulled pork it held. Topped off with their “super secret” bbq sauce (I tried to get the recipe…all I got was a free bottle of it), it set the bar high for the rest of the night.  

Mable’s Smokehouse Bacon Basket 

Then we were thrilled to meet other fellow Brooklyners Agatha and Erin of Ovenly, who create salty sweet bar snacks available at different spots around the borough.  Tonight we sampled their spiced bacon caramel corn - salty from the Meathook bacon they use, and sweet from luscious caramel, with a little kick at the end.  

Ovenly’s Spiced Bacon Caramel Corn (available at Veronica Peoples Club)

Other favorites included Wall and Water’s crostini with homemade bacon and horseradish apple sauce spread.  While obviously the bacon was delicious, the applesauce was so unique and amazing it’s what really stood out to me.  And it didn’t hurt that it was served with some pickled cauliflower. Pickles AND bacon on the same plate? Count me in. 

Wall and Water’s Bacon and Apple Horseradish Crostini

*One hundred percent of all the ticket sales went to benefit the Food Bank of New York.  

Check out the next post to see more photos, and stay tuned for our exclusive video: Five Questions with Todd English, here on the blog or at youtube.com/hungryinbrooklyn.