Something Went Very Wrong-8/25/09

Ah, the difference a day makes. Yesterday, I raved about the amazing caramel ice cream in the Frozen Assets article of this month's Gourmet. Today, I tried the Cantaloupe Grappa Semifreddo from the very same article. Whoops! I really don't know what went wrong on this one but my attempt was nowhere near what was intended. I sensed there might be a problem when the cantaloupe egg mixture almost immediately expanded and began to spill out of the very large mixing bowl I was using over the pot of boiling water. I continued to beat the mixture as long as I could but the top was not heating because it was so far from the boiling water. When I mixed in the whipped cream, it sunk to the bottom and did not distribute without a lot of folding (translation: stirring). It tasted exactly like cantaloupe, if cantaloupe was the consistency of a very light, airy sponge but I don't think that was the intent. I don't have any guesses as to what happened. I have actually made a semifreddo before (see 7/22/09 post) and it turned out great. That's why I'm called an amateur, boys and girls!
Dinner turned out a bit better. I made the Avocado Strawberry Salad with Orange Vinaigrette on page 14 and the Grilled Chicken and Hot Cherry Pepper Panino on page 60. The salad was good with lots of flavors that mixed pretty well. My goat cheese melted instead of crumbled so it became more of the dressing than a component of the salad but it still worked.
The panino got a bit brown, as you can see, perhaps because my rather well-used grill pan got a bit overheated. The sandwich was a bit bland, even with the peperoncinis. Another dressing of some kind would have benefited this sandwich and helped moisten the chicken. I find chicken cutlets can get a bit stringy pretty quickly and these did.

Cantaloupe Grappa Semifreddo-D

Avocado Strawberry Salad with Orange Vinaigrette-B

Grilled Chicken and Hot Cherry Pepper Panino-C

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