04 January 2010

kit kat: what do I do with real vanilla??

Help!

Greetings fellow mad tastiers… I am in desperate need of some help to create my own mad tasty food. Let me explain…

Ever since I was about 14 years old and I read an article in Cosmo magazine where they said that every woman (even though I was just a girl at the time) should have a “signature scent,” I have been wearing a type of vanilla perfume or body spray. It is, now, my signature scent. I love vanilla everything. Vanilla smells – perfume, candles. Vanilla food – ice cream, the flavored tootsie rolls with the blue wrappers. Everything. Except vanilla vodka, which I USED to love, but thanks to one fateful night on the town the summer between freshman and sophomore years of college, I can no longer drink it.

So vanilla is the thing for me. And as a special treat as part of my Christmas gift, my dear friend, Elaine in London, sent me a vial of real vanilla from Madagascar. And I was overjoyed – I’ve never actually seen REAL vanilla. And it’s awesome. But … I have NO IDEA what to do with it. So I am reaching out to you all, dear friends, to help me come up with a dish or a reason to use it. Any tips on cooking with real vanilla? Dishes that are your favorite? What else should I know? I assume I don’t just rub it on my wrists and wear it…

7 comments:

  1. Nothing beats a creme anglaise. and the you can use it over and over again. dip in chocolate wafers, fresh rasberries, mmmm. the works.
    Actually now that i said rasberries, i had this dessert that was lots of small berries - blue berries, little red berries and then rasberries in a deep plate that just had a creme anglaise over the top of it and it was still perhaps the best dessert i've had.

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  2. mmmm... thanks for the tip! i didn't even realize creme anglaise was "vanilla-flavored." ha.

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  3. perhaps it officially doesn't . . my version certainly does! The other thing i remembered, if you melt white chocolate over a double boiler and then add the fresh vanilla its amazing . . .i've reformed these into chocolate pieces before.

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  4. that sounds really sophisticated and delicious...

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  5. you're sophisticated and delicious.

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  6. Also, creme brulee and panna cotta are surprisingly easy to make, and a good way to showcase real-deal vanilla!

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  7. i had no idea vanilla was in either of those... guess i'll spend the day looking up recipes!

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