Cajeta with Black Strap Rum From a Chicago Point of View

I love the diversity that is Chicago. Yet I have to admit, its still a segregated city in many aspects. 

I find the only areas where you can be truly integrated are the more expensive areas, where money or education is the common denominator. Other than that, your ethnic origin separates you. I live on a street that cuts from the east by the lake and flows  all the way west. If you were to drive down it , you would see how the neighborhood shifts from shabby yet  solid and genteel high rises by the lake inhabited by a racially diverse mix of academics, lawyers,doctors, students, and the mainly bourgeois.My world. A little South off this main road is the home of our nations president, Barack Obama.Continue driving a a few blocks  later  there is an immediate shift. A busy mostly African American  thoroughfare of people ranging from people doing questionable activities, regular folks passing through on Public transit, and just people hanging out. Barber shops,   African Braid shops,liquor stores,cheap fast foods, and neighborhood lounges, I couldn't even conceive of going into, but love to look into while driving by.This little section has another name, Tobacco Road which  is a paradox, because once this section of Bronzeville was alive and bursting with the greats of the African American music, and literary scene. Imagine these names hanging out and performing during the Great Migration of Blacks from the South,Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Dinah Washington, Miles Davis, James Brown, Redd Foxx, Richard Wright , Joe Louis,Bessie Coleman, and Gwendolyn Brooks.Off the main road  today , young and affluent  mostly African Americans are staging a neighborhood comeback.Keep driving then it shifts to a little pocket of blue collar  Caucasians who haven't left the area and seems worlds apart from the whole  streets  dynamic. 

Then the road  it shifts to a predominately Mexican  feel with Taquería,Fruterías ,Carnicerías,

Pasteleria and  Panaderia. In addition to the small shops there are

  major super markets catering to the Latinos I want to visit and just explore, which I have been doing on occasion.It has been an education and eye opener . It was in one of these little shops I discovered Cajeta lollipops. Goat milk simmered down with sugar until it hardened to a lollipop .But Cajeta is often more recognized in a more sauce like  form. Spread on toast, , crepes,used as an ice cream topping, or eaten straight out the jar, its up to you to adapt it. I decided to mix my love of  Blackstrap rum with the slow cooked goat milk, vanilla  and sugar.

Cajeta with Buckwheat Crepes
 

 Cajeta With Black Strap Rum

*this recipe requires frequent stirring and attention. It will take abut 3 hours to complete. I went ahead and did house work while checking on my Cajeta within 10 minute intervals to stir while it was on a lower heat.

1/2 gallon (2 Qts Goat Milk) Cows milk can be used as well.

2 teaspoons of vanilla paste ( Nielsen Massey or 1 vanilla bean)

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water  for this reason to prevent the milk proteins from coagulating  and aiding in the caramelizing, browning of the Cajeta.

4 tablespoons Black Strap Rum or dark rum

In a heavy stainless steel pot combine Sugar, goats milk, a seeded vanilla bean and pod, or paste.Whisk to combine. Simmer on a low heat until sugar is dissolved.Carefully add the baking soda water and the liquid will fizz up a bit. Continue to simmer on a low heat but with the simmering action visible. Stir frequently. Over time the mixture will start to deepen and brown ( 1 hour). After the first hour start to add the rum in intervals and continue to stir even more frequently. You may want to adjust heat to less or more.. The  mixture should be reduced by a third, eventually to by half or more. Towards the end of cooking it will be deep and golden and start to bubble and come to rolling aggressive boil  as it's more sugar than liquid at this point.Don't let let the Cajeta get to thick as it will thicken while cooling down. Store covered in the refrigerator. If its to thick heat for 10 seconds in the ,microwave or warm container  in a batch of hot water before use.

Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

Strawberries are pretty cheap these days due  to the Nations Strawberry Glut. A late Florida Season caused by a cold winter is meeting up with California's traditional spring crops and the US market is flooded.Seeing as how I could purchase  two containers of berries for the price of one,  I went ahead and then put the ice cream freezer bowl in the freezer. I love to make ice cream , yet don't do it as often as I would  like .I always seem to forget how easy it is and how creative you can get.

While announcing my weekend intention on Twitter/ Face Book, renown  and highly respected pastry chef, Shuna Fish Lydon suggested I roast my strawberries with vanilla sugar to coax out more flavor. That's what I love about social media. Great chefs with a wealth of experience ready to help or just talk and share with no pretense. I took Shuna's suggestion and ran with it a little more by roasting the berries with both vanilla sugar and Balsamic Vinegar. Oh WOW! I also decided to use Sour Cream , in addition to Half and Half and Milk. Did I mention just a bit of Creme de Noyaux, an  pink almond  flavored liquor made from apricot kernels? In the end the Creme de Noyaux was very subtle, but I added it to keep the ice cream from freezing  hard and to enhance pink color, as homemade ice creams tend to do. My pastry instructor in the workshops at French Pastry School last summer declared Ice Creams will be next big thing in terms of trends in pastry . I do believe he is right.

Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream 

3 cups Strawberries  washed, hulled and halved
2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Vanilla Sugar ( save used vanilla beans and add to containers of sugar)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar ( reserve 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Paste ( extract can used as well) 
2 tablespoons Creme de Noyaux
1 1/4 cup whole milk 
1 1/4 cups Sour Cream 
1 cup Half and Half

Prepare Freezer Bowl according to ice Cream makers instructions.
 Line a baking sheet with lips with aluminum foil. Spread the halved strawberries. Combine Vanilla Sugar and  1 cup of granulated sugar . Sprinkle over the berries. Drizzle the Balsamic Vinegar over the berries and sugar. Roast at 400 F  until the sugar dissolves and the juices start to bubble and caramelize. This will take about 15 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and carefully pour into a bowl. Using a strainer separate the  the berries  from the juices, while mushing them slightly. Set aside the mashed berries in one small container and allow the hot strawberry sugar balsamic juice to cool in another container. Add vanilla paste or extract and the Creme de Noyaux. Set Aside.
 In a bowl or stand mixer mix the whole milk and remaining 1/4 cup sugar for a few minutes on low speed. Add the Sour Cream and  half & half. Mix well. While mixing, add the Berry Juices, and mashed berries. Pour the mixture into the freezer bowl and churn for 25 minutes. It will be a soft consistency. Pour and spread into loaf pans and cover . Freeze for several more hours in the freezer until ready to serve.