A Mother's Day Feast Fit for a Queen

So for my almost first mother's day, I decided not to really celebrate since I'm not a "real" mom quite yet. So it was still ok for me to make dinner but it had to be a special one and I HAD to make a spoil-me kind of dessert. And since the Oriental Market here in Mishawaka (there's nothing like that in Elkhart, so I have to travel a little ways ...) had paper-thin sliced beef, I made the Japanese favorite, 牛丼 ("beef rice bowl" ... though that makes it sound not as good as it is ...). And for dessert I've been craving an old discontinued favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor, "Apple Crumble", so I decided to just make Apple Crisp and home made vanilla ice cream. For the ice cream I used Ina Garten's recipe, but used vanilla extract only instead of both extract and bean. I was amazing ... though quite a guilty treat ... For the Apple Crisp, I completely improvised, and I have to admit I think I'm improving on baked desserts because this turned out JUST as I had hoped. Perfectly crunchy on top and just the right combination of tart and sweet on the inside. You might want to cut back on the lemon to the juice of 1/2 a lemon instead of a whole one ... but I like the tartness of the apples to come through. I thought it went perfectly with the super-rich ice cream.

牛丼
serves 22 bowl portions of Japanese rice
1/2 lb paper-thin sliced beef
1 C water
1 tsp dashi powder
3 T soy sauce
2 T mirin
1 1/2 T sugar
1/2 onion

1. In a medium pot, bring water and dashi powder to a sinner. Once dashi is dissolved, add onions and let boil until softened. Add beef. Once beef is no longer red, add mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir gently to make sure all ingredients are incorporated and simmer a little longer until onions change to a darker color because of the soy sauce.
2. Place rice in donburi bowls and spoon on the beef and onion mixture with a little sauce on top. Serve with benishouga (red pickled julienne ginger).

Apple Crisp and Home Made Ice Cream
Makes one pie pan of apple crisp and about a quart of ice cream Apple Crisp:
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
3 T granulated sugar

crumb topping:
about 1/4 C chopped, roasted almonds
3 T dark brown sugar
3 heaping T all-prupose flour
3-4 T melted butter
1-2 t cinnamon
4-5 T rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 375° and place oven rack to middle-low position.
   
2. In a medium bowl combine all ingredients in crumb topping and adjust to desired "crumbliness". Put in fridge and chill for at least 15 minutes.
3. In another bowl toss todgether apples, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.
4. In a semi-deep pie pan, place all the apple mixture and evenly coat the top with the crumb topping. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the topping is golden-brown and the juices bubble on the sides a little. Let cool for a few minutes and serve warm with ice cream.

Ice Cream:
3 C heavy cream
2/3 C granulated sugar
2 t pure vanilla extract

1. Heat cream, sugar, and vanilla in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved. It won't take very long. Strain into a bowl and refrigerate until very cold.
2. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Spoon into a freezer container and allow to chill freezer for a few hours, until firm.