Ooooh - I love ice cream. Like, love-love-love it. But sometimes my food intolerances can get in the way of love - and that's just a pity, isn't it? When I first heard about Rori's Organic Creamery I was excited to try out the goods - but when I heard that her Gluten Free DAIRY Free ice cream was good enough to be featured in Food & Wine magazine, I figured there was more to the story. There was. Rori has created recipes for Oprah & Bon Appetit to share with all of you, and styled some of my favorite food images ever (remember the Visa "GO" ads? That was her.) I wanted more information about the kitchen magician who was making amazing ice cream that's safe for all of us. And people, I have two words for you - Salted Caramel.
Tell me about Rori’s Organic Creamery! How did you get started? I was a chef and pastry chef for many many years and ice cream was always my love. When I decided I wanted to have a product we toyed around with a few things, usually fancier ideas but it always came back to ice cream.
What makes small batch ice cream different? Mainly the amount of air that can be whipped into the ice cream base. It's nothing you taste, it pertains to texture. The result is a creamy, smooth rich texture in your mouth.
Which of your flavors are Gluten Free? Vanilla Bean, Serious Dark Chocolate, Stumptown Espresso, Lemon Curd, Root Beer Float, Salted Caramel, Roman's Chocolate Coconut, Milk Chocolate Chunk, Fresh Mint Patty and Peanut Butter and Jelly.
I adore the Gluten Free – Dairy Free Roman’s Chocolate Coconut – and I know it’s named for your son. Why did you develop this flavor for him? My son is gluten and dairy free. How unfair that your mom opens an ice cream business and you can't eat it! So I developed a dairy free flavor made of his two favorite things, chocolate and coconut and named it after him, Roman.
Tell me about Pastry school in France! I bet I’d gain 50lbs in cooking school over there. French butter.... don't get me started, it's a food group on its own if you ask me! Working with French dairy products is a dream for a pastry chef. The art of cooking is taken much more seriously in Europe and kitchen etiquette is very stiff. I still weigh rather than use measuring cups for most everything as it's done in France. I still prefer metric measure to ours, it much more logical.
You’ve written recipes for magazines and have been a food stylist – what was the toughest food assignment you’ve tackled? I had to make a six foot stack of pancakes for an ad campaign.... 23 times!!!
What ice cream flavors are you working on now? Any more dairy-free treats in the works? I'm working on a new peanut butter combo. There is no denying that people love peanut butter and chocolate, so I'm fazing out my Peanut Butter and Jelly and making a lighter style peanut butter mousse ice cream with a dense fudge ripple. The next dairy free flavor is fresh banana brown sugar.
Fresh Banana + Brown Sugar, I can't even wait to try it! After a long day making ice cream, what’s your favorite easy meal? I'm not suppose to say Rice Krispies, right?!!! We grill a lot at our house so I'll usually light up the grill and throw on some fish and a few veggies and make a lemon black pepper vinaigrette to drizzle over all of it.
Got a food or beverage you can’t live without? Earth's Balance Organic Spread (to replace butter for my son), asparagus, I eat about a pound a day! Also my at-home water carbonation system. I love sparkling water but hate wasting all those bottles and spending so much money.
Can you give the G-Free home cooks a tip or two? Save the ends of the loaves of your gluten free bread in the refrigerator or freezer. Then toast them and make your own breadcrumbs for breading chicken or meat cutlets as well as using in meatballs. Also, I often use corn tortillas to thicken a pureed soup. Add a couple tortillas torn up to a vegetable soup for the last 10 minutes before pureeing.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor or treat? I'm a vanilla girl. But I also love a very tart frozen yogurt.
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