Love, the King and Queen of Far, Far, Away a.k.a. Mum and Dad

Do you know what is really difficult?  Stopping in the middle of the cooking to take pictures.  Some may even call that obnoxious.  Especially when you have a very basic camera and what very well could be the most unsuitable kitchen-as-photography-studio in the world.  Don't get me wrong, I like the kitchen just fine, but the colors, lights, and window location make it look like a cave in photographs.  Also, I may have put my memory card in a safe place after the last entry, and of course, that safe place was not back in the camera, so I have absolutely no idea where it is - but it is safe!  And so, even though I have made any number of yummy things in the almost four months since I last posted anything, I have not been photo-documenting, and so, no blog, because lets be honest, the photos are the best part of food blogs.  But I have complaints from my "fans" (a.k.a. my Mom and Dad), so here goes.

Of the many yummy things I have made recently, the yummiest by far have to have been what was called "the Brice."  "The Brice" is a salted caramel truffle.  They're amazing.  I made them for a bridal shower I threw for my former roommate with the assistance of my current roommate and her former roommate.  I actually do have pictures of the bridal shower.  What I do not actually have pictures of are the truffles.  There was also a  coffee-hazelnut truffle known as "the Kelly," and it was also very good.  In fact, I feel a little bad for "the Kelly," because everyone kept raving about how much they loved "the Brice," and it seemed like "the Kelly" was just an afterthought, even though it was very good.  And now that I have mentioned the truffles several times, and talked about how delicious the truffles were, I feel compelled to tell you this post is not about truffles.  In fact, this post is not even about chocolate, because I now know four (four!) people who do not like chocolate, which I still do not understand, because chocolate is amazing.  However, this post is about salted caramel, which is pretty amazing on its own.  Of course, it is more amazing when combined with chocolate, but it was not meant to be.  This time.

This weekend, Roommate and I went to visit a friend who recently moved to Louisiana.  I was asked to bring cupcakes.  I asked what type of cupcakes I should bring, and I was told "white cupcakes, white frosting.''  There are a lot of people who love white cake with white frosting.  I am not one of them, but it was what was requested, so I was all set to make white cupcakes with white frosting.  And then Pinterest came to the rescue, with this photo:

Yes, that is salted caramel frosting.  It looked and sounded amazing, and I really wanted to try it.  And fortunately, I got the go-ahead to replace the white frosting with salted caramel frosting.  

The first step in making salted caramel frosting is to make salted caramel.  Now, making caramel can be a tricky business, and until I made the truffles, I had never made caramel before and had no idea how it would go.  Fortunately for me, and everyone at the shower, it turns out I am a natural at making caramel.  I could just tell when it was done, and it turned out beautifully.  If you do not turn out to be a natural caramel-maker, you could also just melt some of those square soft caramels you buy in the store and stir in some salt.

To make caramel, start by dissolving a lot of sugar in a little bit of water, which is accomplished by stirring it over low heat.  Once the sugar is completely dissolved, stop stirring, and let the sugar come to a boil.  It will look more like foamy spit than like water boiling:

A word of warning: sugar gets really hot while it is cooking.  You should never, under any circumstances, attempt to touch/taste the caramel while it is cooking.  It will not end well - do not do it.  Plus, it is just water and sugar, it is nothing exciting taste-wise (at this point).     

A second word of warning: once the sugar starts boiling, do not, under any circumstances, walk away from the stove.  If you walk away from the stove, the mixture will burn, and you will die.  Well, you probably won't die.  You will however have to suffer through the horribleness that is burnt sugar.  It will smell, it will be a disaster to clean up, and most importantly, it will not lead to caramel.  So, to reiterate, do not walk away.  

Once the boiling sugar turns amber-colored, remove it from the heat, let it cool for 30 seconds, and pour in some cream.  Do this carefully, because boiling sugar-water plus cold cream can bubble pretty boisterously. Mine did not, but that is probably because the cream had been sitting on the counter for awhile, so it was not cold:

Once the bubbling dies down, stir to combine the cream with the sugar-water mixture.  Once the cream is incorporated, stir in the butter, lemon juice, and salt.  And voila, salted caramel sauce!

Once the caramel cools, proceed with the making of the frosting, frost the cupcakes, and enjoy!

White Cupcakes
from Your Cup of Cake

1/2 c oil
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
3/4 c buttermilk
3/4 c sour cream
1 T vanilla
1 box white white cake mix

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line pans with cupcake liners (or spray with baking spray).
2. Combine all ingredients except for cake mix in a large bowl.
3. Sift in cake mix, stir until combined.  
4. Fill cupcake pan 3/4 full and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Salted Caramel
from Kimberly Taylor Images via Blooming on Bainbridge

1 c sugar
4 T water
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 c heavy cream
2 T butter
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt or sea salt

1. Combine water, sugar, and corn syrup in a large pan, and stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
2. Cover the saucepan and let it cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
3. After 3 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
4. Do not stir from this point on, instead, swirl the liquid around the pan so the caramel does not burn.
5. Continue to cook until the caramel turns an even amber color then remove from the heat and let stand for about 30 seconds.
6. Pour the heavy cream into the mixture.  It will bubble up and it is very hot.
7. Stir the mixture, then add the butter, lemon juice, and salt and stir until combined.
8. Measure 1 cup into a glass measuring cup.  Stir occasionally, allow to cool until thicken and warm to the touch, about any 20 minutes.  The remaining caramel can be stored in the fridge in a covered container until you find another use for it.

Salted Caramel Frosting

from Kimberly Taylor Images

2 sticks butter, room temperature

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3-4 c powdered sugar, sifted

1 c salted caramel

1. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
2. Add 2 c of powdered sugar, beat to combine.
3. Add the salted caramel, beat to combine.  
4. Add additional powdered sugar until the frosting is the sweetness and consistency you desire.

The Verdict:

The cake part of the cupcake was very good, but I think the frosting needs a little work.  The salted caramel sauce did not taste overly salty, so I added a little more salt.  It still did not really have the salty taste I was expecting, but I did not want to add too much salt and have it be inedible.  Later, while cleaning up, I discovered a lot of the salt had clumped together on the bottom of the pan, so it might have been better to add the salt after the caramel has cooled a little longer.  Also, probably because of the lack of salt, the lemon flavor was much more prevalent than I was expecting, especially when the cupcakes were at room temperature (vs. chilled).  However, the cupcakes were very well received by the people they were made for, so all in all they were a success.

Hang the code, and hang the rules. They're more like guidelines anyway.

For the most part, everything you do in the kitchen can be broken down into two categories: Baking and Cooking.  Oh, and I suppose Cleaning, but that is not something I really enjoy, so it doesn't count.  Now, for the most part Baking and Cooking are very similar, they both start with a some ingredients, and after a bit of fiddling around you have a final product that is (hopefully) much tastier than the sum of its parts.  But it is in the fiddling around that the differences between the two become apparent.  

Cooking, in general, is very flexible.  You don't like cilantro? Use parsley.  You don't have any whole grain mustard?  Use dijon.  If the recipe calls for a spice you don't like or don't have on hand, you can use something else or just alter the ratios of the others to compensate.  Cooking allows you to swap ingredients to your heart's content, on a moment's notice, and based on what you have available at that time.  And once you have a general idea of what you're doing, you barely even need a recipe, just throw together whatever you have on hand, and voila, dinner!

And then there is Baking.  Sure, Baking allows for some personal preferences.  You can substitute dark chocolate chips for semisweet ones, pecans for walnuts, pears for apples, lime for lemon.  But, as you may have noticed based on my examples, you are extremely limited in what you can safely switch.  And then there are the ratios - do not mess with ratios!  Altering the ratios of dry ingredients, or wet-to-dry ingredients, has the potential to severely impact your end result, your kitchen, and your stomach.  

This perilous nature of Baking is the reason why most people will tell you the first rule of Baking is to read the recipe all the way through and check to make sure you have all the necessary ingredients on hand BEFORE beginning to bake.  This is also a good idea when Cooking, especially the first time you are following a recipe, but again, much less crucial.  As this seems like a fairly obvious and straight-forward rule, it may seem silly to have to talk about over the course of four paragraphs, and yet here I am.  This is because time and time again I fail to do this most basic and simple of things.  

Last week, one of our local grocery stores had pineapples on sale for $1.00.  I bought 3 of the ripest ones I could find, because last weekend I "catered" a bridal shower being given by one of Roommate's co-workers and I was making rainbow fruit kebabs (among other things, which I did not take a single picture of, so that is not what this is about).  I only needed one and a half pineapples to make the kebabs, which worked out beautifully as that was the amount of ripe-enough-to-eat-right-away pineapple I had ended up purchasing.  But by Wednesday, the third pineapple was so ripe it was on the verge of oozing pineapple juices all over our counter, and having experienced this once already, I did not feel the need to repeat the process.  

In anticipation of  having to find a use for this third pineapple, earlier in the week I scoured the internet (translation: used the Google) for a pineapple upside down cake recipe.  I have never made nor eaten a pineapple upside down cake before, so I figured it would be a good use of a $1.00 pineapple - if I didn't like it or it was a flop, I was only out $1.00.  I found a recipe that seemed fairly straightforward and lots of other people had had success with, so I filed it away (via Pinterest) and did not give it another thought until Wednesday night at 9:00 pm when I realized the pineapple needed to be used NOW.  And no, it is not terribly uncommon for me to start baking at 9:00 pm, actually I would categorize that as "quite common."

The recipe calls for using a silicone cake pan, I presume because it would be easier to flip a cake out of a flexible pan, but I don't have one and was not going to go buy one for a recipe I had no idea if I would ever use again, so instead I used a well-greased metal cake pan, and it came out beautifully.  The recipe also calls for 1/2 tsp of rum.  We do not have any rum in our house - wine yes, rum no - and I was also not about to go buy a bottle of rum so I could use 1/2 tsp - I just used more vanilla extract.  These were changes I was aware of ahead of time, and I knew I could make them without having much of an impact.  What I failed to notice was the fact that this recipe calls for cake flour, which we did not have.  I do not really know the difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour, but I think it has something to do with protein content, and I know they are not directly interchangeable.  If I had been aware of the need for cake flour (translation: if I had read the list of ingredients all the way through), I would have bought some without hesitation, because I know that is something I will use again.  Fortunately, the Google once again came to my rescue.  If a recipe calls for cake flour and you do not have any, there is a solution:  for each cup of cake flour the recipe calls for, put 2 T of cornstarch in a 1-c measure, then fill the remaining space with all-purpose flour.  This of course requires that you have cornstarch on hand, which fortunately I did, and the cake was saved.

The first step in making this cake is to make a schmear - this is the technical term used in the original recipe.  The recipe for the schmear actually makes enough for two cakes, but if you cut the ingredient amounts in half, the amount of stuff is too little for a stand mixer to be able to mix properly.  Basically you cream together butter, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla (and rum if you have it) until it is smooth, then you spread half of it in the bottom of your cake pan.

Next, you cut up the pineapple and spread the pieces all over the schmear.  I think the easiest way to cut a pineapple is to quarter it, cut out the core (so you have a flat top instead of a pointy top), make a bunch of little slices in the pineapple, and then cut it off the peel.  This is a personal preference, feel free to cut and peel the pineapple however you see fit.  Put the pieces of pineapple overlapping on top of the schmear.

Now it is time to make the cake.  In a separate bowl, sift/whisk together the flour and baking powder (and cornstarch if needed).  In the bowl of the mixer cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time.  Beat in the milk (which I also did not have any because it had gone bad earlier in the week and had not been replaced, so I used heavy cream instead), and then beat in the flour mixture, a little but at a time until it is all incorporated.  Scrape it into the pan over the pineapples and schmear.

Bake until a tester of some sort comes out clean, cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 - 30 minutes, then invert onto a serving platter (or better yet, invert the serving platter over the cake and then flip that over all at once - this prevents the cake from coming out of the pan prematurely) and serve warm.  Of course, when you start a baking a cake at 9:00 pm, there aren't generally a lot of people to serve a warm cake to, but fortunately the cake keeps at room temperature, and cake makes an excellent breakfast.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Adapted from Sweetcakes Bakeshop, who adapted it from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

Schmear:

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 T honey
1/2 tsp dark rum (I used vanilla)

1 c packed brown sugar (during clean-up I noticed 1/2 c packed brown sugar still in the bag...)

1/4 tsp vanilla 

Kosher salt (oops, completely missed this step...)

1 pineapple

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all ingredients except for the salt and pineapple, and beat until smooth and well-blended.  Spread 1/3 c of the schmear over the bottom of a 9" silicone cake pan (or a well-greased regular pan).  Sprinkle lightly with salt.  The remaining schmear can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 1 month.
2. Cut the pineapple into 1/8" thick slices in whatever manner you see fit.  Starting along the outside edge of the pan, make an overlapping ring of pineapple slices, working all the way to the center of the pan.  There will be some pineapple leftover, do what you will with it.

Cake:

1 1/3 c cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 c plus 2 T sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 T plus 1 tsp milk

1. Sift together flour and baking powder, set aside.
2. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed to combine, then beat on medium speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Mix in vanilla, add eggs one at a time, add milk.  Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating until just combined.
3. Pour the batter into the pan and spread over the pineapple.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for 15 minutes.  Rotate the pan, bake for another 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 20-30 mintutes.
4. Run a knife around the edges of the cake, invert onto a serving platter, and serve warm.  Leftover cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.  

The Verdict:

Snafus and substitutions aside, this turned out to be pretty good, although as it is my first taste of pineapple upside down cake I don't really have anything to compare it to. It would most likely be even better if I used the correct ingredients.  

There's one in every family sire. Two in mine, actually. And they always manage to ruin special occasions.

I have two younger sisters.  And while they very rarely ruin special occasions, they do have one quality I just don't understand.  They don't like citrus.  Or they like some citrus, but not all.  Oddly enough, Roommate is the same way, she likes some but not others.  On the other hand, I have yet to meet a citrus I don't like.  The acidity, the tartness, the way it enhances and/or contrasts with other flavors, it's wonderful.

To be fair, there are foods/flavors I don't like at all.  For example, eggs and ham - I dislike their taste, texture, and smell while my youngest sister could probably live quite happily on eggs and ham for the rest of her life.  Eggs do have the redeeming quality of being very important for baking, so in that way only I approve of them.  And yes, I like all other pork products, I just dislike ham.  Actually, citrus and pork tenderloin go quite well together.  But my favorite citrus and ______ combination is citrus and fruit.  Especially citrus and berries.  

Blueberries have never been my favorite berry.  They're fine, they make a lovely muffin and a fine addition to pancakes, but compared to strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries, they always seemed to be missing something flavor-wise on their own.  Or at at least that is what I thought until last summer when my mom brought home a 10-lb box of Michigan blueberries.  I ate them by the handful.  And then I had another handful.  And then maybe just one more.  I made them into fruit salad, muffins, frozen yogurt, all of which were phenomenal. 

Of course, berries that delicious could not last forever, so I had to go back to using their more mundane counterpart, the grocery-store purchased blueberry.  Store-bought blueberries really depend on the recipe and the other ingredients in the recipe to enhance their flavor.  And this is where the glory of citrus comes in.  Combine with the wonder of Pinterest, and you have Lemon-Blueberry-Buttermilk Cake.  It is divine.  Since discovering this recipe about two months ago, I have made it countless times.  Roommate and I devour it at a rate that is really quite unseemly.  But we don't care.  It's that good.

It is important to start with room-temperature butter.  Shockingly, the best way to get room-temperature butter is to set it out on the counter and leave it for a few hours.  This is my preferred method, but sometimes you cannot wait that long.  In that case, you can use the microwave.  Either way, take your room-temperature butter and put it in the mixer bowl with 1 cup MINUS 2 tablespoons sugar and the zest of one lemon and beat it until it gets light and fluffy.

At this point I feel compelled to mention the best way to zest a lemon.  First, it is very important that the lemon be clean, because it is impossible to clean zest once it has been zested.  Or so I imagine, I have never tried.  Second, it is much easier to zest a lemon if it is cold, so keep them in the fridge until you are ready to zest.  Third, use a Microplane grater.  It is to zesting citrus what the immersion blender is to making smooth soup.  It is fantastic.  You should get one.

Once the butter-sugar-zest combo is light and fluffy, add the vanilla and egg and beat until it is all mixed together.  Next, in a separate bowl, toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup flour.  This step may seem unnecessary, but it is actually quite important, because it keeps all the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake.  In another separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, the salt, and the  baking powder. 

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter-sugar combo, mix until combined, then add half the buttermilk and mix, 1/3 the flour and mix, the rest of the buttermilk and mix, and the rest of the flour and mix.  The batter will be fairly thick and fluffy.  By hand, mix the blueberries into batter, carefully so as to not rupture the berries.  Spread the batter into the baking dish, sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown on top and a knife inserted comes out clean.  The cooking time will vary based on your oven.  The original recipe says 35 minutes but that up to 10 additional minutes may be necessary.  In our oven, it usually takes about 50 minutes, but it is a gas oven and my experience over the last three months is that it takes longer to cook almost everything in a gas oven.  Let cool slightly, then enjoy!

Lemon-Blueberry-Buttermilk Cake

from Alexandra's Kitchen

1/2 c unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 c sugar, divided (2 T and 7/8 c)

zest of 1 lemon

1 egg, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

2 c fresh blueberries

2 c flour, divided (1/4 c and 1 1 3/4 c)

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c buttermilk

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Cream together butter, 7/8 c sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.

2.  In a small bowl, toss blueberries and 1/4 c flour, set aside.  In another bowl, whisk remaining flour together with salt and baking powder.  Add four mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture, alternating flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour.  

3.  Add in blueberries, stirring gently until all flour is incorporated.  Spread batter into a greased 9x9 baking dish.  Bake until golden brown, at least 35 minutes, but possibly longer.  Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

The Verdict:

I believe I may have mentioned that this gets eaten frequently and in large quantities, this was just the first time I managed to pause long enough to take pictures.  I really am not very good at this food blogger thing, either I forget to take pictures at the beginning, or I forget to take pictures at the end.  And when I do remember to take pictures, they look nothing like the other food pictures you see on the internet.  Regardless of my photography skills, this is delicious.  Especially the sugar crust on top.  

Indeed no sir. I'm merely a humble butler. What exactly do you do? I buttle, sir.

Roommate and I have what some people may consider to be a ridiculous amount of cookbooks/cooking magazines.  I personally think it is a totally acceptable amount.  They only take up one small bookcase...

Whenever it is time to go grocery shopping, Roommate and I browse through the cookbooks, magazines, and Pinterest pins to come up with about two weeks worth of meals, and then shop accordingly.  When it comes to menu planning, I have two very distinct personalities.  For special occasions (holidays, friend get-togethers, German-themed surprise going-away parties, etc.) I like to have a plan.  And I like to have the plan in advance, which allows me to make my shopping list, and then remake it with regards to the various stores (and those stores' layouts...).  I also like to make a timeline describing what tasks need to be completed in what time in what order.  Even to me this seems a bit excessive, but it really is only for special occasions.  On a day-to-day basis, I am much more relaxed and tend to cook whatever strikes my fancy.  Today, my fancy was struck by curried chicken salad.  It was what I wanted, so it was what I made.

A quick internet search led me to a recipe from Ellie Krieger.  If you search "curried chicken salad" her recipe is the second one that pops up.  The first recipe was from Ina Garten, and while I usually really like her food, I decided against it solely because it required ingredients we did not currently have in the house (we just went grocery shopping, we have a ridiculous amount of food in our fridge, and I refuse to buy more until necessary).  The second recipe called only for ingredients we had on hand, including sliced grapes, so Ellie's recipe it was.

Now, the recipe calls for you to boil 1 1/4 lbs of chicken breast in a combination of water and chicken stock.  I don't really think boiling does anything to enhance the chicken, so I opted to oven roast it.  However you decided to cook the chicken, once it is done, cool it then chop it into cubes.  Toast some sliced almonds on the stove top, then set them aside.  In a bowl, whisk together some plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt), some mayonnaise (I used Miracle Whip), and some curry powder.  I thought the sauce could have been a touch more creamy, so in the future I may mess with the yogurt-mayonnaise ratio.

Next, slice some grapes in half.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of halved grapes.  Roommate and I both love grapes in our chicken salad, so next time I will double the amount of grapes.  Then you chop up some cilantro.  If you are one of those people who dislike cilantro, I suppose you could substitute some other green leafy herb.  Or you could start liking cilantro - it is very tasty, and according to a New York Times article increasing your exposure to it will make you begin to at least not-hate it.  Add the chicken, almonds, grapes, and cilantro, to the curry sauce.

The original recipe calls for the almonds to be sprinkled on top.  I personally like the crunch of the almonds mixed throughout the salad, so that is what I did.  Stir everything together so everything is coated in the curry sauce, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Ellie says this should be served on salad greens that have been tossed with lemon juice and olive oil.  I am sure this would be very tasty.  This chicken salad would also make a nice sandwich.  However, some days you and your roommate may be extremely hungry, so when your roommate gets home from work you may make a joint decision to spoon some into a bowl and eat it as is.  And then each of you may decide that you want some more, especially with more grapes in it.  This may result in your recipe of chicken salad (rumored to be four servings) disappearing in one sitting.  Yes, it was that good.  The only problem with it is there were no leftovers.

Curried Chicken Salad
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c sliced almonds
1/2 c nonfat plain Greek yogurt
2 T mayonnaise
1 tsp curry powder
1 c halved red grapes
1/4 c chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  Cook the chicken using whatever method you prefer to use to cook chicken.  Set it aside to cool.
2.  In a small, dry (no oil/butter added) skillet over medium-high heat, toast the almonds until they are fragrant and beginning to turn golden-brown, about 2-3 minutes, stirring often.  Set aside.
3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, and curry powder until smooth.
4.  Slice red grapes in half to make 1 c halved grapes.  Chop cilantro leaves to make 1/4 c.  Chop the chicken into cubes, 1/4-1/2" chunks (I had about 3 c of cubed chicken).  Add the chicken, almonds, grapes, and cilantro to the sauce in the bowl.  Stir everything together, so the sauce evenly coats all the ingredients and everything is evenly distributed.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Serve atop salad greens, or on the bread of your choice, or just spoon some into a bowl and eat it as is.

The Verdict:
If you hadn't already noticed, we loved this.  I personally would like more grapes and perhaps a few more almonds, but those are personal preferences, and I would be more than happy to eat this recipe as is again and again.  Next time we may even try to make it to the "atop greens" or "on bread" part...

Chocolate Needs No Introduction

I do not know how many people I know.  But I do know how many people I know who dislike chocolate.  Three.  This number astounds me.  Chocolate is amazing.  Chocolate is wonderful.  Chocolate has healing powers - you try recovering from a dementor attack without it.

Chocolate is also surprisingly versatile.  Brownies, cakes, candies, cookies, drinks, fondue, frosting/icing, frozen yogurt, gelato, ice cream, pudding, sauces, and truffles can all be made with chocolate.  And yes, I know truffles are a type of candy.  In my opinion, truffles are candy nirvana - candy cannot be better than truffles.  And that is why they get a separate mention.  Because they are the best.

If that is not enough "diversity" for you, chocolate can also be incorporated into savory dishes.  Even Paula Deen says so.  Now, Paula Deen annoys me in many different ways.  The main way she annoys me is she doesn't seem real to me, she seems like a character versus a real person.  Fakeness annoys me.  Another way is her banana pudding recipe calls for boxed pudding.  WTF Paula?  A third is something that may not be entirely her fault, but she does nothing to stop it so I blame her anyway.  And what is this terrible, awful offense you may ask?  People give her credit for gooey butter cake.  Paula may make gooey butter cake, but she did not repeat did NOT come up with gooey butter cake.  Some baker from St. Louis made a fortuitous mistake and the world was gifted with gooey butter cake.  Toasted ravioli have a similar creation story, but that is clearly off-topic.  I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

Even though Paula irks me, I cannot deny that some of her recipes are worthwhile.  For example, Southwestern Chocolate Chili.  At first glance, this may seem very bizarre, but when you think about it, it makes sense.  Mole sauce is made with cocoa.  Chocolate with cayenne pepper is delicious.  And as it turns out, Southwestern Chocolate Chili is quite tasty.

The original recipe says it makes 8 to 10 servings. I decided to cut the recipe in half for three reasons:
1)  Roommate and I are only two people;
2)  Our fridge is currently stuffed to the gills with produce we got at amazing prices, leaving very little room for leftovers;
3)  We only bought half the amount of meat and beans the recipe called for.

You start with a boneless chuck roast, some poblano pepper, jalapeno pepper, onion, and garlic.  Trim and cube the meat, mince the produce:

I find the process of cutting a uncooked roast into cubes extremely time-consuming (I also felt a little bit like Dexter...), so I think that the next time I make this I may brown and cook the roast whole and then cut/shred it, since a properly cooked chuck roast just falls apart.  Either way, you brown the meat in some oil in a Dutch oven, remove the meat, and then saute the vegetables in the remaining oil.  Then you add the meat back in, add in the beans, beef broth, tomato sauce, cocoa powder, and spices:

Now, at this point the instructions say to cover and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  And normally, that is what I would do.  Instead, I got distracted, and casualties ensued.  The first casualty of my distraction was my photography: the above photo was the last one taken.  The second casualty was the chili itself.  Fortunately, this was not a fatality as the chili was only maimed, but it was a casualty nonetheless.  I forgot to stir the chili.  When this happens, especially on a gas stove top, chili has the tendency to burn.  And burn it did, but not horribly, so the chili was rescue-able.  The non-burnt portion was transferred to another pot, additional beef broth was added, and dinner was saved with a only sightly discernible charred flavor.  However, I do not think the char improves the chili, so if you make it, do not get distracted! 

For the record, my distraction was justified.  I got distracted by a neighbor who was in the process of getting me a job.  A grown-up job at that.  A weekdays only, weekends and holidays off job.  A job that is not super exciting but one that I will be able to do quite well.  And did I mention I get weekends off?

Southwestern Chocolate Chili

From Cooking With Paula Deen, January/February 2011

Serves 8 - 10 people

2 T vegetable oil

1 (4-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1/2" cubes

3 jalapenos, seeded and minced

2 poblanos, seeded and minced

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (32-ounce) carton beef broth

2 (15.5-ounce) cans pinto beans, drained

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

2 T ground cumin

2 T chili powder

2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1 T ground ancho chile pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 T fresh lime juice

Garnish: fresh cilantro (we also used sour cream, cheese, avocado, and chopped onion)

1.  In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add beef in batches, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove beef from Dutch oven, and set aside.  Add jalapenos, poblanos, onion, and garlic to Dutch oven; cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until tender.  Return beef to Dutch oven.  Add broth, pinto beans, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, cocoa powder, ancho chile pepper, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occaisionally.

2.  Uncover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Stir in lime juice.  Garnish with cilantro (and other toppings) if desired.

The Verdict:

Don't burn it, and it will be wonderful.  Serve with cornbread.  Chocolate goes with everything.

Bonus Round!

Because it is Valentine's Day, I feel compelled to offer something sweet and heart-shaped.  Therefore, I give you...

Nutella Brownies!!!!!

Nutella is another wonderful food item that comes to us from the fabulous world of chocolate.  It is a delightful chocolate-hazelnut spread.  It is lovely on bread or a bagel.  It compliments fruit quite nicely.  And, when combined with an egg and some flour, it makes delicious bite-sized brownies:

Nutella Brownies

From Lemon Drop who got it from Desserts 4 Today: Flavorful Desserts with Just Four Ingredients

1/2 cup Nutella

5 T flour

1 egg

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Line 12 mini muffin cups with paper or foil liners or spray with cooking spray.

2.  In a medium bowl, blend together all ingredients until smooth.  Spoon batter into prepared pans, filling cups 3/4 full.

3.  Bake 9-10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove brownies immediately from pan and let cool on a rack.

NOTE: I used heart-shaped mini muffin cups, and they must be smaller volume-wise, because it made 24.  I still cooked them for 9 minutes, probably could have done it in 7 or 8 because they were just slightly dry, but all in all, not bad for a 3 ingredient, 3 step brownie recipe.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let them eat cake!

Or, in the words of Donkey "What about cake?  Everybody loves cake!"

Just because an item has "cake" in its name does not mean it is something you would want to eat.  A cake of soap is on no one's list of favorite foods (especially if as a child you had a problem with back-talking and were frequently invited to literally wash your mouth out...).  Ditto the urinal cake, yellow cake uranium, and suet cakes.  But then there is the diaper cake, which has the redeeming quality of being adorable, which none of those other pseudo-cakes have:

My recent relocation was largely influenced by one of my friends, because a) she lives in the Dallas area; b) had an extra bedroom I could live in; and c) kept telling me I should move to Dallas and go to pastry school, and after endless repetition, any idea starts to sound like a good one.  For the purposes of this blog she has decided she would like to go by the name "Roommate."  And now that that has been explained, I can continue with the story.

This weekend, Roommate was hosting a baby shower for her cousin's wife.  Or, if we are being technical, which I am sure Roommate would appreciate as it makes things more entertaining, the shower was for her cousin's stepson's wife, or her step-second cousin-in-law.  Either way, Roommate loves her family, and she loves the idea of crafty things and baking things, even though she does not particularly care for the actual crafting and baking.  In her own words, she does not have the patience for making craft projects (at least, not by herself) and she cannot stand the way flour feels on her hands.  And this is where I come in, because as it just so happens, I enjoy doing all of those things.

Because Roommate's cousin and his wife decided not to find out the sex of their baby until it is born, most of their showers are planned for after the baby is born so they don't end up with a year's supply of gender-neutral outfits.  However, one thing that you can never have enough of and can get in either gender-neutral or gender-specific varieties is diapers.  So it was decided that Roommate would be hosting a diaper party (or as they call it down here, a diaper pounding), making a diaper cake, and serving cupcakes and punch.  In the end, we made the diaper cake together, I made the cupcakes and frosting, and Roommate helped me frost them, and everything was a major success.

Once again, we have Pinterest to thank for all of our inspirations.  Because of the baby gender surprise situation, the nursery colors were yellow, green, and orange, with giraffes and polka dots.  After looking for diaper cakes on Pinterest, I came across this Giraffe Safari Cake:

It is pretty cute on its own, but it is from a website that sells premade diaper cakes, so we decided to use it as our inspiration and then search for a diaper cake tutorial.  The tutorial from Hammer & Thread seemed to be pretty easy to follow, and their cakes were adorable (see the first picture) so that was the one we went with.  I am not going to repost the directions, but I will say that it is most definitely a two-person project, and you will want to use either wired ribbon (as they suggest) or ribbon that is patterned on both sides, because using a non-wired ribbon that has a pattern on one side and is white on the other side made making bows much more difficult than necessary.  Our diaper cake received the appropriate amount of oohs and aahs:

You may notice that the giraffe wood cutout is the exact same as the one used in the inspiration diaper cake.  It (plus the snake and zebra) came from Hobby Lobby, as did the ribbons, the stuffed giraffe and letter D (baby's last name) cake topper, the fabric covering the base, and the monkey and banana buttons used in the center of the bows.  The lion and elephant are rattles from IKEA.  The diapers are newborn (white) and size 1 (polka-dots) from Target.  Roommate suggested to mommy-to-be that she get some basic shadow box frames and cute scrapbook paper and use the wood cutout animals as nursery decoration (see, she likes the idea of crafts), and mommy-to-be loved that idea.

When we were planning the shower, it was mentioned that daddy-to-be wanted to come also.  It has been suggested by people who know him that he was maybe feeling a little left out, so we decided not only could he come, but that he should get a gift too, especially after we saw a Daddy Doody Kit on Pinterest:

And our version:

The D (stamped with "Daddy Doody Kit") was left over from the diaper cake (sold as a 2 pack, we painted them orange).  In the bucket, we included a pair of gloves, a pair of safety glasses, face masks, a pair of tongs (for removal), the leftover diapers from the cake, a package of wipes, diaper rash ointment, baby wash, baby washcloths (in their colors even!), the only package of onesies Target had that were distinctly unisex (black-and-white striped, white with black stars, and white with "just arrived" embroidered on it), and a bib that says "I love Daddy."  Other than the D and the ribbon bow, everything came from either Target or Lowes.  

For the shower itself, we had chocolate and white cupcakes (75 total...) frosted with vanilla buttercream, some of which we colored yellow, orange, and green.  Both types of cupcakes were excellent and equally well-liked.  There are no making-of pictures, and the recipes were followed exactly, so I will just give you the links to the recipes and this picture of the table:

Chocolate Cupcakes - without the raspberry preserves and whipped ganache - not the world's most intensely chocolate and overly rich cupcakes as advertised, and the lack of eggs concerned me until they were baked and eaten (the lack of eggs is okay), but very good

White Cupcakes  - fluffy, almost like angel food cake - the batter seemed overly sweet, but the cupcakes after baking were excellent

Vanilla Buttercream - "tastes like homemade frosting" - nothing special, but the flavor was good and it was very easy to make and decorate with.

Like Lamb and Tuna Fish

There are certain combinations of foods that just belong together, especially in our minds.  What goes with spaghetti?  Meatballs.  Peanut butter? Jelly.  Milk?  Cookies.  And so on and so forth.  And even though we all know that you can have spaghetti with out meatballs, peanut butter without jelly, and milk without cookies, that connection still exists in our minds.

I have a great, no awesome, no amazing, group of friends from college, and even though we are slowly spreading around the country and even around the globe, we try to get together a few times a year.  Our most reason get-together was a few days before Christmas for our secret Santa gift exchange.  Because of its central location, we decided to congregate at my parents' house.  This left me in charge of food preparation for our dinner, which was fine by me, except for the responsibility of menu planning,  I love cooking and baking, but sometimes I panic when making new things for people, because if they don't like what I've made, it's all there is and then we're stuck with it.  This may sound irrational, but that's the way it is.  However, in the end, we came up with a plan for soup and salad.  After scouring the internet/looking at foodgawker, I found two recipes that sounded wonderful: Roasted Tomato Soup and Loaded Baked Potato Soup.  The instant I found the tomato soup recipe, my brain started saying "And grilled cheese sandwiches!  No wait, MINI grilled cheese sandwiches!"  The meal was a huge success, especially my mom's brilliant idea to serve the soups in mason jars.  This was made necessary by the fact that there were ten people total eating soup for dinner that night, and two different types soups were available, and we had a total of five bowls in the house.  Unfortunately, no pictures exist from that night.  While we may be an amazing group of people, we tend to not be so great at photo-documenting.  Fortunately, all food prepared that night was so delicious I have no objections to making it again.

For the Roasted Tomato Soup, the main thing that stood out to me was the "roasted" aspect.  Oftentimes, tomato soup ends up being essentially a thinned-out smoothed-out version of tomato sauce, and while tomato sauce is delicious, if I want tomato sauce, I'll have pasta, not soup.  But the roasting changes the flavor of the tomatoes and makes it non-saucy.  To roast the tomatoes, you slice them in half, remove the stem, toss some garlic around them, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and roast until caramelized.  

And after reading the directions, I decided to add some roasted red peppers along with the roasted tomatoes (wow, two entries, two roasted red pepper recipes...).  I roasted the peppers and tomatoes separately, because I was making a pan full of peppers too, but you could of course do them at the same time, as long as you remember to rotate the peppers.  The other changes I made from the original recipe were to swap out the cayenne pepper for berbere spice (an Ethiopian spice mixture that I love), and to use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.  I have a friend who is vegetarian which is what necessitated the swap, and after making it for a second time with chicken stock, I definitely prefer the vegetable stock version.

While the tomatoes roast, go ahead with the rest of the of the recipe, chopping onions and carrots, sauteing them in butter along with the spices.  Once the tomatoes are done, add the stock, the herbs, and the roasted peppers, tomatoes, and garlic.  Simmer away until the liquid has reduced by 1/3.  You can use the other end of a wooden spoon to measure, or you can eyeball it based on the residue left on the sides of your pot:

Once it has reduced, remove the herb stems, then blend until smooth.  For this, I highly recommend a handheld immersion blender.  I bought a $15 one, and even though it can only be used for one minute at a time (it has to rest for another minute before using it again) it is the best $15 I have spent.  The immersion blender is so much easier to use than the old technique of transferring some of the hot soup to a blender or food processor and blending a little bit at a time.  Seriously, if you like homemade soup, go get an immersion blender!  After blending, stir in the cream, then stir in the remaining broth to get the desired consistency (I used all the broth both times I have made this).  And then, voila, eat your soup!  And don't forget the mini grilled cheese sandwiches!

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup  

Adapted from Joylicious

2 red bell peppers

2 pounds fresh tomatoes

7 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

4 T butter

1 medium onion, diced

2 carrots (or a handful of mini carrots), diced

1 tsp berbere spice

1 quart stock

7 sprigs of thyme leaves

3/4 c heavy cream

1. Roast the red peppers.  I prefer Ina Garten's method.
2. Preheat the oven to 450.
3. Wash, core, and cut the tomatoes in half.  Spread the tomatoes, cut sides up, and garlic cloves onto a baking sheet lined with foil.  Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt pepper.  Roast 20-30 min until caramelized.
4. Remove tomatoes from oven, set aside.  In a large pot, melt the butter at medium high heat.  Once it is bubbling, reduce the heat to medium low add the onion, carrot, and spice.  Saute until onions are translucent and soft.  Add 3/4 of the chicken stock, the thyme sprigs, and roasted peppers, tomatoes, and garlic.  Turn heat to high, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 min or until liquid has reduced by a third.
5. Remove the soup from heat.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  Return soup to low heat, add cream and remaining stock.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve!  

To make mini grilled cheese sandwiches, you will need a baguette, butter, and shredded cheese (I used a combination of gouda and mild cheddar, and it was delicious).  Slice the baguette into 1/2 inch slices, butter one side of each slice, and plop half of them, buttered side down, onto a heated griddle or saute pan.  Top with shredded cheese and the remaining bread slices, buttered side up.  Flip the sandwich over, and once the second side is golden brown, serve!  We ended up using 3 sandwiches per person.

The verdict: 

Absolutely delicious.  I prefer the soup made with the vegetable stock, but I still wiped my bowl clean!  And while my photography skills are still minor league at best, the white dishes do help.  But I definitely recommend this soup!

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

I am a thief.  Not a diamonds-and-cars thief (which would be a little bit awesome), but an ideas thief.  Other people come up with brilliant ideas, and I steal them.  However, unlike diamonds-and-cars thieves, I admit my thievery and give credit to those who deserve it.  For example, this blog.  I stole the idea from my friend Kelly, who recently started a food blog (the name of this blog was also Kelly's idea, although it was in reference to a bakery, not a blog).  Of course, starting a food blog was not an original idea by Kelly, but it was a good idea, and since her good idea is how I got this idea, she is the one who gets the credit.

Two of my favorite ideas to steal are ideas for food and ideas for crafty things.  I have recently been aided in this by Pinterest, one of the most addictive websites ever created.  Yesterday while searching Pinterest for an idea for dinner, I came across a pin for the Easiest Pasta and Broccoli Recipe, and it looked and sounded amazing:

After a quick trip to the grocery store, I was ready to go.  Now, a trip to the grocery store is normally no big deal, but I just moved to a brand-new, great-big city from my small-city hometown, so a trip to the grocery store by myself is noteworthy.  Yes, I did have the assistance of a GPS, but the grocery store in question is actually too new for the GPS to be aware of, so again, noteworthy accomplishment.  Be amazed!

Even though I steal ideas, I do have a modicum of my own creative juices and like to make the stolen idea my own.  Easiest Pasta and Broccoli Recipe therefore became the recipe I now present for your viewing (and perhaps eating) pleasure.

Pasta with Broccoli, Roasted Red Bell Pepper, and Chicken
adapted from Skinnytaste

2 red bell peppers (next time I'll use 3)
Chicken breasts
16oz box whole wheat pasta, uncooked (I used penne)
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets (approx. 7 cups)
5 cloves minced garlic
5oz container of shredded cheese (I used a combo of Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago)
2 T olive oil, divided
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

1.  Roast the red bell peppers.  Look up instructions online.  Based on personal experience, I recommend doing it in the oven instead of on the stove top.  Once they're roasted and have cooled, peel the skins, remove the core, and cut into whatever size pieces you like, and set aside.
2.  Cook the chicken breasts.  I used 5 smallish ones, and forgot to measure how much there was after it was chopped (hey, I'm new to this keeping track of what I'm doing thing...).  I seasoned them using dried Italian Seasoning, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper.  Once the chicken is cooked and cooled, chop it into cubes, and set aside.
3.  While the chicken is cooking, put the water on to boil, and chop the broccoli.  Once the water is boiling, dump in the pasta and broccoli, and cook according to the directions on the package.  Once the noodles are done, siphon off 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and broccoli.
4.  Return the pot to the stove, add 1 T olive oil.  Heat the oil over high heat, add the garlic and cook until golden.  (At this point, definitely do not make a rookie mistake and walk away from the stove - my garlic burned in about 2 seconds and had to be thrown out...)
5.  Once the garlic is cooked (and not burnt), turn the heat to low and add the pasta and broccoli back to the pot.  Stir in the cubed chicken and roasted bell pepper.  Add the remaining 1T olive oil, the reserved cooking water, the shredded cheese, and salt and pepper to taste; mix well.
6.  Eat!

The Verdict:
Other than the garlic snafu, this was delicious and easy to make (although the additions of the chicken and bell pepper do make it more time-intensive than the original recipe's 15 minutes, it is still very doable for weeknight meal).  Also, I may need to take a photography class.  I either forgot to take pictures of the cooking process or the ones I took were not worth showing to other people.  I really do not care for the final picture either, but you can't not have a picture of the final product...