Chocolate Espresso Snowflakes

Now that I'm finally over my winter ailments, I'm back to cooking and entertaining.  The other night a few friends came to dinner, where I treated them to the delish Braised Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Green Olives (see Dec 4 2011 post for recipe).  This goes sensationally over Israeli couscous, and that pretty much covers the entree (well, except for some roasted asparagus).

Dessert featured some of my honeyed peaches I put up last summer.  But the star was Amy Rudnick's unbelievably delicious Chocolate Espresso cookies.  The espresso flavor is splendid.  I insisted on getting the recipe, and plan to make them for this week's festivities.  Thank you Amy!


Chocolate Espresso Cookies

 

½	c flour
¼	c unsweetened cocoa powder
4	t instant espresso
1	t baking powder
⅛	t salt
4	T unsalted butter (softened)
⅔	c packed light brown sugar
1	egg
4	oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1	T milk
	confectioners sugar, about ½ cup

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

In electric mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Mix in chocolate.

With mixer on low, gradually add in flour mixture. Beat in milk.

Remove dough and flatter into a disk. Wrap in plastic and freeze about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pour confectioners sugar into a medium bowl. Shape dough into 1” balls and roll in confectioners sugar, making sure they are entirely coated

Place on baking sheet about 2” apart.

Bake 12 inutes. Cookies will have spread and sugar coating will appear cracked. Cookies will be soft to the touch.

Cool on wire rack.

Who knew how fast time flies??

This blog has been empty for far too long.  Chalk it up to a nasty flu, infection and extraordinarily long recuperation.  For weeks I couldn't eat, let alone cook.  But life is better, so it's time to share two recipes, one new to me, the other a longstanding favorite.

When I'm at a loss as to what to serve, I always find that Ina Garten always has delicious suggestions.  The other night I made her Cape Cod Chopped Salad, which was even better than I thought it would be.  See what you think.

Cape Cod Chopped Salad

Salad
8 oz thick-cut bacon, such as Niman Ranch
8 oz baby arugula
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
1/2 c toasted walnut halves, coarsely chopped
1/2 c dried cranberries
6 oz bleu cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled

Dressing
3 T apple cider vinegar
1 t grated orange zest
2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
2 1/2 t Dijon mustard
2 T maple syrup
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt
2/3 c good olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. 

Place baking rack on sheet pan and lay bacon slices on the rack.  Roast bacon for about 20 minutes, until nicely browned.  Allow to cool.

In large bowl, toss together arugula, apple, walnuts, cranberries, and bleu cheese.

For dressing, whisk together vinegar, orange zest, orange juice, mustard, maple syrup, 1 1/2 t salt, and pepper in a bowl.  Slowly whisk in olive oil.

Chop bacon in large pieces and add to salad.  Toss salad with just enough dressing to moisten.  Sprinkle with 1/2 t more salt and toss well. 

Serve immediately.

P.S.  This makes a lot more dressing than you're going to use on this salad.  My latest treat is chopped grape tomatoes with chopped Armenian cucumbers, so I'm now using the rest of this dressing on them.  Delicious!

At a recent dinner party, I had a craving to serve creamed mushrooms, a "recipe" I made up years ago.  I suspect it's a variation on some recipe I'd found somewhere, but now I consider it my own.  The trick is to get good soy sauce.

Creamed Mushrooms

1 lb shitake and cremini mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
2 T butter
1-2 T olive oil
1 T flour (give or take)
Milk as needed
S&P
Soy sauce
A bit of Worcestshire sauce

Saute mushrooms in butter and olive oil.  When mushrooms are tender, add flour and toss with mushrooms.  Then add milk, enough that it makes a good sauce but not so much that you drown the mushrooms.  As they're finishing, add soy sauce (start with 1 T and add more to taste), a bit of Worcestshire sauce (again to taste), polish off with salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.  Marvelously delicious and can accompany almost any meal.

Delicious dishes from the holidays

Although I've been making brisket for almost 50 years, I found a new recipe that may be the best of the bunch.  I made it for the first night that all of my family was here for the holidays, and everyone loved it.  It was delicious hot at dinner, and delicious cold on sandwiches the next day.  That it was mindlessly simple made it all the better.

And although one would think I have enough chicken recipes to feed the world, I found yet another one that hits the spot.  It's in a wonderful book by Marion Burros.  Actually it's a re-issue of her "Elegant but Easy" cookbook from 1960, the one I used constantly as a young bride.  She and her co-author updated it, eliminating the Cheez Whiz, canned onion rings, cream of mushroom soup and other staples of mid-century cookery.  But the recipes are still wildly simple and tasty to boot.

So here goes.

Chicken Gloriosa from Marion Burros's "The New Elegant but Easy Cookbook"

2 lbs skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs
3 T lime juice
s&p
2 T canola oil
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 slices very ripe fresh pineapple,, cut into bite-size wedges (save the juices if you can)
1/2 c coarse bread crumbs
1/4 t or more hot red pepper flakes
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/4 c tomato paste
1/2 c dry sherry
1 c orange juice
2 large or 3 small seedless tangerines, peeled and segmented

Wash and dry chicken; cut breasts into quarters.  Sprinkle chicken with 2 T lime juicem s&p, and allow sit sit in refrigerator for 2 hours or more

Drain and reserve the juices.  Saute chicken pieces in nonstick pan in hot oil, browning well on both sides.  About 30 seconds before removing chicken from pan, add garlic and saute.  In a 9 x 11" pan, arrange chicken and garlic.

Stir pineapple wedges and bread crumbs into pan in which chicken was cooked; add remaining 1 T lime juice, any pineapple juice from the cut-up pineapple, hot pepper flakes, cranberries, tomato paste, sherry, and oj.  Spoon this mixture over the chicken pieces.  Strew tangerine segments around chicken, and cover with aluminum foil.  Refrigerate, if desired.

To serve, preheat oven to 350 and bake chicken for about 1 hour.  Serve with saffron rice.

As a side note, I didn't have "coarse" bread crumbs, just the usual ones from a can.  They thickened the sauce nicely, almost as if I'd added cornstarch.  I served this over my new fave, pearl couscous, instead of saffron rice.  For what it's worth, this reheats really well when you can't finish all you made.

Brisket Texas Style (from who knows where)

2	large yellow onions, sliced and peeled
2.5	pound brisket
¼	cup apple cider vinegar
¼	cup soy sauce
¼	cup Worcestershire sauce
¼	cup strong black coffee
¼	cup liquid smoke
¼	cup A1 steak sauce
	salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Scatter the onions on the bottom of a roasting pan that is just large enough to hold the brisket. Place the brisket on top of the onions with the fat side up. Salt and pepper the brisket.

Place in a roasting pan and roast tightly covered, for 2-½ hours to 3-½ hours depending on the size of the brisket you choose.  You want it to come out fork-tender.

Remove roasting pan from oven and transfer brisket to a cutting board. Tent with foil.

Make a gravy by blending the cooked onions and a little of the liquid from the roasting pan. Blend until smooth. Leaving it a little chunky would be tasty too. Set aside.

Slice meat across the grain. Serve with the onion gravy.  It's delish.

I made it the day before, mostly to get the fat off easily, and because I've come to believe that you need to cook brisket and pulled pork the day before serving.

Happy and healthy new year!

Yet another fabu Moroccan chicken recipe, this one roasted with vegetables

A little trendlet is in the making, what with two Moroccan chicken recipes in a row.  Despite their place names, the dishes themselves are quite different.  The Braised Moroccan chicken with preserved lemons and green olives is prettier, but the curried Moroccan chicken and vegetable roast includes vegetables, thereby eliminating the necessity for a separate side dish.  So here's what I did.

First off, I shamelessly borrowed Amy Rudnick's recipe for the curried Moroccan chicken and vegetable roast.  Could it have been simpler?  A big fat NO.  Could it have been more delicious?  Another big fat NO.  Could it have been healtheir  Yet another big fat NO.  Kind of your all-round go-to easy recipe when you're in a hurry but still want to impress.

So here goes.

1	lb butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes
1	lb brussels sprouts, halved
1	large red onion, cut into thin wedges
½	cup canola or olive oil, divided
½	cup plain Greek yogurt
1	T minced fresh ginger
1	large garlic clove, minced
1	+ ½ tsp Madras curry powder
6	skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 450.
Toss the squash, brussels sprouts, onions in ¼ cup of oil. Season with S & P.
Spread the vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet.
In a bowl, combine the yogurt with the ginger, garlic, curry powder and remaining ¼ cup of oil. Season with
S & P. Add the chicken and toss until thoroughly coated. Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables.
Roast for 40 minutes. Pour off any accumulated liquid and continue roasting for another 10 to 20 minutes until vegetables are tender and chicken is browned.
Serve with rice or Israeli couscous, which worked brilliantly for me.

For what it's worth, the pan looks pretty with squash offering an orange element, the Brussels Sprouts a green contribution, the red onion thrown in for fun and games, and the chicken getting nice the brown so set off everything appealingly,

People say the dish begs to be served with rice,  Heartlessly I ignored the rice and went with Israeli couscous instead.  I prefer the couscous.  Others may prefer the couscous,  Whatever.  Won't make a difference so don't worry.

Along with the chicken and vegetables, I served a sweet salad with sliced cherry tomatoes, slicedArenian cukes, and diced celery.  A nice vinaigrette perked the veggies up, making the guests smile.  Dessert was a mint panna cotta with fruit on top.  Pretty darned wonderful, they all said, although I retain a preferece for the basil, which had made the its panna cotta so outstanding.  Lesson learned.  Don't use mint when basil's so much better.

So now we're fixed for Moroccan chicken recipes for a while.  Upward and onward to different menus.  Let us hear from you. 

widowinthewoods

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• Published on December 02, 2011.

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Braised Moroccan chicken with preserved lemon and green olives

Oh dear.  I've been absent from this blog for far too long.  A tip-off that I haven't spent much time in the kitchen.  I was invited out for Thanksgiving, so didn't even have a chance to cook then.

But tonight I attended a winsome potluck dinner party hosted by the parents of Sarah Shatz, the photographer for the wonderful new cookbook from the Food52.com folks.   If you haven't already found that website, go to it right now.  The premise of the first two years was that each week the authors invited readers to submit a recipe on a particular food--your favorite artichoke dish, or chicken thighs, or chocolate chip cookies, or...well, you get my drift, right?

So this new book, Food52 Cookbook, is a compilation of the weekly winners of the first year.  Cleverly organized by season.   Sarah's parents put together a menu and then offered about a dozen dishes that guests signed up to bring.  As tonight's entry indicates, I chose braised Moroccan chicken and olives.

Like many people, the first time I make a recipe I follow it, well, more or less follow it, omitting ingredients that are not to my taste.  But today I followed the recipe slavishly to maintain the spirit of the evening.  And I'm very glad I did so because the result was delicious, not to mention very beautiful.

Tonight it was served on couscous prepared by Annette Grant, and they were flavorful.  Perfect accompaniment.

So here's the recipe should you be so inclined to go Moroccan some night.  And if you get the book, the recipe start on p. 125.  Enjoy!

Serves 4

• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 2.5 pounds chicken legs and thighs
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 1 1/2 cup small diced onion
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron
• 1/2 cup green olives, rinsed
• 2 preserved lemons, pulp removed; rind cut into strips
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven or large, deep skillet or over medium high heat. Dry the chicken pieces and season them with salt and pepper. Place them in the skillet in batches and brown on all sides. Remove the chicken and place on a plate.
2. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until slightly softened. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, paprika, turmeric and cayenne pepper and stir together. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat with the spice mixture. Pour the chicken stock into the skillet so that 2/3 of the chicken is submerged. Add the saffron and stir to combine. Bring liquid to a simmer, cover the skillet and simmer on medium low heat 20-25 minutes. Add the olives and preserved lemons. Cover and cook another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and turn the heat to high. Cook for another 6-8 minutes until sauce reduces slightly. Stir in the cilantro. Adjust seasoning to taste.
3. Serve chicken on a bed of couscous. Spoon sauce over the top. Garnish with cilantro.

Curried Pineapple Ginger Chutney (which is as good as it sounds)

Julia Erickson and Annette Grant at Preserves Swap

I'm pleased to report that the first annual Berkshire Grown Preserves Swap was a huge success. The most fun was to seeing the wide variety of jars and cans that people brought--tall ones, short ones, fat ones and skinny ones, too. Jars filled with bright red or dark green or orange or yellow goodies, some with tags and others with labels. Lots of people showed up, some disappointed because they didn't realize it was a swap, not a sale. There was enough enthusiasm to let us know that this was aptly named "first annual" preserves swap--we'll be back next October so think ahead.

In the run-up to the swap, I was busy making more and more jars to swap, including a most excellent curried pineapple ginger chutney. After making the first batch, there was some leftover, which I poured over Israeli couscous (my latest fad). Wow! Practically inhaled it.

Last night I threw a jar of it into a cast-iron skillet with a pile of seared shrimp and then tossed them with more Israeli couscous.  Talk about a winsome combination!  Luckily there's some left over so I can eat a delicious lunch.

If you want to try it, here's the recipe.  It makes a lot, so I put it into half pint jars which then went into a hot water bath.  If you're not going to do that, you might want to cut the recipe in half.  Whatever the portion, you'll eat it up quickly.

Curried Pineapple Ginger Chutney (from Salsas, Sambals, Chutney and Chow Chows by Schlesinger and Willoughby)

1/4 c veg oil for sauteeing
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2" squares
1 green bell pepper, ditto
1 red onion, peeled, halved, and cut into 1/2" squares
1/4 c minced fresh ginger
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced poblano pepper
3 T good quality curry powder
1 large pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2" chunks (about 4 cups)
1/2 c raisins
1 1/2 c white vinegar
1/2 c oj or pineapple juice
1 c brown sugar
s&p

In 4-qt saucepan, heat oil over med-high heat until hot but not smoking.  Add bell peppers and onions, and saute, stirring constantly, until onions start to become translucent, about 5-6 minutes.  Add ginger, garlic, poblano, and curry power and saute a minute.  Add all remainig ingredients except s&p and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until liquid has thickened slightly.  Season w/s&p to taste.  Remove from heat and cool to room temp if not putting through hot water bath. 

Will keep covered and refrigerated for about 2 weeks.  Super duper with rice, couscous and the like.  Or probably almost anything else.

The most versatile cake imaginable

I hope you'll like the idea of this cake as much as I do.  Its versatility appealed to me immediately, but now that I've made it, it's become a dear friend because it's just so delicious.  And easy!  Embarrasingly easy.  Probably easier than using a cake mix.  Really.

My friend Annette Grant, she of the endlessly quirky recipes, passed this on from her friend Natalie Boyce, to whom I am indebted for the favor.  This is one of those recipes that can be as varied as your imagination allows.  Listed below is the "master" recipe, which should be used as a starting point.  And because it uses olive oil, it can remain almsot forever moist.

Natalie Boyce's Olive Oil Cake as Delivered by Annette Grant

1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 t salt

2 T vinegar
1 t vanilla
1 c water
1/3 c olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a suitable cake pan.

Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Mix in liquid ingredients. 

Bake 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool on rack and remove from pan after about 20 minutes.  You can drizzle some simple syrup over it or frost it or just leave it as it is.

Now, here's the fun part.  If you don't want a chocolate cake, eliminate the cocoa and substitute 1/4 c flour. 

Don't bother with the water--use something sexier.  I used black cherry juice the first time--whoosh!  Pear or peach juice would be fun, too. 

Next time I'm going to use a cup of coffee for a mocha cake. 

You can add nuts or coconut or dried fruit....you get the idea? 

The basic recipe is the blank canvas.  The rest is up to you and your imagination. 

Have fun!