S'mores

Tonight, my family and I went to this fantastic local candy store. In the case at the counter, they had these really lovely s'mores (a sandwhich of graham cracker and marshmallow dipped in chocolate) for which they were charging $4 each. I looked at them closely and could tell that they were using coating chocolate, which means that the whole process is pathetcially easy. I decided to make my own instead.

On the way home, I stopped off at the local baking supply shop (which happens to be on the way to my house) and picked up a bag of milk and dark guittard a'peels. The two bags together came to $4.50. Then I grabbed a bag of marshmallows at the corner store, which cost $1, on sale. We already had Honey Maid Graham Crackers.

I threw my chocolate in a bowl and tossed it in the microwave, stopping it to stir every 45 seconds or so until it was entirely melted.


Then I broke a bunch of graham crackers in half and put them on a plate. I topped each one with a marshmallow and put it in the mircorwave for around 15 seconds, until it was soft and puffy.


I then smushed the other half of a graham cracker on top and made little sandwhiches.


I dunked each sandwhich in chocolate and then put it on foil to cool and dry.

The end result was delicious and my kids freaked. My husband was beside himself with glee. The quality of my end product was exactly equivalent to those in the candy store and I made 8 (plus some chocololate covered grahams) for a little more than the price of one. And yes, it really was as easy as I made it sound.

Grilled vegetables and dried apricots in a garlic, fennel vinaigrette

I had some leftover grilled vegetables (Fennel bulb, red onion, zucchini, and shitake mushrooms) from BBQing last night. I chopped them up, threw them on some fresh arugula, whipped up a dressing, and was surprised at how wonderful the resulting salad was.

Serves 2

2c grilled vegetables, medium dice
2c fresh arugula, washed and dried (if using pre-washed, a half bag will do)
1/4 c dried apricots, medium dice
1 large clove garlic, sliced thin
1t fennel seeds
1T extra virgin olive oil
2T olive oil
3T white balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

Place the grilled vegetables, arugula, and apricots in a medium salad bowl.

Toast fennel seeds in a sautee pan over medium heat until they darken slighty and release their aroma. Remove the toasted seeds from the pan and grind them.

In the same pan, add your 2T olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add your sliced garlic and fry until golden brown and crispy (beware the hot spots on your pan! Don't let any garlic burn!)

Add your hot garlic and garlic oil to the white balsamic. Add the ground fennel, and the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Toss the salad with the dressing and serve immediately.

First Corn of the Season!

Tonight, my produce guy hooked me up with the first corn of the season, sweet white corn. I whipped up a quick batch of cilantro lime butter, smeared it all over, and threw those babies on the grill. The result is, of course, resplendent.

4-5 ears corn, husked and cleaned
1 lime
1 bu cilantro
1/2 stick butter
3 cloves garlic
1t ground cumin
1/2t ground coriander
1/2 jalapeno, seeded

Wash the cilantro and place with the butter, garlic, cumin, coriander, and jalapeno into the bowl of your food processer. Zest the lime into the bowl and then squeeze the juice in after. Pulse until uniform in texture, but stop before it is a puree. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Spread over the corn liberally and wrap in aluminium foil. Place on a medium grill and turn every few minutes until the corn has roasted brown in places and cooked through.

Saturday Night's Menu - Darren's Birthday

Oysters Mignonette
Pierre Morlet Grande Reserve Premier Cru Champagne

Apricot and Casera Tamales, Mache, Apricot Cumin Dressing
2005 Lewis Cellars Russian River Valley Chardonnay

Roast Turkey or Beet on Sweet Potato with Blackberry Sauce
Adrian Fog Two Sisters Vineyard 2005
Kosta Browne Russian River Valley 2005

Roast Leg of Lamb in Sauce Marchant du Vin,
Buckwheat Polenta, Wild Spring Vegetables (Morrell Mushrooms, Fiddlehead Ferns, Fava Beans)
or
Farfallone, Mushroom Sauce, Wild Spring Vegetables
2001 Larkmead Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Torbreck 'The Struie', the Barossa, Australia


Classic Creme Brulee, Assorted Shortbread Cookies
2000 Royal Tokaji - 5 Puttonyos

******UPDATE*********
Darren posted photos and a lovely write-up of the evening!

Baby Artichokes

1 container (~1lb) fresh baby artichokes, cut in quarters
1T capers
1T caper brine
2T olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 c red and yellow cherry tomatoes, cleaned and halved.
3 cloves garlic, minced
1c chicken stocks
salt and pepper

In large sautee pan, over medium heat, add the garlic, artichokes, tomatoes, salt and pepper, capers, and caper brine. Sautee until aroma is released from garlic and artichokes begin to look a little brown and cooked around the edges. Season with salt and pepper and add the stock. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 12 minutes, or until broth is evaporated. Taste and fix seasoning, serve.

Note on cleaning artichokes: after rinsing them under cold water, cut the tail off, about 1/2" before it starts (into the bulb). Next, cut off 2/3" off the spiky end so no leaf tips are left on the artichoke. Finally, remove outer leaves, so that only the heart remains.

Alternative version: add pesto or romesco with the capers in the beginning.

Hi-Hat Trials and Tribulations

Ryan and I bought some hi-hat cupcakes from Dean & Delucca which were magnificent. I decided I'd learn how to make them. I remembered that I had a recipe in a book Ryan had bought me last Christmas and I set about preaparing the delicious treats exactly according to the instructions.

The sour cream cake base turned out well. It has a nice indentation in the middle for some of the marshmallow cream to nestle in, creating a nice, stable base for greater height. Normally, I don't like cakes that dent in, but it matched the photo exactly, so I knew it was intentional.

Sadly, the "marshmallow cream" didn't share such a sunny fate. The recipe was a modification of a 7-minute icing, with more sugar and no water. The trick (apparently) is to get the mixture above 160F while beating continuously over a double boiler in order to melt the sugar and make a creamier consistency. Sadly, this is seemingly impossible. The whole process was supposed to take 12 mintues. By 15 mintues, I'd lost all volume, had formed a crust on the bottom of the bowl, and had a thick, crystalized mess.

I tried again, this time, I stopped when the volume looked right, at around 12 minutes. I still had not acheived 160F and I still had a grainy mess.

I dipped a few in chocolate and ate them anyway. The flavors are there, but the texture is wrong, wrong, wrong. I did some research on the internet and discovered that
a) there seems to be only one hi-hat recipe on the internet and it is identical to the one in my book (see here and here)
b) this recipe is flawed
c) people are PISSED about it

I have decided to come up with a version of the recipe that always works. My next experiment will use white mountain frosting, which is basically the same as this modified 7-minute frosting all over the internet, but which utilizes simple syrup instead of raw sugar.

Wish me luck. I'll post my updates here.

Moroccan-spiced tamales

Moroccan-spiced tamales
Serves 6

Tamale Filling and Sauce
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cans (14oz ea) plain tomato sauce
juice of 1 lemon
1 small onion, cut in half then sliced into half-circles
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c golden raisins
1 c Thompson seedless raisins
1t chili powder
3t ground cinnamon
3t sweet Hungarian paprika
1t ground cumin
½ t ground cloves
1 ½ t unsweetened cocoa powder
½ t cayenne pepper
1c shredded Monterey jack
sour cream
1/2c spicy pumpkin seeds
2t corn oil
salt, pepper

Low-fat Masa
12 large corn husks
6c masa harina
1t kosher salt
1t freshly ground black pepper
1t baking powder
4c chicken broth (low sodium canned is fine)
2t white wine vinegar
2t olive oil
corn oil for brushing

Preparation

Briefly rinse the corn husks under running water, then place in a large bowl and cover with water to soak.

Place the chicken and tomato sauce in a medium pot over medium heat.

In a separate, small sauté pan, toast the cinnamon, chili powder, paprika, and cumin, until their aroma is released and their color has darkened slightly. Remove immediately from heat and stir into the pot with the chicken. Add cayenne, chocolate, and lemon juice to the pot, season with salt and pepper. Add ½ c golden raisins and ½ c Thompson seedless raisins and simmer for approximately 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and flavors are well blended.

While chicken is simmering, prepare the masa. Combine masa harina, salt, pepper, and baking powder in the bowl of a large mixer. Combine chicken broth, vinegar, and olive oil in another bowl. Using the paddle attachment on the lowest setting, mix the wet ingredients into the dry, being very careful not to overmix. The resulting batter should be the consistency of thick peanut butter. You may need to adjust the masa by adding more masa harina or water until the appropriate consistency is achieved.

Set aside until chicken mixture is finished.

When chicken is well cooked, you will want to separate the chicken from the sauce by straining the chicken mixture in a medium colander over a bowl. Return the sauce to a pot to keep warm. Shred the chicken into small, stringy pieces with two forks. Taste chicken and adjust seasoning as needed.

Place a large steamer pot on the stove to boil. Remove a large corn husk from the water. Hold it in your open palm so that the tapered end hangs over your fingers and the bottom edge hangs over the bottom of your palm. Brush the husk with just a touch of corn oil. Place ½ - 2/3 cup of masa on the husk and spread with an icing spatula or the back of a spoon. You will want to only cover the areas of the husk that are sitting on your palm. The tapered end and the dangling edge should be left bare. Spoon ¼-1/3 c of the chicken mixture onto the masa, along the top edge of the tamale. Place the tamale on the counter and roll edge to edge, top to bottom. Then fold the dangling tapered end up. Repeat until you have made 12 tamales. Place the tamales, folded end down, vertically into the steamer and cover. Cook over slowly boiling water for a half hour, checking frequently and adding more water as needed. Once the tamales are cooked, let them sit for approximately ten minutes in the pot with the water off.

While the tamales are cooking, prepare the sauce. Place 2t oil into a small sauté pan and cook onion and garlic over medium heat until translucent. Add to sauce with reserved 1/2c golden and 1/2 c Thompson seedless raisins. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Keep warm until tamales are finished.

To serve, place two tamales on each plate, top with sauce and cheese (for an extra touch, melt the cheese in the broiler). Garnish with sour cream and spicy pumpkin seeds

*****UPDATE*******
Note on Masa: You know what is fantastic? Prepared Masa. You go to the Mexican market, it's usually in one of the big fridges in the back of the store. You grab a giant bag, tell them how many pounds you want, and they scoop it out for you. Make sure that you confirm you're getting the masa for tamales and not torillas. This stuff is great!!!! Sure, it's not lowfat, but neither are we, n'est pas?