Chocolate Espresso Cookies

I have been having some major baking urges lately, but I never seem to have the right ingredients and equiptment to bake the complicated desserts I crave. Really, I just need to buy a few new kitchen tools (like a tart pan and some round cake pans), and plan ahead a bit. For now, though, these cookies did the trick. They were easy to make, super rich and chocolatey, and used only ingredients that I had around my kitchen. And even if you go to Target to get a metal bowl and they don't have any, you can still use a wok as the top part of your double boiler (see below). I tend to get creative if the baking urge is strong enough!



Chocolate Espresso Cookies
From Gourmet Magazine, March 1997

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons finely ground dark-roast coffee beans, such as Italian-roast
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 large heavy baking sheets.

In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup chocolate chips, and butter, stirring until smooth, and remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs, sugar, and ground coffee on high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 3 minutes, and beat in chocolate mixture. Into mixture sift in flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined. Stir in remaining chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto baking sheets and bake in batched in middle of oven 8 to 10 minutes, or until puffed and cracked on top. Cool cookies in baking sheets 1 minute and transfer to racks to cool completely.

Barefoot in Paris: Eggplant Gratin

This was my first recipe for my cookbook challenge. It's from April's cookbook: Barefoot in Paris, by Ina Garten. I should have read the recipe closer when I choose it, because it turned out to be pretty unhealthy! Eggplant soaks up the oil, so it had to have a ton of fat and calories. I used reduced fat ricotta and fat free half and half, which helps. I would love to play around with the fried eggplant, because I did really like the taste of this recipe. I might also do less of the egg/cheese combo, so you taste the eggplant a little more. It really did seem like a recipe you would eat in France, with some Italian flavoring, too. I made it in an 8 x 8 Le Cruset baking dish, since I didn't have smaller dishes like she suggested. I served it with a pesto chicken sausage, pasta w/ marinara sauce, and some sauteed dandelion greens (which were gross!). Great dinner overall.

I salted my eggplant, to make sure it wasn't bitter.

Eggplant Gratin from Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten

Good olive oil, for frying
1 1/2 pound eggplant, unpeeled, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup good bottled marinara sauce

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat about 1/8-inch of olive oil in a very large frying pan over medium heat. When the oil is almost smoking, add several slices of eggplant and cook, turning once, until they are evenly browned on both sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Be careful, it splatters! Transfer the cooked eggplant slices to paper towels to drain. Add more oil, heat, and add more eggplant until all the slices are cooked.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the ricotta, egg, half-and-half, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.

In each of 4 individual gratin dishes, place a layer of eggplant slices, then sprinkle with Parmesan, salt and pepper and spoon 1/2 of the marinara sauce. Next, add a second layer of eggplant, more salt and pepper, half the ricotta mixture, and finally 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan on top.

Place the gratins on a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the custard sets and the top is browned. Serve warm.

Cookbook Challenge

I've noticed a bad habit forming since I started my blog, and my whole cooking world has begun to revolve around the internet. I discover (and recreate) beautiful recipes I find on other blogs, and googling ingredients has become my strategy for finding new recipes. For instance, when I wanted to make something with balsamic vinegar, I went to epicurious.com and searched for balsamic chicken. The resulting recipe was a hit, but there is a problem with this new reliance on the internet. My poor collection of cookbooks has become sorely neglected.

Does anyone else have this problem? They are full of good recipes, but I don't always know what recipe is in which book, and I don't always want to take the time to look. Lazy, I know! So I decided my blog would be a perfect place to challenge myself to use the cookbooks more. I'll still find recipes online, I'm sure, but this plan will push me to try new recipes from my cookbook collection. So here you have it: starting this month, I will pick one of my cookbooks to focus on every month. My goal will be at least a recipe per week, but hopefully I will go above and beyond that. I have a feeling I'll end up finding more recipes than I even have time to cook! And an extra bonus-- once I actually start using the cookbooks I have, I'll be able to justify buying a couple new ones :)

April's Cookbook Choice: Barefoot in Paris, by Ina Garten

This is a beautiful cookbook that my mom gave me. I love Paris, and Barefoot Contessa cookbooks are wonderful resources. This one is full of advice, stories about Paris, and drool-inducing recipes. I've been really happy with recipes I've made from this book in the past, and there are some great looking options that I'll be trying this month. Stay tuned for updates!

Whole Wheat Pasta

Last night I made this pasta for dinner. It was really tasty, and very healthy as well. I used Trader Joe's whole wheat flax pasta, and was plesantly surprised. I haven't liked some whole wheat pastas I've had in the past, but this was tender and had an interesting flavor. I really liked this pasta. I didn't take any pictures, but check out Bridget's blog for the source of my recipe. Her blog is fantastic all around, and full of recipes I'd love to try!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Greens, Beans, Tomatoes, and Garlic Chips (from Cooks Illustrated November 2005)

Serves 4 to 6

CI note: If you can’t find a 13.25-ounce package of Ronzoni, the winner of our tasting, use ¾ pound of a whole wheat pasta of your choice. If you like, pass extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling over the finished pasta. For a vegetarian dish, substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth.

Variation: Spinach can be substituted for the greens. Replace kale or collards with two 10-ounce bags of crinkly-leaf spinach, trimmed, chopped into 1-inch pieces, and rinsed, water still clinging to leaves (about 16 cups), and reducing chicken broth to ¾ cup. After adding second half of spinach to pan, cook for 2 minutes, until spinach is completely wilted. Continue with recipe as directed.

3 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves garlic, 5 cloves sliced thin lengthwise, 3 cloves minced or pressed through garlic press (1 tablespoon)
Table salt
1 medium onion, diced small (about 1 cup)
½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
14 cups kale (loosely packed) or collard greens (1 to 1½ pounds), thick stems trimmed, leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces and rinsed, water still clinging to leaves
1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 can (14½ ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
¾ cup pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped
13¼ ounces whole wheat spaghetti
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup), plus additional for serving
Ground black pepper

1. Heat oil and sliced garlic in 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring and turning frequently, until light golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic to plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

2. Add onion to pan; cook until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes; cook, stirring constantly, until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Add half of greens to pan; using tongs, toss occasionally, until starting to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add remaining greens, broth, and ¾ teaspoon salt; cover (pan will be very full); increase heat to high and bring to strong simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, tossing occasionally, until greens are tender, about 15 minutes (mixture will be somewhat soupy). Stir in beans, tomatoes and olives.

4. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add spaghetti and 1 tablespoon salt; cook until pasta is just shy of al dente. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add greens mixture to pasta, set over medium-high heat, and toss to combine. Cook until pasta absorbs most of liquid, about 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup Parmesan; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, passing garlic chips, extra-virgin olive oil, and Parmesan separately.

Carolina Cole Slaw

Last weekend Joe and I started up with our CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) program again, and we had a great box of produce to pick up on Saturday. I love the challenges I get from having different fruits and vegetables to work with each week, and two ingredients I got to work with this week were cabbage and celery root. I wasn't so sure about the celery root (I don't like celery; turns out celery root tastes pretty much the same), but as part of the cole slaw it did add a nice flavor. I loved that it was light tasting, instead of a mayo-based slaw. Very fresh! I also made sweet potato fries with homemade aioli (which will be a future blog topic), and we had awesome turkey burgers. It almost tasted like summer as we ate, but I think that was just wishful thinking!

Carolina Cole Slaw

From Bon Appetit magazine, March 1996

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons dry (Dijon) mustard
½ celery root, peeled and grated

1 cup grated carrots

1 medium cabbage (about 1 1/4 pounds), thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced (I omitted)

Combine vinegar, sugar, oil, mustard and celery seeds in nonaluminum medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and dressing comes to boil. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cool completely.

Combine cabbage, onion and green pepper in large bowl. Add dressing; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until cold, tossing occasionally, at least 2 hours. (Can be made
1 day ahead. Cover; keep refrigerated.)

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Sometimes whole meals take shape around one ingredient in my kitchen. For this meal, I was determined to make something using the bottle of balsamic vinegar that I picked up at the market in Liege, Belgium. There were numerous Italian stalls at the market, and after much debate I settled on this bottle of vinegar as a treat to bring home with me. I knew I wanted to use it with chicken, and after searching on epicurious.com for a while I found this recipe, which sounded perfect. The only thing I changed was using boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken. I served it with goat cheese mashed potatoes, and since there was so much beautiful sauce I ended up serving it all on one big serving platter. This tasted like comfort food (great for this last bit of cold weather), but still was nice enough that I would serve it to guests. And the potatoes with goat cheese mixed in were a subtle but flavorful addition. I could use more of these leftovers right about now...

Braised Chicken with Shallots, Garlic, and Balsamic Vinegar

From Gourmet Magazine, October 2001

Ingredients

6 bacon slices (4 oz), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide strips
1 (3 1/2-lb) chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces
1 lb shallots, thinly sliced
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions

Cook bacon in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain and reserve bacon fat in skillet.

While bacon is cooking, pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Brown, beginning with skin sides down, in 2 batches in bacon fat over moderately high heat, turning, about 8 minutes. Transfer chicken as browned with tongs to a plate and pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet.

Add shallots to skillet and cook over moderately low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft and pale golden, about 10 minutes.

Remove lid and cook shallots, stirring, until deep golden, about 10 minutes more. Add garlic and 1 cup water to skillet and boil, stirring, 1 minute.

Return chicken to skillet, turning pieces to coat, then arrange them skin sides up and gently simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through and garlic is tender, about 30 minutes.

Transfer chicken with tongs to a serving dish. Add vinegar to sauce and boil, uncovered, mashing garlic with back of a spoon, until slightly thickened. Season sauce with salt and pepper and pour over chicken, then sprinkle with bacon.

Tasty Tools: a blogging event!

After a few months of blogging, I decided it was time for an important accomplishment in the food blogging world-- my first blogging event. Joelen is an awesome girl I first met on The Nest cooking message board, and since she also lives in Chicago I have gotten to meet her a couple times. She's hosting her first blog event this month, and it is hopefully going to become a monthly event. The event is Tasty Tools, and the first month's tool is the microplane.


I've had my microplane for a few months now, and it is amazing how much easier it makes grating and zesting. I use it for all my citrus zesting, but decided to go with a different approach for this event. I used the microplane to grate some chocolate to complement the pear in my french dessert: pear claufoti.
I learned to make this when I was in Paris, and it was so easy and tasty that I had to make it again as soon as I was home. I found beautiful pears at the grocery store, and used the Tcho chocolate I won on Blake Makes. The clafouti is a custard like treat, and it's not too sweet. Turns out it's a great breakfast, too!
I was going to use the recipe I got from A World in a Pan, but it called for creme fraiche, which I didn't have. So I went to the next best source, food blogs, and found Julia Child's recipe on Cooking with Amy. I am not sure I cooked mine quite enough, since it sunk in the middle, but it tasted great.


Julia Child's Clafouti
serves 6-8

1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
3 cups cherries, pitted
1/3 cup sugar
powdered sugar

In a blender blend the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan. Remove from the heat and spread the cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve warm.