Sass & Veracity

Chocolatey Butter Bites

I've written before about my old dream of one day having a tea shop.  Or some kind of bakery.  A place where people wanted to walk in and sample the sweet and savory creations sitting just on the other side of the window case.  Sometimes, the dream morphs into a more of a cafe where fresh salads of not so usual vegetables and fruit are served alongside a great bowl of soup. 

Like I said.  Dream.

Although that dream has been buried for a while, occasionally, I'll see something that reminds me it still must matter, and that if I wanted to, I could dust it off a bit to give it renewed attention.  Consider whether it's possible.

Maybe.

Not too long ago, Food & Wine featured the delectable treats created at Big Sugar Bakeshop in Los Angeles. Big Sugar is the brainchild of Lisa Ritter and Mary Odson, women not all that different than me:  they like to bake and had a dream.  As I read, I couldn't avoid lusting after the photos of their baked goods, but I was more interested in thinking again of the remarkable ability that some have to act on their dreams, and know that although I have done that myself, it has been for far different reasons. Wistfully, I glanced back at the photos, scanned the ingredients, and for the thousandth time thought, "I can do that." 

But I haven't.

I tagged the pages with colored post-its knowing that I would get around to making some, but not all of the recipes.  And when I finally got around to trying one of them, I'd enjoy thinking about whether someday, I'll finally give in to a dream that never quite goes away.

Chocolatey Butter Bites

1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 c. all purpose flour
semisweet chocolate for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a large jellyroll pan with parchment or a silicone baking mat. 

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the butter and 1/2 of the powdered sugar with a few pulses making sure that all the butter is evenly distributed throughout the dough.  Add the cornstarch, vanilla and flour, processing until a soft dough forms.  Pour out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four equal pieces. 

Roll each of the pieces of dough into ropes about 12 inches long and then cut each into 12 pieces.  Roll each  of the 12 pieces into a ball and organize all on the baking pan.

While the cookies are baking, melt the chocolate slowly in a double boiler. 

Bake the cookies in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes or just until beginning to brown around the edges.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Have ready a sheet of wax paper on another baking sheet as well as a fine mesh strainer to sprinkle powdered sugar with.

To finish the cookies, invert each, one by one, and put a dollop of melted chocolate on the bottom.  Turn each over, placing on the wax paper covered pan, pressing very gently on each to push the chocolate from under the cookie to just beyond the edge.  Sprinkle powdered sugar over as you go.  If desired, put a small dollop of chocolate on each cookie.

Cool completely if you can wait that long before sampling one of these delicate pieces of cookie yumminess.

Notes: This recipe was adapted from Big Sugar Bakeshop's recipe for Baby Buttons.  I did not alter anything in this recipe except for adding the chocolate, and yet my cookies spread out quite a bit more than what is shown in the photographs accompanying the recipe in Food & Wine.  The cookies also did not cook nearly as long as called for in the original recipe.  In some cases, most likely because my butter may not have been soft enough, while baking, two or three balls of dough completely melted, fanning out like florentines.  It was pretty hilarious and my 16-year-old and I have a good laugh over it.

The powdered sugar needs to be sprinkled on while the cookies are still warm.  Yet, it sort of dissolves, so you have to keep adding it and decide when enough is enough.  The chocolate is excellent with this cookie.  I did try some nuts as well, but it was beyond messy and not very attractive, so clearly, I need to go back to the drawing board on that one.  Oh, the possibilities...

I need to give this recipe another try.  I really want to get that cute button look featured in Food & Wine.  The cookies are good, but not outstanding. They're light, not too sweet, and crumble easily.  Without the chocolate, they're good, but not to die over like these. 

But that buttony cuteness?  I love that.

Mine? They looked more like some kind of strange dessert slider.

Seriously Savory Chicken & Dumplings: WCC No 26

The weather here is pushing me to begin thinking about lighter eating.  Okay, so what that really means is eating twice as much of something with half the calories.  Let's just keep things honest. And the key word  there is thinking which doesn't exactly burn calories, does it? 

But I know much of the country is still waiting for a sign -- any sign -- that indicates spring is just around the corner.  With one friend in Michigan reporting more snow, and my mother in New York still feeling the crunch of frost on the ground this morning, I know there are many out there who will still welcome the idea of food that is comforting and delicious.  Food that sends its aroma wafting through the house as you prepare it.  Food that screams from the kitchen, "Order's UP!" as a steaming bowl of home style deliciousness slides across the counter.

Chicken and Dumplings?   Mmmmm....How long has it been?

Creamy, savory, warm, comforting, and so very easy to make. 

The recipe I happened on to (um...Google? because I couldn't find the one I saw in a magazine about a month ago) calls for a rotisserie chicken purchased at your local grocer, but I had the time and know that nothing makes a more flavorful sauce than the brown bits left after frying chicken.

So I considered the rotisserie chicken for about two-and-a-half seconds.

That doesn't mean you can't try it, but I'll bet that my version is much, much better.  There is no way shredded rotisserie chicken added to a sauce made from slightly browned veggies can compete.

So put your own spin on it, but try it.  And make more than you can eat, because it's great left over as well.  It's a perfect Sunday dinner that allows for an easy Monday night in the kitchen.

What more could we want?

Everyone, let's review:  1) It can be made in one pot; 2) it's total comfort food; and 3) it's tasty left over. 

Chicken & Dumplings

1 T olive oil
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 lg. carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 handful fresh snap peas
2 sprigs fresh thyme
salt & pepper to taste
1 c. plus 2 T all purpose flour
3/4 c. chardonnay
1-1/4 c. hot chicken broth
4 chicken thighs (2 lbs.)

2 T flat leafed parsley, chopped
1 T baking powder
1 T chopped chives
1 c. buttermilk
1 lg. egg, beaten

In a Dutch oven or large pot that you can cover or put a lid on, cook chicken thighs skin side down in 1 T olive oil, browning each side well about 20 minutes total, or until a slice made shows the interior to be done and juice is running clear.  Set thighs on some paper towels to cool.  After cool, peel off and discard skin, and remove chicken from the bone in good sized chunks.  Reserve.

Pour off all but 1 T. of fat, leaving browned pieces in the pan.  Add the shallots, carrots, and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until beginning to brown.  Add the snap peas and sprigs of thyme, stirring a few times to mix well.  Add salt & pepper.

Add 2 T of flour over the veggies, sprinkling over all.  Turn the heat to med. high and cook, stirring to make sure the flour cooks and begins to brown -- about 2-3 minutes.  The bottom of the pan should have a very nice rich brown crust by now.  Stir in the wine, scraping the brown from the bottom of the pan. 

Add the hot chicken broth 1/2 c. at a time to keep the liquid in the pan simmering.  The sauce in the pan should thicken and begin to bubble before adding more chicken broth.   After all the broth has been added, add the chicken chunks and mix well.  Check seasoning.

Mix 1 c. flour in a bowl with baking powder, chives, and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Mix buttermilk and egg together before gently adding them to the dry ingredients, stirring only until just mixed.  Using a large spoon, drop dollops of the dough directly onto the simmering chicken stew spacing them evenly in the pan.  They won't need to touch one another.

Place a lid on the pan and cook over med. low heat without peeking about 12 minutes or until dumplings are puffy and cooked.  If necessary, continue to cook with the lid removed for 3-5 minutes longer.

 

Serve by scooping out a dumpling with the chicken stew beneath it and settle it into a bowl.  Sprinkle on some parsley and dig in.

OH!  I almost forgot!  This is my official entry to WCC#26:  Pressure Cooker, Dutch Oven, Crockpot hosted by none other than Her Most Illustrious Highnessest Empressness, Lis of La Mia Cucina who needs to ditch Ohio and move to the land of palm trees, sea gulls, and reach out and touch your neighbor houses so we can cook, eat, talk, eat some more, and then cook, and maybe then talk about cooking and eating.

What are you waiting for, Lis?  Jeeze, already.

Um...and it NOW occurs to me that I adapted this recipe from a source other than a cookbook.  *sigh*

Am I fired now?

I'd fire me.  There is a cookbook where Food & Wine compiles each year's recipes.  But I don't own it.  And this particular recipe was only available on line.  Whattadork.

But this is the earliest I've EVER submitted anything for a food event before.  Do I get points for that?

Okay.  Whatever.

But try the Chicken & Dumplings.  Left-Overs, anyone?  YUM.  Look at it all nestled in the loaf pan ready to go into the microslave the next day for my hunkster who totally licked the pan.  I'm telling you...it's good.

 

One Pot Meal: Crab & Andouille Jambalaya

I know I've made this point before, but I've really been thinking about it quite a bit lately:  we never have the same thing for dinner more than once a month -- and sometimes in more than a month.  It isn't because anyone demands it.  If that was the case, the chief cook and dishwasher would put on a sign stating she was on strike and walk around outside our house just when everyone was coming home from work.

I think the hunkster knows that, and although he might make a stink just for the entertainment value, I don't expect to be walking the streets any time soon.

Our dinner menus revolve around two things:  What's in season, and what's being featured in my magazines.  And since magazine publishers know what's in season, the two cancel each other out.  No one complains, but I do wonder why neither of my guys looks at me and requests a taco or a hamburger once in a while.  Or   maybe a good old plate of spaghetti. I'm beginning to feel sorry for them.

So in my routine traipsing through Food & Wine, I tagged a one-pot meal I knew would come in handy.  I'd either not want to make a mess of the kitchen which does seem to be in that perpetual state these days, or I'd need something quick.  How can anyone go wrong with either of those criteria?

"Crab and Andouille Jambalaya" made its debut last week on a night when the hunkster wasn't going to be home until 8PM and my son, who is in the dungeon over some missing school assignments and banned from the computer, accepted my request to join me in making dinner.  He actually looked relieved to have something to do which was great for me because I always feel badly for him after I lower the boom in those circumstances.  I'm a push over.

And what a coincidence that his budding cooking skills could allow me to submit the dish to Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey? and Monthly Mingle's "One Dish Dinners" which is due today, and isn't that quite the surprise.  I did create a very detailed Food Event calendar this past weekend that I have sworn allegiance to, so we'll see if this improves my procrastinating.  Bets anyone?  I didn't think so.

The dish just happened to be the first meal to grace my brand spanking new Mario Batalli lasagna pan.  Everything went right in it according to the recipe and worked out just fine. I made sure to read the directions since I wasn't completely sure it would work well on the stove top, but as long as the heat stayed at medium to medium high, everything worked out well.

I prepped all ingredients for my son, handed him the recipe, and made myself available for his questions.  I did make some alterations to the recipe for the purposes of our taste preferences and some color.  The original recipe is linked below.

Crab and Andouille Jambalaya

1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
12 oz. andouille sausage cut in half lengthwise, then into 1" pieces
1 lg. onion chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1-1/4 c. brown jasmine rice (9 oz.)
1-1/2 c. chicken stock
1-1/2 c. water
1 thyme sprig
salt and pepper to taste
3 chopped roma tomatoes
1/2 lb. lump crabmeat
3 scallions, chopped
red pepper flakes

In an enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil and add the sausage, cooking over medium-high heat until lightly browned.  Scoop into a bowl.

Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic to the casserole, cover and cook over medium high heat until softened, stirring occasionally.  Add the Old Bay, rice and reserved sausage, cooking until the rice is opaque, about 5 minutes.  Add the stock, water and thyme, and season lightly, before bringing to a boil.  Cover (I used a jelly roll pan...) and cook over very low heat until rice is tender and liquid absorbed -- longer than the 15 minutes the recipe states.  Just before all the liquid is absorbed, add the tomatoes and stir. 

Add the crab and scallions and fluff with a fork, covering again to let the crab get hot, about 3 minutes.

Serve with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

Notes:  The brown jasmine rice can be found at Trader Joe's.  It's most likely the reason the jambalaya took longer than 15 minutes to absorb the liquid, but we like brown rice, so it was worth the extra 10 minutes.  I added tomatoes for a bit of extra flavor and moisture because I enjoy their flavor with onions, peppers, and celery.  This is not a particularly inexpensive meal in spite of its relative ease to fix.  The lump crabmeat was about $9 and the andouille about $5.  I'm thinking that the suggestion of kielbasa is a great one, and adding shrimp instead of the crab would be great.  Old Bay is a seasoning I happen to keep in my pantry for these infrequent opportunities. It is used in crab and shrimp dishes and includes celery salt, bay leaves, and mustard seed among other spices.

If you've never had jambalaya, try this, and then try one of the many other varieties.  I've long since lost my first jambalaya recipe, but this one comes about as close as I've seen.  The chicken, sausage, and shrimp are amazing together.  I didn't make mine in a crock-pot because I didn't own one!

Pea Shoot Salad with Bacon & Lime

I can't even tell you how many times I've seen recipes for salads that call for pea shoots and I've just just flipped the page knowing I wouldn't be able to find them without going out of my way.  Can you EVEN imagine life without pea shoots?  I mean, come ON! 

Talk about spoiled. 

If I have to go out of a five-mile radius of my home, fuhgeddaboutit. So when I get through the checkout and the clerk mechanically inquires about whether I was able to find everything I needed, I usually say yes, knowing that I'm the odd ball who buys all the strange produce, and they don't really want to know why I can't find fresh morels.  Yanno?

But when I saw the Crunchy Asian Salad with Honeyed Bacon mmmmm....bacon....in the March '08 issue of Food & Wine, I decided I was on a mission.  I had to find some pea shoots.  That meant heading for Whole Foods first, since they're the grocery store that usually has the specialty produce I need.  U.S.U.A.L.L.Y.

I headed straight for the produce section, and lo and behold, with little effort hunting, there they sat in little rectangular boxes:  the elusive pea shoots.  Go figure.  They looked like radish sprouts with really long stems...erm...shoots.  I glanced around for the price and never did find a tag so really don't want to know what I spent for them.  I picked up a couple of packages and wheeled away, giddy that I'd be able to experiment with something that looks like the weeds I get in my garden after a good rain and a few days of grey skies.  Who knew I'd not need two whole boxes of those cute little greens that taste exactly like snow peas.  Nice.  Fresh.  Something my menfolk would call "feed."

I knew the salad required Chinese five-spice powder as well, and I guess finding pea sprouts used up my good fortune, because Whole Foods had none.  It figures.  I decided it was no big deal and thought I'd find a recipe on line that would get me close enough.

Chinese five-spice is a combination of well, five spices:  szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fennel.  And if you're someone who has a pantry like me -- ahem -- (I can talk about this at length later...) then making your own Chinese five-spice powder is something quite feasible.  Whether you can actually find what you need when you need it is another story entirely.  Except I didn't have star anise. 

I know.  It's pretty shameful.

I improvised.  So, what's new?

Regardless, this is my official entry to "Waiter, there's something in my..." hosted by Andrew at Spittoon Extra...

Pea Shoot Salad with Bacon & Lime

2 slices bacon
1 T. honey
1 T. real maple syrup
1 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
3 T olive oil
2 T fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. finely grated lime zest
1 T Asian fish sauce
1 tsp. red chili paste
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 lb. snow peas
2 c. pea shoots
2 T torn basil leaves
2 c. spicy salad mix (purchased variety of spicy greens)
3 radishes, thinnly sliced

For the bacon:  Mix in a small bowl, the honey, maple syrup and soy sauce.  Brush onto bacon slices and place under the broiler in a pan that will allow the fat to drip away from the bacon.  Keep an eye on it, as it will burn easily.  Broil until crisp, then place on folded paper towels to cool.

For the salad:  On a serving platter, place the spicy greens.  Tear the basil and sprinkle it over the spicy greens.  Layer the pea shoots on top.  Slice the snow peas into pieces and sprinkle above the pea shoots.  Slice the radishes and quarter the slices.  Sprinkle those over the snow peas.  Slice the bacon into thin diagonal pieces and spread those on top.

For the dressing:  Mix the olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, fish sauce and chili paste until well combined.  Drizzle over salad and serve more on the side if desired.

Notes:  Oh. My.  This is a really spectacular salad.  Even if you excluded the bacon, the dressing is very good, and the crispiness of the veggies, the spiciness....Mmmm...I loved it!  So did the menfolk, and I'm reminding you that one of them is not quite 16. I'm wondering about sauteed shrimp with this already.  For the Chinese five-spice powder, I left out the anise.  What's my rationale?  Fennel is very close in flavor (to me...) so I added a bit more fennel.  Oh.  And some cardamom. In other words, experiment.  Or make sure you have Chinese five-spice powder in your pantry.

And just in case you don't think adding bacon to this salad is enough, we had it with flat-iron steaks seared just right with some some Ichimi Togarashi.

Yes, it was in my pantry.

What can I say?

Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies

This post is dedicated to Ben of What's Cooking? who rated my little corner of Food Land in Bloggsville as "Excellent!" He is a fellow Daring Baker, and is gracious enough to stop in at both of my blogs regularly and has more than one of his own (which isn't easy!)  So cheers, Ben, and thanks for making me grin ear to ear.  I'll pass this along to a few more deserving foodies at the end.  Enjoy!

When I was growing up, we had almost no variety in the kitchen.  I know that part of it was because there simply wasn't the incredible selection we have available today with almost everything we can purchase in a grocery store.  The other reason is that there wasn't much money to purchase treats and snacks with.  When a beverage was in the refrigerator besides milk, it was most likely Kool-aid.  If there was something refreshing in the freezer for a hot day, it was probably your basic two-stick Popsicle.  If cookies were around, they were always Oreos, and as much as I can tell you that I did "unscrew" the top off before licking the creamy white center, they weren't something I couldn't live without.  And dipping them in milk didn't help, because I've never been someone who dunks food into a beverage.

In this February's issue of Food & Wine, however, I did find on the very last page reserved for the publication's pithy "Last Bite," Rachel Thebault's version of an Oreo:  Chocolate-Caramel Sanwich Cookie.  The photo was amazing and as I gazed at it wondering what excuse I could come up with so that I could try them, I  knew that the rich caramel sandwiched between the chocolate wafer cookies and that thick swirl of dark chocolate  coating each half was going to be nothing like any Oreo I'd ever eaten.

In case my recent Mediterranean Food Fest wasn't enough to help you understand how driven I can be, know that these cookies were to be our dessert that night, and I just couldn't pull it off.  I got the wafers made, but the idea of standing in front of a pan making caramel wasn't going to fly after I'd decided to make pita bread.  So I cooled the wafers and sealed them in a zip lock bag until yesterday when I finished the job promising to bring a few to a Friday afternoon girls' wine and appetizers session at a friend's house.

Needless to say, they were quite the way to end a relaxing Friday evening, and even better with my coffee this morning.  There's a nice crunch biting through the chocolate and into the cookie that reminds my 15-year-old of a Twix candy bar.  And then your teeth sink into that amazing caramel that just sends you over the edge as you chew and marvel over the flavor combination.  Totally delicious.

Some comments on making the caramel:

This caramel is quite interesting to make and somewhat different from any I've made before.  I'm used to letting the sugar melt, leaving it alone, and perhaps washing down the sides of the pan from time to time.  But the cream went into this right from the start, and stirring was expected.  The key was to keep an eye on the temperature of the mixture waiting until it reached 250 degrees F.  I didn't keep close track of the amount of time this process took, but an estimate would be about 15-20 minutes. It does bubble vigorously, and splatters from time to time.  Most of the color comes in during the last 5 minutes.

The recipe asks for a 10-inch square pan, oiled and lined on the bottom and two sides of the pan before pouring the caramel into it to cool.  Since I have a couple of 10-1/2 inch square silicone pans I thought I'd use one of those instead of going through the trouble of the oiling and papering.  I did have some concerns about whether the caramel would come out readily and considered using cooking spray on the silicone, but didn't.  And...I probably should have, even with the silicone pan.  It didn't exactly stick, but it got my heart beating while I was coaxing the edges to come away from the bottom of the pan.

I used the same fluted cutter to form the caramel centers for the cookies, and did use cooking spray to ease the process.  The caramel is somewhat like a flexible Sugar Daddy.  It's sticky enough that in order to keep the disk as perfect as possible I pushed gently on the caramel to remove it from the cutter each time.  This took much longer that I thought it would, but that's most likely because I have absolutely no patience.

After forming the sandwich cookies, I dipped them in the chocolate which was interesting because it was very thick -- and yes, just like the photo in the magazine, but not something that can be done as quickly as I'd like.  All good things come with time, or something like that, right?

So into the fridge to set the chocolate, collect a few to take to my friends, and voila!  Yumminess.  Seriously.  After I tried the first one, I thought that a dip in pistachios would have been scrumptious.

 

You know, just for a few more calories and a bit o' protein?

Now, to spread some appreciation on to people who have taken LOTS of time over the months to visit my site and comment on my blog -- I just wanted to say thanks and to let you know how much you are admired for being the dedicated and EXCELLENT foodie bloggers that you are:

Jenny at All Things Edible who is needs some hugs right now after dealing with some back problems.  Send her some cheer so she can be up and cooking again!

Cheryl at Gruel Omelet who has a steady roll of droolworthy sweets to take a gander at.

Deborah at Taste and Tell who is more of a savory cook like me and who puts me to shame with all her blog activity.  Unbelievable!

Susan at Wild Yeast who is an amazing bread foodie with a blog that spells it all out if you want to learn how to get bread right.

And Peabody, of course.  But you guys already know that, right?  The Culinary Concoctions that come out of her kitchen are amazing!