Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Nice but not a high riser Oops - a little stick-age The Sous Chef got me this great bread book (Gee how did he ever know?) for Christmas. In case the name sounds familiar - Paul Hollywood is one of the judges on the Great British Bake Off (a really great show). Am I using the word great a lot or what? These measurements are conversions. Sourdough Bread (Adapted from Paul Hollywood's Bread ) 13.2 oz bread flour 8oz sourdough starter 1 3/4 t salt 4-6 oz water olive oil 1T semolina flour 1T flour In a large bowl, mix flour, starter, and salt. Add 4 oz of water. Mix, adding additional water as necessary. The dough should be sticky but soft. On a clean surface pour a little oil. Knead dough for 10-15 minutes until elastic and smooth. Place dough in a oiled bowl, and let sit until doubled (this took about 10 hours for me*). The original recipe says about 5 hours. Mix the semolina and flour together. Dust a mixing bowl (ovenproof-just in case you can't get it o...

So what happened the second half of the year? July: Kitchen Inspector In July we finally got our Christmas puppy (well not exactly a puppy and not exactly for Christmas). She's coming along with training but it's been a lot of work (hence, my slacking off on the cooking front). There was a brief entry about Strawberries , a how-to about fruit flies (ugh I hate those buggers), and then there were cocktails on the veranda . August was ice cream month : There was - Anise , Cinnamon , and Double Chocolate . To counteract the ice cream intake, there were some salads too - Bulgur and Cranberry , Irish Oatmeal Salad , and Barley Salad . September brought us some company: There wasn't much action in the kitchen for the month of September bceause Mickey (AKA Einstein) came for a visit. I couldn't bear to even walk into the kitchen for fear of encountering him, let alone cook in there. However, I did get to do a test run of pumpkin ice cream , which was a nice ...

Here we are again at a new year. 2016 already - who would've thought? I figure I might as well jump on the bandwagon of "Year in Review" postings (I must admit, I do feel a little cheesy though). January was a busy month: Made these tons of times - look impressive with little work We had a little BonVoyage to the UK contingency and made these simple clementines and chocolate .  Rosemary Flat Breads went well with the cheese. And then how could we forget the spaetzle - that was so cool. Although that wasn't for the Bon Voyage - that was just good eating. February : Even though it was a short month, there was quite a bit of eating going on with some real comfort food. Like the Pasta al Forno , the Not Barbecued Ribs , Fougasse , Tomato Pesto , Cinnamon Chicken Pilaf , and how could we forget the other cool gift of a blow torch for Creme Brulee ? Raspberry Charlotte March : The blow torch got some use again for some Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee , ...

I was given this recipe a long time ago from a friend who got it from her mother-in-law. It has some notes on it. It was apparently taken from a newspaper, from a book called Around the Southern Table. I have no idea whether this is the actual book ? But that is what I found. I changed things up, of course, this time because of stupidity rather than creativity. More on that later... Chocolate Pecan Pie 1 pie crust (this is the crust I used) 4T butter 7oz bittersweet chocolate, rough chopped 2 eggs 1/2 c sugar 1/2 c dark corn syrup 1/4 c heavy cream 1 t vanilla 2T bourbon (I used Jack Daniels) 1 1/2 c coarsely chopped pecans Blind bake* the pie crust in a 9" pie pan. Set aside. In a skillet toast pecans. (Or you can put them on a baking sheet and toast them while blind baking the crust). In a saucepan heat butter and chocolate until melted. Set aside to slightly cool. In a mixer beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and corn syrup until combined. A...

There are a lot of pie crusts out there let me tell you. Some fight you every inch of the way, others don't. I found this one to produce quite a tender crust and not to fight you too much. Pie Crust (Adapted from A New Way to Cook - was it a new way? No-not really) 1 c flour 1T sugar (additional if using for a sweet crust) 1/4 t baking powder 1/2 t Kosher salt 4 T cold butter, cubed 3T sour cream In a food processor mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and pulse several times until it looks like crumbly almost like cornmeal. Place the food processor bowl in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Add the sour cream and pulse until the dough comes together. Form it into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll dough out to desired size (fits a 9" pie rather nicely). Prepare as directed by recipe. I didn't take any pictures of the process. Actually, I think pie crust usually just looks like pie crust. However, I w...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Sorry - this is going to be a boring all text posting. I hadn't made pot roast in ages and I was so anxious to dig in that I forgot to take a picture. Besides pot roast is not necessarily the most attractive photo - now is it? It's sort of all brown. I had some leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving sitting in the refrigerator and decided to put it to good use. Cranberry Pot Roast (Adapted from my refrigerator) 3lb chuck roast salt/pepper 1T canola oil 2 cinnamon sticks 5 whole cloves 1/4 c cranberry sauce 2 c red wine For Gravy: 2T butter 2T flour Dry roast with paper towels. Salt and pepper roast. Heat a dutch oven over high heat until it is really hot. Add canola oil and sear meat on all sides. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, cranberry sauce, and wine. You might need additional wine. You want to have it come about 3/4 of the way up the meat. Cover and simmer for about 3 hours or until tender, checking periodically that additional wine is not needed. Set asi...