How 'bout some ice cream with your chocolate sauce?

Chocolate sauce and ice cream was a favourite dessert growing up. After we finished eating, we often found ourselves looking at each other until someone said: Hmmm, I kinda feel like something sweet. Dad would grin, lick his lips and say in a rather mischevious way: chocolate sauce... Minutes later we were filling our bowls with ice cream and drowning it in dad's homemade sauce. When we sat down someone was guaranteed to look over into their neighbor's bowl and say: Oh! Did you want a little ice cream with your chocolate sauce? And we'd all laugh, because this was hilarious. Dad was always the worst. He'd go for seconds, put one small scoop of ice cream into his bowl and spoon four times as much sauce over the top. The man really loves his chocolate sauce.

So do I! I'd forgotten all about it until I was looking through a cookbook Katherine made me of family recipes. When I saw the recipe, I leaped out of my chair and immediately set to work. I'd been waiting for an opportunity like this or someone else to come along and eat the ice cream I had left over from a couple weekends ago. This sauce takes five minutes to make and tastes gloriously better than the I-don't-know-what-you're-made-of store bought sauce. Once you make this you'll never go back. You'll impress countless guests and suffer through them refusing to leave or banging down your door for more. It's a tough life...


Here's the recipe as Katherine wrote it out. I'll rewrite the directions below in case you have trouble reading them.

- In a saucepan heat 1/3 C water or coffee with 1/2 brown sugar* over moderate heat, whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cocoa powder and salt and whisk until smooth. Add 2 tbs of butter cut into small pieces and vanilla. Whisk until butter is melted.

* I used 1/3 cup for a darker chocolate flavour.

- Keep any leftovers in the fridge and spread on baguettes in the morning for breakfast. Or just eat it with a spoon on the front porch in your barefeet wearing your favourite t-shirt and jeans. I dunno, it's spring!

Crumbs 4 (and Cookies).

• The difference a good baking sheet makes is astounding. A cookie recipe that I have pretty much perfected (if I do say so myself) is about, oh, A MILLION TIMES better when cooked on an excellent baking sheet rather than my crappy one. Thank you professor who let's me babysit and hijack your children for cooking projects/home for glorious baking sheet and other amenities.
• Goal: Career that pays enough for me to afford LeCruset cookware, but not so much that everyone around me knows what LeCruset cookware is.
• There is a famous Texas chef who shall remain nameless, that I officially dislike. This chef's food is wonderful - but their recipes - lies! Whenever I cook one of their recipes, it NEVER comes out as it is described. Thus, poo, poo, I'm finished with you. I will probably still eat at your restaurant thought, because I am weak.
• I made a moderately misshapen epi loaf the other night (further attempts are warranted). Matt came home, looked at, and said, "Why can't you make normal sandwich bread." Resisting the urge to beat him with the lovely stick of French bread which I had slaved over, I promised to also make sandwich bread in the future. This is called compromise. The epi was delicious however. Just saying.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 and 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Sift flour, baking soda and salt - or use two cups self rising flour. Melt butter. Let cool until warm to the touch. Whisk sugars and honey into melted butter. When uniform, whisk in egg and extra egg yolk. Whisk until uniform, thick, and shiny. Fold in flour mixture, until just combined. Fold in chips. Place teaspoon sized lumps on a greased baking sheet. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 8 minutes, or until cookie is entirely puffy and no longer shiny (anywhere!). Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheet. Enjoy. Hide from boyfriends, children or other exuberant eaters, or they will be gone immediately.

Reasons Why the West Coast Rules (Part I)

Collard Lake in Florence, Oregon is the land of foggy mornings, warm buckwheat huckleberry pancakes, cups of rich, black coffee, sweaters and wool socks; gloriously sunny afternoons (although at times windy), tomato and cheese sandwiches, hours spent sun bathing on the dock, deliciously good books (this trip featured The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes), canoe rides, fresh seafood, blackberry crisp, blue jeans, creamy golden sunsets and sand dunes. None of these activities would take place with such poignancy and leave such heart-breaking nostalgia without the presence of such top-notch individuals as my family. Despite the painful absence of my sister Katherine, my most recent trip to Oregon was as memorable as always. And when you wake up to a view like this:


what could possibly prevent total and utter bliss?

As a sprite young girl, I an enthusiastic eater and would frequently over-stuff myself to the amazement of certain cousins and my grandmother. I had no control; it was all or nothing. Life has taught me to restrain myself (to some extent) but I still march to an all or nothing beat. And now I've channeled some of my enthusiasm into cooking which I had ample opportunity to do with my family and especially my dad while I was at the lake. (I must mention that my mom, having discovered Julia Child and the French Way contributed amply to a degree of freshness and deliciousness that I haven't seen from anyone in a long time.)

The mighty creation pictured above of breaded rock fish with chanterelle cream sauce is my dad's own creation and my principal reason for writing today's post; it was a stroke of genius. At home dad plans the meals every week (with assistance of course) and does the grocery shopping. He doesn't have as much of an opportunity to practice frequent spontaneity in the kitchen. On vacation things are different. When we found the chanterelles and fresh rock fish, what we needed to do was quite obvious.

In the kitchen I set to work making the Chocolate-filled Jelly Roll from the Joy of Cooking. My mom took over the zucchini, new potatoes (from her garden!) and the salad, and dad made the fish. He was, however, happy to put up with and answer all of my how-to specific questions while he prepared the meal. So without further rambling, here's the recipe.

Breaded Rock Fish with Chanterelle Cream Sauce

for six people

The Fish

The recommended serving of fish is 6 ounces per person

About 2 1/2 lbs of white fish (this recipe works best with thin fillets so they'll cook fast in the pan)
A lot of rye crackers (Ryvita!)
Salt and pepper

- Find yourself some fresh fish (it should smell like the sea - so nothing except salty water)

- crunch up a bunch of the crackers with a rolling pin or glass bottle until you have fine crumbs (you'll want about a 1 1/2 C to be safe)

- Put the crackers onto a large plate, add salt and pepper
- Cut the fish into portion-sized pieces and set aside (this will bring them to room temperature)

- Make the sauce (see below)

- After you make the sauce, press both sides of the fish onto the plate, patting extra crumbs onto the top, turn the fillet and do the same to the bottom*
- Heat up two skillets (med/high) with a couple TBS of oil in them until almost smoking.
- Put breaded fish into pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the flesh is just barely opaque. It will also be just firm to the touch. I like to poke a knife tip inside and test it's temperature by pressing the knife tip to my lip. When the knife's hot, she's done.**

* Often breading fish recipes require first that you coat the fillets in egg and then dredge through flour to create a kind of batter. I tested the rye cracker press-on method last night and it worked beautifully. The rye crackers give a subtle earthy taste to the fish. The perfect accompaniment for a rustic cream sauce. Also note that it's important to not bread the fish before you make the sauce because you'll run the risk of soggy crumbs!

** There are many ways to test for when a fish is done, and it (like anything) takes practice. I recommend doing everything you can to master this skill so you don't eat over-cooked fish, which is a highly unpleasant experience and the reason why so many people think fish is impossible to cook and disgusting. What a crime.

The Sauce

2 Cups chanterelles
1 TBS butter (or more)
2 TBS fresh thyme
1 1/2 C wine
1 C heavy cream

- Get yourself some chanterelles (these are seasonal depending and the ones we found weren't expensive, but they weren't the most flavourful - according to the tasting panel).
- Slice them into big chunks.
- Fry them in butter and thyme, or other fresh herb that you want to feature, until they're just soft.
- Set aside in a bowl.


- In the same pan, reduce the wine about 2/3


- Then add the cream to the wine reduction and reduce again until the cream is thick, bubbling and the spoon leaves streaks in the pan.
- You might want to add a bit more cream at the end to round out the sauce


- Add the cream and wine reduction to the mushrooms, mixing to coat all the mushrooms. Any mushroom juice is precious; don't drain them!
- Set the sauce in a covered bowl on the back of the stove, or if you're lucky enough to have a small thermos, like the kind kids take soup to school in, use that to keep the sauce warm until you're ready to serve it.


- Spoon the sauce onto the cooked fish and top with chopped fresh chives or herbs.

Then, hopefully you've got a lady like my mom Sal around to grate zucchini, salt it, squeeze and drain out all the water, and fry it up with shallots. If you're lucky she'll also roast some potatoes in a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, make a killer salad, and share her big-hearted laugh. A lady after my own heart (or am I a lady after hers?)


Oh yeah, by the way, the jelly roll ruled. You can find it in the Joy of Cooking under Roll Cakes - Chocolate-filled Roll.


- murph

Black Bean Brownies

They are first of all, delicious. Rich and thick with puréed black beans and ground espresso; a healthy energetic kick with no refined sugar and no flour.

Ideally, I'd try the recipe again and then write another post because I have a few suggestions. But since I'm too impatient to share my experience with you, dear reader, I will reveal the suggestions without trying them in hopes that you can use your own good judgement.

1 - Since I don't have a food processor, I couldn't purée the beans as well as I wanted. So this would be a good idea. I used a potato masher which worked fine....

2 - If you halve the recipe, which is what I did, you need an 8 X 8 inch square pan, not a 9 X 13 which is what I had to use because my square pan was in the freezer full of rhubarb crisp! The original recipe on www.101cookbooks.com calls for an 11 X 18 inch jelly roll pan, which would be amazing, if you were making the entire recipe, that is enough to last you until 2084.

3 - The recipe calls for espresso powder or instant coffee. If you're going to use ground coffee, use very very finely ground beans. I used a medium grind and, well, I was kind of crunching on the grains. This wasn't so bad, and the flavour was amazing, but improvements could be made.

4 - If you substitute the agave nectar with honey, the taste will be too strong. I'd use sugar instead, brown, or maybe even molasses? Mmmm, better stick with sugar.

5 - Last, oh go ahead, do it, put a dollop of peanut butter on top and eat it with a spoon!



For obvious reasons I do not need to copy and paste the recipe onto this page; plus, Heidi Swanson has kind of changed my life, so going and checking out her website, plus her cookbook, would be a fantastic idea. Also, while you're reading the brownie recipe (which she in fact got from someone else as well!) scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out the chocolate cake recipe made with coconut milk, maple syrup and whole wheat flour. Wow. I'm in awe of her creativity and inspiration to use alternative ingredients for the every day white flour, white sugar we always turn to. No it's not always cheap to buy these substitutes, but I find that if you buy one and then see what else you can do with it, use it up, and then try another one, you're no worse off than you were when you bought it.


By the way, my fellow outdoor clothing sellers loved them.

Tried and True Brownies

My fella has taught me two important lessons on brownies:
1) They should always be undercooked
2) They are best with more chocolate than socially acceptable.

Thus, after muddling around with various recipes, box mixes, and chocolate bars, we have arrived at an absolutely stunning result. Be warned - these are not for the faint of heart. They will keep you up at night.

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
pinch salt
2 eggs
1 crushed, dark chocolate bar (flavors are good, and go fair trade people)


Method:
Melt the butter over the stove. Remove from stove and stir in all cocoa powder until smooth. Add brown and white sugar, stir until smooth. Add flour, mixing in with as few strokes as possible (the more you stir the tougher your brownies will be). Finally, incorporate each egg thoroughly and separately. Batter should be shiny and sticky. If you think it is too dense you can add a little bit of hot water. Stir in the chocolate bar pieces.

Line a glass 9x9 pan with tin foil, and grease as you see fit. Pour in brownie mixture and shake pan back and forth to flatten. Place in a preheated 325 degree oven. Cook until a fork inserted into the center comes out with a bit of brownie goo still attached (not covered in brownie goo, but there should still be some clinging to the fork). Cool on counter. Slice, enjoy.

We absolutely splurge on these if we add the chocolate bar - but they are just as decadent without. The real question is whether one can afford the two eggs and butter (especially when these disappear so quick!) But hey, in tough times, sometimes you just gotta treat yourself.