Out and About: P.F. Changs

On Friday night Johnny and I hit up P.F. Changs after a hankering for Asian food. He ordered the orange peel chicken, and I got the cantonese shrimp with snow peas and brown rice. Due to immense hunger, we forgot to snap pictures of these dishes, but they both tasted fantastic.

The main dishes were good; however, the real star of the evening was dessert.

“The Great Wall of Chocolate”

Six, count them, six layers of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips in one extra large slice with a raspberry dipping sauce. Two food-filled people could never finish this, right?

…right?

Demolished, destroyed, delicious. That measly piece of cake never stood a chance.

-Mel

Feeling Festive: Halloween Nutella Smooches

Johnny reminded me of my lack of updating. I apologize, I’ve just been quite drained of energy recently.

These cookies quickly fixed that problem. I’ll be on a sugar high for at least a week due to overconsumption of these addicting little morsels.

I adapted this recipe from Giada De Laurentis’ Chocolate-Hazelnut Smooches. The original recipe produces a thin, crunchy cookie, and I personally prefer those of the thick and chewy nature. So, by “adapted” I mean I cut the amount of baking soda in half, added an extra heaping spoonful of Nutella, and shaved a few minutes off the baking time.

This would be a fun recipe to let your rugrats help with, and even more fun to partake in.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Smooches
adapted from Giada De Laurentis’ Everday Italian

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread + an extra tablespoon-ish
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup orange sprinkles, or orange sugar
1 (9-ounce) package of chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, place the chocolate hazelnut spread, butter, and both sugars. Using a hand mixer, cream the ingredients together, about 3 minutes. Add the
egg and vanilla and blend until incorporated. Stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated.

Shape the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls. Rolls the balls in the orange sprinkles or orange sugar, pressing to adhere. Place the cookies on a heavy cookie sheet about 4 inches apart. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven. Quickly place a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

Happy Halloween!

-Mel

Feeling Festive: Caramel Apples

This is what happens when I try to embrace my inner Martha Stewert:

Maybe I should stick to insider trading! These look like they were made by a 6 year old girl. Caramel gets cold really fast apparently. Perhaps I wasn’t speedy enough.

Regardless, here they are!

Happy Ghetto Halloween!

-Johnny

Insalata Caprese

On today’s menu we have an Insalata Caprese on a bed of sautéed basil, sun dried tomatoes, onions, and lemon juice. I topped the dish with a garlic pesto and extra virgin olive oil - as per Italian tradition. The whole thing is over a drizzle of balsamic reduction.

For those who don’t know, Insalata Caprese is a salad of tomato, mozzarella di bufala, basil, and olive oil (literally translated - ‘Capri salad’ - Capri is an Italian island) . As the aforementioned tradition goes, sun dried tomatoes and vinegar have no place in this dish, but I added them because I am the executive chef of my kitchen and could throw in a piece of watermelon and top it with chocolate frosting if I dang well pleased. Haha. Plus the only recipes I could find were kind of boring, sticking to it’s 4 main ingredients.

So! I made my own.

The wine that I paired with this dish was inspired by our new friends Nick and Sarah over at www.bordeaux-undiscovered.co.uk. It was a white Bordeaux from the Chateau Tour de Mirambeau Reserve 05′ produced by Despangne. I’ll be reviewing it and giving tasting notes in the next ‘This week in wine’ entry.

De-licious.

-Johnny

A Week in Cakes

The past week at my house has been filled with birthdays, and birthdays bring cake. Lots and lots of cake.

As you may have already read, Thursday was Johnny’s birthday and I took it upon myself to make his favorite: German Chocolate cake. Being that I’m a chocolate addict (and apparently a bit selfish), I wanted to include a chocolate ganache in the recipe. The result after searching, experimenting, combining , and burning (my finger, more than once) was a 4 layer “Inside Out” German Chocolate Cake. It was a lot of work folks, but the cake turned out great!

However, as surprisingly good as the German chocolate cake turned out, the real star of “Cake Week” came into being two days after Johnny’s birthday. My aunt Melanie and her daughter came to visit for my aunt’s birthday. Needless to say, the chocolate addiction gene is shared among the Melanie’s, and she requested a chocolate on chocolate cake to celebrate. I settled on “That Chocolate Cake” from The Essence of Chocolate.

The description described it as “the quintessential chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, rich and moist, completely satisfying, glorious without being the least bit formal.” They weren’t joking.

The picture, as well as the decoration, is terrible. I’m sorry. No one in my family was even remotely as interested in looking at it or letting me take pictures as they were in digging in. This really is the moistest cake I’ve ever encountered, the frosting is perfect, and the whole thing absolutely melts in your mouth. Even as rich as it is, you can’t help but take another slice. And then another. And then probably another.

That Chocolate Cake
from The Essence of Chocolate

Frosting
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces 99% unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2inch pieces

Cake
Unsalted butter and flour for the pans
2 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup whole milk
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting:
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and cream and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Add the chocolate and butter and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl and stir in the vanilla.

For the cake:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment and the sides of the pans.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing on low speed. Mix in the eggs, oil, and milk.

Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, Reduce the speed to low and mix in the water. The batter will be soupy.

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then turn the layers out onto the rack and cool completely.

When the cakes have cooled, check the frosting. It should have the consistency of mayonnaise. If it is still too thin, allow it to cool longer.

To frost the cake:
Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread the frosting with a hot palette knife or icing spatula to give the frosting a beautiful shine. Run the knife under hot tap water and dry with a towel. Spread about 3/4 cup of frosting over the top of the first layer. Top with the second layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, heating the knife again as necessary.

Serves 8 to 10.

Make it. Seriously.

On a side note- I love and am missing my Johnny. A whole, whole lot.

-Mel

This week in wine: Riesling

Riesling, oh boy. What can be said about this grape? It’s my new favorite, thats what.

This week we have a Paulinshof Riesling, 2004.

Never having experienced a Riesling, I wanted to take my time and really inspect it. The nose exploded with the scent of spiced apples. It was literally like burying your face in an apple pie. The first sip actually had me thinking I had accidentally bought a bottle of sparkling apple cider. There was a sharp acidity that encompassed a lighter medium bodied spiced apple and pear, leaving a textured finish lasting until the next sip. Flavorful, exciting, and delicious! It was Fall in a bottle.

An easy drink! $15 at Central Market.

-Johnny

Out and About: Bice

So last night Mel and I had dinner at Bice to celebrate our 1 year anniversary!

I had the Shrimp stuffed Monk fish on a bed of spinach, olives, and cherry tomatoes.

Mel had the Chilean sea bass in a butter sauce with baby squash, tomatoes, and olives.

I know it all looks great, but dare I say…it really wasn’t. The Monk fish had absolutely no flavor by itself, and the dish as a whole was washed out by the taste of…olive. Mel’s sea bass was better than my dish, but still lacking. Both were in desperate need of some acidity, and were drowned out by…the olives.

All in all it was a pretty disappointing trip. The bread and water were actually the best part of the meal.

But! Despite the dining disaster, we had a great night. Mel is now the proud owner of a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer!

Fantastic. Happy Anniversary to us!

-Johnny

Out and About: Brio

Well well. It looks as though we have been absent lately. You must forgive us as we’ve been vacationing in the lush lands of Italy, eating and drinking our way through. Ok not really. But that would have been a sweet excuse!

Last night Mel and I ventured out to Brio to celebrate my birthday. I had my usual Lasagna Bolognese Al Forno (which is the size of a newborn baby) and Mel had her usual Insalata Roma (Wood-grilled chicken, Gorgonzola, haricots vert - “french green beans”, grapes and spicy pecans with Tuscan Italian dressing…and some sort of raspberry vinaigrette that is amazing).

The pictures aren’t fantastic - mainly because it’s embarrassing taking pictures of your food in the middle of a restaurant.

And here is the wonderful German Chocolate Cake that Mel made for me from scratch!

She also got me a personalized chef’s jacket with my name on it. Needless to say, I’ll be wearing it to sleep for the next two weeks.

Happy Birthday to me!

-Johnny

Blueberry and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Since breakfast for me usually entails either scarfing down some Special K Protein Blend cereal or grabbing some sort of bar as I run out the door, mornings when I have the time to make “real food” never go unused. I’m go ga-ga for pancakes, and they seemed like a good choice. As a little kiddo, my “comfort” breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes from Bailey’s, a local cafe. My dad tried to recreate these by throwing a few chocolate chips into instant pancake batter, despite my protest that instant pancakes are nowhere near as good as those from scratch. He called me a “Pancake Snob”, but I still appreciated the gesture.

I still crave my Bailey’s pancakes from time to time, so I decided to start making my own from scratch. My older, somewhat more refined tastes have afforded me a love for blueberry pancakes as well, so I made a half batch of those as well.

There’s lots of fancy pants recipes for blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes out there, but I stick to the basics. A simple buttermilk base recipe from Cooking Light (I know their recipes are often worthless, but these are gooooddd), and then I simply toss in the added ingredients of my choice before the flip. I am my father’s daughter.

The picture isn’t the best, and you can’t see the fillings, but I was too busy scarfing them down to be bothered to take any more. I’m weak, I know.

Buttermilk Pancakes
from Cooking Light
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
Blueberries, chocolate chips, or any extras of your choosing

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.

Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray. (Add any extra ingredients here) Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.

Yields 9 (4-inch) pancakes

-Mel