Strawberries 'n Cheese, Yum!

Sometimes the simple things really are the best.

The other evening I wanted a bite to eat, but not a whole meal -- just a snack.

We had just bought some things at Whole Foods, including some beautiful ripe organic strawberries, some English cheddar with hot peppers and some goat cheese with dill.

I thought they might be good together so, so I cut up a few of the strawberries, and then cut the cheeses into bite-sized chunks about the same size as the strawberry pieces.

Hoo boy!  That was one of the best snacks ever!  You could do it with any berries and any cheeses -- as we all know, fruit and cheese is a classic combo.  This particular combination really worked.

Enjoy!

Salty Chocolate Cacao Nib Refrigerator Cookies

Made these for Christmas, they were a big hit!  Happy New Year to all, may it be the best one yet!

Ingredients

1 c flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
6 Tbsp roasted cacao nibs
1 tsp sea salt
12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 Tbsp sugar for rolling

Method

If you have raw cacao nibs, roast them first by placing on a cookie sheet in a single layer and place in a 200F oven for 15 minutes
Allow them to cool
If they are too coarse you may break them up with a rolling pin

Bring the butter to room temperature, it will take an hour or so, or you can use the microwave on a low power setting for 30 sec or so -- but be careful not to melt it
Beat the sugar into the butter until the mixture is light and fluffy
Add the vanilla and mix in thoroughly

Sift together the cocoa powder and flour and mix thoroughly into the butter and sugar mixture.  It will be a somewhat stiff dough

Add the sea salt to the cacao nibs and pour the mixture into the dough, again stirring thoroughly making sure both the cacao nibs and the salt are spread evenly throughout the dough

Divide the dough into two equal parts.  Roll each part into a log about 2" in diameter and flat at each end.  Roll the logs in sugar and also coat the ends with sugar, then wrap each in saran wrap and place them in the refrigerator to cool for 2 hours

Bring out of the refrigerator and slice each log into 1/4" slices

Bake in a 325F oven for 15 minutes

Let them cool on the cookie sheet for at least 2 minutes before trying to remove them -- they break very easily when hot

Remove from cookie sheet to a rack to cool completely

I've been considering ways to play with this recipe.  One, you could grind the cacao nibs down further, say the texture of coffee grounds -- might be an interesting textural experiment.  Two, you could add cinnamon, say a tablespoon or so, to get an Aztec chocolate flavor.  Three, you could use coarse salt instead of regular sea salt -- in fact it would be fun to try a few different salts to see what effect they would have.  Four, you could get raw or coarse sugar to roll the cookies in, or even add some coarse salt to that coating mixture.  Five, you could use a specialty cocoa powder, like a dark chocolate one that I saw at the grocery store.

Well here's how they look when finished:

Enjoy!

 

Today's Simple Tip:

Sourbread toast topped with butter and honey, eaten along with a hot cup of your favorite tea.  Mmm!

Soufflé!

Cheese, onion and tomato soufflé, right out of the oven!

I hadn't been to the store for a few days, our food supplies were getting low, and dinner time was fast approaching.  So I scouted around the kitchen a bit to see what we had on hand.

Eggs, check.
Cheese, check.
Part of an onion, a few tomatoes, check.

Hmmm... Hey, what about a soufflé?  I made one once, like 30 years ago, so I ought to be able to pull it off.

I went online and found a cheese soufflé recipe from the redoubtable Alton Brown at:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cheese-souffle-recipe/index.html

Well, I just had to try it; but I also had to make some alterations, not least because I was trying to use up that onion and those tomatoes!

Not only that, but Alton Brown's recipe calls for 4 egg yolks and 5 egg whites.  What the heck?

I don't know about you, but I just get mad when I see recipes like that.  What, exactly, is one expected to do with one extra egg yolk?  Are we just expected to say "oh, well" and throw it out?  Not cool.

So without further ado, here is my modified recipe:

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing the souffle
2 tablespoons cereal crumbs (we had no grated Parmesan on hand)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (we were out of dry mustard)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 - 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/3 cups milk, hot
5 egg yolks
1 cup grated cheese (Cheddar / Colby mix was what we had on hand)

1/2 onion, diced small

4 tomatoes, diced small
5 egg whites
Scant 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Greased soufflé dish and dusted with cereal crumbs.  Placed it in the freezer as suggested in the Alton Brown recipe, while mixing the rest of the stuff.  I don't know what this does for it, but I will say it didn't stick at all, so maybe making it cold enhances the butter-and-crumbs treatment?

Diced  the onions and tomatoes.  Sautéed the onions with some olive oil and salt until they were clear and set them aside.

Melted the butter in a pan and stirred in the flour and dry seasonings.  Meanwhile, placed a glass measuring cup with the milk into the microwave and heated it for 2 minutes until it was piping hot.  Then poured it in all at once into the roux and whisked over heat until smooth and thick.  Turned the heat off.

Added mustard into the egg yolks, whisking until smooth; then dribbled that mixture into the milk and flour mixture while whisking.

Stirred in the cheese, onions and tomatoes.

Added the cream of tartar into the egg whites and whipped with a handheld electric beater until very stiff.

Folded the rest of the mixture into the egg whites, pouring slowly and being careful to fold but not lose volume (no vigorous stirring, please!).  Note:  instructions in Alton Brown's recipe called for folding the whites into the other mixture, but I had the whites in a nice big bowl and the other mixture already half filled the saucepan they were in, so I just tried it the other way and it worked fine.

Removed the soufflé dish from the freezer and poured the mixture into it.  It was about 1/2 inch from the top of the dish, so that was perfect.

Popped it into the oven and checked after 35 minutes.

Soufflé with kale

It rose perfectly!  And it was mighty tasty, too!  We had steamed kale drizzled with a mixture of 1 part melted butter to 2 parts balsamic vinegar.

It was a very nice meal, very healthy and made from just a few things we already had on hand.  I would recommend using Parmesan for dusting the soufflé, if you have it; or very fine cracker crumbs if not.  The cereal crumbs were a bit coarse.  But that did not detract from the overall goodness!

Well, until next time,

Enjoy!

Pot Roast!

View of the beach through the palm trees

Whew, just back from a lovely vacation in Laguna Beach, CA.  I needed that!

Well, back to the topic at hand!  This week we have a nice recipe for Pot Roast.

Ingredients:

2-3 lb. marbled London Broil
2 med. onions (I used yellow onions)
3 lg. potatoes (I used russets)
4 med. carrots
5 cloves garlic
1 qt. beef or vegetable stock
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, green herbs to taste
Olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 325F.

Start by patting the meat dry with a paper towel.  Rub it with the kosher salt, pepper and green herbs.  I used about 1 Tbsp of salt, 2 tsp of pepper (coarsely ground), and 2 Tbsp of a blend of Italian herbs including thyme and oregano.  I also added some sage to the mix.

Now peel and chop the onions and garlic.  Wash, trim and chop the potatoes and carrots.

Next, add 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil to the bottom of a Dutch oven and heat it on high until the oil is thin, then swish the oil around to coat the whole bottom of the pot.  Do be careful not to burn the oil.  Now add the rubbed meat to the pot and turn the heat down to a steady medium or medium-high.

Let the meat sear on one side for 3-4 minutes until it is nicely browned, then turn the meat over and do the same for the other side.

Now add the chopped garlic and the stock.  Add water so the pot is nearly full and the meat is covered.

Place the covered pot into the preheated oven and come back in about 2 hours.  Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and let it cook for another hour or so, until the vegetables are done.

Pot roasts can take tougher cuts of meat, but they need a long cooking time in order for the meat to tenderize and the flavors to develop.

This turned out very tasty!

We made a quick spinach salad with washed baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, avocado chunks and chopped red bell peppers.  It also was delicious and set off the pot roast nicely.

Well, until next time,

Enjoy!