Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies

Folks, let me be clear...I do usually NOT like recipes that add fruit or ginger or odd things to chocolate, nor did I THINK I liked spices combined with chocolate, but I was wrong!
This recipe is not mine, the only change I made was I added about 1/2 c (shaved) Chocolate Mexicano pictured above in the original recipe found here from Saveur.


1/2 c flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa

3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
12 tbsp butter

Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more. Using your fingers, work flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9" log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder. Freeze dough logs for at least 8 hours. Preheat oven to 350°. Unwrap dough and slice each log into rounds about 1/3" thick. Place rounds 1/2" apart on parchment paper–lined cookie sheets. Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to let cool. enjoy!

Don't throw out those veggie scraps....

I like this...hope you do, too!  From Saveur

potstickers

This summer I found a plum tree on a city street. After Pat and I raided it one night, it occurred to me that I had no idea what the hell I was going to do with 50lbs of plums. I promptly made and canned Chinese Plum Sauce. Then it occurred to me that I didn't know what the hell I was going to do with 15 jars of Chinese Plum Sauce...well I found a use for it. 

So I said to my mom..."mom, I made potstickers! and she was like....ewww, those things smell awful!" And then she realized that I made them from scratch, ya...funny when how you make them from scratch (and not buy them frozen from Costco by the bucket) they don't stink up the house! hmmmm.....


So my measurements are rough, like always, but you'll get the hang of it and be a potsticking pro by the end of the prep session.


1/2 head thinly sliced cabbage
2-3 finely diced carrots
1 block pressed tofu 
1 red onion, sliced
3 T grated ginger, (store your ginger in the freezer, it's MUCH easier to grate!)
1/2 head garlic, minced
1/2 c green onions, chopped
1 c chopped cilantro
canola oil
chili oil
1 c approx Chinese plum sauce
2-3 T soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
won ton wrappers, sometimes called dumpling skins


dipping sauce #1
1/3 c EACH soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, chopped green onions
1 t sesame oil
1 t rooster sauce (chili sauce)


dipping sauce #2
Chinese plum sauce recipe here


So, you will do the cooking in batches:
Cook veggies:
Get out the wok. Put a splash of canola oil and chili oil in, when oil is HOT, add onion, cabbage and carrot, saute until soft, add garlic, ginger, 1 T soy sauce, 1/2 T fish sauce, 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1/4c - 1/3 c Chinese plum sauce, cook for a few minutes more and put in bowl to cool. (the sauce measurements are approximate, adjust to your liking, taste as you go)
Cook tofu:
Repeat oil regime above, crumble tofu into wok, add 1 T soy sauce, 1/2 T fish sauce, 1 T rice wine vinegar. Get the tofu crispy without burning. When almost finished cooking, add green onions and 1/4c - 1/3c Chinese plum sauce. Add this tofu mixture to the veggie mixture. Add chopped cilantro and chill. 
When mixture is cool, get out won ton wrappers. I found that rolling them out thinner with a rolling pin helps the stuffing process i.e. you can get more filling in there...so, roll them out thin, use some elbow grease, put about 1-2 T filling in, seal with egg wash or water, pinch together and set aside. Making simple triangles is the quickest way to stuff them. 
Cook potstickers:
When you have all of them done, get out either a cast iron skillet or wok. Add a splash of canola oil, and when HOT, add a couple potstickers, fry until brown on the bottom, 2-4 min, turn over, add a splash of water, cover immediately and steam for about 2-3 minutes until water is evaporated. It might take a couple rounds to get the hang of this, but once you do, it will go fast. 

WHAT? Veggie Burgers at Elements in Logan!?!

Yes, you heard me!!! Oscar, the sou chef at Elements Restaurant came and chatted with us a couple weeks ago while we were imbibing in some $1 beers on Thursday night...and we asked him to please make a veggie burger and put it on the menu...
if you make it, we will come...he made it and we loved it! It will be on the menu within the next 2 weeks!
For $12 you get salad, (the best) fries and this awesome burger. So, carnivores and vegetarians alike, get on down to Elements and try it out. I think you will love it. 

Guest Post! Ann Armstrong

Ann, I am sorry....the pictures of these delicious empanadas that your describe below do not in any way do them justice! Another case of .... 'oh crap this is so amazing...son-of-a!...we forgot to take a picture of the food for the blog!'


Here they are anyway. Thanks Ann for such an awesome guest post. And any of you foodies out there want to contribute (Maureen...Monica...!), send me an email!

Empa-nada!

Hola, foodies. Ann Armstrong here, happy to share with you a recent experiment turned fantastic.  After traveling in South America too long ago, I was longing for some empanadas. Not the fried kind you find in Argentina, or the post-bar ones you find in DC (shout out to Julia’s!), but the savory, flaky crust, super cheap ones “al horno,” meaning “from the oven” common to Chile. I took matters into my own hands and, instead of a spring break splurge to Santiago, I read about 20 empanada recipes online, looking for the right one.

As an aside, Chile has great food, until the Chileans cook it (their national dish involves hot dogs). I happened through this South American replica of California’s Central Valley at peak produce season, which convenient for Chile is opposite US produce season and therefore our grape-avocado-apple loving grocery stores stock with Chilean goods during the spring months. So, you’ve probably had Chilean something in your life, but you guessed it—everything tastes better fresh. End of aside.

Unless you are on the coast, the most popular (and delicious) type of empanada is “pino.” Pino empanadas have ground beef, gravy, onions, and to everyone’s surprise, a kalamata olive with the pit still in. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger—or cracks your tooth. But this olive risk is too delicious to pass up, and worth the splurge, but pits are mandatory!

Now, before I take you to the pino recipe, I would like to note that the crust and the filling benefits from chilling before baking. This means that you can whip up some dough and refrigerate it at your convenience, up to two days before you experiment on hungry guests.  The filling can also be prepared up to two days in advance—but save the empanada assembly until right before you eat.

If you are vegetarian, well, you would go hungry in South America. Even the “vegetariano” dish in Chile has meat within. There are some recipes for vegetarian empanadas out there, but they don’t taste as good and they aren’t the real deal. Megan, consider is a personal challenge to make a veggie-empanada as awesome as pino empanadas.

Enjoy! Son muy delicioso!

Empanada dough is modified from this website: 

The Dough:

Ingredients:

      4 cups flour

      2 teaspoons salt

      3 tablespoons sugar

      2 tablespoons butter, not soft

      12 tablespoons vegetable shortening, (the recipe calls for this chilled but I didn’t chill it beforehand and things were fine)

      1 cup water

      2 egg yolks

Preparation:

1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Stir in the salt and the sugar. 


2. Blend the butter and shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or with two knives, until fairly well blended. 


3. Whisk the egg yolks wiht 3/4 cups water. Stir in the 1/2 cup of water/egg mixture, a little at a time until the dough starts to come together smoothly. Keep kneading the dough, adding more water/egg a little bit at a time as necessary (you made need a few tablespoons extra of water), until the dough is smooth. The dough will seem a bit shaggy until it has thoroughly chilled. 
GET YOUR FINGERS IN THERE!

4. Cover the dough with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. (Dough can also be kept overnight (or a couple of days) in the refrigerator) Dough should be soft and smooth, and not elastic - if you poke a hole in it with your finger, the indentation should remain.


5. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and roll into desired thickness.
I aimed for 1/8^th an inch, but I don’t use rulers when I cook.

6. Use a circular rimmed object that is about 6 inches in diameter to cut the dough. Re-roll until the dough is too elastic to make thin.

7. If you have leftover dough, sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on for a dessert treat.

Makes enough dough for 10-12 large empanadas.

The Pino Filling, modified from this site:

Ingredients:

      2 large onions, chopped

      2 carrots, chopped fine

      1 pound ground beef

      2 teaspoons cumin

      1 teaspoon chile powder

      1 tablespoon paprika

      1 beef bouillon cube, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water

      2 tablespoons flour

      2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

      kalamata olives, one per empanada – a must

      1 egg yolk

       

Preparation:

1. Cook the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil and butter until softened. Add the ground beef, cumin, chile powder, paprika, beef bouillon, and salt and pepper to taste. 


2. Cook the beef, stirring and crumbling the meat, until browned. Add the flour and continue to cook for 5 or 10 minutes more. 
I used grass-fed beef and the meat was too lean to produce much gravy within the empanada. Don’t shy away  from the fat in this situation.

3. Remove the meat mixture and let cool. The beef mixture will keep up to 2 days in the refrigerator. 


4. Shape the empanadas: On a floured surface, shape dough into circles of 6 inch diameters, about 1/4 inch thick. Add 2 tablespoons of the beef filling, an olive, and a slice of hard boiled egg to the middle of the circle. 
No joke—that is how they eat ‘em!

5. Brush the edges with water and fold the pastry in half over the filling, to make a semi-circle. 


6. Seal the edges by pressing down with your fingers. Brush the sealed edge lightly with water, then turn the edge toward the middle and press with your fingers to seal. 
You can make it pretty with a rounded edge or go for efficiency with a fork-pressed edge. Feel your oats.

7. Brush the empanadas with egg yolk. 


8. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Give them a few minutes to cool before letting your friends devour them.

cabbage potato soup

Usually cabbage has gaseous consequences...but not this time! 

Adapted from bon appetit

1/2 c sour cream
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t grated lemon peel
1/4 stick butter
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 lbs large diced yukon gold potatoes
1/2 head green cabbage, 1/2 inch dice
3 c onion, diced
1/2 head garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
6-8 c veg stock


mix sour cream, lemon juice and zest, put in refrigerator. saute cabbage and salt and pepper with 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil until cabbage is tender, 8 min or so. transfer 1 c to a separate bowl and reserve for garnish. add rest of butter to pan with cabbage, add onion, when onion is soft, add potatoes and garlic, saute until garlic is slightly cooked, add bay leaf and veg stock. simmer until all the veggies are tender, approx 20-25 min. remove bay leaf and puree with hand blender. add reserved cabbage and serve with a dollop of sour cream mixture. yum. I really like this soup and I hope you do too!

Asparagus Tart

 What, say you, should you to do with all that lovely spring asparagus that's popping up in the grocery stores (and is affordable, for 3 weeks out of the year???!!!)....I might have an answer for you below


1 box puff pastry (ya ya, I could make my own, but I have a job, you know!)
2 bunches asparagus
1 large onion, fine chop
1 head garlic (or to your liking), minced
pine nuts or walnuts
parm cheese


defrost the puff pastry
snap off the asparagus at the bottom demo here, roll out the puff pastry to be about 9x13, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, slide pastry onto pans. saute onion and garlic in olive oil (and salt and pepper) until translucent, divide evenly between 2 pastry-lined pans, arrange asparagus like in the picture above, sprinkle nuts and cheese on top and drizzle with olive oil. bake according to the puff pastry box directions, keep an eye on it...will burn quickly...enjoy! yum.

Potato Burritos

ya ya, I know, weird to put Brussels sprouts in a burrito, but I did and I'm here to tell you, it's awesome, so awesome that we forgot to take a picture of the 'constructed burrito' because we were chowing down...but you get the picture...


4-5 yukon gold potatoes
1 head (yes, entire head) garlic, chopped
1 c bell pepper, diced
2-3 c Brussels sprouts, halved
blanched kale or asparagus or anything green...quantity to your liking
canola and olive oil
cheese
tortillas


prick the potatoes with a fork, microwave until almost entirely soft, 3-5 minutes. in the meantime, get your biggest cast iron skillet out, in it pour 3 T canola oil, turn to med heat. dice cooked potatoes, place them in hot oil, salt and pepper them, and make sure potatoes are in 1 layer, do not crowd or they will become mushy instead of crispy. once they are in the pan, leave 'em alone! flip only intermittently to keep from burning. 


in another skillet, heat 2 T olive oil on med/high heat, saute Brussels sprouts, add salt and pepper, cook for about 5 minutes, then add bell pepper, if you need to, you can add a splash of water to keep from burning. when the Brussels sprouts are almost finished cooking, add the garlic, and kale, cover and cook for 1-2 minutes more and turn off heat.  once the potatoes are crispy on all sides, combine everything and pile into a tortilla shell. top with sour cream and enjoy. yum.

guest post: Pat Jackson...

Listen up foodies, here comes some tough love.  You need protein for your brain.  Fact.  Sometimes a burger is in order. For those of you that don’t know, Genghis Khan invented the burger.  Genghis Khan was a smart guy; he obviously ate a lot of protein.  Did he put tofu, beans, and bread crumbs under his saddle so they’d be tender after a long day’s ride?  No, he put meat under his saddle.  He ate burgers for dinner, and you should too (don’t eat them raw like Genghis Khan did, Genghis Khan was tougher than you and me).

To make the perfect burger you want a 5 ounce patty.  Not some fruity 4 ounce patty or some fat-ass half pound patty, 5 ounces exactly.  That means if you buy 1 pound of burger you can get three 5 ounce patties and feed the remaining ounce to your dog, he needs protein too!  (Or break my rules and make 5.33 ounce patties, but it won’t be a totally perfect burger).

If you are less of a hunter and more of a gatherer then you need to go to the grocery store for your meat.  I recommend 90/10 or 95/5 burger (larger numbers are meat, small numbers are fat).  This makes a leaner burger, but has enough fat to stay together in the pan.

Add this flesh to a large bowl.  To this bowl add 1 tablespoon kosher salt (not table salt) and 2 teaspoons course black pepper per pound of meat.   One may also add the following, though not necessarily all in the same batch: 1 diced jalapeno, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, and/or ¼ cup grated Romano or parmesan cheese. Mix this by hand till evenly distributed.  Bust out your scale, measure out 5 ounces per patty, and form into balls.

Let these balls rest a minute or two, then take one ball, and twist it in your hands.  One hand will be turning clockwise, the other counter clockwise.  This takes a bit of practice, but eventually you’ll get the hang of it.  Do this until your burger is about ½ inch thick.

Take your cast iron skillet (You have one right?  You’re really a gatherer if you don’t own a cast iron skillet) and turn up your fire of choice to medium high.  After the skillet is hot, add each burger and start your timer.  You’re going to want to go 5 minutes per side for medium and 6 for medium well.  During any of this don’t mash the burger patty down, that’s wrong.  Don’t do it.

After the second side is cooked flip back over, add cheese, place a lid on the skillet, and leave on heat for 1-2 minutes for cheese to melt.  Take off heat, let rest for 3-5 minutes, garnish as desired (bacon or ham are recommended), and enjoy.  Your ancestors evolved into omnivores, don’t let their hard work go to waste.

cliff bars

I've been on the hunt for a good granola/cliff bar recipe for a long time. they are always too sweet, crumbly, hard, you name it. Well, I think I found a keeper...


1 1/2 c puffed rice cereal
1 1/4 c oats
3 T ground flax seed
2/3 c dried fruit, chopped
1 T sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 c chopped nuts, toasted
1 T wheat germ
1/4 c brown rice syrup
1/4 c honey
1/2 c nut butter, I used peanut
1/2 t salt


boil the syrup and honey, remove from heat and add nut butter, stir in all the other ingredients. press into a wax paper lined (spray wax paper with pam) 8x8 pan, press down firmly and cool in pan. when cool cut into squares and wrap them in wax paper. yum.