This and That

Posted by PicasaI feel bad as I haven’t been able to blog much lately. I used to average a post about every other day.But going forward if I make once a week, I’ll be good.This week was the first week of my new job and it’s not even Friday yet, but I’m exhausted. There is so much much to do, learn, and prove. I cant wait for the travel part to begin. Toronto and the Bahamas are in the works. One thing I’m not used to is sitting in a cubicle all day. With my old job I would be in the stores as well as the office. To counter this inactivity I have signed up a t a cute hot new woman’s only gym called Flirty Girl Fitness in the west loop. I’m taking classes such as pole teaser and Bootie Beat. Certain Someone is looking at me crossed eyed, but I need to do something. I feel like all this food and nesting is catching up with me since I ceased going to the gym regularly. Who knew strippers had to be athletic. That Pole is a beast!

Anyway, Mary over at Shazam In the Kitchen was kind enough to give me this prize.
Thanks Mary, your a gem. So I need to pass this on to some others.I also have two Memes waiting from Bellini Valli and Toni. I haven’t forgotten, and I will try to get to them soon.
So I’m passing this badge onto:
Marq a young new blogger I just met who has great dreams to opens a pastry shop. If you don’t have dreams , you don’t have much, so I want to encourage everyone to dream .
My Hyde Park girls Chou and Maria. I hope to meet these smart, well rounded blog friends soon either on a baking day or exploring the vast culinary scene in Chicago.
And finally Zlamushka. She’s my blog buddy in Sweden who I hope to meet one day as we will be spending a lot of time there in the summers. While I’m not vegan, I love to read about all of her spicy concoctions.
I’m so tired now, so I’m going to bed.But before I do,stay tuned for this weekend as I’m cooking up something with a fellow blogger….

Black Irish Cake…St Paddy’s Day Pub Crawl Event

This cake is a tasty, yummy, mess of a cake .

Emiline over at Sugar Plum has come up with a great event in honor of St. Patrick’s Day! She has challenged us to come up with either sweet or savory dishes incorporating booze.Immediately I conceptualized a Black Irish Cake. A Black Irish Cake is a chocolate cake with mashed potatoes( hey it works!) soaked in 3 boozes( Baileys Irish Creme,Chocolate Liqueur, and Whiskey) in a riff of a Tres Leches Cake. Are you feeling me?

I remember reading about cakes made with mashed potatoes so it would be perfect for a Irish themed cake. I basically followed this recipe. However she used no dairy, and I added left over evaporated milk to the mashed potatoes( no more than 1/4 of a cup) and it turned out fine .You can use your own chocolate cake recipe and experiment.

I really wanted to use my authentic Feckin Irish Whiskey that was signed by the maker, but we agreed not to open the bottle.So I purchased some Jack Daniels instead along with some Baileys Irish Creme.

Black Irish Cake

1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of evaporated milk
1 cup of Baileys Irish Cream
1/2 cup of whiskey
1/4- 1/2 cup of Chocolate Liqueur

Whipped Cream Topping (make your own with heavy cream , confectioners sugar,vanilla, etc. or cheat and buy a Non Dairy Whipped Topping. I used a Wilton Whipped Topping Mix).

Make your cake in a dish that you will serve the cake in. I used a 81/2 by 81/2 Plexiglas dish. I had leftover batter so I made 12 cupcakes as well to serve in individual ramekins. Take cake out of oven.Pierce all over. While still warm drizzle cake with Whiskey and Chocolate Liqueur.In a blender mix heavy cream,evaporated milk, and Baileys. Pour this cream mixture over warm cake. It may take several attempts for the liquids to sink into the cake.I still had leftover cream, but I soaked three times. Let cake cool, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours until chilled.If you have leftover cream and you feel the cake can take on more liquid, add it. Top off with Whipped Topping and serve.

Be sure to let it set well. I cut mine after a few hours, but it could have chilled some more to hold some shape.For a more perfect presentation serve it up in the individual ramekins. Regardless the flavors merge well and it gives you a sweet light light headed feeling. Certain Someone declared it was rich!

* Warning: Don’t eat this and operate heavy machinery or drive.

Daring Bakers Take on Julia Childs Labor Of Love , French Bread

This is my fifth Daring Bakers Challenge, and I must say the most challenging. But that’s the whole point of me joining, to push my limits and explore all aspects of baking from savory to sweet. When Mary at Breadchick and Sara at I like to Cook, took on hosting duties, they went all out. Our challenge reflects Julia Child’s own obsession with mastering French Bread. Last year I read Appetite For Life, The Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch. Julia, ever the perfectionist, spent years mastering her bread with her ever patient husband Paul at her side , encouraging,tasting, and critiquing. Its reflected in Volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 18 pages are dedicated to this recipe that consists of just flour,water, yeast, and salt. Go figure. I was pretty confident I could do this and set aside one Saturday as it takes about 10 hours in total of rising, shaping, etc. I had purchased the baking tiles, a tool for slashing, prepped my muslin as the pastry clothes.All seemed well until it started getting around dinner time , and Certain Someone was impatiently waiting. I had purchased Brie,charcuterie, etc for us to have sandwiches on my homemade baguettes. The end result at around 10:30 pm was a hard pale,misshapen baguette. we ate the sandwiches , or shall I say gnawed. It was edible but had a hard shell to it that wasn’t what I would call crusty. Nevertheless I vowed to attempt it again and finished up the rest over the next day. Not awful , but not right. I figured with Certain Someone gone on a golf outing,I would have time. But I got a cake commission that took my whole weekend and had to put it off. So on the final Sunday of the month I woke up at 6:30 am determined to have a decent bread to post about. I decided to one large Boule. I didn’t feel confident enough to shape the baguettes again. All went well and at 5:00 we had some slices with raspberry jam and butter. A pre Oscar Night snack.I liked the color and the outer shell softened as it cooled down. Certain Someone was happy about that, and so were his teeth. He said it was good.One thing I learned for sure is that bread making demands your respect and attention. Whatever distractions and disruptions in your life will show up in the final result. Its not ironic that bread is symbolic and referenced in religion.Bread is life.My month has been trying to say the least. But all my fears and worries about my life and job were resolved by the time I made the second round.

The recipe is long,so I will post it to Coco’s Recipe Box and you can check it out here.Meanwhile check ot the ever expanding Daring Bakers and what they produced.

Holy Mole

I haven’t been a good participant in the weekly challenges of
Chou over at Balance announced the final week 3 super food and it was Cocoa. Not necessarily meant to be used in a dessert. Check out all the nutrition facts on cocoa on her site, who would have guessed. No wonder people feel so good after having chocolate. I immediately thought of a mole sauce. I have never made mole but decided to do some research. None of my cookbooks had a recipe, so I improvised.And that’s the beauty of Mole, there are so many variations.I used a combination of chilies, spices,chicken broth,and cocoa powder . I read ground peanuts or almonds are also added but I passed on that.Hey its Coco’s Mole so I can do what I want.In shopping for my Chilies I noticed some Corn Husks, and decided to attempt some tamales too. A chicken poblano tamale drizzled with Coco’s Mole. Yummm. Certain Someone the other night asked what a tamale was when we were bowling. ‘The Tamale Man’ came into the place selling his wares from a cooler type device .Seems hes legend around Chicago at after hours spots. Me, I have never heard of him , but though it was a good business idea.

Just so you see I really made my own Tamales! This dough batter is Masa (tamale dough), a combo of shortening or lard,with Masa, baking powder,salt,and water. Seemed simple enough.
Here is my Chicken breast cooked down with some Mole, poblanos, and onions.A
And here is the star , the Mole. I cooked this for about a hour, but it could have simmered down even longer.
And here are my tamales steaming in my homemade contraption. I took a baking cooling rack and placed it a long roasting pan with water. I covered it too.
All in all a long labor that Certain Someone seemed to enjoy. He ate four. I explained how its not really a entree and felt bad after all that effort he didn’t have more to eat.But he liked it and the Mole of which he spooned more unto his tamales.

Coco’s Mole ( adjust spices to your taste)

3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
6 cups chicken broth
2 oz dried chilies( ancho, California chili pods,etc)
1 large onion
minced garlic
olive oil

Bring your dried chilies and broth to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until pods soften, take pods and slice open to remove seeds. Reserve liquid, but strain to remove any excess seeds. Saute the sliced onion , cumin,and garlic in olive oil until soft. Using your blender, in batches pulse chilies ,reserved broth, and onions.Once all has been processed put in heavy sauce pan and simmer . Add your cocoa powder and sugar and stir constantly until incorporated. Simmer stirring occasionally for at least 1 hour. Be sure to taste to adjust seasonings to your taste.

Blackberry Almond Tarts

It’s been a crazy week and this is the first thing I have cooked for myself this week!

I love my Black Berries. OK just joking. Yes I have two. Don’t ask. The actual fruit tempted me in Costco. I have wanted to make a dessert incorporating certain pantry items I have, slivered almonds and Atora shredded Suet a friend brought back form the UK. I was determined to try this suet after researching my Plum pudding recipes for Christmas. A lot of cooks have moved away from this old fashioned product but like lard it makes for really good baking. Doesn’t make it right but it just is. So everything in moderation I say. I have made a lovely Almond tart before by Lindsey Shere of Chez Panisse I read about in Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas Macnamee. Alice provides some great recipes in her stream of consciousness way. Not exact, but very good , and easy to follow for the home cook. I decided to use an Atoras crust recipe sweetened with Confectioners sugar and Lindsey’s filling studded with additional blackberries and sprinkled with sugar to aid the berries cooking. I also used my homemade plum brandy for flavoring and a vanilla bean. I did not blind bake the crust as well. So I have veered away from the original quite a bit. The final result was a fantastic semi sweet flaky crust with a caramelized almond filling studded with tangy sweet blackberries.

Coco’s Black Berry Almond Tart

Crust
¾ – 1 cup self rising flour
½ cup Atora Suet
2-3 Tablespoons of cold water
3 tablespoons of Confectioners Sugar
Lemon Zest
Butter
Filling
¾ cup heavy cream
¾ cup sliced almonds
¾ cup of sugar

Blackberries
Vanilla bean
Liquor of your choice for flavoring (I used homemade Plum Brandy)

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine all your crust ingredients in stand mixer bowl. Lightly whisk and add water gradually while blending on Medium speed. Stop when just combined. Dough will be sticky. Butter your tart tins or pans. Shape the dough into each form and chill for approx 20 min.
Bring heavy cream, sugar, and seeded vanilla bean with pod to a boil in heavy sauce pan. Remove from heat and add almonds and liquor. Let sit for a bit. Remove vanilla bean pods.

Fill shells with almond cream mixture. Stud tarts with berries. Sprinkle granulated sugar on top. Bake for approx 30 minutes. The tarts should start to bubble up and caramelize. Remove from oven and let cool. Serve warm or room temp alone or with ice cream.
* Note: Place your tins/pans on foil or a baking sheet and mixture will bubble over .