eat.this.food.

Roast Chicken with Mustard Vinaigrette September 10, 2006

This chicken is moist, flavorful, and roasted to perfection. We tossed some new potatoes and onion in some olive oil, salt and pepper and added it to the roasting pan. Add a salad and it was a delicious dinner. The vinaigrette could be used as a salad dressing, as well as a dipping sauce for the chicken and potatoes. Tasty!
Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 6 to 7-pound roasting chicken
• 1 large shallot
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 2 frest sage sprigs
• 1 cup Mustard Vinaigrette
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh sage
• salt and pepper

Directions for Chicken:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Rinse chicken and pat dry.
3. Season cavity with salt and pepper.
4. Place shallot, 2 rosemary sprigs and 2 sage sprigs in cavity.
5. Slide hand between chiken skin and meat over the breast to form pockets.
6. Spread 2 Tbs of vinaigrettte under skin over breast meat.
7. Tie legs together to hold shape, tuck wings under body.
8. Place chicken in roasting pan.
9. Brush 2 Tbs of vinaigrette over chicken.
10. Sprinkle with chopped rosemary and sage.
11. Season with salt and pepper.
12. Roast chicken 20 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Continue roasting until juices run clear, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. (Or until the chicken registers 180 degrees on a thermometer.) Let sit 10 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
13. Serve with remaining vinaigrette.

Mustard Vinaigrette
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 3 Tbs white wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup chopped shallots
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tsp chopped fresh sage

Directions for Vinaigrette:

1. Mix mustard and vinegar in a bowl.
2. Gradually whisk in oil.
3. Mix shallots and herbs.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

(Can be made one day ahead. Cover, chill. Bring to room temperature, mix before using.)

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Both recipes from Bon Appetit, May 1994 (found on Epicurious)

Skillet Polenta with Tomatoes and Gorgonzola

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup slivered fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 1/2 cup tosted pine nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush 12-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Combine 4 cups water, yellow cornmeal, and salt in heavy large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until polenta is very thick and pulls away from sides of pan, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes. Whisk in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 cup basil. Transfer polenta to prepared skillet; flatten polenta to even thickness.
3. Sprinkle polenta with tomatoes and garlic. Sprinkle evenly with Gorgonzola, mozzarella, and remaining 1/4 cup basil. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 16 minutes. Cut polenta into wedges, top with pine nuts and serve from skillet.

Serves 4-6 as a main course.
Recipe modified from epicurious.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

In honor of my brother and his birthday…I decided to figure out a way to combine my current obsession (cupcakes) with my brother’s favorite cake (German Chocolate). After some research, this is what I came up with…it was a semi-successful** birthday present!

German Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 4oz semisweet chocolate chopped fine
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted
• 1/2 ccup boiling water
• 2 cups (10oz) unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 12 Tbs (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup (7oz) granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup (4 3/4oz) packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp table salt
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

Directions for Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine chocolate & cocoa in small bowl. Add boiling water and let stand 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth and let cool to room temp.
3. Sift flour & baking soda into medium bowl.
4. Beat butter, sugars & salt until light & fluffy (about 4mins). Scraping down bowl 1/2 way through.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time combining well after each.
6. Beat in vanilla, then beat on high 45sec until light and fluffy.
7. With beater running add in chocolate, beat 30 more sec. Batter may appear broken.
8. On low speed add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream, beating until barely combined. After final addition of flour stir with spatula. Batter will be thick.
9. Bake about 30mins until tookpick inserted near center comes out clean.
10. Cool on wire rack.
11. Make sure you cool cupcakes completely before filling!

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated
Coconut Pecan Filling

Ingredients for filling:

• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 can (6oz) evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup (3.5oz) granulated sugar
• 2 Tbs packed light brown sugar
• 3 Tbs unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
• 1/8 tsp table salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 3/4 cups finely chopped pecans, toasted (350 degrees for about 8 mins)

Directions for Filling:

1. Whisk yolks in med. saucepan, gradually whisk in evaporated milk.
2. Add sugars, butter & salt. Cook over medium-high heat whisking constantly until boiling, frothy and slightly thickened.
3. Transfer to a bowl, whisk in vanilla.
4. Stir in coconut.
5. Cool until just warm then cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate until cold, at least 2hrs but up to 3 days.
6. Pecans are stirred in just before cake assembly so they do not get soggy.

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated
Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients for Frosting:

• 2.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 1 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs whipping cream
• 1 Tbs butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs whole milk

Directions for frosting:

1. Heat milk in microwave for 30 seconds.
   
2. Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
3. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.
4. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
5. Add butter to the chocolate (make sure its soft and at room temp) and stir until combined.
6. Whisk together sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in another bowl until combined. Pour the sugar mixture onto the chocolate mixture, then stir until combined and smooth.
7. Let sit at room temperature until thickened.
8. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.

To assemble:

1. Cut a cone out of the top of a completely cooled cupcake.
2. Cut about a 1/2 inch off the bottom of the cone to make the top.
3. Fill cupcake cavity with 1 Tbs (or so) of coconut pecan filling.
4. Replace cupcake top.
5. Frost with a 1/4 inch layer of ganache.

Makes 24 cupcakes
*We used “Nut and Party” cups to bake the cupcakes in. We found that when filling cupcakes it is better to use these cups for baking as the more traditional cupcake liners tend to pull away from the cupcake, and as a result, the final product doesn’t look very nice.
**The first attempt at making this recipe did not work out so well. I (jen…yes, I take full credit!) screwed up the ganache by adding too much milk. It was sauce…not ganache. So I had to improvise and use the filling as the frosting. Arti made the second attempt and they turned out fantastic…and followed the original plan. The result is the picture you see here. The cake is not very rich, so the added ganache frosting adds the richness and the custard-like coconut center adds just enough contrast to the rich chocolate. They turned out great!

Chocolate Chip Coconut Almond Cookies September 9, 2006

These are a recent discovery for us…and we are happy we found them! They turned out thick, chewey and chock full of coconutty, chocolatey goodness! Yum!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/8 cups all purpose flour (10 5/8 oz)
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 12 Tbs unsalted butter (melted and cooled slightly)
• 1 cup brown sugar (7 oz)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 oz)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup thinly sliced, toasted almonds Directions:
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda until combined.
3. In a larger bowl by hand or electric mixer, mix melted butter and sugars until thoroughly blended.
4. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla to sugar/butter mixture. Blend well.
5. Slowly add flour mixture to egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips, coconut, and toasted almonds.
7. Scoop onto baking sheets using a small ice cream scoop. (about 1 1/2 Tbs)
8. Bake on middle rack for 15 minutes until golden brown.
9. Cool on pan for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen
Recipe modified from Cooks Illustrated
 

Turtle Brownies

These are a decadent and delicious treat. Chocolate and caramel and pecans…you can’t get much better than that!
Beware: these can be dangerously addicting.

Caramel

• ¼ cup heavy cream plus 2 additional tablespoons
• ¼ teaspoon table salt
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 ¼ cups sugar (8 ¾ ounces)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brownies

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into 8 pieces
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1-cup sugar (7 ounces)
• ¼ teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans (about 2 3/4 ounces)
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

TO MAKE THE CARAMEL:

1. Combine cream and salt in small bowl; stir well to dissolve salt.
2. Combine water and corn syrup in heavy-bottomed 2- to 3-quart saucepan; pour sugar into center of saucepan, taking care not to let sugar granules touch sides of pan. Gently stir with clean spatula to moisten sugar thoroughly.
3. Cover and bring to boil over medium-high heat; cook, covered and without stirring, until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is clear, 3 to 5 -minutes.
4. Uncover and continue to cook, without stirring, until bubbles show faint golden color, 3 to 5 minutes more.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to cook (swirling occasionally) until caramel is light amber and registers about 360 degrees on candy or instant-read thermometer, 1 to 3 minutes longer.
6. Remove saucepan from heat and carefully add cream to center of pan; stir with whisk or spatula (mixture will bubble and steam vigorously) until cream is fully incorporated and bubbling subsides.
7. Stir in butter and vanilla until combined; transfer caramel to microwaveable measuring cup or bowl and set aside.

TO MAKE THE BROWNIES:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray 9-inch-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut 14-inch length extra-wide heavy-duty foil; fold cut edges back to form 8 1/2-inch width. With folded sides face down, fit foil securely into bottom and up sides of baking pan, allowing excess to overhang pan sides. Spray foil with cooking spray.
2. Melt butter and bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates in medium heatproof bowl set over saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth and combined; set aside to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together flour and baking powder in small bowl; set aside.
4. When chocolate has cooled slightly, whisk eggs in large bowl to combine; add sugar, salt, and vanilla and whisk until incorporated.
5. Add melted chocolate mixture to egg mixture; whisk until homogenous.
6. Add flour mixture; stir with rubber spatula until almost combined.
7. Add chopped pecans and chocolate chips; mix until incorporated and no flour streaks remain.
8. Distribute half of brownie batter in prepared baking pan, spreading in even layer.
9. Drizzle scant 1/4 cup caramel over batter.
10. Drop remaining batter in large mounds over caramel layer; spread evenly and into corners of pan with rubber spatula.
11. Drizzle additional scant 1/4 cup caramel over top. Using tip of butter knife, swirl caramel and batter.
12. Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes.
13. Cool brownies in pan on wire rack to room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours.
14. Heat remaining caramel (you should have about 3/4 cup) in microwave until warm and pourable but still thick (do not boil), 45 to 60 seconds, stirring once or twice; pour caramel over brownies.
15. Using spatula, spread caramel to cover surface.
16. Refrigerate brownies, uncovered, at least 2 hour.
17. Using foil extensions, lift brownies from baking pan, loosening sides with paring knife, if needed. Peel away and discard foil.
18. Using chef’s knife, cut brownies into 25 evenly sized squares.
19. Press a pecan half onto surface of each brownie.
20. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated