Big News and Chocolate Therapy

You know when life is so crazy busy that the only thing keeping you going is a good dose of dark chocolate? Well, that's how my life has been lately. I've had too many irons in the fire. It's why I haven't been here in a more than a couple of weeks…

Happily, I'm back now. And I have something really important to share. You see, I've been keeping a secret from you, but now I can finally tell—I HAVE A NEW COOKBOOK IN THE WORKS!!! It's all about flavored butters, a subject I'm passionate about because I use flavored butters in place of sauces all the time. I began to write about them in my first book Seared to Perfection, and now I'm going to have a book dedicated to flavored butters! My kitchen has been a frenzy of buttery recipe testing. Compound butters. Brown Butters. Drawn butters. Butters, butters, and more butters! Every meal I've made, be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner, has been anointed with a melting slice of flavored butter. My manuscript, which includes over 50 recipes for sweet and savory butters, is done now, and I couldn't be more excited because my publisher Harvard Common Press has already accepted it (my editor may have used the words "love it" when he told me). And on top of all that, they're considering hiring me to do the photography for the book! Over the next days, my agenda is to photograph flavored butters in all their luscious glory so that I can present them with a couple of sample images good enough to win the job. Keep your fingers crossed for me because I want nothing more than to do the photography for my book myself.

And as if that wasn't enough to keep me frantically busy, I was asked to teach an introductory baking class at Mount Hood Community College. I took on the job even though I was given only half a week to prepare for the term. What can I say, I just can't pass up a teaching opportunity!

A couple of other announcements…In case you've been wondering about that new footer you see down there, I accepted an invitation from The Daily Meal to become a member of their culinary network. It's a very cool website for food-minded people, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Check out the From Culinary Content Network section to see my last post about Savoy cabbage from the farmers market featured. Also, I'd like to thank Sweetspot.ca for featuring my Tuna Salad Niçoise.

Anyway, it's time for another dose of chocolate therapy to keep me going.


And off to work on that butter photo shoot!

Mint Chocolate Bars
Printable Recipe

For the shortbread crust:
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced, plus more for greasing the baking dish
7 ounces all-purpose flour
¾ ounce cocoa powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 ounces sugar

For the chocolate layer:
3 ounces heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or scant 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

Make the shortbread crust:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish and line with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl, place the bowl over a medium pan of simmering water, and heat, stirring frequently, until melted. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium until blended. Beat in the chocolate until thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until the dough comes together, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to the baking dish and press into an even layer. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until firm. Let cool to room temperature.

Make the chocolate layer:
Bring the cream to a bare simmer in a small, heavy saucepan. Place the chocolate into a small bowl, add the hot cream and peppermint extract, and whisk until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the shortbread and spread evenly. Let cool for a couple of hours, or until set.

To serve:
Using the parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan and transfer them to a cutting board. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 12 bars. For a professional-looking presentation, cut the bars using a hot knife and wipe it clean between cuts. Bars keep for several days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.

Fresh from the Farmers Market

Farmers market season is back! Sadly, I missed the opening day, but it was for a good cause—I had a cooking class on potato gnocchi to teach. But let's just say nothing was going to keep me from the market a second weekend in a row. I dragged my husband out of bed early, in fact. After a long grey winter, strolling through the colorful displays of lush produce inspired me anew. Greens and root vegetables are the main offerings this early in the season. Tuscan kale, curly kale, rainbow chard, Savoy cabbage, leeks, celeriac, yellow potatoes, and eggs looked good, so I stocked up.


I had no thought as to what I would make with these ingredients, but I knew it would be good…

And it was. With the cabbage I made Russian cabbage rolls, a family recipe. Delicious.


Golubtsi
Printable Recipe

1 large head green or Savoy cabbage
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion, julienned, plus ½ onion, grated
1 ½ pounds 85% lean ground beef
¼ cup long grain rice
¼ cup minced Italian parsley
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ¾ cups strained tomatoes, preferably Pomì brand
1 green or red bell pepper, julienned
Generous pinch cayenne pepper

Using a paring knife, cut the core out of the cabbage. Cook the cabbage in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 6 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Transfer the cabbage to a large bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking process, reserving the cooking liquid, and then drain the cabbage thoroughly.

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add the oil and the julienned onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 45 to 50 minutes, or until caramelized.*

Meanwhile, mix together the grated onion, ground beef, rice, 3 tablespoons of the parsley, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Carefully remove the outermost leaf of the cabbage and place it cupped side up on a work surface. Place about ¼ cup of the beef mixture toward the base of the cabbage leaf. Fold the base of the cabbage leaf over the beef mixture, tuck in either side, and roll all the way up. Make more cabbage rolls with the remaining cabbage leaves and filling in the same manner, using 2 overlapped cabbage leaves per roll as the leaves become smaller. As you work, arrange the cabbage rolls seam side down on a plate. Separate any remaining leaves from the heart of the cabbage.

Add the tomatoes, bell pepper, and cayenne to the pot. Line the pot with the remaining cabbage leaves and add the cabbage rolls seam side down. Add enough of the reserved cabbage cooking liquid to cover by an inch. Place a small upturned plate over the cabbage rolls, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley and simmer, covered, for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cabbage rolls are cooked through. Remove the plate, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Serves 4. Serve with crusty bread. My mom always used green cabbage, but the Savoy cabbage at the market looked too good to pass up. Basmati rice is good in this recipe. The plate will keep the cabbage rolls completely submerged beneath the cooking liquid so that they cook evenly, and it will also keep them from unrolling as they simmer.

*For information on making and using caramelized onions and everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Pink Cakes and Freeze-Dried Strawberries

My ingredient obsession of the moment: freeze-dried strawberries. Have you tried them yet? You may have had them in your breakfast cereal. They're light as a feather and seem to dissolve instantly on your tongue, and they taste like…well, imagine if you crammed an entire pint of super-ripe strawberries into your mouth along with a couple of strawberry Jolly Ranchers—that's how they taste.

Perhaps it's because strawberry season is three long months away or perhaps it's because freeze-dried strawberries really are that good, but I've been grinding them up and putting them in everything. I love how they turn buttercreams and cake batters technicolor pink. It's like when Dorothy found herself in Oz and suddenly the world was in brilliant color. But with flavor! Three quarters of an ounce of strawberry powder plus a little tinkering transformed my regular financier batter into these lovely treats.


I'm thinking of making pink angel food cake or pink yellow cake frosted with pink whipped cream next.

Strawberry-Almond Teacakes
Printable Recipe

¾ ounce freeze-dried strawberries
5 ½ ounces sugar
2 ½ ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the tins
2 ½ ounces almond meal
5 ounces egg whites, at room temperature
5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the tins

Grind the freeze-dried strawberries to a fine powder in a blender, spice mill, or clean coffee grinder. Whisk together the strawberry powder, sugar, flour, and almond meal in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites until thoroughly combined and then whisk in the butter until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners and divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges of the teacakes start to shrink away from the pan. Let the teacakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen teacakes. Both the unbaked batter and the finished teacakes have good keeping qualities.

Have a Biscuit

This morning I had a little bit of time to spare, so I decided to bake biscuits. Want one?


But before you dig in, I have to mention that registration for spring Clark College classes just opened. Please join me in the kitchen! I'll be teaching Seafood Primer, Quiche, Sensational Salads for Spring, and Muffins & Scones II. Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

Cheddar-Herb Biscuits
Printable Recipe

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
2 teaspoons nigella seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Generous pinch cayenne pepper
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, shredded
8 ounces (2 cups) shredded sharp cheddar
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
½ teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, chives, parsley, nigella, salt, and cayenne in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Toss in the cheddar. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Transfer to a work surface and knead a few times until the dough just holds together. Lightly flour the work surface, pat the dough into a 1-inch thick circle, and cut using a 2 ½-inch round cutter. Arrange the biscuits a couple of inches apart on parchment-lined baking trays. Gather the scraps, knead once or twice, and roll, cut, and arrange on baking trays in the same manner. Lightly brush the biscuits with the cream and sprinkle with the paprika. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes about 2 dozen small biscuits. Work quickly and with a light touch to prevent the butter in the pastry from melting. Dip the cutter into a little flour between each cut to prevent the dough from sticking to it. Serve biscuits warm, possibly stuffed with a slice of good ham. Nigella, which can also be known as kalonji or charnushka, tastes very much like thyme and is available at Indian markets and at Penzeys Spices. Biscuits keep for a day or two in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.