Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!

This is a very special post about a very special event that I was a participant in this weekend. I was lucky enough to have been chosen to take part in this month's Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 - a food blogging event that takes place every month. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 is a great concept - 24 food bloggers from around the world are chosen to each host a unique meal on the same date and blog about it on the same date. I had thought it would be fun to take part in it for a while but couldn't think of a meal concept. Then it came to me - chocolate! I can't believe that one took so long to come up with...

I constructed a 5-course meal, each course including chocolate in some form. It was so much fun to plan and make, and of course, wonderful to eat. The event went incredibly well, despite some hurdles I had to cross. Thankfully, I'm pretty good at taking things as they come...

So, as I mentioned, the meal was yesterday. I had planned on hosting it at my mom's house. She lives in a beautiful house in the woods that was originally built as a church in the late 1800's. Then in the early '80's it was deconstructed and rebuilt in it's current location as a house. It is incredible. It has 17 foot ceilings in the living room, a 2-tiered antique chandelier, a 10 foot tall Gothic window, as well as leaded glass windows, floors and wainscoting that are all original to the church. It was the perfect location to hold a meal about the love - worship in my family - for devout chocolate lovers. However, Mother Nature had other plans.

Friday morning, we woke up to several inches of snow which only increased as the day went on. We were unable to get our car out of our driveway (still can't actually) and we lost power Friday night which we still don't have. How am I writing this post, you may ask? Thankfully, we have friends (who attended the meal, by the way) who's dad owns an apartment in downtown Asheville that he keeps for visiting friends to stay in, and it was empty this weekend, so we've been staying there. Actually, it is so nice, I wouldn't mind if we never got our power back at home!

So, with the car in the driveway, we had no way to get to my mom's to have the meal. We went ahead and did it at our house. This was possible because I had done a lot of prepping in the days leading up to the meal, and we have a gas stove that was unaffected by the power outage. Also, we held it at 2:00PM, so we had the benefit of natural light - or at least as much light as we could get on a cloudy, snowy day. This brings me to an apology.

The photos. The photos, the photos, the photos. I had visions of beautiful photos of my beautifully styled beautiful food. That is not what I got. Despite all of my planning and prepping, there was still a lot of work to be done the day of the meal, not to mention keeping my 1 & 3 year olds out from underfoot. I was a harried frantic mess up until I sat down to eat (when everyone else was on the fourth course). I was making ganache while my guests were eating their main course, and the best I could do was snap a few shots just as I was slinging the food on the plates. So, please forgive me for the un-styled, flashy (as in, taken with flash) shots of my food, which was actually quite beautiful. I'm planning on doing a couple of posts as an amendment to this one focusing more deeply on individual menu items that I will be able to photograph properly, so at least I'll have some redemption...

Now, the chocolate meal course by course:

First Course:

Baby Arugula Salad with Grilled Pears, Cocoa Nibs, Sheep's Milk Feta and a Cocoa Balsamico (Pictured above)

I had hoped to have pomegranate seeds in this salad, as well, but couldn't find one. The salad, though very simple was very delicious. I had also hoped to find mache, but the baby arugula worked beautifully. The Cocoa Balsamico was a huge success, and something that I'll be making again.

Cocoa Balsamico

1 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Place vinegar in small saucepan and cook over very low heat until it becomes a thick, though still pourable syrup. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder. Use immediately.

Second Course:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Topped with Nib-Infused Cream

This soup (minus the nib cream) is a specialty of mine. I make it for holidays and dinner parties on a regular basis, and it is always a crowd pleaser. The Nib-Infused Cream is an idea that came from Bittersweet by Alice Medrich. She is the Queen of Chocolate, after all! The nibs add a great crunch to the soup, and the slightly bitter cream is a wonderful foil for the sweet squash. Definitely a wonderful and simple way to make a dish extra special. I'll make it again soon, photograph it properly and give you the recipe, I promise.

Third Course:

Mole Enchiladas Filled with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Fingerling Potatoes, Whole Garlic Cloves, Sauteed Lacinato Kale and Monterey Jack Cheese

This was my first time making mole, and I don't think anyone who tasted it will allow it to be my last! It was amazing, heavenly! Just the right amount of spice and heat, great depth of flavor and perfect texture. The recipe makes a lot - a little over a quart - so I need to come up with some ways to use mole over the next week or so. Send your ideas forth! I'm going to photograph the mole and do a proper post on it, but here is the recipe for the enchiladas (which I basically made up as I went along...)

Roasted Vegetable & Sauteed Kale Enchiladas

4 cups of diced potatoes and sweet potatoes, any variety

8-10 cloves of garlic

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 bunch of kale (I prefer lacinato or red russian, but any variety will work. Chard would also be tasty)

olive oil for pan

salt to taste

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

8 corn tortillas

1 cup mole sauce

Preheat oven to 450. Grease all surfaces of roasting pan. Place all ingredients in pan and toss well, coating all sides of potatoes & sweets. Roast for about 40 minutes, until everything is soft and slightly browned. Check on veggies every 15-20 minutes, turning them over so all sides brown. Remove from oven to cool. Remove stems from kale and chop finely. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in skillet. Add kale and salt. Cook until kale is soft.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 350. Place about 1/4 cup roasted vegetables down the center of a tortilla, top with thin layer of kale, followed by thin layer. Gently roll tortilla so that sides just overlap, and place seam-side down in large rectangular baking dish. Continue with this process until pan is full. Spoon mole over tops of enchiladas, followed by the remainder of the cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Fourth Course:

Chocolate & Cheese Plate

The three chocolates I chose for this plate were a white chocolate bar with nibs that I really love by chocolatier Askinosie, which I paired with a subtle, creamy manchego; a 65% milk chocolate that went with a local brie; an 80% dark single origin that was lovely with a pungent bleu cheese. I served the plate with two locally-made flatbreads as well as my chocolate lavash. I highly recommend doing this for your next gathering. Everyone loved all of the selections, as well as the experience of eating it.

Fifth Course:

Chocolate Caramel Tart and Cocoa Nib Ice Gelato

A few months ago, we made this beauty for Tuesdays with Dorie. It was probably my favorite TWD recipe to date, so I immediately thought of it when deciding on my dessert for this little fete. Then I thought of a similar tart from Saveur that I had wanted to make. I went with the Saveur version, because it had a chocolate crust, I was curious about the addition of creme fraiche in the caramel recipe, and because it got rave reviews. Unfortunately, the tart was my least favorite part of the meal. It wasn't bad, it just didn't wow me as much as I had wanted it to. There wasn't a high enough chocolate to caramel ratio, and the caramel itself was inferior to Dorie's. Also, the chocolate crust didn't add anything for me. I missed the shortbread-like crust that Dorie uses - the flavor is better, and I think it allows the ganache topping to shine, as then it is the only chocolate in the tart. Don't get me wrong, this one was good. Really, really good. It's just that I know there is something better out there, and will stick with that one from now on. Once again, the moral of the story is always, always, always trust Dorie.

Now the gelato is another story. Wow. I mean wow. This is ice cream that I would eat any time, anywhere, with anything. It is that good. The recipe calls for straining the nibs from the custard base, but really, why? I love nibs. I think they added a huge dimension to this ice cream. Leave in the nibs! The thing that is most amazing about this frozen delight is that it us flavored entirely with the nibs. It is incredible to eat ice cream that is so light in color, yet so deeply chocolate in taste. What I have left of this ice cream is buried in the foot of snow on my deck, but if it survives, I will take a proper photograph of it and devote an entire post to it. It deserves it. Until then, here is a link to the recipe.

I also made Chocolate Mendiants (disks of tempered chocolate topped with dried fruit, candied citrus peel and nuts) which I gave out in little bags as party favors. The mendiants are one of the items that I'll do a separate post on in the coming days. They were beautiful, fun, delicious and easy, and they make great gifts. I didn't get a chance to photograph them before having to escape my cold, dark house, but the post will be coming soon. I promise.

Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for selecting me as one of their December participants! This was such a fun event to be a part of, my mind is churning with ideas to propose for the next one!

Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche is everywhere these days; in brownies, on ice cream, in ice cream, as a filling for cookies, on cake - you name it. Unfortunately, though the store I shop at (an enormous locally-owned health food store) does sell pre-made Dulce de Leche, they don't sell organic Dulce de Leche. Though I don't know if this is exactly a downside, as homemade is always better.

I finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago and bought a can of sweetened condensed milk to make my own. When I saw that ever reliable David Lebovitz had a recipe on his site for it, I tried it out. It was simple enough - pour can of sweetened condensed milk into a glass pie plate, place that in a water bath, cover pie plate with aluminum foil and leave it in the oven at 425 for 1 - 1 1/4 hours. Well, the result was tasty, but it wasn't smooth. The final instruction was to whisk until smooth, but I could have whisked until my arm fell off and it wouldn't have made a difference. It had chunks. Small chunks, but chunks nonetheless. It was also a little chalky. I was slightly horrified that I was unable to execute such simple instructions...

A couple of weeks went by, and I was sent this wonderful box of goodies from an acquaintance at Heavenly Organics (as I was doing a tasting for them in a local store). Including sweetened condensed milk. I was determined to try again. With a different technique. The result was pure heaven. Smooth, rich, creamy Dulce de Leche. Lick-the-bowl-clean Dulce de Leche. I don't think there is anything it wouldn't be delicious on. The perfect addition to your holiday table.

You'll be amazed at how easy it is to make.

Dulce de Leche

Pour can of sweetened condensed milk into a heat-proof bowl, and place over simmering water. Leave it for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so with a whisk. Check the water periodically, adding more when necessary. The longer you leave it, the darker and thicker it will become. If you want it to be a sauce, pull it off the heat at around 1 1/2 hours. For thicker, scoop-able Dulce de Leche, it will be more like 3 hours. When your Dulce de Leche has reached your desired consistency, whisk it until smooth (though it should be nearly smooth already). Remember, it will thicken some as it cools, so keep this in mind when deciding how long to cook it for.

SMS: Perfect Pound Cake with Maple Caramel Sauce

Goodness, I'm late in posting this! I didn't wait until the last minute to make something for a baking group - for once - but there were other problems in getting this post up. Namely that a few days ago my wallet, phone and camera were all stolen. Luckily, everything is replaceable, and I now have an excuse to buy a dSLR! Until that happens, I'm borrowing my mom's camera which I didn't get up and running until late this afternoon.

As usual, I made some adjustments so that there was no refined sugar in the recipe. I used 1/2 cup agave in place of the sugar, used 2 cups AP flour and 2 eggs. I baked my batter in 3 mini loaf pans.

I really love a good pound cake, and while I did really like this one, it wasn't spectacular to me. It could have been due to the substitutions I made, though. It had a pretty good flavor, and a pretty good crumb, just not spectacular. Enter: maple caramel sauce.

A few days ago I made these cinnamon roll biscuits. They were unbelievable and so easy and quick to make. I may never make a yeasted cinnamon roll again. Unfortunately, I didn't get to post them, due to the lack of camera. Don't worry, I'll make them again. Soon. Anyway, I made the cinnamon rolls refined sugar free too, and when trying to figure out what to top them with that didn't have sugar I came up with this sauce. It is ridiculous. I think I ate more with a spoon than on my cinnamon rolls. It was so good that I had to remake it when I felt the pound cake needed a little punch. It did the trick.

Maple Caramel Sauce

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/6 cup heavy cream

2 tsp butter, cut into small pieces

pinch of salt

Bring maple syrup to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes, until thickened and frothy looking. Pour in heavy cream and stir until it settles down - it will spit and rise when the cream is added. Add the butter a couple pieces at a time, stir until melted. Stir in salt. Serve. I haven't tried yet, but I think this would make fabulous caramels given more time to thicken.

Thanks to Michele of Veggie Num Nums for picking this yummy recipe, which can be found on her blog.

Vegetable Egg Rolls, Sauteed Broccoli, Mustard-Tamari-Maple Sauce

I learned how to make these egg rolls when I was six years old. A good friend of my mom's who was an excellent cook invited us over for dinner and a lesson in egg roll making. I never forgot what Susan taught me, and I have made them many times in the last 23 years. I've tweaked them a little bit, but they are essentially the same egg roll.

Vegetable Egg Rolls

1 cup grated carrots

1 cup grated cabbage (any variety will do, but purple adds nice color)

1 cup grated zucchini (squeeze out extra moisture before measuring)

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

salt to taste

egg roll wrappers

oil for frying (I use olive, but you can use the oil of your choice)

small bowl of water

Stir all ingredients together. Pour ~ 1/4 inch of oil into a frying pan and turn on med heat. 

Lay out several egg roll wrappers on a dry surface so that their points are up and down (like a diamond). Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of filling onto each wrapper, placing it just below the center of the wrapper.

 Fold the bottom point up first, and wrap around the filling. Next fold each side point over, making sure that there are no openings for the filling to escape through. Next, roll upwards until only ~ 1/2 inch of the top point is still showing. Dip your fingers in water, dab the water on the point and smooth it onto the roll. 

Place the egg rolls in pan after oil is good and hot. Turn with tongs when bottom is bubbly and browned. Repeat until whole roll is cooked in this way. You could also deep fry these, if you wanted. When egg roll is cooked completely (approximately 10 minutes), remove from pan and place on paper towels to absorb extra oil. Serve.

Sauteed Broccoli

3 cups chopped broccoli

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon tamari

There is rarely a meal that goes by in my house that does not contain broccoli (hence the name of my blog). I love it. If I could only pick one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be broccoli. I have it added to just about everything I order in restaurants, much to the surprise of many a server. This is a simple recipe that we eat frequently.

Pour oil into large frying pan on medium heat. When oil is hot, add broccoli, stir, and place lid on pan. After about 5-7 minutes (or when broccoli is slightly browned). Stir, replace lid and leave for another 5-7 minutes. Broccoli is done when soft (not mushy) and still very green. At this point, add the tamari. When it stops sizzling, turn off heat and serve. 

Note: It is also very good to add nuts to this. Add when broccoli is about half cooked. Cashews and walnuts are especially nice.

Mustard-Tamari-Maple sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons mustard 

1 teaspoon tamari

1 teaspoon maple syrup

3 tablespoons olive oil

whisk all ingredients together

Biscuits with Blueberry Compote

I'm very excited to be posting my first item on my new food blog!

These are technically biscuits, though scones would work well in this recipe too. Truth be told, I was intending to make scones, but was a little spaced out and ended up forgetting to sweeten my dough.... So I whipped up the blueberry compote to add a little pizazz to the dish. Boy, did it do the trick! It was so delicious and so easy. If only I could get such great results every time I'm forgetful!

Biscuits adapted from Heaven's Banquet by Miriam Hospodar

3 cups unbleached white flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 400. Butter a baking sheet.

Mix dry ingredients together. Add butter, and work in with a pastry cutter until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add buttermilk and water. Mix until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated and dough is formed. 

Roll out on floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter - or - separate into 2 balls, flatten flatten by hand to about 3/4 inch thick and cut into 6ths with sharp knife. Place biscuits on prepared sheet. Glaze with buttermilk. 

Bake until top is golden brown - 15-20 min. 

Makes 12-18 biscuits

Blueberry Compote

I just kind of threw this together, so measurements are approximate. 

1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter

1/8 - 1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook on med low heat for about 20 min or until blueberries break down and mixture thickens.

Serve warm over biscuits. 

Enjoy!