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Archive for the ‘Tasty Tidbits Tuesday’ Category

OMG Today is NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY!!! Enjoy

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , on October 28, 2014| 2 Comments »

A Tasty Morsel For Sure

A Tasty Morsel For Sure

October 28, 2014 is
National Chocolate Day
Today is National Chocolate Day! Just what you’ve been waiting for – a reason to eat more chocolate! Americans consume an average of 12 pounds per person per year. Do you help contribute to this staggering stat?

Valentine’s Day and Easter are two of the top holidays for buying chocolate, but you can’t forget about Christmas or Halloween! However, many will argue that chocolate is best enjoyed year-round.

To celebrate National Chocolate Day, enjoy some chocolate with each meal today! Try hot chocolate or chocolate donuts for breakfast. A fun lunch idea is to pair your favorite dish with a tall glass of chocolate milk. For dinner, try a traditional mole sauce, made with cocoa powder. Top it all off with a decadent chocolate dessert!

Give a friend a box of chocolates, try a new recipe using chocolate, or treat yourself to some! The above excerpt is courtesy of PUNCH BOWL.

Oh Take Me Awayyyyy

Oh Take Me Awayyyyy

You notice I opted for dark chocolate because seriously is there any other kind?  LOL LOL, that ought to provoke some responses!  Milk Chocolate – Mmmm more like a pretender, solidified hot cocoa (American style not French).  White chocolate?  Don’t even go there;  In case you didn’t know IT’S NOT EVEN CHOCOLATE!!!

I can see if I don’t stop writing this blog this morning, I’m going to be in trouble because right now some of the best brands of dark chocolate and the picture of their labels are swirling around in my head!  Thinking of the sources too!   Swiss, Belgian, French, not to mention the fabulous rebirth of small-batch hand-crafted chocolate (and other wonderful foods and drinks like coffee, bread and beer) that have sprung to life over the past decade or so.  Some credit this resurgence to that horrible period of job lay-offs and downsizing and some think our salvation lies with a younger generation (X or Y?) who don’t want to don that corporate garb.  Hallelujah to them I say!

After watching the news last night where the benefits of dark chocolate were extolled for regaining one’s memory, I may have to rethink my current attempt to diet and indulge is some very, very dark chocolate today.  Thinking 70-75% cacao, oh yeah!  You can hold a square in your mouth, let it rest on your tongue and it will melt oh so slowly…..  You have to resist the urge to chew it, which is hard I know but so rewarding if you don’t !

Did I ever tell you about my experience at The Chocoholic’s ate Bar at the Hyatt Regency in Hawaii?  OMG it will have to be for another time.  The whole experience was mind-blowing for a chocoholic like me! 

What’s your favorite kind of chocolate?  What brand(s) do you prefer?  Are you a milk chocolate lover?  It’s okay to admit it even if the rest of us dark chocolate lovers think you’re misguided lol lol.

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Cool Weather – Warm Lentil Salad With Goat Cheese

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , on October 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Red, Green and Black Lentils

Red, Green and Black Lentils

BEANS – Yes lentils are beans and they are not only good for you, they taste good too!  This dish can be ready in about 25 minutes.  Goat cheese and lentils make a particularly good pairing; the little earthy-sweet legumes love a salty-unami complement (that’s why you so often see them paired with sausage and other cured pork products), and goat cheese fits the bill.  Here the combination is especially cozy, as the goat cheese melts into the warm lentils, bathing them in a creamy  dressing.  This delightful recipe comes from Martha Rose Shulman of The New York Times.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups/14 ounces green, brown, black lentils, rinsed and picked over

1 small or 1/2 large onion, halved

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

Salt

1/4 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup broth from the lentils

3-4 ounces goat cheese (to taste), crumbled

Black pepper

2 cups wild or baby arugula

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium pot, combine lentils, onion, two of the garlic cloves and the bay leaf with 6 cups water.  Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.  Add salt to taste, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 25 minutes, until lentils are cooked through but sill have some texture (they should not be mushy). Taste and adjust salt.’

Using tongs, remove onion and bay leaf. (you may cook lentils up to four days ahead and store in the refrigerator  Bring back to a simmer and proceed with recipe).

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together vinegar, remaining garlic, salt to taste and olive oil.  Set aside.

Place a strainer over a bowl and carefully drain lentils, reserving 1/4 cup of the broth.  Return lentils to the pot.  Whisk reserved broth into the dressing, then stir dressing into lentils.  Add goat cheese and stir until it has melted into the lentils. Season to taste with pepper.  Stir in herbs.

Line a platter, salad plates or bowls with arugula. Top the arugula with lentils.  Serve warm.

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Lasagna With Collard Greens – Vegetarian Pasta Dish

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , on October 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Lasagna with Collard Greens

Lasagna with Collard Greens

NOW, now, don’t go turning up your nose and thinking you don’t like Collard Greens;  BECAUSE Collard Greens taste like Kale, the darling vegetable for the last couple of years.  In fact I’ll bet if I gave you a piece of Kale and a piece of Collard Green, you wouldn’t be able to tell which is which.  Hey, maybe I should send in that taste test suggestion to Gordon Ramsey for his Hell’s Kitchen show. 

INGREDEINTS

1/2 lb Collard Greens, large leaves, stemmed and washed

Salt to taste

Olive oil for pan

2 cups Marinara sauce (bottled or fresh)

1/2 # no-boil lasagna noodles

1/2 # Ricotta

4 oz. grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS  – Preheat oven 350 degrees

Steam Collard Greens for 5 minutes above 1″ of boiling water.  Transfer to bowl of cold water, drain and pat dry with paper towels.

Oil rectangular baking dish – Spread tomato sauce over the bottom.  Top with layer of noodles.  Then thin layer of ricotta.  Lay Collard Greens over ricotta, in single layer.  Top leaves with layer of tomato sauce, followed by thin layer of Parmesan cheese.

Set aside some tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese to top the lasagna.

Repeat layers till all ingredients are used up.  Top with reserved sauce and cheese.  Cover with foil.  Place in oven for 30 minutes.  Uncover and return to oven for 5-10 minutes.  Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

* Don’t use all your ingredients in the first layer, you should have enough for 3 layers.

Recipe from Martha Rose Shulman, NY Cooking

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Skillet Rosemary Chicken

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , on September 30, 2014| 1 Comment »

You just never know where you’ll find a good recipe!  

Yesterday, Rob, a friend in my office was scrolling through the Food Network website looking for a recipe that might catch his eye and whet his appetite enough to be inspired to cook that evening.  Actually I’m learning that he cooks A LOT!  Pretty cool huh?  Well we have this little triangle of foodies/cooks and we sit near each other and nothing beats boredom than discussing what we cook, where we shop for food and where we dine.  

So Rob found this recipe and he said it looked good, it looked simple and he had most of the ingredients already at home.  He flashed around a photo of the finished dish and Elinor and I agreed this sounded like a winner.  Elinor did think that the dish would be better if bone-in skin-on chicken thighs were used rather than the chicken breasts as indicated in the recipe.  That brought on a whole discussion of the the health benefits (or not) of the different cuts of chicken.  Too bad Rob hadn’t found the recipe the day before because the recipe called for fresh Rosemary sprigs and Elinor was quite willing to barter some sprigs for a chicken thigh!  

Flash forward to today – this morning I emailed Rob asking him for the recipe thinking it would make a great weekend dinner.  He sent it to me.  When I got to the office around 1:30 this afternoon he and Elinor were having lunch in Town Square – our lunch area.  I joined them with my container of soup and found out that Elinor was dining on a chicken breast (uh huh, yesterday she said she didn’t like them at all) but then you know what they say,” beggars can’t be choosers”.  That is NOT to imply that she was begging;  Actually I would have to own up to casting a glance at her and the chicken and was rewarded with a bite of the chicken and a mushroom!   It was really tasty!  More talk about what parts to use and I concluded using some chicken thighs and chicken breasts, some skin on and some not would work for Peter and me.  I can’t wait to make it.  Going to use my braising pan (Really I can’t sing the praises of that kitchen tool enough).

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

SKILLET ROSEMARY CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

3/4 lb. small red-skinned potatoes, halved or quartered if large

Kosher salt

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, plus 1 TBS leaves

1 clove garlic, smashed

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed, halves reserved)

2 TBS olive oil

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts, (6-8 oz each)

10 oz cremini mushrooms, halved

DIRECTIONS

Preheat  oven to 450°

Cover potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water.  Bring to a boil over MED-HI and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.  

Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 tsp salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife.  Transfer the paste to a bowl.  Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil.  Add the chicken and turn to coat.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over MED-HI heat. Add the chicken, skin side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes.  Turn the chicken; add the mushrooms and potatoes to the skillet and drizzle with the juice of the remaining lemon.

Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast uncovered until chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 -25 minutes. 

Recipe is from Television Food Network

 

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CHOCOLATE DUMP CAKE – Easy Peesy

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Chocolate Dump Cake

Chocolate Dump Cake

I rarely make a recipe that IS REALLY difficult and complicated.  I’ll be browsing through cookbooks or magazines and come across a recipe title that sounds so intriguing and then as I begin to read it, I realize there’s no way I’m going to assemble the 35 ingredients and the 15 steps required to produce some epicurean delight.  I just like to cook good food, make easy but tasty dishes.  Now that I’ve just finished watching Season 5 of Master Chef, the competitive cooking show in which home cooks vie for the coveted Master Chef Trophy and $250,000, I am totally in awe of these contestants.  Actually I almost find it hard to believe that they REALLY are just home cooks;  I mean who cooks with pig’s ears and octopus, and without a recipe can whip up a Boston Cream Pie, A New York Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis and a Key Lime Pie!!! I mean, seriously, seriously???

OK enough of what turned out to be a rant (unintentional) – Today is about taking the easy way out.

CHOCOLATE DUMP CAKE
A PureWow Original Recipe

MAKES ONE 9-INCH BUNDT CAKE
START TO FINISH: 1 1/2 HOURS

INGREDIENTS
2 cups sugar

¾ cup brewed coffee

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking soda

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a Bundt pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a medium-size heat-safe bowl, combine the sugar with the coffee, chocolate, cocoa powder and butter. Heat the mixture in the microwave (about 1 to 2 minutes) or on the stove over a pot of simmering water (about 3 to 4 minutes), mixing occasionally, until the butter and chocolate are melted and the sugar is dissolved.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt to combine. Add the chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

4. Add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla, and mix until the batter is smooth and fully combined.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

6. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then remove it while it’s still warm by inverting it onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Original Pure Wow recipe

I think I have a bundt cake pan (from my other life) and if I can find it, I’ll make this cake this weekend.  I find cooking usually therapeutic, not necessarily relaxing because I tend to be driven in the kitchen and sometimes I look frantic BUT it all comes out on time and fine.  Baking, however is another thing as evidenced by last semi-disaster – see a previous blog post:  https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/i-goofed-and-made-honey-glazed-cornbread-fudge/.

Besides baking being a science not to be trifled with, the ovens in both my homes are lousy.  The repairman said about the gas going on and off and never really maintaining an even temperature;  Well there you have it, how can anything bake properly in that oven.  Oh to have my electric oven back again….

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Honey Glazed Corn Bread

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , on August 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Honey Glazed Cornbread

Honey Glazed Cornbread

Now that we are nearing the end of my favorite season, summer, there is a plethora of Jersey tomatoes and corn available.  Oh it’s been a delicious summer all around.  I made my Garden State Gazpacho, we’ve eaten so many ears of corn I couldn’t guess how many and had Caprese salad often – love having a basil plant in the backyard.

As I was going through my emails, I came across a recipe that caught my eye and I can’t wait to try it out this weekend.  WHY?  Because it’s a corn bread that actually uses fresh kernels of corn.  This recipe is  a POW WOW original and I’m passing along their serving suggestions also;  Serve with eggs and bacon instead of toast, try it with a crunchy dinner salad and think about using this cornbread with ice cream and berries instead of shortbread.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2  tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 TBS melted butter, divided

4 TBS honey, divided

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (uncooked)

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9 x 9 baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and baking powder to combine

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add 4 TBS of butter, 2 TBS honey, the egg and the buttermilk.  Mix all the ingredients to combine.

Gently fold in the corn kernels.  Pour batter into the prepared pan.  Bake the cornbread for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

While cornbread is baking, combine the remaining 2 TBS of butter with the 2 TBS of honey.  As soon as you remove the cornbread from the oven, brush the glaze on the top of the loaf with a pastry brush.  Let bread cool 15 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

 

 

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Linguine with Marinara Sauce – Deliciously Light Summer Dish

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, Uncategorized, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , on August 12, 2014| 3 Comments »

Marinara Sauce aka Sailor's Sauce

Marinara Sauce aka
Sailor’s Sauce

I love pasta! Actually other than my passion for ice cream, pasta is my favorite food.  Think about the various shapes, the many ways to prepare it and of course the myriad sauces.  This particular sauce is one from my own childhood.  We often had spaghetti with marinara sauce on Fridays – those were the days when Fridays were meatless.  I think it’s a wonderful light summer sauce and a great way to incorporate a vegetarian dish into your weekly dinners.

MARINARA SAUCE

3 TBS olive oil

2 cans of whole Italian plum tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic – thinly sliced

Red pepper flakes – 1/2 to 1 tsp

1 medium onion – chopped

3/4 cup of fresh basil leaves – torn

2TBS fresh oregano – chopped

Salt and pepper

Add olive oil to pan ( I used my braising pan)

Squish the tomatoes into a bowl and set aside

Add onion and garlic to pan and sauté till onions are soft and translucent and garlic is fragrant

Add the tomatoes and pepper flakes to the pan, cover and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until sauce thickens.

Add the basil leaves and oregano, season with salt and pepper

I cooked the linguine and would have added it directly to the pan except that this batch of sauce was huge.  I scooped out enough sauce to fill a quart container and then added the pasta to the pan.

I sprinkled it with grated parmigiano-romano cheese and served it in the braising pan.

 

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CONE HEADS – Yup It’s Ice Cream!!!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Everyday Food, Smooth or Crunchy, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , on July 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I just read the most scrumptious article on inventive, creative, outrageous flavors of ice cream being offered around town.  Town meaning New York City of course.  I read about these exotic places and yet I don’t go, what’s wrong with that picture?  A LOT!  Instead of being inside my air-conditioned apartment typing away at this blog, I should hustle myself over to one of these dairy delightful destinations.  Maybe this weekend I can get to one and really give you a first-hand opinion on just how delicious these ice cream flavors are.  I’ve copied the article (with photos I hope) and will attempt to paste below.  You know, just because you don’t live in NYC and you love ice cream, you could suggest to your own local ice cream shop (provided they make their ice cream like they all say they do), one of these flavors and give them the article too.  Now I call that paying it forward!  ** The photos didn’t copy so I’m going to try to put them in myself which means the wrong photo might be above or below the description.  Well you get the picture.

Chocolate. Vanilla. Strawberry. Always good choices. Chocolate chai? Cherry vanilla? Black-pepper strawberry? Even better ones. (And we haven’t even gotten to the Mexican Coke yet.) Check out five local creameries that are taking flavor combos to the next level.

Rum & Coke Raisin

Rum & Coke Raisin

Photo: Davey’s Ice Cream
RUM & COKE RAISIN
This is one of those “Where has this been all my life?” moments. Davey’s Ice Cream in the East Village whips drunken rum raisins into sweet cream that has been infused with–wait for it–Mexican Coke. It’s an occasional special, but even the shop’s simple strawberry variety gets a kick of black pepper. It’s just how they do.

Davey’s Ice Cream, 137 First Ave. (at St. Marks Pl.)

Makers Mark Manhattan

Makers Mark Manhattan

Photo: Coolhaus
MAKER’S MARK MANHATTAN
More of a whiskey girl? The traveling Coolhaus truck spikes its ice cream with Maker’s Mark and folds in sour cherries. Order it in a cup or in a sandwich of equally inventive cookies (hi, potato chip and butterscotch) and call it a day.

Follow @CoolhausNY on Twitter for truck locations and daily flavors

Avocado Ice Cream

Avocado Ice Cream

Photo: OddFellows Ice Cream Co.
AVOCADO
It only makes sense that the world’s creamiest fruit is spun into the city’s healthiest cone. (OK, we have no real evidence of that, but hey, it’s got omega-3s?) Hit up OddFellows in Williamsburg or the East Village to see if the scoop of avocado is available. But really, any of the shop’s rotating flavors are worthy of this list.

OddFellows Ice Cream Co., 75 E. Fourth St. (at Second Ave.); 175 Kent Ave. (at N. Third St.), Brooklyn

Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

Photo: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
EARL GREY TEA
The beloved day starter is now a day maker at Van Leeuwen. This is our go-to shop (and truck) for sophisticated flavors like Ceylon cinnamon, currants and cream, and gianduja.

Van Leeuwen locations throughout NYC

The article and photos are from PURE WOW.

 

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Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomatoes

Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , on July 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Looks Good Enough To Eat

Looks Good Enough To Eat

It’s Tasty Tidbits Tuesday and I’ve got a great summer pasta dish for you!  I’m planning on making it the next time we are at the cottage.  If you are a regular reader you probably know that I am enamored with the fresh produce from the Garden State AND I happen to be growing some mint in my backyard!  A while ago I posted a pasta dish that had mint in it and I have to tell you it was with some trepidation that I made that dish.  I’m Italian and have been eating Italian food for a very, very long time and I had never come across any pasta dish with mint in it.   Sorry it took me so long because I’ve made that dish at least twice more since posting it.  That recipe can be found in a previous blog; https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/wednesday-is-prince-spaghetti-day/

So now along comes another pasta recipe with mint as one of the main ingredients and I think it’s going to great.  I normally don’t feature recipes that I haven’t made, however, this one comes from the New York Times and I know it wouldn’t have been printed if it hadn’t been tested.

Sea salt and ground pepper

1 # fusilli pasta

1 TBS olive oil plus drizzling

6 oz. pancetta, diced

6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 quart of cherry tomatoes halved

3 TBS butter

Fresh ricotta

3 cups of whole mint leaves, torn

4 scallions thinly sliced

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil.  Cook pasta to 1 minute shy of al dente.  Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 to 1 cup of pasta water. 

Meanwhile heat a large skillet or braising pan over med-high heat for 15 seconds, then add oil and heat till it thins out, coats the pan when swirled.  Add pancetta, cook till fat renders – 2 minutes.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes and a large pinch of salt and some pepper. Cook 2 minutes till fragrant.   Add tomatoes cook til they burst, have golden edges  and begin to shrivel – about 5 – 8  minutes.

Add the pasta to the skillet and toss with the tomato-pancetta mixture; if the mixture looks dry, add a little pasta water a few tablespoons at a time.  Cook over high heat while pasta finishes cooking.  Add butter and toss until it melts and coats everything.

Divide pasta into warmed bowls, garnish with dollops of ricotta and top with a generous mound of mint and scallions.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and more pepper before serving.

NOTES: You can use grape, pear or other diminutive tomatoes and mixing red, yellow and orange tomatoes will make your dish pretty.  Do not add the ricotta to the sauce, you want to keep it distinct so you can revel in the contrast of cool and creamy against hot, spicy and salty.  If you can find red scallions, use them.

 

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Frosty Mocha Milk Shake

Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , on July 13, 2014| 2 Comments »

Frosty Mocha Milk Shake

Frosty Mocha Milk Shake

JUST the thought of having this milkshake is literally making my mouth water….If you are a follower of this blog you know I LOVE ICE CREAM!  And that love comes in the form of a cone, a cup, a cake and for sure a milk shake!  Now that summer is really heating up, ice cream is my obsession.  Seriously I would eat ice cream for every meal if I could and wash the meal down with a “malted”.  

INGREDIENTS

4 scoops of coffee ice cream

2/3 cup of whole milk

2 TBS dark cocoa powder, plus extra for garnish

1 TBS instant espresso powder (think of those K cups at your office)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup grated dark chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped for topping (optional) (or Reddi Whip if you must)

DIRECTIONS

In a blender, or using an immersion blender, pulse the ice cream, milk, cocoa powder and espresso powder to combine.

When mixture is smooth, add extracts and dark chocolate.  Blend to combine.

Pour the milk shake into two glasses and top generously with whipped cream. 

Sprinkle some cocoa powder on top

Serve immediately

Recipe from Pure Wow

 

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