Chocolate Truffles

For Valentine's Day, I thought I'd make Susie some chocolate truffles. They are pretty easy to make. All things considered.

Cream is brought to a simmer and then butter is added. When the butter has melted, the chocolate is added. (I used bittersweet, 60% cacao). This is stirred until all the chocolate is incorporated and the mixture is smooth and glossy. At this point, it is basically a ganache.

The ganache is poured into a bowl, covered with plastic and refrigerated for several hours until firm.

With a melon ball scoop, or spoon, or whatever, form the mixture into balls and roll them in whatever strikes your fancy. I used chopped nuts, unsweetened coconut, powdered sugar, and unsweetened cocoa powder. Not all mixed together. See the picture for what I mean.

I placed each truffle in a mini cupcake paper cup and put them in a box.

I think Susie will like them, perhaps more than I liked licking the mixing spoon and bowl.

Bon appétit!

Chicken Thigh Bake

I was inspired by the show Jamie At Home for this dish. It is easy to prepare and works great for a fairly quick work night dinner. A beauty of this is that you can use pretty much whatever veggies you'd like. The same is true of the herbs.

I boiled some new potatoes and reconstituted some dried tomatoes in another pan of boiling water. I tossed in a couple cubes of frozen basil puree for good measure. When the potatoes were tender, yet still firm, I removed them from the water. The tomatoes and basil were drained through a fine strainer.

On to the chicken. I cut a package of skinless and boneless thighs into hunks slightly bigger than bite-size. Maybe even a little bigger than that. I placed the chicken in a frying pan with some olive oil and let it go until it was nearly cooked through. This took 10-15 minutes.

While the chicken was frying, I took a bundle of asparagus spears and cut them into one-and-a-half inch pieces. I set the spear tips aside.

In a mixing bowl I combined the potatoes, tomatoes, basil, chicken and the asparagus (except the tips). I splashed in some red wine vinegar, some black pepper and some olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Gently.

This is spread evenly in a baking dish. Then I scattered the reserved asparagus tips over the top. A drizzle of olive oil over everything and into a 400° oven for 45 minutes and it's dinner time.

This came out absolutely spectacular. Susie and I both loved it. We still do.

Bon appétit!

Ravioli

There is really nothing quite as good as homemade ravioli. Once it is done and everything is cleaned up. There is no limit to what filling can be concocted. No limits on sizes or shapes of the little pillows. Just one's imagination.

The filling was the easy part. I simply put all the ingredients in the food processor and mixed it thoroughly. I used frozen spinach (thaw, then squeeze as much liquid out of it as possible), eggs, Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, chicken, ricotta cheese and garlic. Really. It was that simple.

The pasta gets a bit trickier. Flour, eggs, salt, olive oil and water are standard. Any pasta recipe should work fine. The important thing is to let it rest for an hour after it has been thoroughly mixed and kneaded. Something to do with the gluten. I can't explain the science of it. I saw it on TV and sometimes that's good enough. Just sometimes.

I divided the pasta dough into four equal sections. Just to make it easier to work with. I attached the pasta machine to the counter and began to pass a ball of dough through at the widest setting. Fold the sheet in half and run it through again. Repeat that a few times until the sheet looks solid. Then, rest the pasta machine to one size thinner. Pass the sheet through a few times, folding in half as on the first setting. When I got to setting number five, I had the thickness I was looking for.

I cut the sheet in half and laid one half on my work surface. I then used a small (one inch) ice cream scoop and placed dollops of the filling on the sheet, allowing adequate space between them. With my fingers, I gently patted the balls of filling, flattening them slightly. The second sheet of pasta is then laid over the top. Carefully, I pressed down around the developing raviolis to expel excess air. Then, using a semi-decorative cutter, I cut out the individual raviolis.

Place them on a cookie sheet and then freeze them before packaging them. Unless you want to eat them right away. I froze four packages, and had a few extra to eat right away.

I just topped them with a little tomato sauce, and boy were they delicious. I am planning a surprise dinner for Susie on Wednesday and will use some chopped kalamata olives, reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil. For starters.

Bon appétit!

Almond & Pine Nut Cookies

Another idea from the 12 days of cookies feature I stumbled across. Almond & Pine Nut Cookies. Looked simple enough. Why not? As with most of my holiday cookie production, I doubled the recipe.

First, I got past what I deemed a bit of pretentiousness on the part of the contributor (organic free-range eggs, high-quality vanilla extract, superfine sugar). I use eggs, vanilla and sugar. But that's just me.

Almonds and pine nuts are roasted in a 350° oven for five minutes. A couple handfuls of these are reserved for later. The rest go into a food processor and turned into a coarse powder.

The rest of the ingredients are then added directly. Well, almost all of them. Flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, baking soda. I think that's it. This gets processed until a pasty dough is formed. This is where I ran into a bit of trouble. Doubling a cookie recipe in a food processor just doesn't work well. Fortunately, the mess was minimal as I transferred everything to a mixing bowl and finished the job with my hand mixer.

Oatmeal is added, and then the reserved nuts, after rough chopping them first.

The dough was absolutely delicious. But it is probably better to form one-inch balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Or use a couple spoons. Do not flatten, even a little, the balls of dough. They bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes after coming out of the oven. They are very soft and delicate, but firm up quickly.

There is an almost savory flavor to these cookies, as a counterbalance to the sweetness of the sugar. Yes. Plain old sugar. They are now officially admitted to my pantheon of holiday cookies, and will be made every year.

Sorry. I forgot to take a picture.

Bon appétit!

Rugelach

I expanded my holiday cookie repertoire this year. To truly make it a "holiday" array of cookies, I looked up a recipe for rugelach in my Jewish Holiday Cookbook. I tried my hand at these tasty morsels before, with a limited degree of success. I was confident I could improve on the final result. Well, hopeful that I could.

The dough is made from cream cheese, butter and flour. That's it. The dough is quite thin and gets covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for at least two hours. At least. I let it chill for five hours. Until it was almost rock hard.

After struggling to remove the dough from the bowl, I cut it into four equal parts. Actually, eight because I had doubled the recipe. Each section is rolled out into a circle approximately nine inches in diameter. I brushed the circle with melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar.

With the side of a spatula I cut the circle into 16 pizza-like slices. Then, starting with the outer edge, I rolled each slice into a crescent roll shaped morsel.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment, or a Silpat and space the rugelach a couple inches apart. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet after 15 minutes.

Remove to cooling racks and enjoy. Really enjoy!

Bon appétit!

Rapid Pull-Apart Rolls

I was watching the Cooking Channel today. I do that from time to time. And time and again. The show Kelsey's Essentials came on, and as I lay back on the sofa to watch a half hour of quick bread recipes, I became intrigued. The recipes were actually for rolls, but you'll have to indulge me. Won't you? After the first recipe, for quick pull-apart rolls, I decided to act. It's Friday, and the thought of oven-warm rolls dripping with butter and jam was too tempting. It all looked easy enough.

Preheat the oven to 400° right off the bat. You'll see why later.

In the stand-up mixer bowl, three tablespoons of yeast is covered with 1.75 cups warm water and allowed to sit for five minutes. A half cup of honey is stirred in, followed by 1/2 cup melted butter, with the mixer on low speed, using the paddle attachment. Next come two beaten eggs and two teaspoons salt.

After this is nice and mixed, four to six cups flour are added slowly, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. I used the full six cups, and still needed to add more. At this point I switched to the dough hook and added more flour, a spoonful at a time, until the right consistency was achieved.

The dough is placed on a work surface and divided into 24 portions, formed into balls and placed in baking pan or an oven-safe skillet. I used a baking pan. The tray of dough balls is covered with a towel and placed on the oven, to rise for 20 minutes. This is called proofing and the warmth from the preheating oven will aid in this.

After the dough balls have doubled in size, they are brushed with melted butter and put in the oven for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Another brushing with melted butter after they come out of the oven and they are ready to eat.

These were simply yummy!

Bon appétit!

Puff Pastry Chicken Fajita Braid

Inspired by something I saw on the Cooking Channel, the main difference in my version is that I used a puff pastry sheet instead of Pillsbury crescent roll dough.

Chicken breast is cut into 1 by 1 by 1/2-inch strips. Or thereabouts. A little vegetable oil is heated in a skillet and the chicken is added, along with some chili powder, salt, and garlic. I also added a splash of chipotle marinade for a little, just a little extra kick. Sliced onion, and strips of red add green bell peppers are added. When the chicken is cooked through, remove from the heat.

Line a baking sheet with a silpat. Now spread out a sheet of thawed puff pastry dough. Yes, on the silpat. Spread the chicken and vegetable mixture on the center third of the pastry sheet. Spread about a quarter cup of salsa over the top. Sprinkle with grated jack and cheddar cheese.

Now the tricky part. Or as tricky as any part of this recipe gets. With a knife, make cuts one inch apart on the long sides of the pastry sheet not covered with the filling. Careful not to cut into the silpat! Carefully life the strips of dough, alternately, and cross them over the filling, to form a roll. Gently press the opposing edges to seal. Finally brush the top of the roll with a little egg wash.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown. Cool for a few minutes. To serve, cut crosswise into slices. When I entered this into Weight Watchers recipe builder, I figured 8 servings and that came to five points. Goody! I can have two servings.

Bon appétit!