Earl Grey Chocolate Truffles

This Valentine's Day, why not homemake your sweetie's chocolates to show them how much you care? It is surprisingly easy. Instead of tea leaves you can customize these truffles by whisking a little alcohol into your cream mixture before pouring it over the chocolate. To temper your chocolate, melt 3/4 of the chocolate reserved for the shells and bring the temperature of the melted chocolate quickly down by removing the chocolate from the heat and adding the remaining 1/4 chopped chocolate

These chocolates are special because the bitter tea balances with the bitter chocolate and both are mellowed out enough to bring the brassy citrus flavors of the black tea to the fore to really elevate the taste of the truffles.

Earl Grey Truffles

3/4 cups cream
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and clarified
3/4 Tablespoon loose Earl Grey tea leaves
8 ounces good quality (70% or better) semi sweet dark chocolate, chopped
5 ounces good quality milk or dark chocolate, chopped

1. Create the ganache: heat cream over low heat and add tea, allowing it to steep for 10 to 20 minutes. Bring cream up to a low boil and turn heat off immediately. Add clarified butter to cream and whisk to combine.
2. Place your 8 ounces chopped dark chocolate into a stainless steel bowl and pour hot cream and butter mixture through a sieve into the chocolate.
3. Stir to melt chocolate with the heat from the cream and butter mixture. When everything has been combined and all chocolate has been melted, set aside in a dry, cool place to come to room temperature.
4. In roughly 30 minutes, when the ganache has set, form into Tablespoon sized balls. Cover tightly and set briefly in the fridge while you melt the remaining chocolate.
5. Fill the bottom of a double boiler with about 3 inches of hot water and bring to a temperature just below a simmer. Put 5 ounces chopped chocolate in the top layer of the double boiler and melt, stirring frequently to avoid burning.
6. Take melted chocolate off of the heat and dip ganache balls into it one by one, balanced on the tines of a fork. Shake excess chocolate off after each truffle is dipped. Set covered truffles on a parchment lined sheet tray to cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, or serve immediately to your sweetie.

Shiitake Tsukune: Char Grilled Chicken Meatballs with Shiitake Mushrooms

Recently I wrote a review of a local restaurant for another website. This restaurant serves one of my favorite kinds of Japanese food: Yakitori. Yaki means grilled and tori originally referred to grilled chicken, but yakitori skewers can be ordered as everything from vegetables to seafood to beef and bacon. And chicken. Of course chicken. Some of the best skewers are chicken meat skewers. I'm a big fan of the crispy chicken skin skewers, crackling and deliciously greasy with fat. The delectably tender tiny chicken wings are also quite delightful. My favorite chicken skewer--in fact my favorite yakitori skewer, period--is the sumptuously tender and flavor filled dark meat chicken meatballs called tsukune. The restaurant I reviewed does a variant with minced mushrooms called shiitake tsukune. The smoky meatballs, made from the more succulent dark meat, are enhanced by the earthy, chewy mushrooms. The rich sweet yet savory tare sauce that is brushed onto them at the end makes them irresistible. Seriously. We finished these meatballs in one night. No leftovers. Granted, we had to roll to bed, but it was worth it. So worth it!

I want to share my attempt at recreating this dish at home. As a base I used this recipe from Serious Eats, with some tweaks. The amount of meatballs you can make depends on how large you make them, but I estimate you can make 10 - 12 skewers with 4 meatballs each on them. If the meatballs are too loose to stay on your skewers, add some more panko to your meatball mix and try again. Also, if you buy your shiitake mushrooms whole, as I did, the stems make an excellent stock after they've been roasted, then simmered in a stock pot for about 1 hour.

Shiitake Tsukune - Char Grilled Chicken Meatballs with Shiitake Mushrooms

For the tare sauce:
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin (rice wine, similar to sherry and different from sake)
1/4 cup sake
1 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 Teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/2 Teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 Teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1" piece of ginger, grated

1. In a small heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, toast sesame seeds for 2 - 3 minutes.
2. Add all ingredients, bring to a gentle boil, then lower heat down to a simmer.
3. Simmer for about 30 minutes uncovered, to reduce.
4. Remove from heat and pour into a storage or serving container, straining through a sieve.
5. Brush sauce on tsukune before serving

For the tsukune (chicken meatballs):
1 3/4 lbs ground dark meat chicken, preferably chicken thighs*
1/2 yellow onion, roughly diced
1 shallot clove, roughly diced
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1/4 cup shiitake mushroom caps, roughly chopped
1 jumbo egg
2 Tablespoons Mirin
1/2 cup panko
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
soy sauce, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Caramelize the onions and shallots: in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, add oil, then shallots, then onions, and a small dash of soy sauce stirring frequently.
2. After about 5 minutes, add mushrooms and black pepper. Cook until all ingredients are thoroughly cooked through and the onions and shallots leave brown residue on the bottom of the pan.
3. Add sherry to deglaze, stirring vigorously to bring the caramelized sugars up from the pan.
4. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasoning. Allow to cool, then pulse in a blender until the mixture forms a rough paste. About 3 pulses 3 seconds each.
5. When mix has cooled and been blended, mix all ingredients together and form the mix into meatballs.
6. Place four meatballs on each skewer. Cook on a covered grill, just indirect of the heat, for about 5 - 7 minutes at about 350. Flip skewers and cook, covered, for another 5 - 7 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked all the way through.
7. Brush with tare sauce and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!



*I ground my own chicken, using only skinless boneless chicken thighs in my Ninja blender. If you have a grinder or some way to grind up the meat I highly suggest doing so yourself.

Deep Dish Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Pizza with Roasted Garlic

American Pizza is quite different from Italian pizza. American pizzerias form their pizzas with a thicker, chewier crust. Deep dish pizza, popular and readily available in Chicago, is yet a third take on pizza where chewy dough is formed into a delicious edible container for chunky sauce, enabling the pizza to be piled quite high with ingredients. I've combined ricotta, spinach and roasted garlic before (in my tortellonis); this pizza combines those ingredients with spicy Italian sausage, which makes for a decadent cold weather treat. I rendered the fat from the meatballs while searing them and used the spicy, delicious fat as the base for the pizza's sauce. You may find you've made too many meatballs for the dish; they taste great over pasta and keep in the fridge for the following night. I recommend making so many to use all of the fat rendered for the base of the sauce, and also because it is a matter of personal preference how much meat you want on your deep dish pizza. Likewise with the sauce, which will keep up to 4 days in the fridge and several months stored in a tight container in the freezer. In any case this is a very tasty combo and I hope you also enjoy it.

Deep Dish Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Pizza with Roasted Garlic

Makes one medium sized pizza

8 ounces pizza dough
5 spicy Italian pork sausages
12 ounces baby spinach
¼ cup olive oil
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly
8 cloves of garlic
½ medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
¼ cup ricotta cheese
4 ounces good red wine 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes*
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Remove casings from sausages and form into small meatballs. Each sausage should make 8 - 9 meatballs.
Heat a medium sized heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat and pour in olive oil to cover the bottom. Add sausage meatballs and sear, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides. Remove meatballs and set aside.
Add onions and salt (to taste) to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to caramelize (about 5 - 8 minutes). Crush 3 cloves of the garlic and add it to the pan. Allow to cook for one minute.
Next, pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add crushed tomatoes and ¼ cup water; if they’re not already seasoned with basil and oregano add ¼ teaspoon each of those also.
Bring the sauce up to a slow boil, then turn heat down all the way. Cook for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. When the sauce has finished set aside to cool and eventually puree sauce.You’ll have made more sauce than you need, but it’s lovely on pasta for the next night and will keep for a few days chilled or a few months, frozen.
In a large pan saute spinach up in batches: cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer of olive oil and a small sprinkle of salt, then place spinach in and cover with another sprinkle of salt. As the batches finish transfer the spinach to either a sieve or a cheesecloth lined bowl. When it cools, press the moisture out of the spinach.
Chop the remaining garlic into large pieces and dress with a little olive oil. Chop the mini meatballs into quarters or thirds, depending on size.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Roll or stretch out dough large enough to line a 9 x 13” baking dish. Grease your baking dish, then press pizza dough into the dish and about 1 - 2” up the sides. Poke dough all over with a fork and brush olive oil all over the dough. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.
Now we’re (finally) ready to assemble our pizza! Spread ¼ cup of the sauce over the pizza surface. Sprinkle roughly 1/4 of the meatball pieces over the pizza. Spread spinach evenly over sauce and meat. Drop teaspoon sized dollops of ricotta cheese across pizza. Sprinkle garlic pieces over pizza. Top all over with mozzarella slices. Sprinkle more chopped meatballs over the pizza.
Bake for another 10 - 12 minutes, then cut into slices and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

*if you can find them with basil and oregano that’s the best, otherwise add ¼ teaspoon of both to the sauce when adding the canned tomatoes

Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette, Maple Candied Pecans and Chevre

My first blog post of the new year! I hope everyone has a happy and healthy joy-filled year in 2015! This is a post about the warm brussel sprout salad I served for my Christmas dinner. How to describe this dish? Well, it's packed full of bold flavors that somehow all end up coming together harmoniously. Earthy sprouts lose some of their cabbage-y funk when roasted with orange zest and they are a perfect, slightly sweet compliment to the tangy orange-thyme vinaigrette. Maple toasted pecans add a sweet crunchy pop that perfectly compliments the mildly sharp chevre crumbles. Try it. It may make a brussel sprouts convert out of you.

The recipe makes just about twice the maple toasted pecans needed for the salad. I've doubled the amount because they make an awesome snack!

Orange Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad w/ Orange Thyme Vinaigrette, Maple Roasted Pecans and Chevre Crumbles

Makes 4 salad bowl sized servings

2 lbs. brussel sprouts, cleaned, trimmed and cut in half
2 large naval oranges
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot clove, roughly chopped
4 sprigs thyme
1 cup pecans
3 Tablespoons chevre crumbles
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 Tablespoon sherry or rice wine
2 Tablespoons white wine or champagne vinegar
1/2 - 1 Tablespoon stone ground dijon mustard
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl pour the maple syrup onto the pecans and toss to coat thoroughly.
2. When oven is hot, bake pecans for 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, zest one of the oranges into the brussel sprouts. Season sprouts with salt and pepper. Toss sprouts, zest and seasonings with 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the olive oil.
3. Set toasted pecans aside to cool. Turn the oven up to 400. Spread sprouts in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sprouts are thoroughly tender.
4. Zest the other orange and squeeze the juice from both oranges into a blender or food processor. Add shallots, remaining olive oil, stripped off thyme leaves (discard woody stems), dijon mustard, rice wine/sherry and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pulse in 3 second bursts until shallot has been thoroughly incorporated into the dressing.
5. Toss sprouts with dressing and sprinkle with chevre crumbles and 1/2 cup toasted pecans. Serve as a starter or side dish and enjoy.

Banana Pecan Buttermilk Waffles

I have been away from blogging during the holidays to focus on feeding my visiting in-laws. I wanted their first Christmas as my new Ma and Pa to be special, so I devoted lots of time to the menu. And its preparation. I made Ina Garten's Company Pot Roast--a center cut chuck roast in a rich sauce of plum tomato, burgandy and cognac. I also improvised a recipe for gratin dauphinois that turned out tasty. To start the meal I served a warm salad of roasted brussels sprouts tossed with goat cheese crumbles and toasted pecans and dressed in an orange-thyme vinaigrette. The recipe for the salad will be the subject of my next post. Before I get to sharing the particulars of that dish I want to talk about the waffles we had on Christmas morning. I sat next to the waffle maker as my father in law cooked them up and the smell issuing from them was heavenly! This recipe is similar to my pumpkin waffle recipe, the main difference being the included chopped bananas, toasted pecans and a change to my wet ingredient. Because bananas hold a lot of water you want to overfill your waffle iron to get them as fluffy as regular buttermilk waffles. These would also make lovely mini donuts, perhaps with a vanilla and brown sugar caramel glaze? That's a post for another day. If you don't have a waffle maker or a mini donut pan this batter makes lovely pancakes.

Banana Pecan Buttermilk Waffles

Makes 4 large waffles

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3 bananas
3/4 cup well shaken buttermilk
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons whole milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1. Preheat the waffle iron to the lowest setting.
2. Sift together dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon.
3. Mash 2 of the bananas together in a small bowl and add 2 Tablespoons of the milk, Stir to incorporate.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, buttermilk, vanilla and mashed bananas.
5. Chop remaining banana into small cubes and mix into wet ingredients. Gradually introduce dry ingredients. Add pecans, then mix in melted butter.
6. Brush waffle iron and fill generously with batter. Cook each waffle individually and enjoy topped with butter and maple syrup.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Salmon En Croute w/ Mustard Beurre Blanc

I try not to make your lives any harder dear foodies--truly, I do. But around the holidays is when even the most timid cooks will search for complicated, impressive recipes to wow your guests and feed your loved ones decadently. Salmon En Croute, a traditional French dish is basically puff pastry covered salmon fillets with par-cooked vegetables. There are many different takes on this dish. Here is mine. For the sake of presentation I used rainbow carrots and julienned my mirepoix mixture, which I par-sauteed with fresh thyme in a small amount of butter. This was the top layer of my puff pastry packet. On the other side of the salmon was my shallot and leek paste, along with several very thinly sliced pats of butter. The sauce was a bit tart, but absolutely transcendent. I used a lot less butter, so it didn't thicken like a proper beurre blanc, but at least it wasn't as rich.

The salmon can be folded into puff pastry packets several hours before cooking.

Stone Ground Mustard Beurre Blanc

7 Tablespoons cold butter, separated
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
3 Tablespoons sherry
1 Cup dry white wine (I used Gallo's Chardonnay)
1 shallot clove, diced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
3 Tablespoons heavy cream

1. In a heavy bottom saucepan add wine, lemon juice, lemon zest, sherry and shallots and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer to reduce liquid for about 30 - 40 minutes. Wine should reduce to just 3 or so Tablespoons.
2. Reduce heat to lowest setting and whisk in cream. Puree mixture, then return to saucepan.
3. Whisk in butter, tablespoon by tablespoon, allowing it to just melt before you add more. You want to be careful not to allow that butter to heat too much and melt instead of emulsifying.
4. Whisk in mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm over your en creute salmon fillets.


Salmon En Creute

Makes 4 servings
1 sheet puff pastry
4 salmon fillets, approx 5.6 ounces each (I cut a 1.3 lb piece of salmon belly into 4 fillets)
1 purple carrot (or regular carrot), scrubbed and julienned
1/2 medium yellow onion, julienned
2 stalks celery julienned
1 shallot clove, diced
1/2 large leek, chopped
1 Tablespoon sherry
3 small sprigs thyme, leaves only
3 Tablespoon cold, unsalted butter
1 Teaspoon olive oil
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

1 egg, beaten (for wash)

1. Over medium heat, melt 1/2 Tablespoon butter and combine with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Add julienned onions and a little salt. Cook for 2 minutes. Add julienned celery and carrots and thyme leaves and saute for another 3 minutes. Season with pepper and set it aside to cool.
2. Over medium heat, melt 1/2 Tablespoon butter and combine with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Saute leeks and shallots until caramelized, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently. When the sugars from the leeks and shallots starts to brown the bottom of the pan, deglaze with the sherry. Allow the sherry to cook into the leeks and shallots. Set aside to cool, then puree.
3. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll your puff pastry out gently until it is 18" x 18". Cut it into four equal squares.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Assemble the en croute fillets: place a layer of 1/4 of the leek and shallot paste across the center of each square, attempting to cover as much area as the salmon will take up. Cover with a paper thin layer of butter pats, then cover with salmon fillet, skin side down. Top non-skin side of salmon with julienned vegetables and fold edges of puff pastry over everything to seal. Use egg wash along the edges to be sure and get a snug seal.
5. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes, or until puff pastry begins to turn golden.
6. Drizzle with mustard beurre blanc and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Spicy Beef Mac and Cheese Casserole with Roasted Zucchini and Pasilla Peppers

I've been excited about doing a mac and cheese with my own special twist since I got a lovely handmade clay casserole dish as a wedding gift from my Aunt Stacy. As soon as I would think of what to put in it to make the dish my own (something seasonal...it was almost always something seasonal) I would get too busy to bring it all together and more than a few times the seasonal ingredients I was thinking of incorporating went out of season. I realized that was no excuse. Especially when I tasted this Macaroni and Cheese Casserole with Spicy Beef and Roasted Zucchini and Pasilla Peppers. Fatty, spicy beef sauteed in caramelized onions helped offset the tanginess of extra sharp cheddar, which I prefer to use in abundance. The sweet caramelization on the zucchini and onions sweetened the casserole a bit and helped to harmonize the flavors. And because this casserole was heavily inspired by dishes of Mexico the "breadcrumb" topping is crushed tortilla chips. It was the casserole dish that got me started, but in the end I didn't use it. After eyeing the amount of each ingredient I wanted to use I realized it would never fit into my adorably small clay casserole dish. When we tasted the final product we did not mind in the least that we had made more than we thought we would. This is a great once in a while indulgence and is sure to keep you warm on these cold winter nights. :)

Mexican Inspired Mac and Cheese with Spicy Beef and Roasted Pasilla Peppers and Zucchini

1 1/2 - 2 cups grated cheddar cheese*
3/4 pound ground organic beef 85/15 lean
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
1 Teaspoon hot sauce of choice (we prefer sriracha)
4 Tablespoons Unsalted butter plus 1/2 Tablespoon
4 Tablespoons all purpose flour
salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste
2 large pasilla or poblano (also called ancho chilies), diced (excluding the seeds and ribs)**
3 medium white zucchinis, roasted in thick lengthwise slices in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes per side and sliced vertically into 1/4" strips
3/4 pound macaroni
1 pinch of nutmeg (less than 1/4 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon, plus a pinch of cumin powder
1 pinch cayenne (less than 1/4 teaspoon)
1 ounce tortilla chips, pulverized into breadcrumb consistency
3 cups whole milk

1. In a large pan over medium heat melt butter and saute onions for 2 - 3 minutes. Add cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder and a very small amount of salt and saute for 30 - 90 seconds more.
2. Add ground beef and break it up into little crumbles in the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is brown all the way through.
3. As the beef cooks toss macaroni noodles into salted boiling water and cook according to the package directions.
4. When the beef is cooked combine beef, noodles, diced peppers and chopped zucchinis into the dish you will be baking your macaroni and cheese in. I used a deep 9 x 13" lasagna baking dish.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan melt butter. When butter is entirely melted add nutmeg and a pinch of cumin powder and toast the spices in the butter for approximately one minute. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking somewhat lazily, until the flour begins to turn darker brown.
6. When the flour has turned brown immediately start to add milk, at first a tablespoon at a time until the mixture goes from rough to shiny. Then start to add the milk in much larger quantities, like 1/3 to 1/2 cup at a time.
7. With heat at medium low cook the mixture until in begins to thicken into a gravy, about 10 minutes. Whisk about every 60 to 90 seconds and be sure to reincorporate the yummy roux that collects along the sides.
8. Pour gravy into baking dish with the other ingredients. Mix in cheese and top with pulverized tortilla chips.
9. Bake in oven until the tortilla crumbs begin to brown, about 20 - 30 minutes.
10. Serve hot and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

*the pre grated stuff has potato starch on it, so I recommend grating it freshly yourself

**To roast the peppers: cook for 8 - 10 minutes under a broiler preheated to 400 degrees, turn them over and broil for anoter 7 minutes; steam skins off by putting still hot peppers in a large, sturdy ziploc and sealing them loosely to allow the steam inside the peppers to slough the skin off. Leave them in the ziploc for about 20 minutes, then remove them and the skin will peel easily off. Remove all skin, then slit the peppers open to easily scrape the seeds and ribs out with a spoon.