Chicken Salad with Candied Pecans
and Basil-Gorgonzola Vinaigrette
A group of us got together last night to watch the season premiere of Mad Men. I hadn't been able to get this show out of my head since catching the marathon a week ago, and I'd been looking forward to last night's episode ever since.
For dinner, I made chicken salad with romaine lettuce, Roma tomatoes, candied pecans, gorgonzola cheese, and basil and gorgonzola vinaigrette. Putting together the salad was straightforward, as well as baking the chicken, but the dressing required some simple blending of a handful of cheese with spoonfuls of vinaigrette for a tangy and creamy dressing that complemented the chicken, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and pecans very well.
Ingredients- 2 servings
* 1 head of romaine lettuce
* 2 roma tomatoes
*
1/2 cup Private Selection Slow-Roasted pecans
* 3 tbsp white, granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup Monari Federzoni Oregano & Basil Balsamic
* 1/3 cup Athenos Natural Gorgonzola Cheese, crumbled
* salt
* fresh ground pepper
* extra virgin olive oil
* 2 filets of skinless, boneless chicken breast
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2)
Wash chicken.
3) In casserole dish, line with aluminum foil.
4) Sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil on both sides of chicken.
5) Bake chicken 30 minutes.
6) Allow chicken to cool; slice chicken
into strips.
6) Slice lettuce.
7) Slice
tomatoes.
8) Place lettuce, tomatoes, chicken onto serving plate. Set aside.
9) In small saucepan, combine pecans and sugar on medium
heat.
10) Stir pecans and sugar.
11) When sugar has caramelized, remove saucepan from heat.
12) In blender, combine Oregano & Basil Balsamic and cheese.
13) Pulse blender until dressing is creamy consistency.
14) Drizzle dressing over lettuce, tomatoes, chicken.
15) Sprinkle pecans, cheese over salad.
16)
Enjoy.
Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce
For me, raspberries pair very well with chocolate. Here, I drizzled raspberry sauce I made a couple days ago over chocolate cake I made this afternoon.
Ingredients
* 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 4 extra large eggs, room temperature
* 1 (16-ounce) can of chocolate syrup
* 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 tbsp decaf pulled espresso shot
* 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Butter 4 5" diameter ramekins; set aside for later.
3) Cream butter and sugar in bowl until light and fluffy.
4) Add eggs, 1 at a time.
5) Mix in chocolate syrup, vanilla, and liquid espresso.
6) Add flour.
7) Mix until just combined.
8) Pour batter into ramekins until two-thirds way from top.
9) Sprinkle chocolate chips over batter in each ramekin.
10) Place ramekins onto baking sheet.
11) Bake 40 minutes.
12) Let cool 15 minutes.
13) Drizzle raspberry sauce over cake.
14) Enjoy with spoon.
Raspberry Sauce
This weekend, I made raspberry sauce to drizzle over my daily morning bagel. The original recipe calls for 3 cups of sugar, but with only 2 1/3 cups of sugar remaining in storage, I crossed my fingers while making the sauce and tasted the result: sweet with a subtle tartness, just the way I like it. I wanted a slightly runny sauce, so I used only 3 cups of berries and reduced the liquid for 20 minutes after the mix came to a boil.
For the bagel: I split a honey-wheat bagel in half. I spread Philadelphia Whipped cream cheese on the bagel, and with a butter knife, I layered a small amount of raspberry sauce over the cream cheese. I popped the bagel in the microwave for 30 seconds and enjoyed the warm bagel with a glass of orange juice.
For the remaining sauce: after it cooled for about an hour, I poured the berry sauce into a washed and dried Atlas mason jar and stored it in the fridge.
2) In a large saucepan over medium heat, pour in raspberries.
3) Stir in sugar.
4) Cover saucepan with lid, allowing a small amount of ventilation for steam.
5) Allow sauce to come to a boil.
6) After sauce has come to a boil, turn heat to low.
7) Stir sauce a few times.
8) Replace lid as before, allowing a small smount of ventilation for steam.
9) After 20 minutes, remove sauce from heat.
10) Stir in butter.
11) Allow to cool.
12) Store sauce in original saucepan or glass mason jar, and place in fridge.
Gooey Chocolate Lava Cake
If I could have chocolate at every meal, I'd be a very happy girl. In fact, sometimes I'll add mini-chocolate morsels to my bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats or I'll sneak in a bite of a chocolate chip cookie before chowing down on a sandwich. For the last few nights, I'd been feasting on bite-sized portions of chocolate lava cake, a recipe adapted from the "Sweet Treats Baking Blog", baking stories which I fell in love with at first glance months ago and am sad it is no longer updated. The recipe calls for baking the cake in ramekins, which I don't own, and I thought paper liners in a muffin tin would work just as well. Boy, was I wrong! As I cracked the chewy surface of the cooled cake, the gooey chocolate underneath spilled out, but the worst part was the huge chunks of cake that clung to the sides of the paper liner. I had to chew these pieces right off the paper itself. I could only imagine John's face as I devoured this cake, paper and all. So, I highly recommend using ramekins, and in place of ramekins, I believe mega-sized cappucino mugs will work just fine.
I made three modifications to the original recipe. I added espresso to intensify the chocolate flavor, reduced the amount of sugar (Miss Love from "Sweet Treats Baking Blog" warns that the original recipe yields a very rich dessert), and reduced the butter amount to half; I've never been comfortable with using butter in cooking unless it's absolutely necessary, like baking. The cakes turned out fantastic with the adjustments. Not only is this dessert easy to make, it was perfect for me since I only had a handful of flour left in the fridge!
Ingredients
* Butter for ramekins
* 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 4 tbsp unsalted butter
* 2 large eggs
* 1 oz decaf pulled espresso shot (optional)
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Butter 4 ramekins; set aside for later.
3) Use microwave to melt semi-weet chocolate chips and butter.
4) Allow mixture of chocolate chips and butter to cool; set aside.
5) In separate bowl, combine eggs, sugar, espresso, flour.
6) Fold chocolate chips and butter mix into dry ingredients.
7) Fold in chocolate chips.
8) Pour batter into ramekins until two-thirds way from top.
9) Place ramekins onto baking sheet.
10) Bake 20 minutes.
11) Let cool 15 minutes.
12) Enjoy with spoon!
It's All in the Technique
Blueberry Scones with Fresh Lemon Zest
These are, by far, the best blueberry scones I have ever tasted. Two recipes for blueberry scones from reputable Food Network chefs have only resulted in a cookie-like taste and appearance; perhaps I didn't follow the directions to a tee? I turned to YouTube and found an instructional video from the helpful staff at "America's Test Kitchen", and the step-by-step detailed explanations were extremely instrumental in creating delicious blueberry scones that contained a hint of citrus lemon. This recipe utilizes the technique of folding the dough numerous times to achieve flaky layers and is the difference between what makes an ordinary scone extraordinary. Perfect for breakfast on-the-go or a late Sunday brunch, family and friends will certainly be wowed by these delectable pastries. This recipe for blueberry scones is very complex, but a definite must-try!
This recipe requires:
1) that all ingredients are kept very cold/frozen
2) complete preparation of dry ingredients and wet ingredients before combining
3) temporary freezer space
Dough
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp salt
* 2 tbsp lemon zest
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 8 tbsp unsalted butter
* 1 1/2 cup washed fresh blueberries
** extra flour for kneading dough
** extra sugar for
sprinkling surface of dough
Eggwash
* 1 egg
* 1 tsp cold tap water
Prep:
1) Store butter in freezer overnight
2) Store blueberries in freezer overnight.
3) Grate frozen butter the morning of making scones.
4)
Place grated butter back into freezer.
Dry ingredients:
1)
In a large bowl,
combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest, and cinnamon.
2) Place bowl with dry ingredients in freezer.
Wet ingredients:
1)
In a second bowl, combine soymilk and sour cream.
2)
Place bowl with wet ingredients in freezer.
3) Allow wet ingredients to cool in freezer for five minutes.
Egg Wash:
1) In small bowl, crack egg.
2) Add water.
3) Mix well.
4) Set aside for later.
Directions:
1) Remove dry ingredients and grated butter from freezer.
2) With fingertips, Incorporate grated butter into dry ingredients.
3) Remove wet ingredients from freezer.
4) With a rubber spatula, quickly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5) Flour a flat rolling surface.
6)
With dough, knead about 6-7 times on flat surface; pea-sized bits of butter should be visible throughout dough.
7)
Roll out dough into a square.
8)
Fold into thirds to produce a long rectangle (No rolling pin? Do what I did: use the sides of a large, round drinking glass!).
9)
Fold rectangle into thirds to produce a square.
10)
Place square into a floured bowl.
11)
Store in freezer for 10 minutes.
12) After 10 minutes, remove dough from freezer.
13)
Flour flat rolling surface.
14)
Roll out into a large square.
15)
Remove the blueberries from the freezer.
16)
Sprinkle all blueberries onto the large square.
17)
Press blueberries into dough.
18)
Roll dough into a tight log.
19) Flatten log.
20)
Cut log into triangular pieces.
21) Place each triangle onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
22) Brush on egg wash (No brush? You can use your fingers by dipping fingers into egg wash and lightly coating each triangle).
23)
Sprinkle sugar over egg wash.
24)
Place cookie sheet in freezer.
25) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
26)
When oven is ready, remove the cookie sheet from the freezer.
27) Bake for 20 minutes.
28) Cool scones for at least 3 hours before wrapping.
The Disappearing Act:
Triple-Chocolate Cupcakes
Watching the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network one afternoon inspired me to bake a batch of chocolate cupcakes based on Ina Garten's now-famous 'Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes.' I replaced the ganache with individual semi-sweet chocolate chips and filled each cupcake with more chocolate chip morsels. The chocolate chips add a crunchy texture to each bite, and the decaf espresso, mixed in before baking, adds to the already intense chocolate flavor.
These little cakes can be served as a breakfast or brunch item since each one contains only a hint of sweetness that is not at all overpowering. Their small size makes them great for the physique, as they are for the taste buds, and I like to save them as an occasional bite-sized treat for a midnight snack!
Word of caution- these are very addicting, and you may have to make more than one batch of these delectable treats if you have a full household! The first batch I made disappeared within a week!
Ingredients:
* 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 4 extra large eggs, room temperature
* 1 (16-ounce) can of chocolate syrup
* 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons of decaffeinated liquid espresso (or coffee or dry instant espresso)
* 1 cup of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Directions:
1)
Line muffin pans with 12 paper liners.
2)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
3) Cream butter and sugar in bowl until light and fluffy.
4)
Add eggs, 1 at a time.
5)
Mix in chocolate syrup, vanilla, and liquid espresso.
6)
Add flour.
7) Mix until just combined.
8)
Fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
9)Scoop batter into paper-lined muffin cups until halfway.
10)
Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips to top of each cupcake (6-7 chocolate chips).
11)
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
12) Let cupcakes cool, or eat them right away, for a warm and gooey chocolate chip center. Try it, it's delicious!
13) When cool, store in fridge.
I like to wrap each cupcake in plastic wrap before storing them, and this way, I can unwrap a little chocolatey treat when my cravings take hold!
A Summertime Treat
The summer months are always a welcome time of year for me. This is the time of year when the warm summer sun shines at daybreak, when longer days grant us the sun's glow trickling into the late evening hours, when the vast realm of fragrant summer fruits invite us into the bustling marketplace. I always like to meander in the fruits section during the summer to take in the array of beautiful colors: the rich violet-blue hues of sweet blueberries, the vibrant reds, yellows, and greens of juicy mangoes, the potent aromas from the lightly speckled green and yellow pears, and the striking, deep, rosy reds of succulent strawberries, a small basketful of which I scooped up to make a home-made jam preserve. To fully enhance the flavors of the strawberries, I also grabbed a bright orange and a small box of confectioner's sugar to add to the jam; possibly the zest from the orange will add some acidity, and the powdered sugar (on sale!) will lightly sweeten the preserve? I had never made my own fruit jam and was looking forward to slathering sweet jam preserves over a small croissant or some bread.
Here's how I did it:
* 10-15 ripe strawberries
* 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar (or regular cane sugar)
* 1 teaspoon orange zest
After washing the strawberries, lop off and discard the green leaves and stem of each strawberry. Cut the strawberries in half lengthwise.
With a grater, carefully slide the orange over the grater once, then turn the orange and repeat, taking care to grate only the orange surface of the rind, as the white surface of the rind can be quite bitter.
In a small saucepan on medium heat, add the strawberries, orange zest, and sugar, and stir until well-mixed. When syrup juice begins to bubble at the bottom of the saucepan, turn heat to low. Allow strawberries and syrup to simmer at a low heat. The jam preserve should be ready to be removed from the heat when the strawberries are a soft texture (check by lightly mashing the strawberries against the side of the saucepan; if ready, the strawberries will be very easy to mash). Remove the saucepan from heat and allow the jam preserves to cool. Enjoy it right away or spoon into a glass jar and refrigerate.
* I couldn't help myself and sampled the strawberry preserves right away. It was a spoonful of a delicate sweetness, very light, and the chunks of strawberries melted as soon as they hit the roof of my mouth!
