MAUREEN’S FABULOUSLY FUDGY BROWNIES

Posted in Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Phil is very hard to please when it comes to brownies, bran muffins, and some types of cakes (angel food, layered coconut cake are two that come to mind). I am always trying different recipes hoping to hit one that will awe him. Brownies, according to the resident expert, have to be dense, fudgy, big, contain nuts, and probably meet a number of other criteria that have not yet been conveyed to the person in charge of baking them (aka curve balls). Last March, on a trip to Hawaii to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, he went crazy for brownies sold at a very unassuming spot, a little cafe at the entrance of Turtle Bay Resort. I admit that they were indeed spectacular, but all my attempts to get their recipe were ignored. Then, I saw this recipe at Maureen’s blog, and decided to give it a try. They were nothing short of amazing. I knew they would be, and the best part is, my hard-to-please husband agreed!

FABULOUSLY FUDGY BROWNIES
(from The Orgasmic Chef)

READ ON TO FIND OUT…

I want to make sure everyone reads Maureen’s masterpiece of a post on the subject. No one should miss it, so click here for the full post, recipe included, and you can thank me later… Who else but Maureen could compose a superb post on brownies that starts with not one, but TWO episodes of flying creatures emptying their guts on her head? Now, do you want to know what makes her post even more special for me? The fact that many many years ago (July 1986), while walking the streets of former Yugoslavia, a pigeon dropped what seemed to be a full bucket of warm, greenish-white liquid on my head, from the balcony of a building. Of course, not a single drop hit my former husband, his Mom and his Dad who were walking next to me, and had the laugh of their lives at my expense. We had to take a bus back to the hotel, with yours truly still plastered in pigeon poop (#totallynotdistractinglysexy). Can you imagine my mood? This is just one more reason I consider Maureen my virtual sister. And although so far I haven’t had the unique pleasure of getting showered with bat’s or crow’s poop, I can testify that the pigeon kind smells disgusting. I am sure my readers are delighted to know that. Ready for that brownie now?

😉

Maureen Brownies1

Isn’t that a thing of complete beauty? And the smell as it baked, and later cooled was OUT OF THIS WORLD AMAZING! Yes, in all caps, it deserves it. These babies were moist, dense, intensely flavored, and the walnuts took care of that monochromatic nature of brownies that some people might object to. Give this recipe a try, especially if you have a brownie-snob in your home… I guarantee these will please the toughest critic.

Maureen, thanks for the great recipe, and of course, for the amusing write-up… if I was next to you during the crow-attack, I would do my very best not to laugh, instead would help you get back into socially acceptable shape. I am nothing if not magnanimous.

ONE YEAR AGO: Wheat Berry Caraway Bread

TWO YEARS AGO: Mexican Focaccia

THREE YEARS AGO: Sunny Kamut Salad with Roasted Lemon Vinaigrette

FOUR YEARS AGO: Pane de Casa & Crostini

FIVE YEARS AGO: Down-home Dig-in Chili

SIX YEARS AGO: Cinnamon Rolls

26Jun2015

HOW ABOUT SOME COFFEE WITH YOUR STEAK?

Posted in Beef, Sous-Vide Cooking by sallybr

Have you missed the 6th anniversary of my blog?
Only a few days left to enter my giveaway!
Click here to join…

If you’ve never used coffee in marinades or dry rubs for meat, you are missing a great opportunity to enjoy its mysterious flavor added to usual suspects such as herbs, peppers, and spices. I’ve blogged before on a take on pork tenderloin that I still think is one of the best recipes I have in the blog, and that uses coffee as one of the ingredients. But today I’ll switch gears and apply a coffee-based dry rub to beef. The recipe, published by The New York Times, was recommended by our very dear friend, Marijo, who happens to be a great cook, so when she raves about something, I am all ears. And taste buds. It did not take me too long to jump on it, although it is taking me a long time to share it here. What else is new? That’s the way Sally rolls…

ALL-PURPOSE CALIFORNIA BEEF RUB
(as published in The New York Times)

2 tablespoons finely ground coffee
1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons granulated garlic
1 heaping teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

Rub on the meat you intend to grill and leave it for at least one hour, overnight works too.

Grill to medium-rare, or to the level of your choice (hopefully not well-done!)

Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe click here

Comments: I’ve made this recipe quite a few times, with flank steak, flatiron steak, tri-tip, and even bison rib eye steaks. For the bison rib eye, I adapted it to sous-vide and it turned out spectacular, but the photos not so much, so I won’t dedicate a special blog article for it.

SOUS-VIDE METHOD: Apply the rub, and seal the meat in a plastic bag (vacuum is fine, water replacement method will work too). Leave the meat in the fridge for one hour or more, whatever is convenient with your schedule. Place the bag in the water-bath set for 134 F (medium-rare) for a minimum of 3 hours. I left mine for almost 6 hours, as I started cooking it at lunch time and we enjoyed the meat at dinner time that evening. Once the meat is cooked, open the bag, discard the liquid accumulated inside, pat-dry the surface with the meat with paper towels. Sear on a blazing hot grill or cast iron pan.

To our taste, the sous-vide was by far the best method for bison steaks. Same applies to flatiron. For flank and skirt steak, we think there is not much improvement by going the sous-vide route, both cuts of meat cook perfectly fine on the grill. Whatever your method of cooking, this rub is money! Give it a try…

Marijo, thanks for sending this recipe our way,
looking forward to many more!

ONE YEAR AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Spiral Kick!

TWO YEARS AGO: Carrot Flan with Greens and Lemon Vinaigrette

THREE YEARS AGO: Granola Bars

FOUR YEARS AGO: Awesome Broccolini

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Twist on Pesto

SIX YEARS AGO: Ciabatta: Judging a bread by its holes

21Jun2015

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: LEMON LAVENDER BARS

Posted in Desserts, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

Once again the end of the month brings the excitement of Reveal Day for us members of The Secret Recipe Club. For those who don’t know what it’s all about, the club pairs two food bloggers in secret, and on reveal day everyone posts their recipe of choice. I was assigned the blog Turnips2Tangerines, hosted by Lynn, from Wisconsin. Lynn’s site is a very sweet spot, with many recipes centered on all things dessert, but you will also find plenty of savory dishes to drool over. She also publishes a monthly feature called Culinary Adventures, where the cooking of a particular country is highlighted through a menu and recipes. Very nice, check her latest post on Sweden by clicking here.

When classes are over Phil and I tend to get a lot busier in the lab, with daily meetings at 7:30am. I know that the occasional sweet treat is more than welcome by our students, so I jumped on Lynn’s blog with that thought in mind. The moment I saw her post on lemon lavender bars, I looked no further. But, at some point I must make her Chai Spice Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting. They look adorable, and of course, spices make sweets special. Or how about a Banana Bundt Cake with Maple Glaze? Yeah, baby…

LEMON LAVENDER BARS
(from Turnips2Tangerines)

for the crust:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup cold butter
1/2 t culinary lavender

for the filling:
4 eggs
5 T fresh lemon juice
1 T grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 t baking powder
1 t culinary lavender

Heat the oven to 350 F.

In a bowl combine flour, confectioners’ sugar and lavender; cut in butter until crumbly (I used the food processor). Press into an ungreased 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Make the filling by beating the eggs in a bowl until frothy. Stir in lemon juice and peel.
In another bowl combine the sugar, flour, and baking powder. Stir into the egg mixture, mixing well with a whisk. Pour over baked crust, and sprinkle lavender over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack, cut into bars. If you want, sprinkle confectioner’s sugar before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Yellow might be one of my favorite colors, so it’s only natural that I always have plenty of lemons in the fridge. Plenty. I cannot imagine cooking without them, even savory dishes. Lavender is another flavor I am fond of, but of course it needs to be in small doses, it’s easy to have it overpowering a dish. In these bars, the amount of lavender was just right. I decided to use the food processor for the crust because I felt that the lavender would be better dispersed throughout the crust by doing so. After processing, I dumped everything on the counter and made sure the flour was all coated with butter, no big spots of dry flour remaining. It is also important to try to spread the crust as evenly as possible, so that it browns at the same rate in the oven. I almost managed to do that, but one corner ended up a bit over-baked. No major harm done, though.

The bars made a Monday morning early meeting much easier to go through…

Lynn, thanks for a lovely recipe, and I hope you had a great time with your assignment this month! For my readers, you are all invited to browse through the goodies made by my fellow screters from group D. Just poke the blue frog at the end of this post, and have a blast!

ONE YEAR AGO: Quinoa Fried Rice

TWO YEARS AGO: Carrot Flan with Greens and Lemon Vinaigrette

THREE YEARS AGO: The Secret Recipe Club: Granola Bars

FOUR YEARS AGO: Awesome Broccolini

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Twist on Pesto

SIX YEARS AGO: Ciabatta: Judging a bread by its holes

19Jun2015

CARREMENT CHOCOLAT: THE SHOW-STOPPER

Posted in Desserts by sallybr

Grab a chair, make yourself comfortable, this will take a while.

I suppose I could call this post A Convoluted Approach to Cake Baking. I won’t publish the full recipe, as that would not be fair with Dorie Greenspan. After all, it’s the cake on the cover of her book, a cake she developed as an alternative for one of those masterpieces conceived by Pierre Hermé, and I am sure a lot of sweat and who knows, maybe a few tears were involved in her culinary quest to perfect it. Those truly interested can get a copy of her latest book, which by the way, I reviewed not too long ago (shameless self-promotion).

The cake has five components. FIVE. Which proves I was not in the right frame of mind when I decided to go for it. Let’s count them together:

1. A chocolate cake that must be sliced in half.
2. A chocolate filling, custard-type.
3. A syrup to soak the cake.
4. A ganache to ice the cake.
5. A topping of cubed bittersweet chocolate, salted. Surprisingly, those cubes are not simple pieces of chocolate that you can grab in the store. You are supposed to make them yourself.

That was the cake chosen to celebrate my 6 years of blogging. Excuse me while I wipe tears from my face, I laughed so hard I cried a little… Moving on…

The cake is a typical French layer cake, supposed to be shorter than your regular American type layer cake. Short and sweet… A single cake, baked in a 8 x 2 inch round pan, sliced in half, etc etc. Please notice that the composite photo below clearly shows two cakes instead of one. Has Sally gone mad? I won’t answer this specific question. Let’s just say that I allowed the first cake to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then inverted it on a rack as instructed. One fourth of the cake stayed inside the pan, laughing at me (insert crass language here). I scraped it all as carefully as I could, pasted the pieces together, but of course realized that slicing that poor baby in half would be impossible for someone with my skills. Quickly, I assembled all the ingredients again and baked a second cake. The level of distress was getting a bit high, and it was only 8:30 am on a sunny Saturday.

For the second cake, I used parchment paper to cover the bottom of the pan, and greased the living bejesus out of it. I also waited 30 minutes to invert it. That cake unmolded like it was baked by an expert on Ace of Cakes. I danced a little to celebrate, and moved on to the making of the chocolate custard filling. The recipe starts mixing whole milk with sugar, so I promptly mixed the 3 tablespoons of sugar called for in the ingredients and proceeded to warm up the milk, only to find out that in that stage you add only 1.5 tablespoons of sugar. The remaining sugar is beaten with egg yolks a little later in the method (Sally visualizes Dorie Greenspan giving a small lecture on how to read a recipe carefully before starting to make it). Poured the milk down the drain (please, don’t lecture me on waste), started all over. The custard almost curdled on me, but it did not. I danced a little to celebrate, and moved on to the making of the salted chocolate cubes and shards.

That involves melting good quality semi-sweet chocolate, gently and carefully, and adding the correct amount of Maldon salt flakes. I did all that, but thought that the amount of chocolate seemed a little small. What the heck, Dorie knows what she’s doing when it comes to cakes. Placed the concoction in the freezer, where it would stay until next day. In theory. Not in practice. Later, much later that day, while I was making the icing, I noticed something under the stove peeking out. Four squares of semi-sweet chocolate that somehow found their way there, and only by a miracle were not consumed by Buck, the forever famished Jack Russell who sniffs and swallows food items within a mile in 1 second flat.

Puzzled, I tried to find out in which step of the recipe I lost that chocolate. I had just weighed the chocolate for the icing, and those pieces were the exact weight I expected them to be. So the missing pieces had to be for the chocolate cubes, the salted chocolate now in the freezer. Hummmm… that doesn’t bode well, does it? Already worried, I went to the freezer, grabbed the salted batch, unwrapped it, whacked a little piece and tasted it… Aaargh!!!!!! Way way WAY too salty, absolutely horrible, it would have ruined my cake… Back to square one, I quickly re-made the salted chocolate and put it in the freezer at 9 pm on a Saturday evening that felt as if I had run a marathon in Arizona, mid-July.

Next day, the big day of assembling my masterpiece! I had an important decision to make, go for a single cake sliced in half, or do a double cake using both layers. Thinking back, I should have used the good cake, sliced in half, and frozen the other one to make something like a trifle, maybe? But I got greedy. Made the simple syrup, spooned some on the first cake, placed it over a rack on a baking sheet. Added the filling. Topped with the second cake, added syrup, and placed the whole thing in the fridge for one hour. I have a picture for you from that stage, and those who are experienced cake bakers might be able to see the type of trouble I set myself for.

Two problems… I think the cakes, although baked in the exact same pan (I simply washed it after the first cake played that nasty trick on me), ended up with slightly different diameters, so the top one was just a tiny bit bigger. I did not even notice at first. Second problem, I did not allow the filling to ooze out, thinking that it would be too messy. I am the daughter of my Dad, and we both hate any type of sugary mess. That was a major faux-pas, because I did not end up with a smooth surface in between the layers. Once I was done covering the cake (with not enough icing, I should add), the whole thing looked like Pillsbury Dough Boy going out for a karate lesson with the belt tightened too tight. No bueno, folks, no bueno. By then, I was in complete distress, rushed to the backyard where the husband was covered in sweat and mud while trimming trees, and informed him that my cake had been ruined. I also informed him that I would never ever be taking a picture of that “thing”, or any other cake again. And, finally I made it clear that my blogging days were over. I know for a fact that he rolled his eyes to the skies above, but he refuses to admit it, saying it was my imagination. Still, after pointing out the harsh reality that I often receive a lot more sympathy from our dogs, he promised to go back inside and help me out. Then, he reminded me that his Grandma was a fantastic cake baker and he’s got her genes (insert my own eye roll here, it’s appalling the type of stuff I have to put up with; I’ve got some great genes too, just don’t walk around bragging about them).

Staring at the cake, he said “it’s not that bad.” That, in Phil’s speech means “Holy cow, you really screwed this one up big time!”. He analyzed the situation and asked me to make a second batch of icing. At that point the cake was already costing me three times as much as it should, but who am I to count pennies in such a situation? A full batch of icing was made and cooled while we had dinner. Late that Sunday, my dear husband put perfect icing music on, and patiently covered all boo-boos, smoothing out the surface as best as he could. Then I topped the cake with a properly salted batch of chocolate cubes and shards. And collapsed on the sofa.

THE OUTCOME

All the struggle was more than worthy! The cake was absolutely delicious, rich, decadent, and the topping of salted chocolate, salted just right, by the way… was the perfect match for the cake underneath it. My advice for those who want to try it: read the recipe carefully, spread the preparation over a couple of days, and make it short and sweet as intended. One cake, sliced in half, no need for more. Squish the cake filling so that it oozes out, like a competent brick layer would do with cement. Don’t worry about the mess. It will ensure that the layers will be well matched, and the icing will cover it all as icing is meant to do. On a side note, there must be some type of literally prize for someone who manages to use cake filling and cement in the same phrase. No? Well, that’s a shame!

Dorie, thanks for a fantastic recipe, it was a great opportunity to push my limits. And of course, a special thank you to the man who stands by me when even I can hardly stand myself… Thanks to him, I shall keep on blogging…

Most important lesson learned: never underestimate your opponent. Never!

😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Salmon Sous-Vide with Miso-Maple Glaze

TWO YEARS AGO: Avocado “Hummus”.

THREE YEARS AGO: Moving is not for sissies!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Awesome Broccolini

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pizza! Pizza!

SIX YEARS AGO: From Backyard to Kitchen

16Jun2015

THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS SIX!

Posted in Desserts, General by sallybr

IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME!
(comments are now shutdown for this post)

Six years ago I composed a post and hit “PUBLISH” for the first time, with trembling fingers and the excitement of starting a new path. For six years I’ve shared recipes, photos, stories, reviewed cookbooks, fitness videos, baked a lot of bread, quite a few desserts, and invited you over many virtual tours of our kitchen. It’s been absolutely great! During this time I’ve made connections with a number of food bloggers and readers that now feel like real life friends. That side-benefit of blogging I could not foresee on day one, and I love it!

As I prepared this post, I noticed about 25 wordpress drafts waiting to go live, and probably nearly as many folders in my computer of recipes and photos “to be blogged soon”. Come to think of it, I could quit cooking anything new for about 6 months and still keep the site going. I have no intentions of slowing down my cooking, but such a backup of posts definitely makes life easier. Who needs a hobby that is a source of stress? No, not me, not into it. However, in such a special day we must have cake, which all of a sudden places the stress threat on RED ALERT. Plus. I’m not talking a simple cake, but one defined by Dorie Greenspan as a “show-stopper”. I tried my hands at her “Carrèment Chocolat”. Here is the result of my labor of love, which ended up as Phil’s labor of love too.

Carrement Chocolat Cake2

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY, BEWITCHING KITCHEN!

I will dedicate a special post for the making of this cake, let me just say that it was worth the stress and the many boo-boos made by yours truly, and fixed by her awesome husband. Stay tuned.

A blog anniversary would not be complete without a giveaway to show appreciation for my readers. You make blogging fun and rewarding. I am giving away a signed copy of David Leite’s The New Portuguese Table. I take this opportunity to thank David for sending me a signed copy super fast… much appreciated!

composite
Portuguese cuisine doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Being Brazilian, I grew up under the influence of many such dishes, not only because of Brazil’s colonization, but because my Mom’s parents were both born and raised in Portugal. I have memories of my childhood and teenage years back home, when grandma (Vovo’ Florinda, who lived with us), would make “bolinhos de bacalhau” (salt cod fritters) and the smell made me want to turn around and go back to school. I was a silly young girl, who twisted her nose at many classic Portuguese dishes. I feel bad because I never even tried one of her fritters. Shame on me! Maybe now that I am older and so much wiser (or as I like to put it… much older and a little wiser), I can do justice to Vovo’ Florinda‘s cooking by offering this book to one of my readers. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment in this post. Comments will be open until July 1st, and the winner will be announced the following day. If you’ve never commented before but have been following my blog, I would love to “meet” you, so don’t be shy anymore, and say hello! Contrary to my usual approach, I won’t reply to every comment in this post, so let me say upfront: Thank you for taking part of my virtual celebration!

I invite you to follow me on the road to my seventh year of food blogging. I promise there will be cakes, breads, and dog tales. I’ve shown you this photo before, but I love it so much, I want to share it again… Plus, who knows how long Chief will be with us? Hard to tell… at almost 16 and a half years old, he still loves going for walks and staring at the road ahead. Like all of us do… The unknown, the possibilities. All there, waiting for us.