Hot Chocolate

This is hot chocolate how I always dreamed it could be - lots of chocolate, rich & smooth but with less sugar than mixes. Reprinted from "It must have been something I ate" by Jeffrey Steingarten.

Chocolat Chaud

2 1/4 cups whole milk

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup (generous) sugar

1 - 100 gm bar (3 1/2 ounces) dark bittersweet chocolate, Scharffen Berger, Valrhona or Lindt (see note) finely sliced with a serrated breadknife

1/4cup cocoa powder, loosely packed, preferabley Valrhona

In a 2 quart saucepan, stir together the milk, water and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the chopped chocolate and the cocoa and bring to a boil again, whisking until the chocolate and cocoa are dissolved and the mixture has thickened. Reduce the heat to very low.

Blend for 5 minutes with an immersion mixer or whirl the hot chocolate in a standard blender for half a minute, until thick and foamy. Yield: Four 6-ounce cups of hot chocolate

Note: I use a dark chocolate containing close to 70 percent cocoa, though Lindt bittersweet also works just fine. The Mayans and the Aztecs considered the froth the best part. Today, 30 seconds with a blender accomplishes what a half hour of beating did long ago.

Summer Crab Fettucine

My new favorite crab fettucine dish that is lighter than the one I listed previously. Ingredients are aproximate, I just invented & threw this together a couple times when we were given some whole crabs and I want to be sure to remember what I did.

Summer Crab Fettucine

serves 2

As much fresh dungeness crab as you have or can afford, picked out of the shell

1 cup of heavy cream

1 lemon

parmesan

2-3 roma tomatoes

6 kalamata olives, pitted

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1 clove garlic

olive oil

Start cooking the pasta immediately because this dish comes together fast.

Core & take the seeds/pulp out of the roma tomatoes. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces & place in a bowl. Slice kalamata olives in half and add to tomatoes. Roll several basil leaves lengthwise and slice the opposite direction into very fine strips. (rolling them just makes it easier to cut evenly) Add shredded basil to the bowl, sprinkle with a little salt, drizzle with a little olive oil and add a finely minced or pressed garlic clove. (garlic optional) Stir everything together.

In a 12 inch frying pan, warm the heavy cream over medium heat. Add the crabmeat and heat Zest the lemon into the cream & crab mixture & remove from heat.

Pour crab/cream mixture over pasta & top with some of the the tomato mixture. Drizzle generously with lemon juice, scatter some fresh ground pepper & toss on some parmesan in a carefree manner. Enjoy with a glass of white wine.

Grilled Fajitas

This has been a favorite this summer, its quick and is all done on the grill.

Grilled Steak Fajitas

From "America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook"
serves two

1 lb Flank Steak
2 red bell peppers
1 large sweet onion
1 Avacado, scooped out & sliced
1 Lime
1 package tortilas
Sour cream & salsa (optional)
Cheddar cheese (optional)

Latin Spice Rub (makes enough to coat 2 lbs flank steak)
2 T cumin
2 T chili powder
1 T coriander
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine spice rub ingredients and generously rub on all sides of the flank steak. Slice onion through the "equator" into 1/2 inch thick rings. Keep the slices together and carefully thread horizontally onto a skewer so that the skewer keeps all the rings together. You should fit about 2 slices per skewer. Brush with vegetable oil

Cut the top & bottom off the bell peppers. Pull out the core & seeds, then make one cut lengthwise. Carefully flatten the pepper so you have one flat long piece of bell pepper. Brush with vegetable oil.

Heat grill to medium high & grill veggies & meat for aprox 10 minutes or until cooked through. The bell pepper will blacken some which is ok.

Slice the flank steak and drizzle with lime juice. Warm tortillas briefly on the grill and serve with grilled onions, peppers, steak & avacado slices.

Kari's Red Curry

After many tries, I finally figured out how to make a Thai red curry that we love. Be sure to check out an Asian import store for the ingredients, they are so much cheaper there than at a normal grocery store. ($.99 for coconut milk vs. $2.39 at haggens) I like the one attached to Hong Kong Garden on Meridian in Bellingham.

Kari's Tropical Red Chicken Curry

Aprox 4 Tbs Thai red curry paste - to taste (I like the Maesri brand - less than $1 a can)
1 can of coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 sweet potato
1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, sliced in 1/4" thick strips
1 tsp sugar
3 kaffir lime leaves torn into thirds (optional - find them frozen in import stores)
2 Tbs fish sauce
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
1 red bell pepper cut into thin (1/4 inch) slices
Fresh basil (optional)
Cooked Rice for serving

Peel & chop sweet potato into 1/2 inch cubes. Pour 1/2 of the coconut milk, the chicken broth, 2 Tbs of the red curry paste and the sweet potato into a saucepan or wok over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft, smooth & creamy. (it will soften & be the texture of a regular potato at first - keep cooking it) If the liquid gets too thick, add some extra chicken broth.

Add chicken, sugar, lime leaves, fish sauce, and the remainder of the coconut milk & curry paste. Cook for 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Add the pineapple, red pepper and basil, stir & let them warm for a minute or so. Serve over rice.

Balsamic Spring Veggie Ravioli

Another Kari Kreation.

Ravioli Primavera

Serves 3-4

1 bag frozen cheese ravioli
1 Portabello Mushroom, sliced & cut into 1 inch sections
1 red pepper, sliced and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 Roma Tomatoes, chopped bite size
6 Asparagus spears, cut into 1 inch sections
1-2 cups Arugula (optional)
Whole roasted garlic cloves (optional)
1 Tbs fresh Thyme leaves, chopped (fresh oregano would also work or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
Chopped Garlic to taste
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Put 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar in a small pan on medium low heat. Get it simmering and then keep an eye on it while you cook the rest of the meal. You want to reduce it by at least 1/2 but be careful it does not dwindle down too fast and burn. When it is reduced (about 15 minutes at a low simmer) remove from heat and set aside.

Start water for cooking the ravioli.

Heat aprox 4 Tbs olive oil in a large frying pan over medium/med high heat. Add at least a tsp chopped garlic, thyme leaves and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook a minute till fragrant, but don't let it burn! Add mushrooms, red peppers & asparagus and cook until they start to soften. (5 -10 minutes) Make sure the heat is high enough that its cooking away most liquid that's being released. Start cooking your frozen ravioli. Add roma tomatoes and roasted garlic cloves, cook for a couple more minutes till they're warm and soft. Remove from heat and stir in Arugula till its wilted. Mix with Ravioli, adding a little more olive oil if needed to coat the raviolis. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar reduction over it and shower with fresh parsley, parmesan and ground pepper.

Roasted Garlic

Roasted Garlic Two Ways

Whole heads: Especially delicious served with Camembert cheese on bread. mmmmm.....

• Cut each head evenly in half (around the equator).
• Place in a baking dish about the same depth & width as the amount of garlic you're using. For one or two heads, I use a small corningware dish & put it in my toaster oven. You can sort of squeeze them in there if you need to.
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Add 1 Tablespoon of water for each head of garlic.
• Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour until the cloves are golden, tranluscent and very soft.
• If you check them and they're not done, add a little more water before covering with foil again. If the outside cloves start browning or getting crunchy, it's overcooked!

Peeled Cloves: These are great thrown on pizza, mashed with camembert cheese as a bread spread, put into mashed potatoes, added to pasta sauces... they should keep a few days in the fridge. I would generally do whole heads unless you have a huge container of peeled garlic you are trying to use up.

• Spread cloves on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper
• Put the sheet in the oven at 350
• Check often to make sure the cloves aren't browning. Stir them once they have started to cook.
• If they are browning but don't seem quite done, throw some water on the sheet.
• The cloves should be golden, soft and translucent

BBQ Pork

Not very traditional, but the easiest recipe ever for a crowd and the garlic makes it extra yummy. Courtesy of my friend Julie

Slow cooker BBQ Pork Sandwiches

Serves 6-8

4-5 lb piece of pork. Loin is the leanest, but the fattier butt roast is great too if you remove the extra chunks of fat at the end of cooking. Ask your butcher. If you get a fattier piece you need more meat. If its a loin roast, 1/2 a pound per person should be plenty.

1 Large bottle of BBQ sauce or a couple small ones

As many peeled cloves of garlic as you can manage. Costco sells giant tubs of them for $5 and you can throw in 1/2 the tub if you want.

Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10. Remove pork & shred, removing any superfluous fat. Throw shredded meat back into the cooking liquid and serve in the cooker or in a separate bowl. The garlic will have cooked and softened like roasted garlic, make sure to put a few cloves on each sandwich. Serve on Hamburger buns with extra BBQ sauce, a salad, cornbread, etc.