For Chocolate Lovers Only

Ganache is the super smooth, super chocolaty glaze that is sometimes used to cover cakes, ice brownies, or even as the filling for chocolate truffles. Chocolate eclairs are also generally topped with ganache.  A staple of the pastry world, ganache is actually really easy to make.

Ganache is made by boiling heavy cream and adding it to semisweet chocolate.  The cream melts the chocolate into creamy chocolaty goodness.  It will be warm when you first make it, because the cream was boiling hot.  It will also be pourable and spreadable.  As the ganache cools, it also thickens up, so that you can't pour it or spread it on a cake (but you can, however, form it into truffles when it's cool).  Simple warm it up again like in a double boiler or even the microwave briefly, it will regain it's pourable quality.

GANACHE

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 bag)
12 oz. heavy cream (1 and 1/2 cups)
honey - optional

Put the chocolate chips in a bowl.  Boil the heavy cream and add it to the chocolate chips.  Slowly stir the cream and chocolate together until the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes very smooth.  That's basically it.  You can probably make a thicker ganache by using a little less of the cream, like 1 or 1 and 1/4 cup, but this recipe will make it very pourable.  You can add a little bit of honey to make it shiny, that is optional.

TO FROST A CAKE:

Get the cake ready for the frosting.  Make sure the top layer is smooth and flat.  Pour the ganache over the cake, then use an offset spatula to spread the ganache towards the edges of the cake.  It will drip over the sides, and that's how the sides get frosted.  Don't overwork the ganache.  If it is still warm when you stop spreading it, it will smooth itself out.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES:

Wait until the ganache is fully cooled.  If you know you want to make truffles, maybe you can use the lesser of the heavy cream to make it thicker.  Use a little scoop or a small spoon to scoop the ganache, and form round balls of ganache about 3/4 inch in size.  Make sure they stay cool after they are formed.  (We made truffles last summer in Miami, and it was so warm that day, the truffles started to lose their round shape... they were still delicious).  Now melt some chocolate in a double boiler, either milk chocolate or semi-sweet.  When the chocolate is melted, dip the round balls of ganache into the chocolate to coat them, and set them on a parchment or wax paper to cool.  You can decorate the truffles with cocoa powder, melted white chocolate that you drip across to form white lines, or you can decorate the dark chocolate with milk chocolate stripes, and the milk chocolate with dark chocolate stripes.  Use your imagination!

To make the chocolate lines, put the melted white or brown chocolate in a plastic baggie, then make a tiny hole in the corner of the bag.  Squeeze the melted chocolate out through that little hole, and you can either use the tip of the baggie like a pen to draw chocolaty designs, or you can hold the baggie up higher, and squeeze lines of chocolate across the truffles.   Enjoy!!!!!

Chilorio

I was watching tv yesterday, and I started watching Pati's Mexican Table on PBS.  She made a dish called Chilorio, which is shredded pork in ancho chile sauce, that you can roll into a burrito.  Somehow I got it in my head that I just had to try making chilorio, even though I hardly ever cook pork, it seemed pretty easy.  If it tasted as good as it looked, that would be a big payoff.

Ancho chiles are the big ones.  I believe they are the dried version of the Pasilla chile, which are almost as big around as green peppers, and longer.  Ancho chiles are about 4-5 inches long, and kind of triangular in shape.  They are mild in their spicyness.  I knew I could find these at Food City for not too much.  Since most of the ingredients I already had on hand, I only really needed to buy the chiles, pork, and tortillas.  That's a short and easy shopping list!

CHILORIO


3 lbs. boneless pork, cut into 1 to 2 inch cubes
1 and 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (use the oranges in your yard!)
1 and 1/4 cup water
salt
Ancho Chile Sauce

Put the pork in a pan with the water, orange juice, and salt.  Bring it up to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes until it shreds apart easily.  When it cools enough to handle, shred the pork and put it in a bowl.

While the meat is cooking, make the Ancho Chile Sauce.

ANCHO CHILE SAUCE


5 ancho chiles - remove the stem and seeds and break them into large pieces
1 and 1/2 cups boiling water (or just enough to cover the chiles)
1/2 cup onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Cumin (tiny bit)

Put the chiles in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them.  Let the chiles sit in the boiling water for about 10 minutes to soften.  When they are soft, put them in a blender with the onions, garlic, parsley, vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, and cumin.  Add some of the chile soaking water to help the ingredients blend together.

After the meat is shredded, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a pan.  Add the ancho chile sauce to the pan and let it cook for a few minutes.  Then add the shredded meat to the sauce along with any remaining cooking juices.  Simmer the meat and sauce together for 20-30 minutes, to let the meat absorb the sauce, and the flavors to come together.

When you are ready to eat the chilorio, heat your tortillas on a comal or frying pan with no oil.  I had chilorio tacos on soft corn tortillas and they were pretty good!  Actually they were delicious.  I put pepper jack cheese in the tortilla, then a couple spoonfuls of chilorio, then shredded cabbage, cilantro, and salsa (salsa roja molcajete).  I have to admit they were good!

If you prefer burritos, heat your flour tortilla, and roll the chilorio up inside it.

Ms. Pati said you can make chilorio with beef or chicken if you want.  I decided to try making it with pork the first time, since that is the original recipe.  Maybe next time I will try chicken....  Enjoy!!!

Butternut squash soup

I decided to try making soup tonight.  I had bought a butternut sqaush last week .. just because .. I'm not sure why, it's not on the usual weekly shopping list, nor is it in rotation.  It's still such a yummy food that I just bought one on an impulse.

So, tonight was the night that squash was destined to be cooked.  This recipe came from the food network website, and it's super easy.  The hardest part is peeling and chopping the squash, but I have noticed you can buy butternut squash already peeled and cubed, ready to go.  There you go!

This soup was good.  I did not have nutmeg, so that ingredient didn't go into it.  Also, I only had 4 cups of chicken stock (a quart), so I used 4 cups instead of 6 cups, and it was perfect.  I used a stick blender instead of a regular blender, so pureeing the soup was super easy and fast.  Enjoy!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP:

Ingredients:

1 (2 to 3 pound) butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock
Nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Cut squash into 1-inch chunks.  In large pot melt butter.  Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes.  Add squash and stock.  Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove squash chunks with slotted spoon and place in a blender and puree.  Return blended squash to pot.  Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Serve.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/butternut-squash-soup-recipe/index.html

China Star, AAABA and BWLAA banquets...

I've had a few really great eating experiences outside of the home in the last week and a half.  First of all, let me tell you about China Star.  It is a Chinese buffet in Tucson at the corner of Swan and Grant.  It was really good!  We were very hungry, having played 4 games that day without a true lunch break.  The restaurant staff gave us our own room which was maybe a good idea, since we came straight from the fields to the restaurant, and there was a whole bunch of us, like maybe 25-30 (dirty) ultimate players!  The highlight of the buffet, for me, was the ribs.  They were really tasty!! They had that red glaze to them, and just sweet enough.  And at around $9.50 for the dinner buffet, that was a pretty good deal too!

Later on, (after we washed up :D) we went to the party which was ok.  My girl Lexi and I decided to explore the neighborhood for other options, and we ended up at The Buffet (http://www.thebuffetbar.com/), a Tucson landmark down on 9th Street, near 2nd Avenue.  It was kind of a dive, but it was packed, and the vodka cranberry hit the spot.

A couple nights before our China Star experience was the annual installation and scholarship banquet for the Arizona Asian American Bar Association.  Mostly, Asian American lawyers and judges belong to this group, but EVERYONE looks forward to the annual banquet!  Each year it gets bigger and bigger!  This year we filled up the entire C-Fu Gourmet restaurant; there must have been at least 500 guests that night, including judges, state senators and representatives, law school deans and other dignitaries.  I've been going to this banquet every year for the last 14 years or so, since I was in law school -- the food has always been an amazing 10-course Chinese buffet -- and this event has really grown; I remember about 40 people attending the first one that I went to back then.  I've only missed the AAABA banquet one time, about 4 years ago.  I had trial that day, and Judge Cohen really wanted to finish the trial, so he kept us in court until we finally finished around 8:30 that night!  I was so sad!  I couldn't exactly tell the judge that I had to go because I had a banquet to attend...

Anyways, the food this year was as great as it always is!  for appetizers we had shrimp dumplings (har gow), pork and shrimp dumplings (shu mai), and BBQ pork buns (cha shu bao).  So yummy!  The seafood soup came next, and then the entrees started arriving at the table, plate after plate, including everyone's favorite Honey Walnut Shrimp!  Wow!!!  We also had 2 kinds of Chinese greens, black mushrooms (Mmmmmm!), whole steamed fish, beef and broccoli, fried rice, chow fun noodles... soooo much food!!!  Finally, it was time for dessert, and we were all excited to see the fried sesame balls - crispy, chewy, and sweet - and the miniature custard pies which were still warm in their flaky crusts!  So satisfying!  Such a great banquet!

Last Friday was the Black Women Lawyers Association of Arizona awards banquet.  This was a really beautiful event that was held at the University Club in downtown Phoenix.  Some really great women were honored that night, including Commissioner Phemonia Miller, County Attorney Frankie Jones, Attorney Ben Thomas (he's not a woman!), Dean of Students Dr. Willie Jordan Curtis, and Honorable Glenda Edmonds.  Dr. Shirley Mays, Dean of the Phoenix School of Law, delivered a very inspiring keynote speech.  The steak and salmon dinner was very good, but the dessert was OMG!!!  It was like a chocolate mousse oreo pie.  Oh my goodness that was tasty!  It had a layer of chocolate mousse, then a layer of miniature oreos, then another layer of chocolate mousse.  Soooo chocolatey!!!  Congratulations to the BWLAA, this was truly a memorable and beautiful evening!

So, get out there once in a while, put on a fabulous outfit, and enjoy some food and company outside the house now and then!  It's almost as good as home-cooked, and sometimes it's a tiny bit better  :-)

Baked Chicken El Pato

In America we eat a lot of chicken -- fried chicken, baked chicken, roast chicken, rotisserie chicken, teriyaki chicken, chicken cordon bleu*, chicken kabobs.... it's all so good!  But if you're cooking chicken a couple times a week, you need some variety into your chicken rotation so that your loved ones will get excited about Winner Winner Chicken Dinner every time!

This dish is cooked in the oven!  That is rare for me since almost everything I cook is made on top of the stove.  So I decided to try something different!  El Pato Tomato Sauce comes in small cans and large cans.  It is Mexican tomato sauce that has some chile added to it so that it's a little bit spicy (picante).  This dish has a LOT of juice after it's cooked, so it will be great with rice or something that can soak up all the juice!

EL PATO BAKED CHICKEN:

3 lbs. of chicken pieces - I used thighs.
4 onions - sliced
3 tomatoes - cut into 1-inch pieces
Holy trinity of spices - salt, pepper, granulated garlic, red chile powder
Butter - 2 or 3 tablespoons
Olive Oil
El Pato - small can

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Coat the chicken generously with the Holy Trinity of spices.  Melt some butter in a large frying pan and brown the chicken for a few minutes on each side, till they are about 1/2 cooked.  This serves 2 purposes: browning the chicken before baking it adds flavor to the dish, and it also gets a lot of the chicken fat cooked out of it.

Meanwhile in another large frying pan or wok, saute' the onions in olive oil until they get soft, stirring often.  Add the Holy Trinity of spices to the onions as well, as they are cooking.  When the onions are cooked, add the tomatoes and stir them in.  No need to cook the tomatoes at this time.

Get a large baking pan, like 13x9 inches.  Oil it very lightly.  Spread the onions and tomatoes across the bottom of the pan.  Then nestle the chicken pieces into the onions/tomatoes with the skin side up.  Finally, pour the El Pato over the top of everything.  Sprinkle with a little more seasonings and cover the pan with aluminum foil.

Put the pan in the oven.  After a couple minutes lower the heat to 350 degrees.  Bake it for about 45 minutes until the chicken is very tender.   Mmmmmmmm!!!  El Pato Chicken is yummy!!!

* (whatever that is...)

10 Minute Meal: Salad with Pan Fried Fish

If you like fish, you'll like this one.  It's delicious, and bonus - very fast to make.  These days, you can get tilapia filets for about $1.  It's nice because they are each individually packaged, so you can buy them one at a time, or a whole bag of them for $8-$10.  That way, you can take as many as you want out of the freezer, and they thaw pretty quick.

PAN FRIED FISH WITH SALAD:

Fish filets (the fish in the picture is tilapia)
Holy trinity of spices: salt, pepper, granulated garlic, red chile powder (mild)
Butter

Put the raw fish on a plate or prep pan.  Dust the filets generously with the Holy Trinity of spices.  Melt some butter in the pan, 1 or 2 tablespoon per filet.  When the butter is melted, place the filets in the butter, spice side down.  Now season the other side.  Cook the fish in the butter for a couple minutes on each side, till it's done.  It won't take long.

While the fish is cooking, get your salad ready.  Use spring greens or herb salad.  I like to chop them up a little so I don't have giant pieces of salad on my plate.  It's hard to eat giant pieces of salad politely.  You'll have to cut them up eventually, so I just start out that way.  Put a nice pile of salad greens on your plate, then chop up some pepper jack cheese to put on top.  On top of that put salt and pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

When the fish is done, put it on the plate with the salad.  It could be on top or off to the side.  Put a little hot sauce for a finishing touch!

Eating Southern Food in Georgia

So, I just got back from a week in Georgia... southeastern rural Georgia that is: Statesboro, with a couple stops in Savannah and Tybee Island.  Although I flew into the "A", I actually only spent a couple hours there -- just long enough to see the Georgia Aquarium which is AWESOME!!!  But I ain't gon' lie, that place made me kind of hungry!  All those giant fat groupers, red snappers, and shrimp swimming around, I kept thinking, "that's good eatin' right there."  They kept telling me that people in Georgia are serious about their food.  That's probably true.  I definitely ate some great food there, and it did seem to be everywhere....  a breakfast buffet at the gas station, a meat smoker at the grocery store, lunch and dinner buffets with all our Southern favorites... nice!

The first night we had a cookout with yummy chicken that had been covered in cajun spices.  Mmmmm!  One of the side dishes was grilled whole onions which were delicious.  Maybe they were Vidalia onions!  I mean, we were pretty close to Vidalia, Georgia!  The grill masters prepared the onions by peeling them, splitting the onion into 4 pieces, putting butter in the middle, then wrapping the whole onion in foil before grilling them until they were soft and fragrant.  They were good!

In Savannah, we had lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons.  This restaurant is 3 stories tall!  It's very popular, and reasonably priced too.  The lunch buffet is $13, and includes fried chicken, greens, candy sweet potatoes, green beans, lima beans, cream corn, mac and cheese, biscuits, etc.  Everything was really good, especially the fried chicken, greens and sweet potatoes.  Next door to the restaurant is Paula Deen's store where you can buy aprons, t-shirts, pots and pans, utensils, condiments, and other food related items.  She also sells lip gloss in flavors like pecan pie, peach cobbler, banana pudding, and pumpkin pie.  I should have bought lip gloss for everyone because you just can't find those anywhere else!

At the grocery store in Brooklet, Georgia, you could buy freshly smoked meats like rib tips, smoked pork chops, pulled pork, and whole smoked chickens.  That's a little more choices than the standard rotisserie chickens that you see in all the grocery stores here.  The rib tips were yummy!  The Statesboro Walmart also sold collard greens just the way I like them: cut into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces, washed and ready to cook.  I don't have any secrets to cooking them, just make sure you throw a smoked ham hock into the pan with the greens, and boil them as long as you can, like at least for a couple hours.  They should turn out ok if you do that.

On our last night in Georgia, we ate dinner at Ryan's Buffet in Statesboro.  This buffet is HUGE, and it includes EVERYTHING!!  Fried catfish, fried chicken, okra, soups, greens, cabbage, black eye peas, red beans and rice, mac and cheese, and about 100 other items.  The chicken was just as good as Paula Deen's, and the steamed cabbage was soooo good!  One of my catfish was fried a little too crispy, but the other one was really good, just crispy enough.  Ryan's also has a dessert buffet that includes pumpkin pie, pecan pie, german chocolate cake, banana pudding, about 4 kinds of cobblers, and ice cream.  I had to try a tiny bit of dessert, so I chose the pecan pie which was just right, sweet and delicious.  This dinner buffet was also reasonably priced for around $11, that's a pretty good deal!

So, Georgia was pretty cool.  I'll probably go back.