Saturday Chef's Easy Marshmallow Pops

When I was little and bored, my dad and sister and I would play the taste-test game.  We would close our eyes and try to guess the item of food we were given.  Looking back, I think it was just a way for my parents to get more fruit and veggies in our systems, but back then it was wholesome family fun.  (At least until my dad gave me vinegar and we retaliated with liquid soap.  Needless to say that was the end of the taste-test game). 

I think that’s where I learned that playing with your food could be fun.  Thus one day when it was raining and hailing in late April, and my niece was visiting, I decided it was time to play with chocolate and marshmallows and whatever toppings I could find.  Marshmallow Pops are just now starting their fifteen minutes of culinary fame, and I see why.  They are delicious, easy and fun to make, and did I mention they are delicious.  The combinations of toppings are endless and they are perfect for entertaining.   

Going to a friend’s baby shower?  Use pink or blue sprinkles.  Have a boyfriend who loves S’Mores?  Use graham crack crumbs.  Want something fabulous and unique?  Try chopped bacon if you’re nasty!  

                                                       28 marshmallows and 28 lollipop sticks. 

                                                               Ready for a chocolate bath. 

                                                                Yes, I went there, and it was delicious!

Marshmallow Pops

12 ounces milk chocolate

25 to 30 large marshmallows

Toppings: 

chopped, toasted nuts

toasted coconut

sprinkles

graham cracker crumbs

bacon, cooked and chopped

Special Equipment:

25 to 30 lollipop sticks or popsicle sticks

Wax Paper

Push sticks into marshmallows.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper.  To toast coconut or chopped nuts, toss lightly in a skillet over medium heat.  Remove from heat and skillet when coconut is a light brown and/or when nuts darken slightly and are fragrant, about 3 to 5 minutes.

You will need to make a double-boiler.  Find a medium sized pot and heat-proof bowl.  Make sure you can set the bowl just inside of the pot.  There should be room between the bottom of the bowl and the bottom of the pot. 

Add some water in a pot and simmer it over low heat.  Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.  When water simmers, place bowl of chocolate inside the pot, making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the pot.  Stir chocolate frequently.

When chocolate is melted, remove from heat.  Submerge marshmallows in chocolate.  If necessary, use a spoon to coat the entire marshmallow.  Holding by the stick, remove the marshmallow, shaking gently to remove excess chocolate.  Immediately coat with desired toppings.  Place stick-side up onto baking sheet lined with wax paper.  When all marshmallows are coated, place in the fridge to harden chocolate.  Serve!  

NOTE:  I generally keep my chocolate over the pot of water so it will stay warm for longer.  If it cools and becomes too thick for dipping, simply place make-shift double boiler over low heat to re-melt chocolate. 

Saturday Chef's Turkey Black Bean Chili

Like Picasso, I go through periods where I am obsessed with one ingredient.  I’ll put it in everything, much to the annoyance of anyone who frequently eats my food.  

DISCLAIMER: Before I continue, please don’t think that I’m saying that I cook like Picasso painted.  I’m not delusional.  Okay, back to the blog.

I just want to explore the possibilities of new ingredients, broaden my culinary horizons.  And I do so with every new vegetable or spice I experiment with.  

Picasso had his blue period; I had my black bean period. 

I discovered the magic beans years ago and put them in everything from salads to soups to shrimp nachos.  A few months ago, I found a recipe for slow-cooker black bean chili while trolling my favorite foodie sites.  It had tons of great reviews and seemed pretty simple, so I decided to make an attempt.  It was an unmitigated disaster.  I’m not one to cry over bad chili, but I was tempted, mainly because I acted against my better judgment and didn’t rinse the beans.  The recipe said not to.  Epic mistake, and I knew better.  Saturday Chef Rule #8: Trust your instincts!  Listen to that voice inside your head. 

I loved the idea of black bean chili with ground turkey, and the flavors were there, so I did a major overall.  I traded the slow cooker for my trusty Dutch oven.  I rinsed each can of black beans so thoroughly they lightened in color.  I added more vegetables.  After a lot of tweaking and dozens of cans of black beans, I finally got a chili I love.  It’s flavorful, but not overly spicy.  It’s mild enough that my eight-year-old niece will gobble up two bowls of it.  In fact, it was her idea to garnish it with cheddar cheese, a future foodie, that one.  This is a tight, delicious, smooth chili, thanks to the black beans and ground turkey (another obsession of mine).  It’s perfect on its own or you can put it on nachos or a hot dog or anything you want. 

So start your black bean period, and try out this chili for Cinco de Mayo or, ya know, Tuesday. 

Turkey Black Bean Chili

1 lb. ground turkey (85/15 mix)

1 yellow onion, minced

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups of bell peppers, red, yellow, orange, green, chopped*

1 teaspoon dried basil (or 5 to 8 fresh basil leaves, chopped)

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

3 15oz cans of black beans, thoroughly rinsed

1 14oz can of diced tomatoes and juice

3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

½ tablespoon chili powder

1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, divided

Salt, pepper

Add ground turkey to hot, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Season lightly with seasoning salt or salt and pepper.  Cook until, stirring often, until turkey is nearly cooked through.  Place in bowl and set aside. 

In the same pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  When hot, add minced onions.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Sautee onions until they are just beginning to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add bell peppers and minced garlic.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Add the can of diced tomatoes and juices, and tomato paste.  Stir and cook until tomatoes are heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the well-rinsed black beans, cooked ground turkey and enough  broth to just cover the mixture, about 3 cups.  Stir to combine.  Season with chili powder, dried oregano, dried basil, salt and pepper.

Stir to combine and cook until chili begins to boil.  Add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.  Reduce heat to low.  Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes.  I just crack the lid a little bit to let steam escape, and the flavors concentrate.

After 30 minutes, stir, taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Chili should be tightening up.  Taste once more and add remaining tablespoon of vinegar and cook for 10 more minutes, uncovered.  Plate and garnish with sour cream or cheddar cheese.  Enjoy! 

*Vegetarian option:  Use vegetable broth instead of chicken and add one can of rinsed chick peas instead of turkey.

Old-Fashioned Strawberry Preserves

If you’re a graduate of the Class of 2000 (give or take a few years), you probably grew up watching, loving and quoting “Friends.” While I never got The Rachel haircut, I was a huge fan of the show. I still record re-runs even though I know almost all the episodes by heart. Don’t judge me.

One of my favorite episodes is “The One With the Jam.” In this season 3 episode, Monica had just broken up with Richard and was flailing to make the break-up mean something. So she decided to start a business selling jars of jam (and eventually have a baby). Joey ate the jam right out of the jaw with a spoon or mounded on scones. It made for great comic relief, but always left me confused as my favorite Welch’s Grape Jelly never tasted good enough to eat from the jar.

And then one day, organic strawberries were on sale at my grocery store and I bought several pints. They were a little over-ripe, so I decided to make preserves. The recipe was easy enough. I quickly realized why Joey devoured them so readily. Homemade preserves taste like the idea of a strawberry—sweet and fresh and a little tart. It is nothing like the jar of Smuckers at the grocery store. It’s luscious and fruity and gooey. I instantly started putting it on or any anything I could think of—biscuits, plain yogurt, ice cream and my favorite, grilled cheese with turkey and provolone. Sounds weird, but it’s divine.

If you have a free hour, take advantage of the spring harvest and cook up some old-fashioned preserves while you watch your favorite episodes of “Friends.”

Fresh berries.

After a quick mash, it's on the way to juicy preserves.




Old-Fashioned Strawberry Preserves
Adapted from recipe at http://www.epicurious.com/


3 1-pint baskets fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered*

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions
Place strawberries in heavy large saucepan and mash coarsely. Cook strawberries over medium heat until beginning to thicken, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add 2 cups sugar and stir until dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil gently until mixture thickens and mounds on spoon, stirring frequently, about 24 to 30 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool.  Preserves will last for at least 10 days. Refrigerate in airtight container.

Makes about 3 cups. 

*NOTE: I like to quarter the strawberries because it makes smoother, juicier preserves, but it is not necessary.  You can hull them and mash them directly in the pot.

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

I have another confession to make, and this one is actually juicy:

I killed the Easter Bunny.

At least I did for my eight-year-old niece, who loved the holiday so much she had adorable habit of wearing fluffy rabbit ear headbands everywhere starting March 1st. A few days after Easter last year, I mentioned shopping for a shirt she got in her Easter basket to my mother, not noticing my niece playing on the floor. Being the little genius that she is, she realized that there was no such thing as the Easter Bunny and was very upset.  I mady my munchkin cry.  I'm the worst auntie ever! 

Since then I make sure not to bring up Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy within a 100-mile radius of any child for fear of breaking more little hearts, and I send my munchkin little presents for the smaller holidays. Not because she needs it, simply because I feel guilty for killing the Easter Bunny!  And it's really fun.

For Valentine’s Day, I sent her a package of homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. In a red box covered in glitter stickers. What eight-year-old wouldn’t want that?

These aren’t the store-bought chocolate peanut butter cups. They’re so much better. It’s a mouthful of smooth chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness and few things can top that. You can also use any type of chocolate you like, including bittersweet or even dark.

Growing up is hard, but luckily there is homemade candy to make it that much easier on the parents, aunties and the kids.

Think making them is hard?   These candies can be made in a few easy steps: 

Create the chocolate shell for the bottom and sides.

 



























Pipe in peanut butter filling.

 


























Spoon on chocolate to cover and freeze to set.

 
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Adapted recipe by Martha Stewart 
 
Ingredients

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter preferably all natural

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound semisweet or milk chocolate

36 1 3/8-inch paper candy cups

Directions

Combine sugar, peanut butter, and butter in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low speed until combined. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip, and set aside.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water. Keep melted chocolate over hot water near work area. Use the back of a small measuring spoon to coat insides of the paper candy cups with the melted chocolate, making sure to cover the bottom and sides in a thin layer of chocolate. NOTE: I used the round back of a ¼ teaspoon to spoon in the chocolate and spread it evenly around the cups.

Transfer cups to a rimmed baking sheet or muffin tins (which will keep the cups from sliding around). Transfer to freezer until set, about 10 minutes.

Remove cold chocolate cups from the freezer. Pipe peanut butter filling into each cup until three-quarters full. Spoon melted chocolate into each cup to cover. Return to the freezer until set, 15 to 25 minutes. The candies may be served right away, or kept tightly sealed in the fridge or freezer. Eat cold or at room temperature.

Last Braise of the Season: Portuguese Chicken

It always feel like little special occasion when my favorite magazines arrive, so of course I was glad to see my plastic-wrapped February issue of Bon Appetit in the mailbox a couple months ago. But I actually let out a squeal of glee when I saw that there was an entire section dedicated to braising--my favorite cooking technique.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a good braised chicken thigh. If you’ve been to this blog more than once, you might have figured that out.

I have plans to plow through several if not all of the recipes in that feature—who wouldn’t want some hearty braised oxtail? The first one I made and loved was the Portuguese Chicken. It is a more exotic than the other braised chicken dishes I’ve made, and that was why I gravitated towards that one. I do admit that I was skeptical about how tender the chicken would be after reading the recipe as it called for not one drop of chicken broth and the prep work was remarkable simple.

I’m happy to report that it is delicious and worth the wait. You get the smokiness from the roasted pepper and the sharp awesomeness of garlic, but there’s also the tang of Dijon mustard and the warm sweetness of the wine. Yesh, I'm channeling a judge on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” but it really is that satisfying. Especially on a Sunday afternoon when the flurries the weatherman predicted turned out to be ten inches of heavy, wet snow.

 
 

Portuguese Chicken
Adapted from recipe in Bon Appetit - February 2011

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

Sweet Paprika

6 to 8 chicken thighs

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice

4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped (optional)

1 ½ cup frozen pearl onions, thawed

2 large roasted red peppers from jar, halved, cut into 3/4-inch-wide strips

6 large garlic cloves, pressed or thoroughly minced

4 large fresh Italian parsley sprigs

4 large bay leaves

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup tawny Port

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon butter, room temperature (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Season flour generously with salt, pepper and paprika. Repeat process with chicken. Add chicken pieces to seasoned flour and turn to coat. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down, and sauté until brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. You will probably have to work in batches. Transfer chicken to plate; reserve skillet.

When all of the chicken is browned, arrange it in a single layer in large ovenproof pot. Top with tomatoes and juice, prosciutto, onions, peppers, garlic, parsley, and bay leaves; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon paprika. Add wine and Port to reserved skillet. Bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Remove from heat. Whisk in mustard and tomato paste; pour mixture over chicken and bring to boil. Cover; transfer to oven.

Braise chicken until very tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Discard bay leaves and parsley. Using tongs, transfer chicken and toppings to platter. Return sauce in pot to simmer. If thicker sauce is desired, stir 1 tablespoon flour and butter in small bowl until smooth paste forms. Add flour paste to sauce and whisk to blend. Simmer until sauce thickens to desired consistency, whisking often. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon over chicken and serve.

NOTE: I actually like the peels on my pearl onions, so I don’t peel them.  If you don’t care for them, peel away! 

Quick and Delicious: Pasta with Pancetta

A few years ago, I marched into my kitchen, rolled up my sleeves and began making pasta by hand. Without a pasta marker. Bolstered by a few websites that said such a feat could be done, I forged ahead into the culinary unknown as I had done many times before with delectable outcomes.

This was not one of those times.

I rolled and I rolled until my hands hurt. I cooked it and stood over the bowl as I stared down at not an alluring plate of feathery light pasta, but something that resembled steaming slugs peppered with Italian herbs. And sadly, it didn’t taste much better.

I learned three things that day: the Internet lies; pasta making is a process and an art; and that you should always have the right tools to make food properly.

There is no better canvas to create an edible masterpiece than pasta. Smothered in a flavorful sauce or just served with butter, salt and pepper, it has always been a staple and a favorite in my kitchen. Therefore, I’ve collected a pretty extensive list of pasta recipes. I have a select few—my Holy Grail of Carbs—that I will return to again and again. Linguine with Pancetta and Parmesan has become one of them. I put leeks in everything, so I added them to this dish, too. You get the sweet tang of onions as well as the more subtle flavor of leeks. This is a perfect meal for a weekday dinner, because it can be made quickly with items most people have in the pantry or freezer. However, the pancetta, cheese and aromatics add a bit of indulgence to a Tuesday night.




Linguine with Pancetta and Parmesan
Adapted from recipe at Cooking.com


Ingredients

8 ounces of pancetta or bacon, chopped
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 leek, rinsed and sliced, optional
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
¾ pound of linguine
½ cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Salt, black pepper to taste*

Directions

In a large skillet, cook the pancetta or bacon until slightly crisp. Remove the pork with a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with paper towels.

Reserve two tablespoons of the pork fat and drain off the rest.

Return the pan to medium heat. Add onions and leeks, thyme and red pepper and season very lightly with salt. Cook the onion mixture, stirring occasionally, until it is brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Cooking the linguine in boiling salted water per directions. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta. Add pancetta, onions, cheese, and ¾ of reserved pasta water, and black pepper. If sauce is too thick, add more pasta water.

Serve immediately with parmesan cheese.

*Note: Salt this dish very carefully and conservatively. It is very easy to over-salt this recipe as it contains pancetta and cheese.

Saturday Chef's Cure for the Winter Blues: Creamy Potato Soup

During my senior year of high school, after years of taking advanced classes and being admitted to college, I decided take a couple fun courses—one of them was a cooking class. While, I don’t use calculus or speak French in my daily life, I still make a lot the dishes I learned in that class, especially Creamy Potato Soup. It’s also where I learned the basics of cooking and how many things you can make with a roux.

Here in Wisconsin, this winter has been strangely snow-less (at one point, Georgia had more snow than we did.  GEORGIA!), but this week the Midwest was finally walloped with an honest-to-goodness snowicane that made up for the lack of the fluffy stuff. It involved thunder-snow, lightning, 60 mph winds and 14 inches of snow in less than 12 hours. It was AWESOME, and gave me a perfect reason to make this creamy, velvety, delicious, easy potato soup. It’s like a foodie equivalent of your favorite warm sweater. It can be made in less time it takes to dig your car out from a four-foot snowdrift. Even if you’re stuck in the house, you probably have everything you need to make it already in your cupboard. The luscious flavor makes it perfect for garnishing, too. My dad adds canned clams and some juice for a quick chowder—I just stick with bacon and cheese.



Easy Potato Soup



Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups milk, warmed

1 to 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 cups russet potatoes, ½’’ dice

Salt

Pepper


Directions
In a large stockpot over medium heat, melt butter. When butter is almost completely melted, but not foaming, add flour and whisk to combine. Cook for roux for 1 minute, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Slowly pour about 1 cup of warmed milk into roux and whisk to combine. Mixture should thicken and smooth out. Stir in the rest of the milk and the chicken broth. Season thoroughly with salt and pepper. Add diced potatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, for about 15-20 minutes, until soup has thickened and potatoes are fork tender, but not mushy. Season to taste. I prefer lots of black pepper. If soup gets too thick, add a bit more chicken broth to thin out.

Serve immediately with a sprinkling of your favorite cheese and chopped bacon.