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Archive for December 2011

Peppermint Bark

by Gabriela
December 28th, 2011

Because I didn’t get home from San Francisco until the 23 and had a massive to-do list to check off before Christmas, this year was probably the saddest batch of Chrismas cookies I ever made: just peanut butter cookies, Super-Charge Me cookies, chocolate chip cookies and peppermint bark.

I guess four is still pretty good, but does anyone remember last year’s insanity?! Yeah, does not compare.

The irony of dessert is that the simplest stuff always seems to go the fastest. Most people prefer eating something comforting, recognizable and insanely bad for you than the fancy creations with candied orange peels or flax seeds. Case in point: this year, everyone couldn’t get enough peppermint bark. Myself included. And why not? Minty, chocolatey and seasonal, it’s an uber-simple recipe that I’ve perfected the technique to over the past seven-ish years. Why pay $24 for a tin of the Williams-Sonoma stuff when you’ve got this?

Peppermint Bark

Yields one 9×9 inch pan

Ingredients:

  • 12 ounce package GOOD QUALITY dark chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli)
  • 12 ounce package white chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 4 crushed candy canes, or 1/4 cup Christmas-colored sprinkles
Procedure:
  1. Begin by lining a 9×9 inch pan or baking dish with aluminum foil.
  2. In a microwave-safe dish on 60% power, melt the dark chocolate chips for a minute at a time, stirring after each minute. Do not wait until all the chocolate melts on its own, or it will burn- instead, stir it frequently so that the warmer chips melt the cooler ones.
  3. Stir in the entire teaspoon of peppermint extract. (I only add peppermint to the dark chocolate layer, because stirring it into the white chocolate hides the sweet taste of it.)
  4. Pour the chocolate into the baking dish, and freeze for about 20 minutes, or until COMPLETELY firm. Touch the center of the pan to make sure it’s solid and cold.
  5. Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate chips using the same method- 60% power and stirring each minute. Careful, because white chocolate burns easily! Once melted, pour it over the dark chocolate and even things out with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with the crushed candy canes or sprinkles and return to freezer to solidify.
  6. Once things are completely frozen through, pull on the foil to remove the bark. Slam it on a counter or with the heel of a large knife to crush. Things tend to get messy :)
  7. Enjoy!
* * *
Before I go, I also need to announce the winners of my Midnight in Paris giveaway!! And the winners are…

#55, Anna

And #77, Michelle

Congrats, ladies! Please send me your shipping info at uneviesaine at gmail dot com and I’ll get the DVDs out to you!

What item was the biggest hit on your dessert table this year?

 

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Quinoa Cornbread with Honey Butter

by Gabriela
December 11th, 2011

So, I totally forgot that I still had some recipes from my group’s Friday Night Dinner left over to share with you guys. It’s only been a month…so I’m not that late, right?

As one of the guidelines for our meal, we had to incorporate a “whole grain” into one of the courses. We knew we wanted to serve cornbread, but since even whole-wheat flour isn’t technically whole, we upped the ante with some uncooked quinoa. It sounds weird, but the grain actually gave our mini muffins a nice healthy crunch…and paired with the honey butter, it’s definitely a delicious duo. The cocornbread is fluffy and kind of nutty, and the mini-muffin size is the perfect accompaniment to a sasalad. And the butter…well, does butter with honey in it really need a description?

Quinoa Cornbread

Created by the members of CTP 203 at the Natural Gourmet Institute

Yields 12 mini muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon ground flax meal
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons uncooked quinoa, toasted
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons quinoa flour* (available at health food stores)
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons maple crystals (or brown sugar)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 1 tablespoon agave nectar (or honey)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil

* Other flours may work- use a higher gluten one for best results (not pastry).

Directions:
  1. Preheat overn to 425*F. Grease mini muffin tins.
  2. Bring water to a boil in a small sauce pan.
  3. Add flax seeds, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened, stirring ocassionally.
  4. In a medium bowl, sift together the quinoa, flours, cornmeal, maple crystals, baking powder and salt.
  5. Add flax seed mixture, agave, milk and oil, and mix until well combined. If mixture is too thick, add more milk by the teaspoon.
  6. Scoop into mini muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a test comes out clean.

Honey Butter

Created by members of CTP 203 at the Natural Gourmet Institute

Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • pinch sea salt
Directions:
  1. Place butter and salt in a small bowl. Gradually beat in honey until desired consistency is achieved. Taste frequently- you may prefer more or less honey!

Okay, so the cornbread is okay, but…the honey is the best part. Obviously, we weren’t the inventors of that idea, but it stole the show. There was a man at our dinner who asked about a zillion questions about it, and I’m pretty sure my dad was eating pats of it. Enough said.

What’s your favorite Southern-inspired food? Cornbread, gumbo, collard greens, fried chicken…?

Categories recipe
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Tamarine

by Gabriela
December 6th, 2011

You know what’s awesome about California?

Why hello, blinding sunshine and warmth. In December. I love you.

In addition, I’m also pretty stoked about the meal I had on Saturday night. I’m staying with a friend in Silicon Valley for these next few weeks, and we tried out an incredible Vietnamese place called Tamarine in Palo Alto.

I wish I’d taken more photos of the interior, because it was pretty gorgeous, but alas, major fail. Very modern, with geometric furniture offset by crystal chandeliers. We were seated at a long, communal high-top table- I’m not a big fan of communal tables (I think I was traumatized when I went to Buddhakan with my parents in elementary school and was soooo intimidated by the stranger sitting next to me), but we went early enough that there wasn’t anyone right next to us.

To start, our waiter recommended we try the Tamarine Taste- a sampler of their most popular appetizers that included tea leaf beef rolls, shrimp spring rolls, taro root rolls and papaya salad, served with dipping sauces.

I thought the taro root would be my favorite, but surprisingly the tea leaf beef won out: ground beef, onion, garlic & soy wrapped in a wild tea leaf, grilled in a chili-fish sauce glaze.

It’s been years since I ate red meat on any sort of regular basis, and I’m finding that I actually vastly prefer it to poultry, which was my go-to in my pre-pescatarian days. I’m still not a big meat eater, but if I do want some, it’s always beef. Interesting development.

For our main meal, we split two entrees. The first was the Tamarine shrimp: flash-fried jumbo prawns tossed in the restaurant’s signature tamarind sauce and served with crisp noodles.

I loved this dish. Loved, loved, loved. The shrimp were huge and tender, and the sauce was incredible. I liked that they served it on rice noodles instead of rice, too- it was lighter and had way more texture.

The other dish we shared was the bayleaf & ginger chicken: skin-on organic chicken simmered in bay leaves, coconut, black peppercorns and ginger.

This was also pretty good, with a good flavor from the bay leaf and coconut. I definitely preferred the shrimp, though.

In addition, we had some steamed long grain coconut rice with vanilla, which was delicious. I usually pass up the rice at Asian restaurants, but the flavor in this was way more appealing than the standard white stuff.

I’d say that in terms of food, San Francisco::West Coast as New York:: East Coast. I’m excited to try out a few places during my time here!

What’s your favorite type of Asian cuisine? Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian? I love them all, but I think Indian is my favorite. Asian cultures share my appreciation for stuff so spicy it makes your nose hurt.

Categories restaurant review
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