Catch the Spoon

Yes, “Brownies of Agreement”. It took almost seven years for Mer and I to find a brownie recipe we both love. Then we turned it upside down with bacon…but that’s another story…er, recipe.

Brownies of Agreement

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
• 3/4 cup salted butter plus extra for the pan
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly butter a 13×9″ pan. Combine butter and chocolate in a large glass bowl. Heat over a double boiler (or in the microwave), stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined. Cool slightly. Add sugar and vanilla, mixing well. Add eggs. Add flour and stir until just combined. Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are slightly wrinkled and skewer inserted in center comes out moist and crumby. Cool until bottom of the pan is barely warm to the touch. Invert onto large cutting board and cut into squares. Yields 16-18 generously-sized squares.

Mer and I travel to spend time with family on the holidays, so its difficult to have traditions of our own. Our Yule/Christmas tradition (which sometimes happens on Yule, but almost never on Christmas) involves a screening of A Solstice Carol and anything we want for dinner. In past years, this has included cereal (I’m a huge fan of Marshmallow Mateys, and in fact prefer them to their brand-name counterpart), donuts, and bagels with lox and capers. This year, we were inspired by our local winter farmer’s market. The sweet potato came from Two Gander Farm in Oley, PA, the cheese was Alpine from Birchrun Hills, and the fresh eggs were from Turning Roots.

Holiday Quiche

Ingredients:

• Two unbaked pie crusts (pre-bought or use your favorite recipe)
• One large (2/3 lb) sweet potato
• 6 ounces prosciutto
• 6 ounces nutty cheese (Emmentaler or a strong Swiss will do nicely)
• 6 whole eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place pie pans on a cookie sheet and line with pie crusts.

Peel the potato and grate it using the largest hole of a box grater. Sprinkle grated potato in the bottom of the pie shells, dividing evenly. Grate the cheese and sprinkle on top of the potato. Slice the prosciutto finely and add to pies. Beat eggs well and add milk, salt, and pepper. Carefully and slowly pour egg mixture into pies, pressing ingredients as needed to eliminate bubbles.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until quiche is just firm to the touch. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche.

I’ve posted my personal funny cake recipe on this site before, but this week my Aunt Beth sent me a scanned copy of my Grammy’s recipe, complete with a “good luck” note at the bottom. Almost all my memories of Grammy are from the kitchen, whether she was cooking or sitting at the kitchen table being outspoken and fabulous. I’m proud as hell to be able to share this here. (Click to enlarge)

I have a brownie recipe tacked up on my fridge. I’m not entirely sure where it came from, although I think it may be my mom’s recipe. No matter – it’s the brwonie recipe I’ve been using for years. The problem? Mer hates it. Well, OK. “Hates” may be too strong of a word. She says they’re not brownies. Anyway, I went on a quest for a new brownie concoction to please my hunny, and this recipe is the end result – she loves them. (Me? I’ll take the refrigerator-door recipe over these any day, but I’m a creature of habit.)

Brownielicious Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds plus two tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 pounds semisweet chocolate chips
• 6 ounces cocoa powder
• 7 eggs
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup plus three tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F; grease and flour two 13×9″ pans. Toss 1/2 pound chocolate chips with 3 tablespoons flour and set aside.

Melt the butter and one pound of the chocolate chips together (use your preferred method: microwave or double boiler are fine). Set aside to cool. In a very large bowl, stir together the eggs, coffee, vanilla, and sugar. Mix in the cooled chocolate and set aside to cool completely.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa. Add to the cooled chocolate and mix well. Stir in the floured chips and pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tester is almost clean. Cool, cut, and enjoy.

There was a storm rolling in yesterday, so it was a bit warm and sticky. We were craving something sweet, but didn’t want to fire up the oven, so I started digging through my no-bake recipies for somethign quick and easy. This recipe started life as a no-bake peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe, but once set, Mer immediately declared it “oatmeal fudge”. Chocoholics can add 1/4 cup cocoa to the mix to make chocolate peanut butter oatmeal fudge.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Fudge

Ingredients:

• 3 2/3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/3 cup powdered milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter

In a large bowl, combine oats, peanut butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered milk; mix until few lumps remain and peanut butter is well-distributed. Set aside.

Melt butter and sugar in a sauté pan or shallow sauce pan over medium heat; stir in water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture boils. Hold at a rolling boil for 90 seconds. Carefully pour hot syrup over oat mixture and stir to combine. (This takes a bit of elbow grease.) Once mixed, gather the dough into balls (portion control is up to you) and place on sheet pans lined with silicone baking mats, parchment, or waxed paper. Flatten with a spatula and set aside to cool.

At room temperature, fudge will set in about 30 minutes; refrigeration speeds up the process.

Not a recipe by my normal standards, but worth preserving nonetheless. If you’re counting calories, you want to look away now.

It starts with mildly garlicky mashed potatoes. Take three pounds or so of russet potatoes. Peel about a third of them, quarter them all, and drop them into boiling salted water. Cook until just fork-tender. Drain well and cool slightly. Add a stick of butter, 1/2 cup sour cream, a tablespoon of garlic powder, and about a cup of good chicken stock. Mash roughly.

Make some beef gravy: make a semi-dark roux, and add beef stock. Whisk until thick.

In a bowl, layer some taters, canned corn, shredded cheddar cheese, and gravy. Apologize to your cardiologist, and dig in.

It’s not cabin fever if you’re not going crazy…Mer and I were both home today due to the lovely snow and ice that was dumped on us last night. I made mention this morning of making soup from last night’s leftovers, but got into the groove that is work-from-home goodness and forgot about it. A few hours later, I noticed Mer had something brewing on the stove. What followed may be the best damn chicken soup I’ve had in a long time (which is saying something, because I don’t generally like rice in my soup.)

Pardon me. I need to pause to go get more soup. Yum.

The end result is a bit more like porridge than soup – sticky, viscous, and just a little bit sweet. If you prefer your soup more…soupy, add more water with the rice at the end.

An extra bonus – it’s not only hearty, but cheap! I’d estimate that this entire pot of food cost us less than $3 to make. (We buy most of our food in bulk and on sale, so YMMV.)

Anyway…here’s the recipe, as best as she can remember it. Eat. Share. Enjoy.

Minimalist Balsamic Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken drumsticks, roasted and cooled
• Water (see below)
• 1/2 cup dried minced onion
• 1 tablespoon celery salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste or chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups medium-grain white rice
• 2 tablespoons chicken base*, or to taste

Separate meat from bones and set meat aside. Place the bones in a pot with enough cold tap water so that they float above the bottom of the pan. Set over medium heat and cook, uncovered, for about an hour, adding more water if needed to keep bones covered. Add onion, celery salt, garlic, ginger, and vinegar. Continue to cook for 2-3 hours, adding water if needed, until bones become soft and easily breakable. Strain and return liquid to pot. Add reserved meat, rice, and chicken base. Continue to cook over medium heat until rice is tender; serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

*The link goes to a product called Better than Boullion, which is our preferred soup base. I encourage you to seek out local supplies (restaurant supply stores sometimes carry them, as do farmer’s markets), but please don’t use those awful foil-wrapped boullion cubes here.

In the spirit of the Forgotten Cook Books Series, I’d like to share a little video Mer found for me tonight. It’s an instructional movie made in what I guess are the 1940′s for housewives, teaching how to… cook frozen beef. And just deal with it in general.

Watch Cooking Frozen Beef in Entertainment Videos |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Just check out how fatty those cuts are. And oh lord, the lard!

This traditional Penna. Dutch cake within a pie shell is dense, chocolatey, and oh-so-yummy. (I’ve yet to find anything funny about it, though.) Without fail, this cake always overflows its shell during the baking process every time I make it – you might want to stick a sheet pan on the bottom rack just in case you have the same luck.

Funny Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 9″ pie shell (store-bought or your favorite recipe)
• 7 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
• 1 -1/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 pinches salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk or light cream
• 1 egg, beaten

Melt 7 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Whisk in water. Continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside and preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and remaining sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Cut in remaining butter with fingers. Stir in milk and vanilla. Stir with wooden spoon or electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add egg and continue to beat for 45-60 seconds. Pour into pie shell. Gently reheat fudge sauce if necessary and pour evenly over batter.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean and cake is springy to the touch. Serve warm or room-temperature.

It may not have the greatest of names or be the heat-laden stew that some people enjoy as chili, but this recipe is a staple around these parts. A reader on one of our other blogs asked me for this recipe; it was then that I discovered that I hadn’t posted it here. For shame. So here, in all its glory, is my own personal kick-ass chili recipe.

A few notes: yes, there is chocolate (well, cocoa) in my chili. It tastes good, I swear. Do not try to use a crappy beer for this. If you’re in the northeastern US, don’t use anything less than Yuengling. If you’re elsewhere…use something you couldn’t afford in college and you should be fine. Finally, this recipe is very filling and makes a very large batch. Break it down into small containers and freeze it – it’s great to re-heat on a chilly night.

Dani’s Kick-Ass Chili con Carne

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds ground beef
• 28 ounces canned diced or crushed tomatoes with garlic
• 28 ounces canned diced or crushed tomatoes, plain
• 1 large onion, diced
• 12 ounces tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• Oregano, chili powder, cumin, and garlic to taste
• 1 pound cremini (“baby bella”) mushrooms, rough chop
• 2 cups beef broth
• 10-12 ounces good quality beer

Brown the beef with the onions and mushrooms. (Add butter or oil if your meat is too lean.) Combine all ingredients in large stockpot and cook over low heat for at least 2 hours or until reduced to desired consistency. Serve over your favorite starch (we like rice or cornbread) and with your favorite toppings.