FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE & VANILLA MARBLE CAKE

This is a flourless chocolate and vanilla marble "cake" and it was absolutely delicious, although I don't know if I would really classify it as a cake. It tasted very much like a fudgy cheesecake. I will definitely be making this again.

VANILLA BATTER
8 ounce cream cheese (room temperature)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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CHOCOLATE BATTER
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
10 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
3 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon espresso
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of table salt
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Preheat oven to 300F and position rack in the middle of your oven. Lightly grease a 9"x2" round cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper (I used a springform pan).
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In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth, add sugar and beat until well blended and no lumps remain. Add eggs and vanilla and beat just until blended, set aside.
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In another medium bowl, melt the chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave), whisk until smooth and let cool slightly.
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Using a stand mixer fitted with whisk, beat the eggs, sugar, espresso, vanilla and salt on medium high until pale and thick (3 or 4 minutes). Turn mixer to low and gradually pour in the melted chocolate mixture and continue beating until well blended.
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Spread half of the chocolate mixture into the prepared 9" pan. Alternately add large scoops of the vanilla batter and the rest of the chocolate batter to the cake pan. Use a knife to gently swirl the two batters together so they are mixed, but not completely blended. Rap the pan against the counter top a few times to settle the batters.
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Bake 40 to 42 minutes (mine took 48 minutes) or until a pick inserted 2" from outer edge of cake comes out gooey but not liquid. The top of the cake will be puffed and slightly cracked around the edges (it will settle as it cools).

 This is a close up, showing the
texture of this cake

NOTE: Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

NOTE: This cake is extremely rich, much like cheesecake, so cut small slices.

NOTE: I didn't have bittersweet chocolate, so I used semi-sweet.

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Cookin' With Coolio

I own my share (actually, more than my share) of prissy cookbooks, Junior League/church fundraisers, overwrought chef's tomes and even The Joy of Cooing, but if you want to find true joy in cooking look no further than rapper Coolio.

Now let me just say here that Coolio is no Elsie de Wolfe or Julia Child, but neither of them can par-tay in the kitchen like Coolio. Seriously, this ain't Mama's cookbook. And, yes, it may seem like a big old gimmick save for one thing ... Coolio can cook. Seriously, that rapper can cook like a mother fucker. As Coolio will tell us:

I can take a cow out of Compton and make it taste better than Kobe beef at your favorite steakhouse.

Of his late mother, Jackie, Coolio says:

Her fried chicken would literally put on tennis shoes and run the fuck into your mouth.

So when the young Coolio slipped into the kitchen one day and had his dinner get away from him, burning the carpet he waited for her to return, "like I was on death row." When she arrived home Coolio says, two things happened:

1. I got a whooping I wouldn't forget for a long time.
2. After I healed, my Mom said, "Okay, smartass. You want to learn how to cook? All right, you're gonna learn how to cook!"

From that day forward, Coolio never ate a meal he didn't help make.

Once again, I must warn you, Coolio is a rapper. He has little patience with women who don't eat meat (or women in general, remember he is a rapper) but he acquiesces to their needs in a chapter he calls, "Salad-Eatin' Bitches." He has a recipe for a Caprase Salad that he promises will make a woman drop her panties. I warned you! For those of you who do eat meat...

Your Ribs Is Too Short to Box with God

What you will need:

3 pounds beef short ribs
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 cup beer or water
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 dime bag salt
1 dime bag pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce

What to do with it:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Place those ribs in a large roasting pan.

3. Toss in the garlic, onion, beer (or water for all you friends of Bill), and balsamic vinegar.

4. Empty your dime bags of salt and pepper into the mix.

5. Throw a lid on that concoction and slide it into the oven like it's about to be incinerated.

6. Cook for 45 to 50 minutes.

7. Pull out the pan and slop on the barbecue sauce. Get that all over the meat. Make it look like a horror movie.

8. Re-cover the pan and place it back in the crematorium for 20 to 25 minutes.

9. Even the most agnostic guests will think they died and went to heaven. That's when God's gonna sucker punch them and make them born again--at least until they are done eatin'.

Seriously, funny and good food! If you want to check out Coolio in the kitchen, you can find his video's here.

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PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE (and the cooking blah's)

This is not my favorite time of year. We still have a little snow in the yard and everything is a sad shade of “dead vegetation brown” except for the bits of grass sprouting near the warm house foundation. Most days are still too cold to barbecue outdoors and yet that is what I want to do. We are tired of heavy winter stews, casseroles and roasts, yet summer vegetable crops and fresh seafood will not be in our markets for a while yet. This scenario results in the “cooking blahs” for me, how about you? How do you combat your cooking blahs? .

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Personally, I find myself trying new dessert and cookie recipes. That is how I found this yummy treat. It has a chocolate cookie base (conveniently made with a cake mix) and a super creamy peanut butter center, topped with milk chocolate ganache. Served chilled, what's not to love here?

(1) 2 layer chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg
¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whipping cream
¾ cup honey roasted peanuts chopped
½ cup whipping cream
2 cups milk chocolate chips
Line a 10" x 15" baking pan with parchment paper (or foil) leaving the ends long so you can use them as handles (to lift the bars out of the pan) after they've cooled. Spray the parchment paper (or foil) with vegetable spray. Set aside.

 Mix the dry cake mix with 1/3 cup melted butter and 1 egg. Beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes or until well combined. This "dough" will be super thick. My Kitchen Aid mixer fitted with a paddle worked well. Press this into the bottom of your prepared 10x15 cake pan, trying to get it as even as possible. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes, remove from oven and cool completely in the pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter, butter and vanilla until very well combined and light in color. Beat in powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of whipping cream. Mix well, then stir in the chopped peanuts.

Spread this mixture over the cooled cookie crust. Place this in the fridge (or freezer) while you make the ganache topping.

For the topping, heat ½ cup whipping cream, in a saucepan, just to the boiling point (don't let it boil). Remove from heat and add the milk chocolate chips. Do not stir, just let it sit for five minutes, then stir until smooth. Cool for 20 minutes.

Gently spread (evenly) over the peanut butter bars. Chill for at least a couple hours. To serve, loosen the edges of the bars and lift them out of the pan, using the ends of the parchment paper. Cut them into bars.

NOTE: These freeze well.
NOTE: Store covered in refrigerator. Let these sit at room temperature about 15 minutes before you serve them.

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Spécialités de la Maison

Saved from the ravages of discarded cookbook hell, Spécialités de la Maison has been given a new life. Some of us have old, beaten up copies, but if you do not own a copy, you can now get a pristine new copy as the book has been reprinted and featured in the New York Times.

The book was put together in 1940 by the American Friends of France. France had many friends, especially among the rich and famous. Spécialités de la Maison is filled with recipes from Tallulah Bankhead to Vivien Leigh to Katherine Hepburn. The are Hearsts, Vanderbilts and Harrimans and Brooke Astor when she was still Mrs. Charles H. Marshall. Throw in Igor Stravinsky and Cecil Beaton and you have quite a cookbook!

Aldous Huxley's...

Paella a la Valenciana

Chicken
Pork Sausages
Any fish like fresh cod
Calamari
Mussels
Shrimps

This dish is composed of many ingredients. The taste will be richer if all of them are used, but some of them can be omitted if preferred. Cut chicken and pork up small and fry in oil, adding onions, garlic, tomatoes and green peppers. When well fried, add rice (Valencia preferably). Mix well and add boiling water. Cook the fish separately and add parsley, mint leaves and saffron. Add to the first mixture. Add red sweet peppers and peas when rice is half cooked. Artichoke hearts may be added when everything is done. This dish is best cooked in and earthenware casserole, not too deep.

Gogo Schiaparelli's...

La Petite Marmite

3lb.s round beef
Wings and legs of 3 chickens
1/2 lb marrow bone
3 carrots
3 white turnips
3 leeks
A few celery leaves
Salt, pepper, spice to taste

Put the meat and bones in 3 qts. cold water. Skim very thoroughly just before it begins to boil. Add vegetables cut in quarters. Season. Bring to a boil, cover pan, and let simmer very slowly for 4 hours. Take off fat, remove bones. Cut up meat and serve meat, vegetables and bouillon all at once in soup plate.

Noel Coward's...

Filet de Chevreuil

Soak venison filet for 48 hours in a marinade of wine, onions, spices and herbs to taste. Roast it or broil it 20 minutes to the lb.'basting constantly with melted butter mixed with some of the marinade. Reduce the remaining marinade on very hot fire, and add it to the gravy. Bind with yolks of eggs and a few spoonfuls of good mustard.

Let's eat.

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Strawberry Mousse by Paula Deen

If it is a real Paula Deen recipe, you know it is going to be rich, delicious and decadent. This little recipe certainly fits all three categories. It is quick to fix and it has many possibilities. This time, I served it in little dessert glasses. Next time, I plan on using a 9" x 13" pan (yes, it makes a lot) and stirring in a few chopped strawberries and putting it all on a graham cracker crust. This would be a huge hit at any family gathering or pot luck.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
¼ cup hot water
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
¾ cup Smuckers strawberry-flavored syrup
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In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in very hot water; let stand for 10 minutes or until room temperature.
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In a large bowl, beat cream at medium-high speed with an electric mixer, until soft peaks form. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Whisk in the gelatin and strawberry syrup. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.
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NOTE: This makes a lot (at least 8 pretty good sized dessert dishes.
NOTE: I think this would be very good frozen as well.
NOTE: Because this has gelatin in it, it keeps very well in the fridge for several days.
NOTE: I'm sure other flavored syrups would work well in this recipe as well, blueberry sounds pretty good.
NOTE: If you lick the beaters right after you stir in the syrup, this dessert is going to taste like it is lacking something...no fear. After the 4 hours, the strawberry syrup mellows and the dessert is very tasty.

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The Southern Plantations Cook

The Southern Plantations Cook features recipes from shooting plantations all around the South. For those of you who don't kill your own food, a shooting plantation is like a bed and breakfast with ammo. You go there to stay surrounded by old world charm and in the morning you go out into the fields and hunt things...deer, quail, boar, turkey, whatever might be roaming in the woods. Then you bring your catch back to the plantation and they cook it up with tasty side dishes.

This is not everyone's cup of tea, but I am sure there is a Motel-6 down the road if you are uninclined. The Southern Plantations Cook has a large number of quail recipes and I thing quail is often overlooked bird. The good news about quail is that most anyone can find them frozen in larger grocery stores eliminating the need trudge around in the filed to shoot them.

As for Southern side dishes, well The Southern Plantations Cook has a couple that are truly unique. Recently I heard two well known cooks discuss their favorite casseroles tucked inside Southern church cookbooks. This is definitely a one for the church social.

Hot Pineapple Casserole

1 large can crushed pineapple in natural juices
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 slices bread, torn in bite sized pieces
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon four

Spread pineapple in a grease casserole dish. Top with butter and bread pieces. Mix to combine. Add sugar, eggs and flour and mix again.

Bake, uncovered, in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Do not brown.

You have come this far, don't shy away now. The more I read this recipe, the more I believed that would be quite improved by using ACTUAL pineapple. Again, in a large grocery store, one can find fresh pineapple all dressed and ready to go. Turn those bread slices into a nice crumb and Hot Pineapple Casserole is a fine accompaniment to almost any fowl.

And, I'll bet no one you know has made this for guest. Go ahead, you know you want to.

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Cooking School Provence

OK, I know you think I don't need another French cookbook, but you would be wrong. Gui Gedda is thought to be the father of Provencal cooking and when he puts together a cookbook, well , it is a must have. Cooking School Provence is a distillation of Gedda's classic recipes he serves up in his school in Provence.

He delicately explains how to make actual, real Tomatoes Provençal and his Tarte Tropézienne is a thing of beauty. Often with French cooking, there is the desire to be rather quaint and frilly, but if you have a meat and potatoes eater in your house, try this recipe.

Steak with Anchovy Butter

Anchovy Butter:

1/2 dry shallot, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (15 mL) chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
1 teaspoon (5 mL) brandy
4 tablespoons (60 mL) soft, unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Steaks:

2 tender beef steaks (filet mignon or strip loin), each
6 ounces (175 g)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon (15 mL) olive oil

Make anchovy butter by blending the shallot, parsley, garlic, anchovies and brandy in a food processor, either one with a small bowl or the hand-held type placed in a small bowl. When you have a coarse purée, add butter and blend in. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat and cook steaks for 11/2 to

3 minutes a side, depending on desired degree of doneness. Transfer steaks to a platter and keep warm. Wipe pan clean with paper towels and add the anchovy butter, cooking just until melted, then spoon or pour over the steaks. Season with pepper and serve.

Now you can have your steak and be French, too.

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MR. MOOSE

This beauty has been hanging around my back door for a while. Actually, it's my young apple tree's that he is eyeing (moose love to eat apple trees). He's a whopper of a moose, not fully grown yet, but still weighing in at about 1,000 pounds; a perfect specimen. He is not camera shy, but you can see it in his eyes that he is NOT a friendly guest.

All of these photos were taken from inside

the house (through a window) for safety sake

We had a late spring dump of snow this week, as you can see, and it made a nice contrast for Mr. Moose's beautiful brown fur (usually they blend into the scenery and you really have to watch for them).

Moose are nothing to be toyed with. They are totally passive unless they feel threatened, then they will come after you! Everyone who lives in Alaska KNOWS that you don't get between a mother moose and her babies...that is serious danger.

I hope this guy moves on and leaves my little apple trees alone. Hubby wrapped them in burlap for the winter because the moose have eaten them to near-death the last several winters. Hopefully, this burlap trick will work.

The moose aren't around so much in the summer because, as the snow melts, they recede up into the higher (people-less) elevations. In the winter, the deep snow forces them down to populated areas, so we get a LOT of them in our yard over the winter. Moose are a big threat to pets, especially dogs, because dogs love to chase and harrass moose, which ends up with the moose kicking and stomping the dog (often fatally).

So...Mr. Moose...go on your merry way and please don't eat my little trees!

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Huntsville Heritage Cookbook

Today's cookbook is an oldie but goodie. Direct from Huntsville, Alabama, this copy is a "lucky" 13th printing. The Huntsville Heritage Cookbook, like so many of its southern sisters, was compiled by the Junior League of Huntsville. As with many Junior League (or church inspired) fundraising cookbooks, the recipes vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. It includes recipes from Queen Elizabeth Cakes and Chocolate Tortes to Cheese Whiz Dip with at least 4 cheese ball recipes.

There are numerous recipes that credit someone in the title who did not submit the recipe. This is either Southern hospitality at work, giving credit the the original cook or merely an attempt to shield one's reputation if the recipe might suck. Either way, there are some amazing recipes.

Flounder in Foil

4 small frozen flounder
1 cup thick white sauce
1 can minced clams, drained
1 can crabmeat
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Put each frozen flounder on double layer of foil, large enough to completely seal. Combine remaining ingredients and divide sauce equally among flounder. if desired, add butter and lemon juice before sealing foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until tender.

Among the really fun items in the Huntsville Heritage Cookbook is a reproduction of a handwritten invitation to a party for a cow. Not just any cow, but Signal's Lily Flag.

Lily Flag had a banner year as Jersey cows go. She produced a record 1047 pounds, 3/4 ounces of butter as well as 11339 pounds of milk. Given such accomplishments, a party was a must. Alas, no menu survives the party, but I am sure there was a cheese ball of some sort.

Southerner's will party at the drop of a hat or 1000 pounds of butter, which ever comes first.


There is a menu included in the Huntsville Heritage Cookbook. The menu is from the esteemed Mooreland Hunt. Now being a Hunt and also being that this is a Junior League cookbook and not a church cookbook, there is a bit of alcohol involved. The Mooreland Hunt features this recipe:

Passion Punch

5 parts apple brandy
1 part cherry brandy
1/5 part Cointreau
6 1/5 parts sweet apple cider

Combine the ingredients and pour over block of ice in the punch bowl. May be stronger or weaker by varying the amount of cider. Serve cold as cocktail before a hunt breakfast or similar entertainment.

I do love a stiff cocktails before I climb on a horse!

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A Culinary Journey in Gascony

So Kate Ratliffe lives on a 75-year-old barge that is 85-feet long and sails through Gascony, stopping at nifty little restaurants and markets and drags the fresh produce onto her barge and cooks and sails. We do, indeed, hate her.

The good news is she shares her recipes with us. The bad news is that we are in West Virginia and not on a 75-year-old barge that is 85- feet long sailing up and down the canals of Gascony.

Yeah, yeah, lovely recipes, great pictures of places we are not current AT (what bad grammar!), food, food, food. OK, maybe I'm just a bit jealous. For good reason.

"In late spring as the first of the new potatoes arrive in the markets with the black dirt of the river valley still clinging to them, Patrick (the husband) gets a sort of "potato fever." The symptoms appear as soon as we arrive at the market at Tonneins or La Reole. Patrick immediately disappears. within half an hour he returns... he holds out a lumpy plastic sack and I peer inside to find three or four dozen perfect, tiny, round potatoes the size of marbles. "Lunch!" he declares."

See, you might just be jealous, too.

Les Petites Billes

2 lb very small new potatoes, red- or white-skinned
1 to 2 tablespoons duck fat, olive oil or butter
1 tablespoon herbed sea salt (in her description she says they are' "encrusted with a layer of sea crystals from Île de Ré. Clearly, Morton's will not do, but I digress...
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1. Wash the potatoes but leave their skins on. In a heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat, place the potatoes, one-half of the fat and 1/2 cup water. cover tightly.
2. Shake the pan as if you were making popcorn and continue to cook until all the water has evaporated and the potatoes are just tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Lower the heat and continue cooking with the lid on, shaking the pan from time to time to prevent burning.
4. When the potatoes are done (test by sticking a skewer or fork into one of the largest), toss with the rest of the fat, the sea salt, pepper and parsley. With the lid off, shake the pan until the potatoes are well covered with herbs and spices. Use the flat of a large wooden spoon to help the salt adhere to the potato skins if necessary. Keep in a hot oven until ready to serve , or serve immediately.

I am pretty sure these taste better in France, but go ahead, give them a try wherever you are... pretend you are in Gascony.

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The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook

I love Trader Joe's. I never thought of making it a career, though! Cherie Mercer Twohy did think of it and here is The I "heart" Trader Joe's Cookbook. Well, I must say I also heart Trader Joe's with the following caveat. EVERY time I find something I can't live without, Trader Joe's stops selling it and tells me that no one else bought it. I find that soooo hard to believe since I always bought the items such as yuzu honey, extra long spaghetti, Grana Pando cheese in it's own grater, the list goes on. My new favorite is pureed sweet potatoes in a can! My guess is I just bought the last of them as I am sure they will discontinue them by the next time I get to Trader Joe's.

Still, when I go to D.C. the thing I most want to visit is Trader Joe's.

Here is a fresh and easy summer dish that you will just love... and you don;t really have to shop at Trader Joe's to make it.

Roasted Asparagus with Hazelnuts and Clementines

1 (16-ounce) package fresh asparagus
drizzle of olive oil
handful of chopped hazelnuts
2 clementines, peeled and sliced (not sectioned)
salt and pepper
shaved Parmesan, for garnish

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil. Roast 5 minutes. Scatter hazelnuts on top of asparagus and roast another 3-4 minutes. Place on serving plate and scatter clementine slices on top. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, and garnish with shaved Parmesan.

Now imagine how GREAT this would be with a bit of yuzu honey mixed into that olive oil and some Grana Pando cheese grated on the top from its own grater!!

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Breakfast Brûlée For This Weekend

Pre-Recipe Editorial: I have noticed that many Food Network cooking shows revel in the French language. For example, Alton Brown continually calls the common green bean by its French name haricot vert. Come on now, does that make them taste better? I don’t think so. Recipe titles like Crème Brûlée literally translates to burnt cream; that sounds more like a kitchen accident to me. I guess I have issues, ha! ha!

The reason I bring this up today, is that I found today’s recipe in the latest issue of Pillsbury Bake-Off magazine. It is called Breakfast Brûlée (yes, you guessed it = burnt breakfast)…go figure. This little recipe deserves a much better title; it is a quick and delicious weekend breakfast treat.
2 eggs
¼ cup whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
(2) 6 ounce 99% fat free vanilla yogurt
(1) 16 oz. tube Pillsbury Grand biscuits (Flaky style)
Heat oven to 375F and spray eight 6 ounce ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray; place them on a cookie sheet that has edges.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, nutmeg and yogurt until smooth; set aside.

Separate each refrigerator biscuit (horizontally) into two even layers with your fingers (making 16 rounds). Brush both sides of each round with melted butter and roll them in white sugar (on all sides). Place one dough round in the bottom of each ramekin. Top with ¼ cup of the egg-yogurt mixture. Top with remaining dough rounds.Bake at 375F for 20 to 26 minutes or until tops are deep golden color (my oven took 20 minutes). Cool 15 minutes before serving.

These are 350 calories, which isn't too bad for such a treat.
NOTE: When I ran spell check, it highlighted all of the French words as errors... hahaha, my case is closed.

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A Platter of Figs

I love A Platter of Figs by David Tanis.

He asks the age-old question: Do you really need a recipe for a platter of figs?
(OK, maybe it's not an age-old question, but still...)

Truth be told, much of what we cook really doesn't need a recipe. Too many cookbooks out there have long, involved recipes for ... well, a platter of figs.

David Tanis respects his food. He spends half of his year as the chef at Chez Panisse and the other half of the years cooking in Paris. (So, really we HATE him!)

This book has lovely, practical advice. If you can shop, you can cook from this cookbook, and in the end, isn't that what you want to do? Here's what Tanis says about his book:

"What can you learn from this book? That a party can be any gathering of eaters at a table. That a fine meal doesn't have to necessarily be elaborate. The best meals mirror nature and celebrate the seasonal."

What more do you want? Or need?

Goat Cheese with Honey

Two 6-ounce logs mild goat cheese
Chestnut honey or other artisanal honey

Slice each goat cheese log into 5 pieces with a thin sharp knife or cheese wire. Arrange the cheese on a platter. Top each round with a good teaspoonful of honey.

You so want to eat this for dessert. P.S. if you don't have a cheese wire, use dental floss -- the best cheese wire in your medicine cabinet! Unflavored, please.


Yesterday we issued the:

Cookbook Of The Day Challenge:

1. Go to your shelf and pull out your favorite cookbook.

2. Check the purchase price.

3. Donate that amount to Feeding America.

We took the challenge with A Platter of Figs. Don't forget to donate!!

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