Cooking By Color

This month's Royal Foodie Joust has an interesting twist, instead of being told what three ingredients we need to use in our entry, we were told three colors; red, white & green. I had a few different things that came to mind so I've been trying them all.

My first thought was red flank steak, green chimichurri sauce & garlicy white beans. A fabulous dinner yes, but I'm not sure if it good enough to be a Joust entry.

My next thoughts went to desserts & a brownie spiced up with red chili, white chocolate & green pistachios.

Now we are getting closer to an entry here. A fudgy chocolate brownie made even fudgier by the white chocolate chips, with little crunchy bits of pistachio & a good amount of heat for good measure.

We've always been brownie purist never adding any nuts or what-have-you to them but I'll make an exception for these, they were so good.

Red Hot Brownies
(adapted from Small-Batch Baking)

1 1/2 T unsalted butter
3/4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 c + 2 T sugar
2 T well-beaten egg
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c flour
1/8 t salt
1 t cayenne pepper
1/4 c chopped pistachios
1/4 c white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the bottom & sides of a mini loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a strip of tin foil to fit the length plus up the short sides with a good amount hanging over each side. Grease the foil as well. (This foil strip helps lift the brownie out of the loaf pan.)

In a microwave safe boil melt the butter & chocolate on high for 1 minute. Stir until completely melted & smooth. Add the sugar & whisk. Whisk in the egg and vanilla. Then stir in the flour, salt & cayenne until completely blended. Fold in the pistachios & chocolate chips. Spread in loaf pan.

Bake for about 28 - 30 minutes until the top starts to look dry & is pulling away from the edges. Place pan on rack & allow the brownies to cool completely before lifting from the pan.

Makes 2 - 3 servings

I'm not sure if this brownie will be my entry or not yet. I have one more idea to try this week before all entries are due on Friday.