Sweets for the Sweet

Matt and I don't usually go out for Valentine's Day. (Though this year we are going to Blackbird's Black Hearted Beer Dinner the weekend before.) When we have we find that you often get stuck with a set prix-fixed menu and rushed servers trying to get the crowds through. Instead we prefer to go out another night and make a special dinner at home. To me, sharing dessert can be one of the most romantic parts of the meal. Here's a few favorites from us, most of which have recipes sized just for two!

Red Velvet Creme Brulee for Two

Dobos Torte

Chocolate Valentino with Raspberry Ice Cream

Chocolate Mousse for Two

Almond Brown Butter Cake with Apricot Ginger Filling

Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake with Chocolate Sauce

Of course, there are lots of small batch cupcake recipes throughout the site too that would work perfectly!

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Is it just me or does it seem like everyone is sick right now? Both Matt and I seem like we are on the verge of coming down with something, a cold or flu maybe. It seemed like a good week for some homemade chicken noodle soup.

Chicken soup is such a basic I didn't even think about posting a recipe for it here. Then a friend of mine asked if I was going to post it after she recently had a bad experience with a salty canned soup. Oh, I heard her there, I have a big problem with canned chicken soup too because of the salt and the MSG. Then Matt told me this was the best batch of soup I'd ever made, so I figured I best write it down even if just for my own reference.

In my book there are three main things needed for a good chicken noodle soup, good stock, fresh parsley and the right noodles.

My freezer is almost always full of homemade stock. It's so easy to make and so much better than most you get in the store. All I do is put a chicken carcass or two, a couple of carrots, some celery stalks, a quartered onion, some thyme sprigs and a few crushed peppercorns in a large soup pot. Cover it all with a good amount of water and let it simmer all day. Often I add more water as the day goes on. At the end of the day I strain it into two cup containers and fill the freezer. I've made it with just the carcass and it's been just fine but it's such much better with the vegetables. I do not salt my stock until I use it.

Fresh flat leaf Italian parsley seems to be the ingredient that makes my soup taste like the ones we love from a deli. I think it is the fresh, almost citrus flavor it adds. Do not skip it.

Noodles. This has been the hardest thing to get right. When I get chicken noodle soup from the deli it has these thick egg noodles that still have a little toothiness to them. I've tried making my own,

they were good, but a lot of work and I ended up with a ton. I was really hoping to find them ready made (I know, I know but often when I'm making chicken noodle soup, it's because I dont' feel well, so the easier the better). Well, this time I found them, Mrs. Weiss Kluski Egg Noodles

They were perfect!

Ok, I guess I did have a lot to say about this "basic." On to the recipe. Most recipes I've seen for chicken noodle soup on line have you start with the whole chicken and make the stock. Mine assumes you have the stock already made which means it comes together in about an hour.

Chicken Noodle Soup
If you have leftover cooked chicken you can use it in this and just skip the step of cooking it.

1/2 T olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1/2 c chopped onion
1 c sliced carrots
1 c sliced celery
8 c chicken stock (if you stock is very flavorful and thick use part stock part water, with mine I go half and half)
1/4 c chopped flat Italian leaf parsley
1 bay leaf
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper
4 oz dumpling egg noodles

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pan and sauté until it is no longer pink. Add the onions, carrots and celery. Sauté until the onion is translucent.

Put the stock into a large soup pot. Add the cooked chicken and vegetables. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the parsley, the bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.

Add the salt and pepper to taste. Bring the soup to a boil. Add the noodles. Let cook at a rolling boil for 16 minutes or for the time required for your noodles. You want the noodles to be cooked but not mushy. In the last minute or two add the remaining parsley.

Check once more for seasoning.

Makes 4 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Drunken Pig Chocolates (and other Valentine's treats)

Recently, I picked up some heart-shaped silicone ice cube trays from IKEA and Target which inspired me to try my hand at making filled chocolates.

I did a bit of research online and it didn't look like too tricky a process. Basically, just use a brush to coat the molds with chocolate, let set, fill and top with more chocolate. I learned a few tricks along way, like freezing your molds makes it easer to coat them with chocolate. For a complete step by step on assembling the chocolates visit my craft blog, Just Crafty Enough.

The main reason I wanted to try making my own filled chocolates was so I could fill them with whatever I wanted. I was thinking bacon and Matt suggested bacon jam. Then I though bacon jam made with bourbon and drunken pig chocolates were born.

The salty, meaty jam with just a touch of heat works perfectly inside the sweet chocolate.

Drunken Pig Jam

3 strips bacon, chopped
1/4 c thinly sliced onion
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t cayenne (yes, the picture shows ancho chili powder, but we changed our mind)
1 T packed brown sugar
1/4 c bourbon

In a small skillet cook the bacon over medium-high until it renders its fat and it just cooked but not crisp. Remove to paper towel cover plate to drain. Leave about 1/2 tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan. Add the onion and cook until it becomes translucent but not brown. Turn the heat to low. Stir in the cinnamon and cayenne. Add the brown sugar and bourbon. Let cook on low until everything is sticky and brown. You want your onions to look caramelized.

Put into a small food processor and purse until you get a chunky paste. Let cool before using to fill chocolates.

Makes about 1/3 cup.

For the rest of my fillings I started with a basic chocolate ganache recipe from Joy of Cooking. I brought 3/4 cup heavy cream to a boil. Removed it from the heat and then stirred in 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate. My pan must have been too hot because my ganache broke and became an oily mess, luckily that is an easy fix. I whisked in a little more cold cream, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until the ganache came back together and became the smooth, shiny filling I wanted.

Let the ganache cool to room temp before using it as a filling. You can put it in the fridge to help speed that process.

Once you have the finished ganache, you can flavor it with anything you have on hand. I made three different flavors, cayenne, salt and cherry bitters. Just mix the flavoring with the ganache and taste until you get the flavor you like. I have to say I was really surprised at how good the cherry bitters were, it tasted like a chocolate covered cherry. Other thoughts I had for flavorings were lavender and St. Germain.

The ganache filling worked really well in the chocolate because it set up stiff enough to help make the chocolates easy to press from the molds.

I also tried using caramel made from our Apple Cider Syrup as a filling, but it wasn't very successful. I had to heat it a bit to make it soft enough to get in the molds. Problem is then in was warm enough to melt the chocolate. When I tried to press it out of the mold it just fell apart. Maybe it I let it set up longer it would have worked out.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu 2/6 - 2/11/12

We finally got to taste our New Years Ale this weekend.

We were a little worried about it carbonating because we had a hard time getting the honey to incorporate before bottling. But as you can see, that wasn't a problem at all. The beer tastes wonderful, a strong Belgium ale with hints of clementines and coriander. Quite crisp. We also bottled our Blackbird Mocha Stout yesterday, now it's a two week wait before we can taste it.

On to Menu Planning Monday....

Pork Belly Pizza at Pizzeria Lola

Salmon Hotdish - basically tuna hotdish using salmon

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Potato and Onion Tart

Flemish Stew over Frites

This weekend we'll be at the Black Hearted Beer Dinner at Blackbird. I'm really looking forward to Chris' amazing foods paired with black IPAs, Stouts and Porters.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Matt's Hawaiian Stir-Fry

Last week, I suggested to Matt that we have some of the sausages we have in the freezer for dinner. He started listing the kinds we had and remembered there was a Hawaiian sausage flavored with pineapple and cherries. He thought it would be good in a stir-fry.

I have to be honest with you this did not turn out exactly as we had planned. The sausages were uncooked, so Matt put them to simmer in a pot with a little water. Well, the skins burst open and they completely fell apart. What we were left with was more of a ground Hawaiian sausage. Luckily, this would work just as well in the stir-fry as slices of sausage.

The sausage itself was really interesting. We picked it up at RJ's Meats last summer. They used a mixture of ham and pork along with the pineapple, cherries and spices. The flavor of the ham really stood out in this sausage, to tell you the true it reminded me a lot of Spam. And really can you get more Hawaiian than Spam?! Mixed with some red pepper, coconut and fresh pineapple, it gave us a little flavor of the tropics during a Minnesota winter.

Matt's Hawaiian Stir-Fry

1 T canola oil
1/2 a red pepper, chopped
4 scallions, sliced
1 1/2 c pineapple cubes
3/4 c cooked white rice (we used jasmine)
6 oz Hawaiian sausage, sliced or crumbled (or use Spam)
2 eggs, whisked
handful of unsweetened coconut flakes

Sauce

2 T soy sauce
2 T oyster sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T hoisin sauce
1 T honey

Mix sauce ingredients together and set aside.

In a wok or large skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Add the onion and pepper. Cook 1 minutes. Add the pineapple. Cook 2 minutes until the pepper is softened and the pineapple starts to brown. Add the rice and sausage. Stir to combine. Pour in the egg and stir until cooked. Add the sauce and coconut. Cook until everything is combined and hot.

2 servings

By the way the left over red pepper, sausage and pineapple made for a great pizza later in the week.

We just added some red sauce and mozzarella.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski