Sunday, January 27, 2013

Pecan & Chocolate Muffins


Pecan & Chocolate Muffins

Our dear friends the Petro's have a newborn baby. It's hard to make our usual dinner parties with the babies schedule so we made a date for Sunday brunch. 

This week I have been assigned to clean out the freezer. A shockingly large portion of our freezer is filled with Costco sized bags of nuts. So pecans were an inspiration for the menu; Carrot Quinoa Pecan pancakes, parfaits with fruit and pecan granola and pecan muffins! =) 

These little muffins turned out delicious!!






I keep several bags of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips on hand. (I try to stock up on them if I see them go on sale in the grocery store.) For the chocolate in this recipe I just chopped up the chips. This gives them a more even consistency through the muffins. 


Sifting the flour, baking soda and salt together. I put my sifter on top of a large bowl add the ingredients, then stir it around with a fork so the baking soda and salt  evenly distributed throughout the flour. Then I keep running the fork in circles until everything is sifted into the bowl. 


After you make up the batter. I use a big spatula to fold in the chocolate. 


I don't actually own a regular sized muffen pan. I usually make these mini loafs of different banana bread but, it works great for big muffins too. 


As a taste test I left a couple of the muffins without pecan topping. 










Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2oz pecans, finely ground
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into very small peices
chopped pecans, to decorate

Tools

mini baking loaf pan (bake 25 minutes)
or
12 cup muffin pan lined with paper cups (bake 18-20 minutes)

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, then stir in the ground pecans and sugar. Put the egg, maple syrup mixture into the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate pieces.

Spoon the muffin mixture into your pain or caper cases, and sprinkle the surface of each muffin with the extra chopped pecans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until risen and golden. Let cool in the pan for 1 minute, then turn out onto a wire rack. Eat warm. The muffins should be eaten within 24 hours or left to cool, then frozen for up to one month.




Friday, January 25, 2013

Don't toss the Ginger



I always buy too much ginger at the store and end up tossing it before I can use it all.

Here are two great tips for storing and keeping your ginger around for months.



Ginger Ice Cubes

  1. 8oz fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
  2. Puree ginger with 3.4 cup water. Pour into mini ice cube tray. When frozen pop cubes out of tray and store in freezer bag. Add to drinks, soups, sauces or stir-fries

Freeze it Whole
  1. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and put it in a zip lock bag
  2. Each time you need ginger just take it out and saw off as much as you need then thaw it out.  

Mushroom Risotto


Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
  • 1.4 cup evoo
  • 1 tbsp garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 cups wild mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 4 – 6 cups chicken stock, low salt
  • 1 cup thawed frozen peas
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup 1/2 lb Asiago Cheese, grated
  • Pepper to taste

  1. Simmer chicken stock on medium low heat on stove top
  2. In a large saucepan, heat the evoo and saute the onions, garlic, and mushrooms until lightly browned
  3. Add the Arborio Rice into the pot and toast for a couple minutes until toasted
  4. Add the white wine and let it burn off the alcohol for a couple minutes before adding the 1 cup of your chicken stock. 
  5. Stir Stir Stir... stir until the stock becomes incorporated into the rice then add another cup of chicken stock. 
  6. Keep watching the consistency if its dry keep adding stock. 
  7. When it's the correct consistency and incorporate the cheese and stir until melted. 
  8. Add the frozen peas and stir for five minutes. 
  9. Top with the butter and incorporate

Tomatillo Salsa


I Love tomatillo salsa. The hardest part of making it from scratch is the process of peeling and washing the little tomatillos. Not hard but, time consuming. Just throw on the tv and take a basket with you while you watch your favorite show. 

Don't forget to make extra. You will be surprised how fast this goes down. 







Checking on them after ten minutes. They are only slightly browned but smelling good. So I toss them around the baking sheet and put them back in for another ten minutes.



Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa:

  • 1 pound tomatillos, husked
  • 1 white onion, peeled, sliced, quartered or whole
  • garlic cloves
  • 2 jalapenos
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
  • lime, juiced

Instructions 

  1. First prep all of your ingredients. 
  2. Broil the tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeños in a baking sheet in the oven for 10-20 minutes.
  3. Let the tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeños cool off for a couple minutes then throw them into a food processor along with the lime juice salt and cilantro. 
  4. Process to your desired consistency and well blended. 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Chorizo Breakfast Burritos

Chorizo Breakfast Burritos


With the second Chorizo link left over from making paella I went in search for a good recipe from some of my favorite blogs.

This worked out perfectly.



Chorizo and Eggs Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • EVOO
  • 1/3 cup chopped onions (what ever you have on hand yellow, white, green)
  • 1/4 lb of Mexican chorizo sausage, removed from sausage casing
  • 3 Tbsp raisins - soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and drained
  • 5 to 6 eggs
  • Salt
  • Tortillas
  • Cilantro - optional


INSTRUCTIONS 

1 Heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil or bacon fat in the pan. Add the chopped onions (optional) and cook until softened. Once softened, move to the side of the pan and add break up bits of chorizo into the pan. Use a wooden spatula to break up the pieces of sausage. Add the raisins. Stir until the sausage is cooked through, though not necessarily browned. If you are not using lean chorizo, drain the excess fat from the pan before proceeding. If you are not using lean chorizo, you may want to cook the chorizo first, draining the excess fat, then remove to a plate while you cook the onions in the remaining fat. We usually cook with lean chorizo, so excess fat isn't an issue.

2 Crack the eggs one at a time, into the pan. Break the yolks and stir the eggs into the sausage. Add a light sprinkling of salt. Stir constantly until the eggs begin to set, but are still moist. Remove from heat.
Serve immediately with a side of warmed corn tortillas and cilantro as a garnish.
Serves 2-3.