That's What Bob's Cooking: June 2018

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Flourless Chocolate Cake

We recently had some great friends come for a visit, now that we’re settled in our new home in Portland. They asked to meet up for dinner, and we recommend that they come to our house. Dinner’s here can be restaurant quality, and it’s a more relaxed environment. One thing is that they don’t eat dairy or gluten. What better to serve than Grilled salmon, corn, zucchini & tomato sauté and a flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

If you remember my post from about a year ago when we visited O’o Farms in Maui, we had a flourless chocolate cake made with ground Cascara, the coffee bean cherry, dried and dehydrated. I wanted to recreate this, but don’t have access to Cascara. This recipe was amazing, and even if you aren’t dairy or gluten free it’s amazing. And you can cut it into portions and it freezes wonderfully.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Cake -

12 oz. dark chocolate, (roughly 2 cups)

12 Tablespoons (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons water

1/4 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder

Glaze -

4 oz dark chocolate (about 2/3 cup)

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Garnish –

Fresh raspberries or fresh strawberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Prepare a 9" cake pan by lining the bottom with parchment and lightly buttering the sides, then dust with cocoa powder and tap out any excess.

2. In a medium sized (microwave safe) bowl, heat the chocolate (break into pieces if using large bars) & butter at 50% power in the microwave until mostly melted (about 2 minutes, but check after 1 minute and every 30 seconds after). Stir until fully melted and smooth, then set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the eggs on medium speed about 1 minute. While mixing, add sugar, vanilla, salt and water and continue whisking another minute or so, or until the mixture is very foamy, pale in color and has doubled in volume.

4. Reduce mixer speed to low, and gradually pour in the (cooled) chocolate mixture. Increase mixer speed to medium and blend until well incorporated, about 30 seconds.

5. Add the cocoa powder and blend just until fully incorporated.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes. Bake just until the outside edges are fully baked, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist clumps, but not just wet batter. It will seem under-baked by most cake baking standards. Don't overcook.

7. Remove from oven and cool in the pan (on a wire rack) for 30 minutes. The cake will sink quite a bit in the center, leaving a rim around the edge, this is OK. Cover the pan with foil and move the cooled cake to the refrigerator and refrigerate until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.

8. Once well chilled, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Remove from pan and trim off the raised rim around the edge of the cake, as necessary to level. Turn cake upside down onto a platter (so the bottom of the cake is now the top) and remove parchment paper.

9. Prepare glaze by heating the chocolate and butter in the microwave (at 50% power) until almost melted, then stir until fully melted and smooth. Cool slightly, then use an offset spatula to spread the glaze evenly to within 1/4 inch from the edge of the cake. Allow to set up (at room temperature, unless your house is very warm and in that case, cool in the fridge). Cake should be served at room temperature.

10. To serve, cut into very thin slices using a knife that has been run under hot water, then wiped dry. Clean knife between cuts as needed.

11. Garnish as desired and enjoy!

Monday, June 4, 2018

Crispy Caramel Chicken Skewers

I make teriyaki chicken all the time. Once I figured out how to make the sauce to the flavor profile I like, it became a weekly (or so) rotation. When I came across this recipe, I noticed a couple changes from the teriyaki I usually make. First off, it uses fish sauce. Which I’m never opposed to! And there is a lack of soy sauce. Otherwise most of the ingredients are close to my version of teriyaki.

One big difference for me is that you simmer the sauce into a glaze. I served a this over rice.

Crispy Caramel Chicken Skewers

Ingredients

For the Marinated Chicken:

2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice

For the Caramel Glaze:

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup Asian fish sauce (Red Boat)

1/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

4 medium cloves garlic, minced

2 medium shallots, chopped

1 (1-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, minced

2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced on a bias

Directions

For the Marinated Chicken: In a large zipper-lock bag or bowl, combine fish sauce, brown sugar, and orange juice. Mix well. Add the chicken chunks, shake well to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

For the Caramel Glaze: In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, fish sauce, orange juice, rice vinegar, and honey over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add garlic, shallots, and ginger and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until glaze becomes thick and sticky and easily coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and set aside.

Grilling : Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over half of coal grate. Alternatively, set all the burners of a gas grill to high heat. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill, and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. (I used a gas grill, on high heat until the chicken skewers went on. Then turned to low to cook throughly. Then back on high for a final seat)

Thread the chicken on 6 bamboo skewers. Transfer to the grill and cook over direct heat, turning and brushing with the glaze every 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through and crisp, about 8 minutes.

Remove from heat, garnish with scallions, and serve.

Crispy Caramel Chicken Skewers with glaze

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

We all grew up eating corn. Usually boiled in salty water, smothered in margarine and liberty sprinkled with Morton’s iodized.

As we matured and realized that margarine wasn’t the diet alternative to butter, that there was another seasoning component missing, black pepper and wait….corn can be grilled! These are just a few of the food evolutions I have had in my corn eating life.

Then came Mexican Street Corn! Life changing. Smother that cob with a mayo/lime/chili slather and roll it in Queso Fresco? When did so much love happen to our beloved yellow kernels? Not to mention, when I was growing up, corn was yellow. There wasn’t white or bi-colored., unless it was fall and your teacher had Indian corn on her desk! Then there popcorn.....but that’s a whole other blog....

So this brings me to this recipe.....

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS

For the Dressing:

3/4 cup mayonnaise

juice and zest of one lime

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon hot sauce

pepper, to taste

For the Pasta Salad:

8 oz. farfalle pasta

4 ears of fresh corn

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced finely

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

4 oz. crumbled queso fresco (or cotija cheese), plus more for garnish

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix all ingredients for dressing in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to directions in salted water. Drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool.

Shake off as much excess water as possible.

Meanwhile, grill corn until lightly charred. Allow to cool and remove from cobs.

Add the cooked and cooled pasta, corn, jalapeño pepper, green onions, queso fresco, and cilantro to the large bowl with the dressing. Stir to combine.

Serve garnished with extra cheese, cilantro, and a little bit more chili powder, if desired.

My Complete Profile

I was born and raised on the East side of Portland Oregon, by two native and second generation, Oregonians, my Mom and Dad (Jack and Joan). Oregon, and the Northwest are deep in my blood. That being said, I have always had an interest in cooking. I would love to add a warm loving story here about how my Mom nurtured my love of cooking by setting me up on or near the counter top to help with whatever she was cooking. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Being a child of the 70's and 80's, I had a great exposure to classic foods like Spam, Tang, Rice-a-Roni and Hamburger Helper. While many of these premade, sodium roller coaster, treats where regulars on our table, my Mom would have to hold the title as "casserole queen". Casseroles are her favorite and her specialty. Whereas, my Dad was more of a spur of the moment kind of cook. His creations included many of the items from our makeshift pantry. Sometimes, i think he was thinking, "the more ingredients, the better it'll be!". I think my first attempt at cooking would have to have been making cookies, either peanut butter (with the criss-cross fork tine print on top), or chocolate chip cookies. Over the years I have made so many of both of these recipes, I have surely lost count.

During middle school, my Mom encouraged me to take Home Economics, thinking that all kids, boy or girl, should know how to cook out in this world. This sparked a growing interest in cooking. So when I entered my junior year of High School, at David Douglas, I enrolled in the culinary arts program, we called it Food Services I. This was a class that had been offered many years before, where the students ran a restaurant, The Kilt, during the lunch periods. Unfortunately, since the class had not been offered in several years, so we didn’t have enough students to open the restaurant, that year. Within the first few weeks of this class, my instructor asked if I'd like to be involved in an outside "club" (kind of like a version of Eagle Scouts) that was mentored by local business owners. It sounded interesting so I joined (not to mention it got me out of the first 2 periods of the day).

At our first meeting I was approached by Sylvia Poesdel, the owner of the Portland landmark restaurant, Sylvia's Italian Restaurant & Dinner Theatre. She asked me if I would be interested in an afterschool job, coming to work for her to learn the cooking/chef trade on the job. I jumped at the chance and started in October of 1985. During my senior year I rejoined the culinary arts program (Food Services II) and this year we were able to reopened the restaurant, which the rest of the students voted me to manage. I just absolutely loved it! I worked at Sylvia's until after I graduated, in 1989. I learned a lot about the restaurant industry, and I would have to say it would be one of just a few life altering jobs I have had throughout my career.

After high school, while I was working at Sylvia's, I applied to culinary arts school. The Two things kept me from continuing my career in culinary arts, were financial and having worked out in the field, I saw so many negative attributes to being a chef, I decided that since I love to cook, I wanted it to be a hobby, and not a drag to go work each day.

When I left Sylvia's, I worked at a hotel, then Safeway. From there I joined Fred Meyer in the Service Deli, and was quickly promoted to a manager. During the next 8 years, I worked throughout the Portland and Southern Oregon areas. In 1998, I earned a promotion to the regional specialist position (District Manager) in Seattle. During this career move, I learned so much about the Food Service industry. I was charged to develop a new service salad case program, as well as work on a new catering program. I had the opportunity to work with manufacturers to develop these new programs.

In 2000, I met the love of my life, Craig. I also, moved from the food service program to the grocery department as an assistant manager. In the capacity I learned to develop my management skills as well as managing inventory. By being the best in my category, I earned the position of manager, where I moved from store to store cleaning up and reorganizing as I went. I also was entrusted with training future Food managers for the region. At which point I was pursued by another company to run a store for them, and enter back into the restaurant industry. During these 3 years, I learned the Restaurant Supplier side of the business. While I enjoyed the time I spent in this opportunity, I yearned to go back to the Grocery industry, and spend more time with my first love, cooking, and writing about my adventures….in the kitchen!