'Tis the Season for Chocolate, Peppermint and More Chocolate

As my first semester as a graduate student comes to an end, my Education Psychology Professor announced we would be having a potluck for the last class. Since I haven't baked in a while, I thought this would be a nice time to do it. So I made a triple-chocolate cake with chocolate-peppermint filling (Bon Appetit 2001).

Maybe I'm still tired from the weekend or a little brain-fried from the semester - working full time and being a full-time student is no easy task I've discovered, but I missed some steps in the recipe. I think the cake will still taste ok, but I guess my Education Psychology class will find out tomorrow. I completely forgot to put vanilla in the cake and I failed to notice that the cake should be baked as one layer and divided in half (I used two pans). Whoops! With three types of chocolate and almost three sticks of butter, how could this taste wrong?

This recipe is a little high maintenence, but it looks awfully festive and from what I tried of the glaze, it is going to be delicious.

Ingredients:
8 ounces imported milk chocolate (such as Lindt) finely chopped
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Cake:
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (1 1/2) sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

12 whole red-and-white-striped hard peppermint candies, chopped (I used candy canes)

For Filling:
Place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in small saucepan. Pour hot mixture over chocolate; add extract and let stand 1 minute. Whisk until mixture is smooth. let filing stand at room temperature while cake is baking and cooling.

For Cake:
Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 350F. Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch high sides. Line bottom with parchment paper. Butter parchment. Dust pan with flour. Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in both sugars, then vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions each. Mix in chocolate chips.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. cool cake in pan on rack 5 minutes. Turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment. Col completely.

Using electric mixer, beat filling until fluffy and lightened in color, about 30 seconds. Using serrated knife, cut cake horizontally in half. Place 1 layer, cut side up, on rack set over baking sheet. Spread filling over. Top with second layer, cut side down. Chill filled cake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare glaze:
Stir chocolate, butter, and corn syrup in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Mix in extract. Cool glaze until just lukewarm but still pourable, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Pour 1/2 cup glaze over center of cake. Spread over top and sides of cake. Chill until glaze sets, about 15 minutes. Pour remaining glaze over center of cake, then spread quickly over top and sides. Chill until glaze sets about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Before continuing, let stand at room temperature until softened, about 4 hours.)

Sprinkle candies around top edge of cake.

Hey Mussels, I love you.

Moules et Frites is one of my favorite items to order while dining out at the moment. While I claim to be a veg-head in some of my posts, that isn't entirely true. I try to stick to the fruits and veggies most of the time, but ultimately, I am a pescatarian and I do enjoy mussels.

In the planning stages of this meal we started with the mussels and added sweet potato fries with truffle salt. Then came garlic toast and sauteed kale. It was our first time cooking mussels so we did some research. We went with Ina Garten's Mussels in White Wine recipe. Although we were a little confused about soaking the mussels in water with flour, we followed her recipe and they came out beautifully. When I discussed the recipe with my Dad, he said that due to the fact that they are bivalves, the soak in water & flour helps clean out any sand left inside (good to know...thanks Dad).

For the sweet potato fries we sliced raw sweet potatoes and covered the slices in olive oil, salt & pepper and baked them at 500 degrees on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes. Perhaps I cut the fries too thin, but 500 degrees for 30 minutes turned out to be entirely too much time and some of the fries came out a little toasty. I'd recommend 450 at the most and keep watching and turning those potatoes. Truffle salt was sprinkled on the fries - ultimate decadence.

I had a loaf of La Brea Bakery rosemary bread and I followed the recipe for garlic toast on the packaging. A mix of butter, garlic, shallots, salt and red pepper flakes was spread on the slices before a dusting of grated Parmesan cheese. I put the toast in the oven with the fries 10 minutes before the mussels were finished at 450 degrees.

The kale was made Kind Diet style. Sauteed in olive oil with minced garlic and tossed in balsamic vinegar before serving.

Dipping the toast and fries in the white wine sauce from the mussels was incredible. All of the flavors complemented each other so well. Truffle salt, red pepper flakes & Parmesan cheese on rosemary bread and white wine with garlic and butter...need I say more? This meal was amazing. I can't wait to make it again.

Farm Stand Dinner

Visiting Long Island on the weekends has brought back a ton of childhood memories from the times my parents would take me on weekends to visit my Uncle at the family beach house in Sag Harbor. Farm stands with sweet corn and cantaloupe were a part of every one of those visits and I’m thrilled to revisit them.

When I left Los Angeles, I knew I’d miss the fresh produce and farmers markets, but these Long Island farm stands are filling that void. For our first dinner at Roman’s new place we made roasted corn on the cob, sauteed zucchini, roasted tomatoes with basil and stuffed baby bella mushrooms. I have to admit, we cheated on the mushrooms…they were pre-made from Wild by Nature. They were pretty good, but more breadcrumbs than we wanted. I sauteed the zucchini in olive oil until it browned and the corn was roasted in the oven (husk and all). I got the tomato recipe from Ina Garten via the Food Network. Since Roman just moved in, he didn’t have sugar, so that was missing from the recipe but otherwise I followed it completely.

Roasted Tomatoes (via Ina Garten/Food Network)

• 12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, cores and seeds removed
• 4 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons sugar (I didn’t use the sugar since we didn’t have any and they came out well without it - I’m sure this would help them caramelize more)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Arrange the tomatoes on a cookie sheet, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the garlic, salt, and pepper over the tomatoes. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are beginning to caramelize.

Fancy Dinner

When your boyfriend moves away, you must cook him a fancy dinner. I guess it isn’t an obligation, but when you care about someone as much as I care about Roman, it is kind of a no-brainer. Not to mention, the excitement of a fancy cheese plate can almost help you forget the sad occasion.

Roman mentioned filet a couple of times in the month or so leading up to his departure from Los Angeles, so I decided that beef wellington would be a good start (portobello mushroom wellington for me). I had some asparagus from my CSA delivery and purchased some potatoes to roast.

I heard that I had to try McCall’s Meat & Fish Co. and thought this would be the perfect time to do it. The rumors are true, this place is great. So great that it almost made me want to turn meat-eater again. The employees (and there are only a few - McCall’s is small) are knowledgeable. They know what the animal was eating when it was alive and exactly where it came from. When the cut of filet was slightly lighter than I asked for, the woman behind the counter apologized “I’m sorry we’re coming up short for you today!” I accepted the unnecessary apology. I was more than pleased with what I was getting. Although I hadn’t planned on it, I picked up some white shrimp when I was there. They looked great, so I bought them all.

Next stop was Say Cheese in Silver Lake (right next to Trader Joe’s). I love Say Cheese, but that place is dangerous! I told the guy behind the counter that I wanted to make a cheese plate for a nice dinner and he gave me four cheeses to try, thinking I’d select three. I loved all four and couldn’t choose, so I bought them all. The Gouda (aged 6 years) and Humboldt Fog were my favorites. To compliment my cheeses, I also got some sea salt crackers and fig quince.

While my wellingtons were cooking (recipe adapted from Food Network / Emeril Lagasse), I tossed the shrimp in olive oil with fresh dill and garlic before grilling. I made a dill, paprika butter as a dipping sauce for the shrimp. The asparagus were lightly tossed in olive oil with lemon juice, salt and pepper and the potatoes were coated in olive oil, garlic and rosemary before roasting. When everything was cooked and plated, I topped the wellingtons with a bearnaise sauce. Dinner was served with delicious wine from Jaffurs and Ledson.

Ice Cream Cake for dessert. Mint chocolate ice cream cake.

Although I overcooked the beef wellington slightly (Sacrilege, I know!), everything turned out wonderfully. I hope I can cook another dinner like this for us sometime soon. In the meantime, I’m seeing him this weekend and we’re going to San Francisco, Berkeley and Napa. Maybe we can let Alice Waters do the cooking for us this time around.

Mozza

I’ve been hearing about Mozza for about three years now. Everyone who went raved and insisted that I go. So when I was down to just a couple weeks with Roman in L.A. I wanted to try Mozza with him. In an effort to be slightly more frugal, I opted for the Pizzeria instead of the Osteria. I also couldn’t get a reservation so last minute (and by last minute I mean two weeks prior) at a normal time for the Osteria. I heard plenty of good things about the Pizzeria, so I was happy with my choice.

We were seated promptly and the tables had Mozza envelopes with silverware inside. The service was excellent and although the wine list was very tempting, we decided to skip the wine and splurge on dessert instead. To start we had the Mussels al forno with Salsa Calabrese and the Fried potatoes ceci with herbs. The Salsa Calabrese from the mussels was to die for. I could have dipped bread in that and called it a night. The potatoes were good too, but I’m told I should have picked the fried squash blossoms. Next time…

Roman ordered the Coach farm goat cheese, leeks, scallions, garlic & bacon pizza, which lived up to the hype. He gave me bites without bacon, but I can see how this would be an excellent combination. As soon as I saw burrata on the menu, I knew which pizza I wanted. My pizza had squash blossoms, tomato & burrata. While the blossoms made for a beautiful pie and the burrata was tasty, I don’t think I’ll get this pizza if I return to Mozza.

Dessert was the best part of dinner in my opinion. Roman got the Espresso granita with espresso gelato & chocolate dipped honeycomb and I got the Butterscotch budino, Maldon sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies. I often use the word complex when describing wine and beer and on occasion for exceptional food, but never for dessert. This dessert was complex. Each bite was sweet, then salty and had a creamy finish. The rosemary pine nut cookies offered a break from the decadent texture of the budino. I think Roman got two bites before I polished off the entire thing.

Overall, I was impressed with Pizzeria Mozza and glad we ended on such wonderful desserts. Their pizza is much prettier than this picture. We were told by a seasoned Mozza diner that pictures are not allowed…we had to sneak one by phone.

Pizzeria Mozza (Open Noon - Midnight)
641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
1.323.297.0101

Frankies for Dinner

Earlier this week, I headed over to the Eagle Rock brewery to try out their beer and was happy to be introduced to Sumant, the chef of the India Jones food truck. Beer was supposed to be the main event of the evening (and Eagle Rock Brewery was very enjoyable - will definitely go back there) but discovering the India Jones truck trumped our new beer excitement.

We shared the Samosa Spring Rolls, Veggie Tikka Masala, the Potato Paratha and the Mushroom and Cheese Frankie. The Frankie was my favorite and I’m hoping to happen upon this truck a lot more. Complimentary Aranciatas from Sumant and Dave (or maybe Gabe ?) washed down our dinner perfectly.

Support India Jones at tomorrow’s LA Vendy Awards.

Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

(via Love and Olive Oil)

My friend Allyson and I do a lot of internet food browsing. Most of our e-mails and IMs to each other are recipe exchanges and we have an endless list of dishes we want to try. One such dish was Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans from Eating Well. Of course I neglected to take a picture of this delicious dinner, but managed to snap a photo of dessert.

These mini chocolate cheesecakes from Love and Olive Oil were also on our list and they came out beautifully. They are the perfect amount, easy to make but look and taste impressive. Next time I make these I will be adding more raspberries. One was elegant, but not quite enough.

Two checks on our food list and happy bellies. YUM!