Camacho Watcho

Days have been busy busy busy! Cooking club has come and gone again, a winter getaway up North, Febgiving 2011, and, yes, Valentine’s Day.

Let’s start at the beginning — Valentine’s Day.

As I’ve written before, Kyle and I have a Valentine’s Day tradition. He cooks….I eat….perfect. This year was no exception and he pulled together a great meal of salad, steak, roasted veggies and…drumroll please….espresso lava cakes!

I repeat – Espresso Lava Cakes. Choooocoooolate!!!!

Speaking of my love for chocolate…

Years ago Kyle went to Switzerland for work. When he returned, I was amazed that he came home without anything for me. I mean, the guy goes to Switzerland and I’m left at home to receive nothing upon his return? I’m not really someone who gets hung up on gifts, but he went to the land of Swiss chocolate and he didn’t even bring me a square???? He claimed he didn’t have time to buy anything (work trip — yadda yadda), and my exact response was…

“Wasn’t there even a chocolate left on the pillow that you could have brought me?”

“I didn’t know you liked chocolate,” he replied. Uh, WHAAAAT? This man, whom I had known for seven years didn’t know that I liked chocolate?

First of all, a broad assumption can be made that most people (I won’t narrow this to just women here) like chocolate. Second, any time I’m asked what flavor I want of something, it’s chocolate — chocolate milkshake, chocolate donut…you get the point. There was also a period of time in my life when I couldn’t pass up a piece of chocolate cake. EVERYwhere I went, I sought out chocolate cake. Simply couldn’t refuse it. Boy do I miss my teenage metabolism…

But to sum it up – I love chocolate.

Note: To give Kyle a little credit — a couple years later he went to Italy and, learning from his prior mistake, came home with some awesome shoes and an avocado green sequined belt for me (that he picked all by himself). If there’s one thing a girl could love more than chocolate, it’s shoes and accessories. All was forgiven.

But to get back to my Valentine’s Day meal. The kid really stepped it up in telling me he loved me this year — and he did it through chocolate. More specifically, he used these chocolate cakes to tell me he loves me best!

While the title seems to imply that the chocolate will flow like lava, it’s really just a moist cake with warm melty pieces of chocolate mixed in. No lava flowing, but the topper of an espresso whipped cream makes up for that oversight. Of course, bonus points were given when Kyle went off-recipe and added a pinch of Espresso Brava Salt that I had in my cupboard to bring an extra oomph! to the dish. Um, can you say YUM?!?

Chocolate Espresso Lava Cakes with Espresso Whipped Cream
Bon Appetit February 2002

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 teaspoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
12 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips (about 4 1/2 ounces)

1 cup chilled whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Sift flour, cocoa powder, 5 teaspoons espresso powder, and baking powder into medium bowl. Place butter in large bowl; add both sugars and whisk until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla and almond extracts. Whisk in dry ingredients. Divide batter among six 1-cup ovenproof coffee mugs (about 2/3 cup in each). Top each with 2 tablespoons chocolate chips. Gently press chips into batter. Cover and refrigerate mugs at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Combine cream, powdered sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon espresso powder in medium bowl; whisk until peaks form. Chill up to 1 hour.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Let mugs with batter stand at room temperature 5 minutes. Bake uncovered until cakes are puffed and crusty and tester inserted into center comes out with thick batter attached, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Top hot cakes with espresso whipped cream and serve.

Optional – top with a pinch of Espresso Brava Salt.

I also love tulips! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Have I mentioned how much I love my cooking club? It’s so much fun to get together with good food, good wine and great friends for an evening. It’s even better when you’re not responsible for providing the whole meal – like our club organizes things!

Two cooking clubs have come and gone in the past six months. The last one I did not photograph, as I was just a few months pregnant and was not feeling up to it. It was held around Halloween, so the theme was a “Goulish Fall Feast” and featured caviar moons, a dark and stormy drink and bbq ribs. Kyle and I were assigned a shrimp and pumpkin bisque, which turned out to be fantastic (if we do say so ourselves). It’s a bit of work to make your shrimp stock, but it is definitely worth the effort! The recipe is at the bottom.

Before the Fall feast, we held a summer cooking club. This was had a lighter theme “Summer in the Hamptons”, and featured endive boats with smoked salmon, chilled avocado soup and truffled fillet of beef sandwiches.

I think the next photo (and my favorite dish of the evening) captures it all – a glass of wine and a chilled soup on a summer evening. Ahhh! In the midst of the freezing weather we’re currently having – I could go for that right about now.

Chilled Avocado Soup with Spicy Breadcrumbs
Bon Appetit
Soup
1 large ripe avocado (11 to 12 ounces), halved, pitted, peeled, diced
1 1/2 cups (or more) vegetable broth or low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Generous pinch of coarse kosher salt

Breadcrumbs
1 4x4x1/2-inch slice soft white sandwich bread with crust
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preparation
Soup
Place diced avocado in blender. Add 1 1/2 cups broth, whipping cream, lime juice, and coarse salt. Puree until smooth. Transfer soup to 4-cup measuring cup; add more broth by 1/4 cupfuls to thin soup, if desired. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD Soup can be made up to 4 hours ahead. Keep chilled.
Breadcrumbs
Finely grind bread in processor. Melt butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs to skillet; stir until golden, about 1 minute. Add paprika, coarse salt, and cayenne; stir until crumbs are crisp, about 1 minute longer. Transfer to small bowl and cool. DO AHEAD Breadcrumbs can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.
Pour cold soup into eight 1/3-cup glasses or other small glasses. Sprinkle each serving lightly with breadcrumbs.

Pumpkin and Shrimp Bisque
Epicurious: The Herbfarm Cookbook
1 pound large shrimp (16 to 20)

Shrimp Stock
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 cups homemade or canned low-sodium chicken stock
Pinch saffron threads (about 24)
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion (about 8 ounces), coarsely chopped
4 fresh bay laurel leaves, torn, or 2 dried
3 3-inch springs fresh sage

2 cups pumpkin purée, fresh (see Note) or canned
1/2 cup heavy cream
About 3/4 teaspoon salt, less if using canned stock
Scant 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage

1. Shrimp stock: Peel and devein shrimp, reserving the shells. Cover the shrimp and refrigerate. Heat the olive oil in a medium (3-quart) heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the shrimp shells to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until they turn deep orange and are just beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. This step—pan roasting the shells—gives the stock much of its flavor, so take the time to do it carefully. The roasted shells should release a concentrated, toasty, shrimp aroma that will fill your kitchen. Add the wine to the pan, first turning off gas flames to prevent the alcohol from igniting, then boil it over medium heat until all the liquid is evaporated. Add the chicken stock, saffron, celery, onion, bay leaves, and sage. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Partially cover the pan and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Strain the stock through a fine sieve, pushing down on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. Rinse out the saucepan and pour the stock back into it.
2. Soup: Whisk the pumpkin, cream, salt (omit if using canned stock), and cayenne into the shrimp stock. Bring the soup to a simmer, then cook very gently uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, taste, and season with black pepper and more salt if needed. (The soup can be made up to this point up to 1 day ahead store covered in the refrigerator. Keep the peeled shrimp in a resealable bag buried in a bowl of ice in the refrigerator.)
3. Finishing the soup: Pour the olive oil into a large sauté pan placed over medium heat. When hot, add the reserved shrimp and sage and cook, tossing often, until the shrimp is just cooked through, pink, and no longer translucent, but not curled into a circle, 2 to 3 minutes. They should still have a tender snap when you bite into them. Arrange the shrimp in warmed serving bowls or a tureen. Bring the soup back to a simmer and then ladle it over the shrimp. Serve right away.

Before posting more Europe photos, I wanted share a timely piece that just posted on Heavy Table about my behind the scenes look at Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives while they were filming in the Twin Cities. The production crews of this show are incredible and I had such a great time hanging out with them!

View my Heavy Table article and photos here.

Earlier this summer, Kyle and I took a trip to Europe. Our initial intentions were to hit northern Spain, but as we got around to actually booking tickets and seeing what was available, our plans changed.

Our final itinerary, which we dubbed Milan to Madrid, had us arriving into Milan, training it to Nice, renting a car and spending several days in Provence, then on to Barcelona and finally out of Madrid.

My next few posts will hit on the fabulous food of this trip. I thought it only appropriate to start with my favorite breakfast, which we had each morning in Provence.


Our time in Provence was spent in the hilly area of the Luberon. We drove aimlessly through small towns and countryside, taking in the vineyards and cherry groves. At times we consulted a map, but for the most part we just made up our minds as we went along. The countryside is gorgeous — stone buildings created from the rocks that are scattered throughout the fields and the poppy fields were in full bloom. A couple weeks later and we would have been there for lavender season — maybe next time.


Each day we started out with breakfast at our inn. Simple pleasures like toasted baguette and croissants with butter and jam and homemade yogurt served outside made for an idyllic start to the day. And despite the many espressos we enjoyed on our trip, we easily polished off a big carafe of cafe Americano with our meal each morning, ensuring we were fully caffeinated for our days of wandering.

Lucky girl! I enjoyed dinner on the farm for the Tangletown Farms Tour de Farm event in June. I photographed and Maja wrote about it for Heavy Table. Maja’s write-up and my photos are here.

Last week I spent a hot (yes, it was actually hot in Minneapolis in April) afternoon at the new Target Field sampling their specialty fare for Metromix/Kare11. I have to say that I was really impressed by the variety of foods that the new ballpark offers — Asian food to State Fair Classics to three types of stuffed burgers. I love the ballpark classics, but some of the specialty items really hit the spot, too. Visit Metromix to find out more about the specialty foods at Target Field.

Febgiving was created as a brilliant excuse to gather friends mid-winter (and to gorge ourselves mercilessly on Thanksgiving tradition favorites). Jim and Becca hosted this year’s Febgiving USA 2010 this past weekend, which Kyle and I were excited to attend. A great gathering and some fantastic food!

More photos and info about Febgiving here.

Morocco was the theme of our December cooking club. Kyle and I hosted the dinner and were really excited about the menu, hoping that the flavors would work as well together as we imagined they would. Kyle took care of decorations, bringing almost every candle in our house out and lighting them throughout our kitchen, dining and living room area. He put on some Moroccan club music (courtesy of Pandora) and we were set.

The food turned out even better than I could have hoped. Everyone actually commented that the recipes were very easy and, in fact, were easily prepared in advance so it gave minimal trouble to get ready for the evening. As for serving sizes, I actually told most people not to double their recipes. My plan was for each plate to be small portions that would add up to one large plate of food.

The flavors were fantastic – each dish complemented the others yet was robust on its own. My favorite was the squash and carrot stew, but the lamb tagine was so tender that it’s hard not to mention it as well. As I can’t decide which recipe I liked best to share, I decided to go ahead and share them all.

Moroccan Cooking Club Menu
Dolomint Cocktail
Moroccan Winter Squash and Carrot Stew
Lamb Tagine with Figs and Walnuts
Moroccan Chicken Brochette
Moroccan Stone Fruit Soup

Dolomint Cocktail
Cocktails of the World
30 ml Gin
30 ml Galliano®
30 ml Lime Juice
Soda Water
Mint Leaf
Ice Cubes

Pour gin, Galliano and lime juice over ice into a highball glass. Complete with soda water and rub mint on the edge of the glass. Garnish with a mint spring and serve.
*Amazing cocktail that will definitely be made again in the summer!

Moroccan Winter Squash and Carrot Stew
Bon Appetit, January 2006

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of saffron
1 cup water
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups 1-inch cubes peeled butternut squash (from 1 1/2-pound squash)
2 cups 3/4-inch cubes peeled carrots
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint, divided

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Mix in paprika and next 8 ingredients. Add 1 cup water, tomatoes, and lemon juice. Bring to boil. Add squash and carrots. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.) Rewarm stew. Stir in half of cilantro and half of mint. Spoon into serving dish and sprinkle remaining herbs over.

Quinoa
Bon Appetit, January 2006

1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped peeled carrot
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups water

Rinse quinoa; drain. Melt butter with oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and carrot. Cover; cook until vegetables begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, salt, and turmeric; sauté 1 minute. Add quinoa; stir 1 minute. Add 2 cups water. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.

Lamb Tagine with Figs and Walnuts
Gourmet, Adventures with Ruth (Morocco)

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
2 1/2 lb boneless lamb shoulder cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium red onions, sliced lengthwise
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
12 oz dried figs (about 1 1/2 cups, preferably Calimyrna), hard ends discarded
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup walnut halves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

Lightly toast saffron in a dry small heavy skillet over moderately low heat, shaking skillet, just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer saffron to a small dish, let cool, then crumble with fingers.

In a 12-inch tagine, or 3-qt shallow covered casserole, combine lamb, with oil, onions, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 tsp pepper, and reserved saffron, tossing to combine. Add 2 cups water to tagine and simmer, covered, 1 hour. Add figs and honey to tagine and simmer, covered, 30 minutes longer, checking occasionally toward end of cooking time to be sure tagine is not dry, adding more water if necessary to keep meat from burning and sticking to pot. Simmer tagine until lamb is very tender and most of liquid has evaporated.

While tagine is simmering, toast walnuts in butter in a small skillet, over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until a shade darker, then set aside.

To serve, arrange tomato slices over lamb and top each with a fig. Sprinkle with walnuts and chopped cilantro.

Moroccan Chicken Brochette
adapted from About.com: Moroccan Food

1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into 3/4″ cubes
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients except the chicken. Add the chicken, and mix well to fully coat the meat. Cover with plastic, and leave the chicken to marinate for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Transfer the chicken to skewers and grill or broil about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, or until the meat is done. Serve immediately.

Moroccan Stone Fruit Soup
adapted from cuisine.com.au

2 peaches or nectarines
4 apricots
4 red plums
100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp orange flower water or rosewater
1 tbsp Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp sultanas (golden raisins will substitute for this)
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1 tbsp flaked almonds
1 tbsp small mint leaves

Original Recipe: Slice the fruits in half, remove the stones and cut into segments. Place in a bowl. Combine the orange juice, orange flower water, Cointreau, honey, sultanas and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to melt the honey.

Pour the syrup over the fruit and leave for 10 mins for the fruit to absorb the flavours. Pile the fruits in four shallow bowls and spoon on the syrup. Add half a cinnamon stick to each bowl. Toast the almond flakes in a dry frypan until golden and scatter on top, with a few mint leaves.

Adaptation: As stone fruit is not in season anywhere when we had our cooking club, we adapted with the following. We made the sauce as directed, then served with thawed, frozen peaches and a scoop of cinnamon ice cream (vanilla ice cream would be great too).

*The greens was just kale sauteed with garlic and olive oil. I don’t know how Moroccan it is, but I just felt like we needed something green on the plate.

After grabbing a drink at Prohibition, we headed to Sea Change for a late dinner reservation to ring in the New Year. To start, we ordered from the raw bar – amazing smoked salmon and oysters – and then moved on to the five course tasting menu which featured candied tuna, langostine ravioli, ocean trout, pork cheek and pine nut ice cream for dessert.

Happy 2010!!!

There was a time in the not so distant past when the thought of dining out alone would be cause for cold sweats.

What would people think? Would they stare at me? What do I do? What do I look at?

But, now…I’m over it.

I’ve come to think of this recently, as Kyle and I were eating out a week or so ago, when a solo diner was seated just a couple tables away. This normally wouldn’t catch my attention, except that this particular diner was clearly uncomfortable eating alone.

How do I know?

He talked on his cell phone the entire time. Okay, I get it if you enter the restaurant and you happen to be finishing a call. Actually, no, that’s rude and I don’t understand that either. But let’s say I did. This is a nice restaurant (cloth napkins…you know what I mean) – you just don’t do that.

His talking on the phone was so awkward that the server actually avoided his table for awhile, until it reached to a ridiculous level of avoidance. At that point, she apprehensively approached him to take his order. And what did he do?

He held the phone a couple inches from his ear while he ordered! He then continued talking once she left.

Um, Sir, you might rethink your next solo dining trip and just get take-out.