Chocolate Chunk Delight with a Touch of Sea Salt

As the weather gets chillier this week, there's no sense in avoiding comforting, rich foods to keep us warm.  So in the spirit of keeping it decadent, I've decided to share some dessert.  It's in the form of simple, classic chocolate chunk cookies with a twist, which is a sprinkle sea salt.  Dashing this savory ingredient to top of these sweet cookies made them more special and certainly elevated their status to the next gourmand level.

I served them up during last week's Championship Sunday party and the crowd loved them.  They were super-sized and perfect for sharing or breaking apart.  They're nice to dunk in milk or if you prefer them on the chewy side, you can pop them in the microwave for about 20 seconds before serving.

Just make sure to use good quality chocolate.  I prefer semi-sweet chunks, and had also mixed this batch with Vosges' Mo's Bacon bar, which was just pure delight.  

Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies - recipe, courtesy of Bon Appetit

Simply Bodacious Berry Bread Pudding

Since I haven't made dessert in quite a long time, and my parents were having a little dinner party with Dan and my in-laws, I decided to try out a dessert I've had my eye on for quite some time.  Although technically named the Summer Berry Pudding, I don't think it has to be made solely in warm months.  What I truly love about the recipe is that it's a no bake dessert, that tastes absolutely amazing and fresh.

Using the berries that the Bon Appetit recipe suggested, I created layers of this bread pudding, for which the soaking surface was soft, eggy challah bread.  You can also use brioche, but I think that challah is pretty easy to get, and if you have any extra, you can always use it for a yummy butter and marmalade sandwich the next day.

Overall, I loved the freshness and the earthiness of this dessert, and the dinner guests totally echoed my sentiments.  As I saw people reaching over and taking seconds, a satisfied smile spread across my face.  I will be making this again, I thought to myself.

Here's the recipe for your convenience and feel free to substitute with the berries of your choice.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Pasta

While I try to limit my pasta intake, when I do have it, I go all out.  In the mood to make something hearty and colorful (hence the vibrancy of this dish), I found a neat little recipe on bonappetit.com for Creamy Fettuccine with Prosciutto, Asparagus, Mushrooms and Peas.  

I immediately loved all the ingredients in it, as it contained tons of veggies and just a hint of meat from the prosciutto.  Amending the recipe as I usually do, I substituted the cream based sauce for 1% lowfat milk and also substituted olive oil for butter.

My favorite ingredient in this was the asparagus, which came out fresh and crunchy, and the key is using a really good organic kind.  I was also quite pleased with the prosciutto aspect, which I decided to roast instead of sautee, producing that deliciously crunchy texture.  It tasted like smoky bacon, and that's just what I was going for.  After I had a bowl of it, I was completely sated and content.  Bon Appetit to that!

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Pasta (as I'm nicknaming it). Recipe courtesy of Bonappetit.com

Baked Flounder, Caprese-Style

“Hurricane” Irene served us good for one thing, in that it got us to stay home all weekend and cook.  These days with my non-stop schedule, staying home seems to be a luxury so I guess I have the tumultuous weather to thank for letting me slow down and unwind a bit.

In our nesting state, we stocked up on good ingredients to cook with.  As is the norm in our household, we bought a lot of fresh produce, fish and other proteins to sustain us.  I made a baked fish dish for dinner last night that was quite a hit with Dan, so I thought I’d share it with you.

I got the recipe for it in the latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine, which happens to be its annual restaurant issue.  In the particular section where I scoped out this recipe, chefs shared easy, turnkey recipes they often make at home.  This one came from Chef Jason Alley of Richmond’s Comfort restaurant.  Not only is it healthy, but takes about 20 minutes to put together, and the ingredients are most likely what you already have in your fridge.  Hope you give it a try one of these days.

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 lb of very ripe tomatoes, cored quartered (halved if small). I used cherry tomatoes and just halved them (but didn’t core them)
 4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
(4) 6 – 8 oz. boneless flounder fillets

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Toss first 5 ingredients in a large baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spread out in an even layer.

Bake tomato mixture for 5 minutes.  Season fish with salt and pepper.  Arrange fish in a single layer over tomato mixture.  Roast fish with tomato mixture until fish just begins to flake, about 10 minutes.

Moroccan Carrot Soup - A Spoonful of Honey Makes this Soup Go Down

Even though the weather is getting warmer, there are still those iffy in-between days when you don't know what to do.  Wear your heavy jacket or not? Eat a piping hot bowl of soup or not? My answer to the latter is always an enthusiastic YES.  I love soup, and growing up in a traditional Eastern European family, I ate it for lunch (yes lunch, not dinner) every day.

So when I saw this Moroccan Carrot Soup in this month's issue of Bon Appetit, I was intrigued.  It sounded great and quite exotic, through its use of fragrant spices such as cumin and allspice as well as sweet ingredients such as honey.  Yum! I love anything with honey and thought this soup would make a delicious dinner.  It did. Both Dan and I devoured it and especially loved making it a bit creamy with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top.  Don't worry, since this soup is low in fat, you can use a full fat Greek yogurt.  A little fat won't hurt you.

Here's the recipe for you to experiment with.  I recommend eating the soup with grilled pita bread drizzled with olive oil.

I Gave You Blondies, Now Here Come the Brownies

Last week I brought you a really yummy blondie recipe, but this week, it's all about the chocolate with these chocolate-orange brownies.  And no..they're not low fat as the blondies were.  Hey, you gotta let loose once in a while or what's the point?

I absolutely love the classic chocolate/orange combination and really enjoy anything with these two products, be it cookies, cakes, just chocolate and now brownies.  The recipe I used came from the March issue of Bon Appetit from the Reader's Favorite Restaurant Recipes section.  In fact, it's inspired by an Internet Cafe in Bozeman Montana of all places!

Anywho...it's a great recipe and the brownies are amazingly moist and really mouth-watering.  They're awesome with a glass of milk or made into a hot fudge brownie sundae.  But how you indulge in this dessert is up to you. Mmmm...I'm craving a piece now. (5 seconds go by). I just ate one.

Chocolate-Orange Brownies

Inredients (makes 16)

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup boiling water
6 tbs natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup pecans, toasted, chopped (I used almonds instead and I only used 1/3 cup)
2 large eggs
10 tbs (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1 tbs finely grated orange peel (this is the best ingredient!)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 9x9x2 inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray.  Whisk 1/2 cup boiling water and cocoa powder in small bowl to blend.  Whisk sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in medium bowl to blend.  Stir in pecans.  Whisk eggs in large bowl.  Add butter, orange peel and vanilla; whisk to blend.  Whisk cocoa mixture into egg mixture.  Add flour mixture; stir just to blend.  Transfer to prepared pan.

Bake brownies until tester inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes.  Let cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into 16 squares and serve. 

Adapted from Hompage Cafe. 

A Poor Man's Dinner is a Great Man's Dinner - White Bean & Sausage Stew

It's no surprise that I, along with the rest of the country am looking for smart ideas to save money--and especially on food!  So when I recently read a Bon Appetit article about the greatness and versatility of cannellini beans, I was sold.  There are so many amazing things one could do with this bean--its gentle yet satisfying flavor is a great way to fill your belly during fall and winter months.

You could use Bon Appetit's recipe here.  I substituted the regular sausage with chicken sausage (flavored with Italian spices) and made it more stew-like than what the recipe called for.  Serving it with a side of rosemary flat bread from my beloved Artopolis Bakery made this meal complete.  Both Dan and I had no room for seconds, our first helping was that filling.  I strongly encourage it, and hope to make one of their other white bean suggestions such as the white bean and pasta soup.  

Price-wise this couldn't be more wallet-friendly with about $4.00 per person, including all ingredients.