Easy Chocolate Cake

I was heading to a dinner party where I had been asked to bring a desert, with about two hours until said dinner party (and hair still wet) I desperately scanned through my Junior League Cookbooks. And then right then and there, as if by magic, or an act of God, I opened right up to Easy Chocolate Cake (Always in Season, page 51). It was perfection, I had everything on the ingredients list on hand and it was chocolate, I really couldn't have asked for more. So of course I am going to share it with you, because we are busy and NEED Easy Chocolate Cake.

Check it out, in all it's rich glory.....



Ok let's begin shall we? Start by grabbing the following ingredients:

• 10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped


• 1 cup butter


• 5 eggs


• 1 1/4 cups sugar


• 5 tablespoons flour


• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder


• Confectioners' sugar for garnish

Start by combining the chocolate and butter in a heavy medium saucepan. Heat over low heat until melted, stirring to mix well.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and thickened. Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and fold in gently. Fold in the chocolate mixture gradually.

Spoon into a buttered and floured springform pan with a 2 3/4 inch side. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes longer or until a tester inserted center comes out with moist crumbs attached.

Remove the foil and cool in a the pan on a wire rack; cake will fall as it cools. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place on a serving plate and remove the side of the pan. Garnish with confectioners' sugar.

Serves 10.

This ended up tasting divine of course, it tasted a bit like a giant brownie! I think in the future I will be sure to serve this with vanilla bean ice cream, OK and maybe even a raspberry sauce. What would you serve it with? Oh please let me know.

Mary.

Chopping Onions

So if you’re anything like me the proper way to chop an onion can be a bit of a mystery…. So I figured why not share the wealth? Ree over at the The Pioneer Woman has some amazing instructions and I decided why not share them with you here? Here it goes…

Start by cutting the onion in half from root to tip


Then cut off the top


Peel the outer layer off


Now make several small vertical cuts all the way through the onion


Rotate it 90 degrees, and slice again. Creating a fine dice.


See it was easy as pie! Hopefully that will minimize the tears by speeding up the process. Mary

Chili Blanco

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is officially winding down, the decorations have made their way back to the attic and the feeling of a long cold winter is starting to set in. I can't think of a better way to get through it than sitting down with a warm bowl of Chili Blanco from the Junior League of Salt Lake City, Always in Season Cookbook (Page 189). So that is exactly what the MMS (Merchandising, Marketing and Sales) Committee did at our last meeting, and then we thought hey we should share this on the blog! And that is exactly what I am doing here. I think it's the perfect dinner for a cold night, don't you?

Here it is, isn't it pretty?

OK let's get to making it! First off you are going to need a few Ingredients

For the Chili

• 1 pound dried small white navy beans
  

• 2 onions, chopped


• 1 (48 ounce) can chicken broth


• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken


• 1 (7 oz) can chopped green chilies


• 6-8 cloves of garlic, minced


• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano


• 4 teaspoons ground cumin


• 1 ½ teaspoons cayenne


• 1 cup sour cream


• 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

For the Sweet-and-Sour Dressing and Tomato Garnish

• ¼ cup cider vinegar


• ½ cup sugar


• Juice of 1 lemon


• 1 teaspoon onion powder


• 1 teaspoon paprika


• 2 teaspoons celery seeds


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/3 cup vegetable oil


• Chopped fresh tomatoes


• Chopped parsley or cilantro

For the chili, rinse and pick the beans and combine with water to cover in a bowl. Soak for 8 -12 hours; drain. (Confession; I won’t tell if you skip this step and use canned ones, because that is of course what I do every time and no one can really tell the difference unless they think they have magically formed into the princess and the pea and we all know the truth about that story). Combine with the onions and chicken broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Simmer for 1 ½ hours. Add the chicken, green chilies, garlic, orgenano, cumin and cayenne. Simmer for 30 to 60 min or until it reaches your desired consistency. Remove from the heat. Stir in the sour cream and cheese until melted. Phew...you're done with the chili! How easy was that?

Now for the sauce….

Bring the vinegar and sugar to a boil in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Combine the lemon juice, onion powder, paprika, celery seeds and salt in a jar with a lid. Add the vinegar mixture and oil and shake to mix well. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week if you so desire. If not you can just combine it all in sauce pan and serve it right away. No you can either combine the dressing with the tomatoes and cilantro or parsley and mix it all together, but I personally like to put the dressing in the bottom of my bowl then add the chili than throw on a few tomatoes and a clump of cilantro on top. It just looks so pretty, and sometimes it’s nice when food looks as pretty as it tastes.

I would love to hear how this recipe goes for you and if you have any trick up your sleeves that just might make it that much better, so please comment away!

Mary

Sauteing

For a Successful Saute

Sauteing. It may sound simple, or maybe you've never even really thought about it before. But I've been thinking there must be more to a successful saute than just dropping meat or fish into a pan and hoping for the best. Here's a great tip I came across to help you get it just right!

Dry the food. If the food is damp it will steam rather than brown. Pat it dry in paper towels, or in some cases season it and dredge in flour before cooking.

Heat the pan. Set the pan over high heat, add the butter or oil, and wait until the butter foam is beginning to subside, or until your fat or oil is almost smoking. Then, and only then, add the food. If it is not really hot, the food will not brown.

Don't crowd the pan. Be sure there is a little space between pieces of food--about 1/4 inch. If the pieces are crowded together, they will steam rather than brown. Don't fall in the trap of adding too much to your pan. Saute in 2 or even 3 batches if necessary, or you'll be sorry.

The frying pan. Get yourself a good solid pan, one that will just hold your food and is neither too big nor too small. I am wedded to my trusty all-purpose professional-weight Wearever aluminum non-stick with its 10-inch diamter, 8-inch bottom, and long handle. I also have the smaller size, 6 inches across, and the larger, 12-inch pan. Note: this is not a fancy "gourmet" type pan, and you'll most often find it in a hardware store.

And....voila! You're now an expert saute-er! Mary

Source: "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes From a Lifetime of Cooking", Julia Child, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.