In honor of love

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and marketed love is in the air. And you know what? So what. I love a day dedicated to love. I love the crafts we did as kids, I love getting little pink/red/white/cutesy things for my friends and loved ones, I love the cheesy store bought valentines, I love an excuse to focus on sweetness. Yes, of course I want it year round, but I do look forward to the day dedicated expressly to it.
Quinn and I watched Iron Chef battle chocolate (copycats) last night since the Food Network gets all chocolatey this time of year (I watched Sandra Lee make an entire chocolate meal on Saturday). As an aside, I'd like to point out that some of the ideas totally stole from our ideas at the Glorious Battle Chocolate of last month. One of my favorite magazines, Real Simple, also has a great homage to all things Valentine's Day Dinners Cooked At Home For Your Sweetie. Seven different menus await and I totally can't decide which one sounds best.

Award Winning Chocolate Mole Chicken Enchiladas

Okay, maybe just accolade winning, but still. Here is K-No's amazing recipe. I can personally attest that leftovers are every bit as tasty as the first go round. I am so wishing I had brought some for lunch today. What was I thinking?!
Please note, that she cooks like I do - a recipe offers some guidance, and then we tweak and taste as we see fit. Leave me a comment if you have questions and I'll see if I can get an answer. If you're leaving a comment after 2009, I make no promises.
Also, for you non cookbook devotees - big T = tbsp, little t = tsp.

CHICKEN MOLE ENCHILADAS
Makes two 9x13 pans (ed note: !!!!)
KN’s notes:
• wear clothing you do not care about as this is not necessarily a “clean kitchen” recipe!
• It does take some time to allow the mole sauce to really come together – it is ok to prepare in advance and leave in the fridge for 1-2 days prior before baking.

MOLE SAUCE
2 c finely chopped onion
6 T chopped garlic
2 t dried oregano
2 t dried cumin
2 t cinnamon
2 14.5 cans roasted tomatoes (oven roasted tomatoes are important in the sauce taste)
4 T red chili powder
2 t sugar (optional)
4 c chicken stock or water (I prefer stock for better flavor)
4 oz dark chocolate (I try to use 72% cacao); chop into med-small pieces to melt easily

Heat oil over med low heat in large saucepan
Add onion. Sauté till translucent (a few minutes)
Add garlic, oregano, cumin, and cinnamon; stir all together to coat onions
Cook and cover till onion is almost tender, stirring occasionally
Puree tomatoes separately in a food processor
Add tomato puree to onions / garlic mixture; cook
Add chicken stock; cook at rapid boil
Lower heat to medium boil; allow sauce to reduce
Start adding chili power, 1 T at a time; taste as you add till you feel the flavor is right
Add 1 t sugar if necessary to cut acidity of tomatoes
Thin with water or chicken stock if necessary to prevent from being too thick
Whisk in dark chocolate
Season with salt / pepper

*Note: Make sure to let sauce continue cooking; thicken to medium consistency. If you need, add small amounts of tomato paste, sugar, broth, or chili powder to get the desired taste / texture. Stir occasionally while reducing the sauce. Be careful in adding the heat elements as you can always add more but it is hard to take it out! I sometimes use up to 1T cayenne pepper instead of all red chili powder. Your discretion. (ed note: ancho chili powder could work nicely as well)


CHICKEN FILLING
1 ½ - 2 pounds chicken breast
Salt and pepper
2 t cumin powder
2 t garlic powder
1 t Mexican Spice Blend
• Note: (I use equal parts chili powder, oregano, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c frozen corn, thawed
5 canned whole green chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped
4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced
1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 t all-purpose flour (optional)

Coat large saute pan with oil.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink.
Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices before turning.
Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.

Saute onion and garlic in chicken drippings until tender.
Add corn and chilies. Stir well to combine.
Add 1 ½ c mole sauce (from above recipe), stir together, cook 1 minute.

Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips (hand shredding is messy and takes time but is worth the effort. I shred fairly small pieces to make it easy to eat).

Add shredded chicken to saute pan, with mole sauce and vegetables; allow to cook together and mix well.

If your mixture is really runny, you can dust with the flour to help it set. I usually skip this step.


ASSEMBLY
16- 24 tortillas – I prefer flour
Mole Sauce
Chicken Mixture
1 – 2 cups cheddar and jack cheese, shredded – I like to add a fair amount of cheese.

Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. I prefer to heat each tortilla individually in the microwave as I go in the assembly process.

Coat the bottom of 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce.

Using a large shallow bowl, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat. Note: I just insert the tortilla directly into the large pot of mole sauce and using tongs to minimize the number of dishes. It is very important to make sure that both sides of the tortilla are lightly but completely coated in the sauce.

Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Add small amount of grated cheese on top of chicken.

Fold over filling, place 8 enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Note: I place mine slightly overlapping each other in the pan almost like they are in diagonally.

Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. Note: sometimes I have just enough sauce, others times I have a lot extra. Use your judgment when adding sauce on top to have a nice covering but not drowning!

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts.

Garnish with cilantro, scallion, sour cream and chopped tomatoes before serving. (ed note: and avocado!)

Cocoa Rubbed Pork with Chocolate Barbecue Sauce

This bbq sauce is seriously going into rotation. Even before I added the chocolate it was amazing, so feel free to do it either way. This is the only recipe I followed for this dish, with the small tweak of the cilantro. Because I know not everyone is a fan, I just added a sprig on top for garnish.

Dark Chocolate BBQ Sauce
1 tablespoon butter, soft
4 each garlic cloves, minced½ each Spanish onion, small dice
2 each Roma tomatoes, stem removed, small dice
1 ½ oz. dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons ancho chili powder
4 oz. apple cider vinegar (I had orange muscat vinegar on hand, so that's what I used. I think the orange flavor was a nice addition)
8 oz. barbeque sauce
14 oz. vegetable stock
¼ teaspoon cumin, ground
¼ cinnamon, ground
1/8 teaspoon cloves, ground
2 oz. SCHARFFEN BERGER (or any good quality) 82% dark chocolate
2 tablespoons cilantro, fresh, chopped
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper, fresh ground

Melt butter in small sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, sauté 5 minutes until golden brown. Add tomatoes, stir, and sauté an additional 5 minutes. Add sugar and chili powder, mix well, and cook for 5 minutes. Add vinegar, reduce for 5 minutes, mixture should have a paste consistency. Add sauce, stock, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper. Mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce to a slow simmer for 30 minutes.
Add SCHARFFEN BERGER chocolate and cilantro; allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove sauce from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Puree sauce, strain to remove any little bits if you'd like a smoother sauce, transfer to a clean container and cool.

For best results, refrigerate for 12 hours before using. Reheat when ready to use.

Cocoa Rubbed Pork Loin
I'd really recommend asking your butcher to french the loin for you, doing it yourself takes some time and really sharp knives.
I had a four pound bone in pork loin, and frenched it myself. It wasn't as clean as it could've been, but it was my first time.
Once it was frenched, I patted my rub (recipe below) all over it. I placed it in a shallow roasting pan on a bed of quartered onion and a few cloves of garlic with about half a cup of stock, bone side up.
I then roasted it at 350 for an hour - an hour and a half, until my thermometer told me it was at 160. I then removed it from the oven, covered it with foil to keep it warm and allow it to finish cooking to a temp of 170. Once it had been out of the oven for 15-20 minutes or so, I sliced each chop for plating.

Rub
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli)
1/4 Kosher salt
2 + tsp crushed chili flakes (I used two, but think I might up it a bit next time)
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tbsp sugar

I added all of these ingredients to a small jar with a lid and then shook to combine.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes
3 lbs cooked sweet potatoes (boil, nuke, however you do it)
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cumin
I may have added some clove too, I can't remember
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Roughly smash up your potatoes while still hot, add other ingredients and mix to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Seriously, don't skip this part since I'm only guessing at what I did.

For plating, spoon a large scoop of sweet potatoes on to plate, sprinkle potatoes and plate with cocoa powder. Nestle a pork chop on top of the potatoes and pour 1/4 cup or so of bbq sauce on top. Garnish with cilantro.

Deconstructed S'More

Who knew how easy it was to make marshmallows? I remember watching Ina do it once, so I hunted down her recipe and added my own Girl Scout flair.

Homemade Graham Cracker Coated Marshmallows
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 packages of Graham Crackers, crushed into fine crumbs (or Confectioners' sugar for dusting if you're going traditional)

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and allow to sit while you make the syrup.

Line a glass 8x12 pan with parchment or wax paper to allow for easy removal. Sprinkle one half of the crushed graham crumbs on the bottom.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Pour the marshmallow batter into the glass pan on top of the cracker crumbs and smooth the top of the mixture with damp hands. Sprinkle on the rest of the crumbs. Allow to dry uncovered at room temperature overnight. I have yet to figure out how to get the crumbs from going soft, but the flavor is still awesome.

Remove the marshmallows from the pan and cut into squares. Roll the sides of each piece carefully in the crumbs left on the bottom of the pan. Store uncovered at room temperature.

Drinking Chocolate
Okay, this is going to be tricky as I have no idea what I did. I broke up and used half of a Cost Plus 82% dark chocolate bar; 2 Scharffen Berger semisweet bars (2 oz. each); and half of a TJ's milk chocolate bar. I think I had a total of 8 oz of chocolate but you could easily grab a 12 oz bag of semisweet morsels (the good stuff - no Hershey's please) and go to town. I had this over low heat and once it began to melt, I began adding 2% milk very slowly, stirring thoroughly between additions. I'd guess that I added around two cups of milk. Be careful here - as Quinn learned, it's really easy to break a ganache if you're not careful, and with the first few additions of milk this is really just ganache with milk instead of cream. I added a dash of cinnamon and a tsp or so of vanilla extract, stirred well and poured into small sake cups to serve alongside a few of the marshmallows. Taste it along the way before you serve it; you'll know when you like it.
** Update **
And the salt! I forgot about the pinch of sea salt.

Iron Chef - Battle Chocolate - Part Deux

(peep the big winner chocolate chile mole enchiladas up front, and the architectural phenomenon Aztec temples behind them to the right!)
Well, it's finally over and my efforts were somewhat rewarded. I got a nod for originality on my dessert, and for plating on my pork (yes, I went with pork, even though I spent $40 on lamb first). Quinn was called out for plating of the Secret Treasure of the Aztec Temple and an Angry Conquistador, and Manders scored for originality with her chocolate/brie/basil grilled cheese. I must say, AO's white chocolate creme brulee was my favorite dessert of the evening.
The lovely K-No took the overall title of Iron Chef. I'm trying to coax them all into giving me their recipes to post here so stay tuned. Here is the breakdown of dishes:
Me - Cocoa rubbed pork tenderloin with chocolate barbecue sauce on a bed of smashed potatoes & The Deconstructed S'More
Manders - Chocolate grilled cheese with tomato soup dipping sauce & Chocolate pot roast
AO - Chocolate Curry Beef with brown rice & White chocolate creme brulee
K-No - Chocolate mole enchiladas & Chili chocolate pot de creme
Quinn - Pepper crusted beef tenderloin with pumpkin ravioli and glazed sweet potatoes & TSTotATaaAC

Iron Chef - Battle Chocolate

In the preparation for Iron Chef Battle Chocolate, my mind was swimming with possibilities, questions, outlandish combinations. . . all in the hopes that something would grab me and scream, "YES! I WILL BE DELICIOUS!"
First I thought beef tenderloin with a dark chocolate/coffee glaze with lots of pepper would work.
Then I saw a duck breast with a cassis sauce that I thought could easily blossom with the addition of some chocolate.
How about chocolate bbq sauce, on pork loin perhaps?
A play on Moroccan flavors with a chocolate cinnamon dry rubbed lamb kebab with either a chocolatey couscous or savory chocolate dipping sauce?

I thought I was clear on dessert - my standard, ass kicking Chocolate Ganache Pie with Raspberry Coulis. Pros - I know it's awesome since I've made it several times. Cons - is it awesome enough for Iron Chef? There is some stiff competition this time around!
Then I remembered back to my Chantico love affair of years past. What could I pair with drinking chocolate, hmmm. . . well something marshmallow graham crackery of course. But WHAT?! What little bite sized morsel can I make to go with the dark, rich, creamy drinking chocolate? What would Chantico be proud to be paired with and not feel justified in punishing me for? (side note - Chantico is my new favorite goddess; I'm stingy with my stuff too, and I thought that was because I'm an only child, but it's probably just my Mexican heritage). I wracked my brain trying to figure out the best way to combine the two things into an easy bite, and I think I decided upon homemade marshmallows (which I have never made) coated in graham cracker crumbs. Dear Chantico, wish me luck.

I find out Quinn might be playing with beef, so I scratch that off the list. That darn serial dater posted a Yelp search for where to buy duck so after I screamed at her I scratched that off too, since that was the one I was leaning toward.
Could my beef or duck kick their beef or duck's asses? Possibly, but who wants duplicate dishes? I want VARIETY! I want NOVELTY! This is chocolate after all. How to decide? I need to shop in two hours! Maybe I'll take a little trip to Antonelli's and see what they have and let that guide me.

Strawberry & Avocado Salad

Once upon a time, I won Iron Chef: Battle Avocado. You're correct in assuming it was not the HGTV or even actual Japanese version. Birds of a feather flock together, and several of my friends are also foodies that like to cook and kick ass (or eat). Enter the best of both worlds - Iron Chef competitions. Anyhoo, out of three, I've only won once (ONCE!), but it was the first one, so I wear my chef's hat proudly.
One of the dishes I made was this fab strawberry and avocado salad. I believe I was inspired by this recipe from All Recipes, but I cannot remember what I did to tweak it or put my own spin on things. I've looked over the recipe again, and quite honestly, it looks awesome as is. The only thing I may have done was to eyeball all of my measurements instead of following along and maybe throw in some cheese. Shocker, I know.

Strawberry and Avocado Salad

• bag of spring mix salad
• an avocado - peeled, pitted and chopped or sliced
• 2 c or so of sliced strawberries (washed, hulled, etc.)
• roasted or candied pecans - I'd caution against the candied version if you're making the dressing on the All Recipes site. Way too sweet. In fact I'd suggest you start with 1 tsp of sugar and add more to taste. I tend to stick with honey for sweetening my dressings.
• blue cheese or goat cheese
• dressing

It's really as easy as that. The amounts on everything are to your personal preference. If you like a lot of nuts, go for it, if you like more strawberries, be my guest. I went with about equal parts avo and berry and maybe 1/4 cup of nuts.
I really like Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette dressing for salads like this (there is even a strawberry on the label!). That one would be great, but you could also pick up a prepared balsamic or raspberry vinaigrette.
* an aside - the Brianna's website says the Blush Wine Vin. would go well with wild game and man oh man, my tastebuds are thinkin' they're right. I'll have to try it.
If I was making my own I'd probably go with a nice sweet & tangy one, mixing honey mustard, aged balsamic (or a gourmet flavored version), olive oil, s & p and a little bit of honey.
Keep in mind that the more sweet things you add, the lighter the dressing should be. If you're using avos, strawberries, blue cheese and candied pecans, you wouldn't want a really thick powerful or overly sweet dressing. If you want to go with that kind of dressing, try to make the salad a bit more savory by using roasted nuts, and maybe feta instead of blue. And we all know goat cheese can go on anything.