twd: Brownies for Julia

Thanks to Tanya of Chocolatechic for this week's pick - Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia. Quite an appropriate pick for Chocolatechic - these brownies are definitely chocolatey and fudgey! I love gooey brownies and these are very gooey but still light with a lovely paper thin layer of crackle and crunch on top. Yum!The brownies don't look as good in the pictures as they tasted. Did I mention these were gooey? Which meant they didn't want to be cut in uniform little squares. Hey, I like brownies that are outside of the box. Plus, they were still warm when I cut them - straight from the oven! My mom was passing through and stopped by for dinner so we got to make these brownies together as the Mahi Mahi and veggies cooked. We both started out with two brownies...then had a third...and I do believe I had a fourth as well.

Mahi Mahi and Oven-Baked Potatoes

The other night my mom was passing through, and stopped by for dinner. As soon as I got off work, I rushed to the farmer's market and picked out some Mahi Mahi. I had to psyche myself up to go in among all the raw fish on ice and smells.

I have no idea how to pick out fish so I just tried to point to pieces that had more vibrant color...as if a dead fish could be vibrant...but at least the less gray pieces. Yikes.

I gave it a dry rub of cumin, chili powder, salt, and black pepper, doused it with olive oil, and stuck it (skin-side down) in a 375 degree oven for about half an hour.

Keeping it company, was a pan of sliced potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions, also doused with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. The potatoes mix cooked for about forty five minutes. Add steamed broccoli with lemon and dinner was served.

It was actually a really easy dinner to throw together, and the fish was worth the trouble and the fish market smells! Seafood is the only meat I eat (I'm a pescatarian) and I rarely do so, and always at restaurants. I'm going to try to eat fish once a month to get my omegas and heart healthy stuff so being able to pick and prepare it will be crucial. I feel like I have started to cross a barrier. Yay - it's a good feeling.

twd: Coco-Nana Bread

A big thanks to Steph of Obsessed with Baking for this week's pick. I know it caused quite a divergence of opinion among the twd bakers, but let me just say - chocolate & banana is an AWESOME combination!

This cake was delicious. I wouldn't mind it having a stronger banana taste. Although Dorie considers this a breakfast loaf, it's total dessert for me. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating it for breakfast.

I made half a recipe which made two mini loaves and 4 cupcake rounds. It was surprisingly satisfying.

twd: Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

This recipe caught my eye on my first flip-through of Dorie's cookbook.

Oatmeal, chocolate, peanuts, raisins - did someone say candy bar?

Instead of using a regular pan and cutting bars, I layered the mixture in a cupcake pan. It worked perfectly for individual treats.

Its really good. Though mine needed more chocolate in the middle. It all seemed to disappear during baking.

twd: Mrs. Vogel's Scherben

These lovely little fried dough straws could also been called "Funnel Cake Cookies."

There are super easy, except for the part where I dodge flying specks of hot oil while dropping in the dough. But hey, it keeps things interesting.

I'm surprised these aren't sold at fairs, in little paper cones as an alternative to the whole tangled funnel cake. My cookies weren't that sweet. I think my "large pinch of sugar" should have been a little bit bigger. So I made up for it with the cinnamon sugar and powedered sugar added afterward. It seems like a recipe that gets better the more you make it, and get a feel for proper amounts of flour and sugar and salt. That's basically all it is. Yet somehow, when it's fried, it's delicious.

I love fried dough things. I think we need a specific word in English, like freigh or frode. Or doughfries. Or doufies. Or perhaps it's better not to.

Happy Birthday TWD! Tarte Tartin

It is the two-year anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie! A big thanks goes out to Laurie for starting the whole thing, and to all the twd bloggers for making it great each week. Oh, and Dorie Greenspan too, for the cookbook in the first place.

Instead of a regularly scheduled pick, everyone got to vote on a recipe. The winner.....Tarte Tartin! Okay, so I may be the only one, but I hadn't ever heard of it before. I love Dorie's story about it's origins in Paris. It seems the Tartin sisters forgot to put the pastry dough in first, and realized it after the apples were in the pan. Being a bit creative, they flopped it on top and turned the whole thing upside down.

Which is great, because it's really simple and really tasty!

I'm not sure about the color of mine. I'm thinking I didn't let the sugar caramelize enough on the stove before putting it in the oven. I thought it was a deep caramel color, but honestly, it was a little hard to tell with all the butter and apples.

Or perhaps it was the pan I used. The recipe calls for a cast iron skillet, which is so exciting because I love cast iron skillets and have one that I tempered years ago and have used maybe once. Well, I thought I'd tempered it properly. But today, as I dug it out, I remembered that the last time I saw it I noticed rust. Yep, rust. So I used an aluminum pan instead.

Of course I ate some straight out of the oven. I was on the way out the door for dinner with a friend, and so I quickly cut it up and dumped it in a container. It's rather like cobbler now. Only more Frenchie. ;)

Happy 2010!!!

As per tradition, gotta have the greens and the black-eyed peas. Yes, I would like the economy to bounce back and the more greens you eat, the more greenbacks will come your way. The peas, as mere coins, aren't quite as important.


As what goes better with greens and black-eyed peas than cornbread and gravy?
Rosemary cornbread and curried gravy perhaps?


5-Spice Black-Eyed Peas

Sautee onions and garlic in a little oil
Add Chinese 5 Spice, salt, and pepper to taste
Add black-eyed peas and cook until tender
Add tomatoes at the end, and let cook for about five minutes

Curried Gravy

Brown flour in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly
Add salt, pepper, and curry powder to taste and brown until the flour is a nutty, medium brown
Add milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps

Rosemary Cornbread

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/6 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
fresh rosemary, about 1/8 cup

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and butter or line a muffin pan. This recipe made 5 cornbread muffins.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the butter begins to brown, add the fresh rosemary. Continue cooking about 10 minutes until it turns a light brown and has a delicious, nutty aroma. Filter out the rosemary, but keep all the browned milk solids.
3. Whisk together the eggs and milk. Drizzle in the butter, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the eggs.
4. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir just enough to form a batter. It will have a few lumps, which is fine. Overbeating could make the cornbread tough.
6. Pour into the pan and bake about 25 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
7. Serve forth while still hot, with lots of good sweet butter. I stirred together some butter, honey, and cinnamon and slathered it on. Very good.