My husband loves to read the newspaper, which is a good thing. I like to read certain parts but it usually depresses me so he reads and shares things with me and that way I don’t have to get bogged down by all the bad news. He found this Salman Rushdie’s recipe at the back of the Sunday Parade Magazine and said that it sounded good. He loves Indian food and with his birthday right around the corner I decided this would be my special dinner for him.
I bought local lamb at my organic store where I also found the cardamon pods. I’ve never been able to buy safron here so that was the only ingredient I didn’t have. It was delicious and I loved crushing the cardamon pods in my mortal and pestle which looks a lot like this one….
The recipe was a huge hit even with my daugher who didn’t eat the meat but loved the gravy and the jasmine rice. We had some frozen naan from an Indian store in Arkansas to add to the fun!
Lamb Korma
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
1½ cups chopped onion
1 cup clarified butter (melted and skimmed of milk solids)
4 to 5 large cardamom pods (available in the spice section)
10 to 12 small cardamom pods
2 lb lamb, cubed
6 to 8 garlic cloves, crushed
½ inch fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1½ Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp red chili powder
1½ tsp salt
8 oz plain yogurt, lightly whisked
Pinch of saffron
Directions:
1. Brown onions in butter until deep golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and pulse in a blender to form a paste. Crush cardamom; mix into paste.
2. Add meat to pan; stir over medium-high. After a few minutes, add garlic, ginger, coriander, chili powder, and salt. Stir for a couple of minutes. Mix in yogurt. Cover and cook over very low heat, 1 to 1½ hours.
3. About 5 minutes before korma is ready, add onion-cardamom paste and saffron so it can be absorbed by the meat and gravy.
Mine didn’t look like the picture above at all-I didn’t have those tiny peas and carrot cubes and mine had more gravy (I added extra yogurt)-otherwise I thought it would be dry. We loved it and I would make this again.
This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking meme. Click over to see her post-she’s making (my heavens) chocolate-ginger cake! It looks yummy.
Friends of ours came to visit for the weekend. They live in Indiana, own a bakery and are food lovers like we are. My friendship with Barb predates husbands and children, when her and I waited tables together in Denver, CO. Eventually we both married, had children, she and her husband moved back to Chicago and eventually her hometown in Indiana. She is the one friend who’s visited me anywhere I’ve moved and the year we lived in Chicago she drove in often to visit and helped me find local great stores like Stanley’s for produce. Both of us were vegetarians for years (and years)and moved back into eating meat as local options came available. Now she’s added yoga to her morning routine so we sought out a Saturday morning yoga class at a nearby wellness center as my favorite studio held a pregnancy workshop this weekend.
Friday night after school I grocery shopped for two recipes I planned to make, came home and frantically vacuumed (vacuuming is the one thing I do to make my house presentable) the house (with Groovy Girl and Teenage Boy’s help). After cleaning for about an hour (moving piles around) I poured a glass of wine and started cooking, which is truly the *second best reason for having guests over. I picked two interesting recipes that we would eat on Saturday afternoon that wouldn’t involve me being in the kitchen all Saturday afternoon-the easy place to look for a recipe like that is in my Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker book by Robin Robertson. I wanted a recipe I hadn’t made before and the Pintos Picadillos list of ingredients appealed to me. On Saturday right before dinner I also whipped up this Couscous Salad recipe from Super Suppers Cookbook 2 by Judie Byrd-I talked about this cookbook and the Angel Biscuit recipe in another Weekend Cooking post.
We ate both recipes last night with some spring salad greens and a Newman’s Own ginger dressing, which was delicious!!
Everything tasted amazing and all the adults had second helpings. My kids love Pearl Couscous but didn’t love it mixed with all the veggies. Conversation and wine flowed freely as we discussed a variety of topics and played several board games with our children. They headed home this morning and the house is quiet.
Other food-related news: April’s Vegetarian Times magazine arived in my mailbox on Friday and with all the vacuuming, cooking and hanging out I haven’t cracked the cover but I look forward to paging through it today. I checked out two awesome library books the other day…Earth to Table; Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm by Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann and Reducing Your Foodprint; Farming, Cooking, and Eating for a Healthy Planet by Ellen Rodger. I will be reading these this week and I’m shocked that March is almost finished and April is right around the corner!! Hopefully, warmer weather is just as close cuz I’m still freezing here.
Two upcoming Weekend Cooking posts just waiting in my brain…My husband’s birthday was this week and I cooked several of his favorite meals, including Lamb Korma using an expensive cut of (local) lamb from our small organic store and I made Angel biscuits with a group of students after school one day last week. Oh, and I have to make a coconut pudding for a Haitian dinner on Wednesday!
Enjoy a pleasant and peaceful week…
*The number one reason for having houseguests is the shared conversation~sometimes lively, sometimes filled with laughter and sometimes in stillness.
Namaste~
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads-stop over and see what she has to say about pressure cookers and Lorna Sass!
Tonight we had friends over for a casual dinner. It’s interesting how you often make friends through your children…our children are all in the same third grade class and have been together in school since kindergarten. Even though it was casual I did clean my house. I made fresh biscuits and two pans of lasagna. And went to a two-hour 4-H meeting with G.G.
The lasagna recipe I’ve shared before (from The Grit)except this time I did make the tomato sauce but the biscuits were a new thing. The day passed so quickly I didn’t even take any photos which would have been sweet as Groovy Girl took cutting out the biscuits and dipping them in butter under her proverbial 8-year-old wing. There was flour everywhere!! I would make these biscuits again. It made a lot and according to the recipe the dough can be stored in the ice box for 3 weeks, which means you could break out a chunk of dough and make a coupla of them each night for dinner.
That recipe came from a book fair cookbook-on sale for FIVE dollars;Super Suppers Cookbook 2; More Everyday Family Recipes by Judi Byrd. I bought it because I was impressed that it had a vegetarian section and more than a few of the recipes had whole grains and beans. It also includes fun menu plans like for parties or well, um, casual dinners. Just like what we had tonight except tonight our friends brought the side dishes and I just took care of the main course. I did also make biscuits, endamame (our appetizer), green beans (kid-friendly veg.) and a spring mix salad. I have “become” my grandmother who never wanted anyone to leave her home the slightest bit hungry! We had plenty! One couple brought a rice pilaf dish with cranberries and the other couple brought cheesecake with fresh blueberries nestled on top a lovely layer of whipped cream. Yum!
Angel Biscuits
Makes 16 biscuits (I think more)
nonstick cooking spray 5 cups of flour 3 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 1/4-oz package yeast 1/4 cup warm water 2 cups buttermilk Flour for rolling 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
One: Preheat oven to 375 degrees (okay, really you don’t need to do this until you are rolling out the biscuits, but that’s just me). Coat a 13x 9-in pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Two: in a large bowl combine the 5 cups of flour, the baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Three: In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water, add buttermilk. (buttermilk can easily be made with a quick pour of vinegar added to reg. milk). Using a fork, stir until just moistened.
Four: Pat or lightly roll dough to 1/2-in. thick. Cut dough with a floured 2 1/4-in. biscuit cutter, rerolling scraps as necessary and dipping cutter into flour between cuts. Dip each biscuit in melted butter and place in prepared baking dish. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden. Remove biscuits from baking dish and serve warm.
Plan Ahead: Prepare recipe through Step Three but don’t preheat oven or coat dish. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 weeks. (Bake when ready.)
Easy. I used a mix of whole wheat flour and unbleached white (KAF). I was a bit mortified by the dunking in butter so I tried one pan without dunking and they were fine but not quite as delicious/light and fluffy as the dipped. Duh.
Hope everyone’s having a marvelous weekend. Now for the rest of the weekend I plan on resting and finishing the two books I am reading; She Looks Just Like You by Amie Klempnauer Miller and Bright Young Things by Ana Godberson.
Come To The Table; The Slow Food Way of Living edited by Katrina Heron with a foreward by Alice Waters presented by Slow Food Nation easily caught my eye as I browsed the new nonfiction at the public library. This book, filled with 12 California farm stories and a section of delicious sounding recipes, is packed full of information-all that and sage bits of wisdom from Alice to open the book. Heaven.
I’ve enjoyed paging through this book, looking at the earthy photographs of farming people, animals, and the fruits/vegetables of their labor. In each section I’ve found pearls of wisdom that I’m taking to heart. Sometimes it seems when our heart is into something we feel we know all about it. Reading this book made me realize I have so much more to learn about “organic” and sustainable-living. In “How-to: Store it/Saving from Scratch” I read this bit ” It seems obvious, but people forget: You can save a lot of money if you buy food you can store and use over time. For example, beans. Dried beans are far cheaper than the canned ones.”(11)
Reading about the 12 farms was enriching and made me ready to sow some seeds of my own. I can’t have chickens where I live but we do garden and these stories inspired me to try some new plants, to reach farther in my gardening quest. I read about Jennifer Greene, a grain specialist, who decided to see how many people one woman could feed…she says about 100. She grows grains the old-fashioned way in northern California in an idyllic setting. Now I like King Arthur Flour myself but I can only imagine what it would be like to buy flour from a woman farmer just down the road. That would truly be cool. Each farm family has an story worth telling and many have taken over family farms and turned them back to what they were years, and years ago. Funny that a big handful of people knew that what was once tradition would now be new.
At the tail end of the book live many slow food recipes I plan to try over time but not this weekend as Groovy Girl are on our own and we had take- out Chinese last night that did not muster up to what we can make ourselves. I was just trying not to have to cook after a very long day. Hmmmph.
Here is a short list of recipes titles that I’m interested in making:
Eggplant Curry Stew 2 or 3 Chinese eggplants, thinly sliced 1 T yellow curry paste 1 can coconut milk 3/4 cup sliced bamboo shoots 3/4 pound chicken breast and thigh, cubed in 1/2 pieces 3 or 4 lemon tree leaves or 1 stalk lemongrass can be substituted Salt to taste Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and add cold water to cover. Bring the mixture to a low boil, then simmer until chicken is cooked to your preference. Add salt to taste. This thick stew can be served over rice. Makes 4 servings(130) [unless i’ ve recently cooked one of the few organic/local chickens from my freezer i would substitute tofu for chicken]
I’ve never read a recipe for Suckling Pig (Clark Summit Farm) but there is one listed and for dessert, let’s all have California Cloverleaf Farms Organic Cheesecake (Burroughs Family Farm).
Thank you to the library for such a feast of cookbookery!!
This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click to her to find a whole slew of other foodie folks blogging about what they’re cooking up.
Look for it at in IndieBound bookstore near you by clicking on the title/link:
I went to the library today after my 75-minute yoga class. I only went in to browse the new cookbook section and I found 3 good ones to bring home. It has been nice here, which makes me hopeful for Spring, but snow is on it’s way tonight so I thought a few new cookbooks would help my Winter depression.
Clara’s Cookbook (2009) is a small book with big ideas. Clara shares her family’s Great Depression stories with recipes scattered throughout. I’ve had a great time reading her thoughts and I’ve already concocted one of her easy recipes.
Here’s what I made:
________________________________________________________________________
Bay Leaf Tea
Here’s an old Sicilian remedy right from the garden that takes care of sore throats, stomachaches, and the flu…
You will need
Hot Water
2 dried bay leaves
1/2 tsp sugar
Boil the water in a pan [I used my kettle]with the bay leaves. After it boils, remove from heat and pour it in a mug, leaves and all. Add the sugar and drink it slowly. [130]
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
My tea cup is next to me-well, tea cup is a bit of an exaggeration. It is a heavy Harry Potter coffee mug but all the same the tea is delicious. Just what my ticklish throat needed and it made lovely, earthy smell in the kitchen as it was steaming.
Spread throughout the book are little sidebar quotes from Clara entitled “Take it from me” and I have to share a few of these wisdoms:
*If you run out of oil, just add a little water to your pan. It will keep food from sticking-and it’s free. [78]
*If you’re adding meat to your sauce, don’t add olive oil or basil. There will be enough oil from the meat, and you shouldn’t eat basil with meat. Use a stalk of fresh rosemary instead. [95]
and I love this piece of advice from a bread recipe:
From “Ma’s Sunday Bread”: With your hands, knead the ingredients together, adding more water as you go to make the mass more doughy. In all, you’ll be adding about 31/2 cups of warm water. This should take about 20 minutes of continuous kneading. (Pretend you’re mad at someone. This will help the time go faster.) [46-47]
I love kneading bread and this quote made me laugh.
This marvelous little book is broken up into six chapters: Goods from the Garden and “found” foods, Bread, the Magic Filler, It’s a Hot Meal-Stop Complaining, Pasta…Again, A Chicken in Every Other Pot and Sweet Rewards. There are many recipes without meat (good for my family) but the recipe for roast chicken looks especially appealing so I know I’m going to take notes for the next time we have a local chicken in our hands.
In the opening, Clara talks about how this book and her You Tube videos came to be thanks to her grandson, Christopher Cannucciari. Of course, I had to check-out the videos and I found she has quite a few. I share with you her video for couscous:
My tea is done. I’m going to make her pasta with beans for dinner. I hope you’re cooking up delicious things today . Has everyone else already heard about dear Clara? This post is linked to Beth Fish Read’s Weekend Cooking. She shares how to make Lora Brody’s Focaccia with Greens. Happy Cooking!
I got left behind(on purpose) for church this morning because I didn’t get another good night sleep and my throat hurt. As a librarian I use my voice all day long during the week and by Friday night my voice is taxed. This was one of those weeks. As I made bread on Friday night I could feel the scratchiness, which was made worse by staying up late with my non-rising bread. I feel better today thanks to my extra morning sleep, tea and Vick’s.
I have chili on the stove cooking for a late dinner. I googled vegetarian chili because I’ve made all the chili’s from my cookbooks and I was looking for something new. I picked the one with unsweetened cocoa because it sounded warming. I made it as spicy as the recipe called for and hope my kids will try it. I made a back-up small pot of chili without all the spices for Groovy Girl, just in case. I altered the recipe by taking out the bulgar, using only two onions, and I didn’t have any cilantro.
I never (okay, occasionally) cook seperate meals for my children but I wanted the chili to kick and I don’t think she’ll be able to handle it. She likes kidney and black beans and she likes tomato soup so I just basically put those items together for her own chili. Just in case. I’m only going to serve it to her if she complains about the spice. I made cornbread from the directions on Bob’s Corn Meal package. This is a one of my husband’s favorite meals so let’s call it a pre-Valentine treat, shall we.
Tomorrow night we are making homemade pizzas for our family Valentine dinner. I already have the yeast proofing. Love to watch it bubble. Groovy Girl had a special dessert picked out from an American Girl calendar that arrived inside her first issue. I’m more of a bake-from-scratch kinda woman but this little recipe called for a boxed cake mix and canned frosting.
In hindsight we should have done the frosting ourselves because she picked a lemon cake mix and fluffy vanilla frosting for this sandwich cookie recipe. Myself I would have leaned more toward a chocolate cake mix with peanut butter frosting but hey, it was her dessert. We made it just as is but the dough was crumbly and dry so we added some water. They are out of the oven, frosted and hidden so when Teenage Boy and Big Daddy arrive home they won’t be the wiser.
Because I was left home today I had an unprecedented several (!) hours alone to read my book club choice for February; Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger. At one point I started getting a little creeped out so I had to put the book down and fold some mundane laundry. I’m more than 3/4 done and bookclub is still a week away-wow, rare for me. Usually I’m rushing to finish my book over my lunchbreak the day of our meeting.
“A.G. “Sweetwiches”-our Valentine dessert)
How was your Sunday…
Are you ready for Monday?
I, sadly, had to purchase two plastic containers at the grocery store today. I’ve been doing really well on my plastic free February. I guess two isn’t too bad for the first 13 days of the month.
Potato Bread on its 2nd rise-looking plump and airy.
Last week I wrote about an Oooey Gooey Bread but I hadn’t made the bread yet. After making it I had a revelation…I should generally test drive the recipes before sharing. Brilliant, I know. The bread was good but it didn’t rise as much as I expected. The recipe did make three loaves and I did share the love. I took one to church and they ate the whole thing. I took one to school and they ate the whole thing. I have half a loaf still on my counter that we are whittling away at. I enjoyed rolling out the dough and folding it but when I got to throwing down all that sugar into the middle I couldn’t do it. I changed it up, adding the cinnamon and brown sugar but just a little cane sugar. This sugar mix worked for me. The cinnamon was intensely wonderful. I was only disappointed in the rise. I love to watch the rise and this one didn’t do that-it was flat. I’d love feedback on this if anyone has any clues.
In last week’s post I mentioned another potato bread recipe (from Barefoot Kitchen Witch) I was going to try and that one gave a good rise as well as a great kneading experience. I even got my KitchenAid out with the dough hook (first time I used the dough hook) because her photos and commentary told me this would be good. I generally just mix it myself with a wooden spoon or my hands but I liked watching it come together with the dough hook so I might be a new convert. I don’t get my Kitchen Aid out much because it’s heavy and in a tight cupboard space. This bread looked beautiful in the two different rising stages but once I put it in the pan it didn’t rise over the top as much as I expected. I don’t know if it is the yeast or the cold, but my bread is not becoming airy and light, but dense is okay as long as the taste is good. I toasted two slices for breakfast and it was yummy. I plan to try this recipe again.
I made this Baked Penne with Broccoli and Smoked Mozzarrella from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe for dinner last night. It was good but my kids didn’t like it. I left the chicken out and it tasted great (the smoked mozzarella was amazing) for my husband and I. My kids are really in a disappointing eating phase. They eat tofu, endamame, sushi, Thai food but I make a simple baked pasta dish and they squirm. They do not like things mixed up so much. Groovy Girl separated the broccoli from the penne pasta. It is so disconcerting. Hmmm.
First loaf out of the oven and ready to toast.
Hope your cooking up something good.
Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads-click on her name to see her reviews of several story book inspired cookbooks. I would love the Mary Poppins Cook Book.
Happy Saturday.
I’ve been to a 4-H breakfast and two soccer games so far today and still have a speed theatre event to attend
I’ve been writing my review of Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska. I loved this book. When you enjoy a book so much it’s difficult not to share every little thing about it. One of the themes is resounding poverty; the Smolinsky family are poor-1920’s poor. They never know where their next meal will come from. The father studies the Torah and expects his family to work for him; to put food on the table. The mother constantly has to beg the shopkeepers on the Lower West Side of NYC to give her credit so she can feed her family. It begins like this:
I had just begun to peel the potatoes for dinner when my oldest sister came in, her eyes far away and very tired. She dropped on the bench by the sink and turned her head to the wall. One look at her, and I knew she had not yet found work. I went on peeling the potatoes, but I no more knew what my hands were doing. I felt only the dark hurt of her weary eyes. (1)
“We must dry our heads worrying for bread, while they bathe themselves in milk and soak in honey.” (81)
Mother skimmed off the fat part of the potato soup, and carefully picked out all the little pieces of suet and fried onions for Father’s plate, and handed it to him. “Woman!” Father frowned. “Why have you no meat for my dinner this whole week? With the hard brain work I do day and night, I can’t live on the flavour of onions!” (81)
My quest for weekend cooking is to make some bread for this albeit fiction, yet starving family. I can’t resist. They need some good bread. They need a whole pot of potato soup.
My mom gave me this recipe for bread that uses potato water and I’ve been excited to try it. Last time I made mashed potatoes I thought ahead and saved the water.
Ooey Gooey Bread (from Baking with the St. Paul Baking Club)
Makes 3 loaves
1 3/4 cups potato water or 1 3/4 cups water mixed with 2 tsp instant potato flakes
1 3/4 cups lowfat milk
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups honey [local, of course]
1 T. salt
1 cup rolled oats
2 pkgs active dry yeast
2/3 cup bran
6 T wheat germ
1 cup whole wheat flour
7 cups bread flour, about [I don’t buy bread flour so I double sift my KAF]
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tsps cinnamon
Heat potato water, milk, and butter in a saucepan over low heat. As it warms, add honey and salt. When mixture comes to a boil, add rolled oats then remove from heat, and let cool to lukewarm.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Stir in yeast and let stand for a few minutes until softened. Add bran and wheat germ, and then beat in whole wheat and bread flour. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead [my favorite part] until elastic and springy. The dough will be soft and sticky, but resist the urge to add to much extra flour. Turn into a slightly oiled bowl, turning to coat, cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.
Mix together white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Turn dough out onto floured surface, and divide into three pieces. Roll each piece into a 12-inch x 8-inch rectangle and sprinkle with 4 T. sugar mix. Take a rectangle and fold the left third to the center and the right and the right third over that, as you’d fold a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, and roll out again into a rectangle, sprinkling with another 4 T. of sugar mix. Fold as before. Form dough into a loaf shape, and place seam side down in a greased loaf pan. Repeat with remaining 2 pieces of dough.
Cover pans with a cloth, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven. lightly cover with foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until loaf makes a hollow sound when removed from the pan and tapped on bottom. Cool at least 15 minutes before slicing.
This will make a great Sunday morning bread but not the bread I was thinking of for the Smolinsky family. That potato bread I found at The Barefoot Kitchen Witch’s website complete with play-by-play photos: Potato Bread
I’m going to try her recipe as well-maybe tomorrow.
This post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. She reviews $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook; Breakfast and Lunch, which seems like a really useful cookbook!
Happy Baking!
Read Bread Givers-you will enjoy it!
I did make the brownies. They are delicious. I groaned three times while eating my one little square. I forget all the time to photograph my cooking but this time I snapped two pictures as we were dishing them up. Here for your viewing delight…
They are yummy dense squares of chocolate delight. I will make them again. My kids ate them even though they had pecans on them. My daughter and I shared a second one quietly in the kitchen. It’s been a good day and now I’m going to bed, to read. See last post for recipe.
1. Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and her post and review of The Crabby Cook Cookbook is very funny. I often get busted by not reading the whole recipe through and this is how mistakes are made. Click to her post to see the Lemon Drop Recipe she made for herself. Yum and makes me think of summer.
2. I woke up this morning and am still not out of bed. You might think I’m sick but nope just tired, really tired. I’ve not slept perfectly all week. I wake up at like 3:45 a.m. and struggle to get back to sleep. I’m not awake enough to read but not asleep enough to dive back into dreamland. I don’t know how to solve this crazy sleep pattern or what is causing it.
3. We had friends over last night and I made Garbanzo Noodle Soup and a lovely salad. We ended the night with a rousing game of Guesstures. Have you played this game? It is hysterical and perfect for people of all ages to play. Think charades in that you act out the four cards while your cards rest in this mechanical timer, which drops the cards down if you don’t grab them quick enough. It is well worth the $24.00 if your family loves games like ours does. We laughed a lot and I got some great video of several key moments!
4. Yesterday I went for it and changed from blogspot to .com, something I messed with before and vowed to finish before January was over. It seems to have worked out fine except…my blogrolls are gone, toast, NOT THERE…I must have missed that statement in the fine print-just like not reading the recipe all the way through. I don’t know whether to wait and see if they will “magically show up” or start adding them back in. Not what I had planned for my day but it is something I can do from bed so not so bad. I can see snow from all three windows of my bedroom so that is not pulling me up and out. Any ideas, blog world??? I am now peacefulreader.com
5. I do have a lovely dinner planned of Scottish Salmon and a pound of Cod to cook up. I have some organic baked potatoes to make and green beans, snapped and ready to go. I will get up to make these bars later today. Other than that what makes this post worthy of Weekend Cooking you ask?? This dessert. My kids will love me.
1 cup less 1 T all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 1/2 T. unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 1 T. unsweetened cocoa powder, natural
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla
8 regular-size marshmallows
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup chopped bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Line bottom of 8-in pan with parchment paper or foil coated with cooking spray. Leave an overhang.
2. Thoroughly wisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Melt butter in med. saucepan until sizzling. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa, then sugar. (will look like dark brown sugar) Add egg, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir briskly until smooth and glossy. Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Then stir briskly for another 50 strokes. [really??] Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. the batter will be very shallow in the pan. If you have time, cover the pan and refrigerate for a few hours or up to 12 hours. [(This hydrates the cocoa powder and flour and brings all the flavors sharply into focus) Remove from the refrigerater about 30 minutes before baking; preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Quarter marshmellows with an oiled knife [I have some mini-marshmallows to use instead] Distribute the pieces over the batter, pressing them in. Distribute the nuts [i’m using pecans] and chocolate around the marshmallows.
5. Bake brownies unti the marshmellows are golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes. You can use the toothpick method; toothpick will come out still a bit moist. Brownies in a metal pan will bake faster than those in a glass pan. [I did not know this until just now]; if you are unsure, bake a few extra minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack for about 2 hours. Lift the ends of the pan liner and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 brownies.
I did not know they had to cool for 2 blasted hours…I need to get up out of bed and start making these now so they will be ready for dessert. Typing out the recipe does insure that I have to actually read the whole thing and now I have a purpose to get up out of bed. Heave Ho…
Click here…Rocky Road Brownies…if you want the pure unadulterated version, without my crazy comments.
Peaceful Reader 