Mango and Macadamia Chicken

As you are reading this Taylor and I are off gallivanting in the Italian countryside, eating our way through the country. So please forgive me if I don’t respond to your comments/emails right away, since we are indeed computer-less (and smartphone-less, email-less, and twitter-less – oh the horror!) But we’ll be back soon with a full report of our trip! In the meantime, enjoy!

You could call this recipe serendipity. I’m usually planning our menu and grocery list early Tuesday morning, flipping through food magazines, recipes I’ve bookmarked throughout the week, and simply googling based on what ingredients we already have on hand. Lucky me when this delicious recipe popped up in my reader at that very moment. I had no choice but to include it in our menu that week.

I wasn’t disappointed, either. It was almost like eating dessert. A sweet and sticky fruit salad with chicken.

Next time, I think some quickly braised bok choy would add a delightful bit of vegetation to the dish. Or as Lisa recommends, adding chopped onion would be nice addition to the already robust flavors.

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Mango and Macadamia Chicken

Makes 2 servings. Recipe from Martin Yan via Authentic Suburban Gourmet.

Ingredients:

Marinade
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons soy sauce

3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into ½ inch cubes

Sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons rice wine
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

1 mango, peeled, pitted and cut into cubes
1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:

To create the marinade, combine the cornstarch and soy sauce together in a bowl and stir well. Add the chicken and coat well with the marinade. Let sit for at least 10 minutes.

To make the sauce, add all of the ingredients together and stir well. Set aside.

Place a wok or stir fry pan on high heat until hot. Add the oil and swirl around. Add the chicken and stir until it is no longer pink in the center. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds. Add the sauce along with the cornstarch with water. Continue to stir and the sauce will thicken. Add the mango and stir. Transfer to a large bowl and sprinkle the macadamia nuts on top. Serve immediately.

Seared Rib-Eye Steak with Tomato-Caper Relish

As you are reading this Taylor and I are off gallivanting in the Italian countryside, eating our way through the country. So please forgive me if I don’t respond to your comments/emails right away, since we are indeed computer-less (and smartphone-less, email-less, and twitter-less – oh the horror!) But we’ll be back soon with a full report of our trip! In the meantime, enjoy!

I think it’s about time I did another garden update. Obviously by my lack of posting about it you may have inferred that it was not as successful as I had hoped. While it started out strong, our poor green zebra tomato couldn’t get over its bout with blossom end rot; I think we got one underdeveloped, overly acidic tomato out of it. The cherry tomato plant, on the other hand, did produce a few small handfuls of what just might be the tiniest tomatoes I’ve ever seen. You can see in the dish just how small they are compared to the normal size yellow tomatoes, and these aren’t even the smallest of them (they seemed to get smaller and smaller as the season went on… I mean seriously, if the tomato is only as big as a pea, what good is it, really?) Useful? Not really. But it’s proof that I actually grew something.

And what exactly do you do with half a dozen tiny tomatoes? Well, usually you have to supplement them with some more cherry tomatoes to make anything remotely interesting. Like this dish, which highlights the tart sweetness of the cherry tomatoes beautifully. We’ve done something similar before with fish, the tomato and olive make for a bright and acidic contrast to the tender meat. But frankly, I think I’d like ripe tomatoes and olives on top of just about anything, and indeed, this relish could be used on just about anything, from fish to fowl, beef to bruschetta.

You know what makes a perfect side dish for a summertime steak? Green beans. Three of them. That is, if you’re like me, and didn’t realize that one green bean plant wouldn’t exactly produce the quantity of beans needed for an actual side dish. I got maybe a dozen beans out of it, three at a time. But those three beans were quite delicious, and might give the pint-sized tomatoes a run for their money. Unless of course our single Hungarian hot pepper (which decided to finally make a baby pepper last week after continuously dropping flowers all summer long) puts them all to shame, but that’s a lot to ask of one pepper. Obviously, I have a lot to learn about gardening. Next year?

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Seared Rib-Eye Steak with Tomato-Caper Relish

Makes 6 servings. Recipe from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt, divided
1 garlic clove, chopped
3/4 pound multi-colored cherry tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
6 tablespoons coarsely chopped kalamata olives
6 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons drained capers
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 1/4 teaspoons finely chopped pickled jalapeño chiles
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
3 1 1/2-inch-thick rib-eye steaks (each about 1 pound)
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt and garlic on work surface. Using flat side of knife blade, smash garlic and salt together until paste forms. Transfer garlic paste to medium bowl. Add orange and yellow tomatoes, olives, cilantro, 3 tablespoons olive oil, capers, lime juice, chopped jalapeño chiles, and dried oregano; toss relish to blend well. Season relish to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be prepared 1 hour ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Sprinkle steaks on both sides with cumin, 3/4 teaspoon pepper, and 2 teaspoons coarse salt. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large skillet over high heat until very hot, about 2 minutes. Add steaks. Sear steaks until browned and cooked to medium-rare, 6 to 7 minutes per side. Transfer steaks to cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.

Thinly slice steaks crosswise. Overlap slices on plates. Serve with relish.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

And we’re off! Off to Italy, that is! We’ve been planning this trip for months (though planning is maybe an overstatement, considering we just booked our hotels a few days ago. Oops!) It’s the ultimate trip for a pair of foodies, and we plan on eating our way through the country. But don’t worry, I’ve got a few posts written and scheduled to publish while we’re away, so you won’t go through withdrawals or anything. I can’t say the same for myself, however, since we are going to be technology-less for the entire time. Yep, that’s right, no computer, no smart phone, no email, no twitter. Oh, the horror! At least I’ll have some delicious food to distract me. I’m sure we’ll have a lot to share when we return.

(Oh, and I know some of you may have gotten a sneak peek of this post… apparently once you accidentally click publish there’s no turning back. That’s what I get for trying to plan ahead, oops. Sorry for the tease!)

I woke up one morning with peanut butter cups on my mind. The previous week, I had picked up a container of the best peanut butter cups I have ever had, a title previously held by Trader Joe’s milk chocolate peanut butter cups. These new bites, however, overtook the old favorites in a single bite. Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups, oh how I love thy salty goodness.

In hindsight, and as delicious as these cookies are, if I had known that the dark chocolate cups would be gone from the store the very next week, I would have cherished each and every one of them instead of chopping them to bits and throwing them into some cookie dough. Hindsight. Whatever.

The cookies themselves are a rich chocolately version of your typical chocolate chip cookie. With more chocolate chips. And then the chopped up dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I also think they’d be good with peanut butter chips and/or chopped peanuts as well. A veritable kitchen sink of a cookie.

Which makes sense, considering the original recipe I borrowed called for chopped up heath bars, pecans, and vanilla chips. So I’d say it’s flexible. Go nuts. (Or go chips, go candy, whatever).

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Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups (2 2/3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped peanut butter cups (about 12-15 bite size cups)
1 cup bittersweet chocolate morsels

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl, cream the butter and the sugars until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time and beat thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter cups and chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches in between to allow for spreading. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on sheets for 1 minute, then remove to racks and allow to cool completely.

Mexican Chocolate and Almond Ice Cream

I have a thing for Mexican chocolate. That gritty textured chocolate with a hint of almond and a punch of cinnamon and spice, how can you not? I’ve done cupcakes (which, after all these years are still one of my favorites), and a rich ganache tart… it’s about time it made its way into ice cream.

I finally found actual Mexican chocolate at an international market (or, actually made the effort to look for it). What makes this chocolate different from your typical baking chocolate is the texture. It’s rough. Gritty. You can feel the grains of sugar in your mouth. It has a hint of cinnamon and almond, and sometimes even a bit of spice. It’s these extra flavors and the raw texture that make it so unique.

Yes, you can always “fake it” by using regular chocolate and adding spices, but if you have an international market, or even a regular market with a robust international aisle, definitely make the extra effort to find the real stuff. It’s meant to be melted down into a hot chocolate-like drink (must try this once things cool down a bit more), but I can imagine there are a myriad of other ways to use it.

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Mexican Chocolate and Almond Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart. Recipe from The Kitchn.

Ingredients:

3 cups half and half, divided
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
5 ounces Mexican chocolate such as Ibarra or Abuelita, or good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces (about 1 heaping cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 cup sugar
5 large egg yolks
pinch salt
1 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine half of the half and half with the cocoa powder and simmer over medium-low heat for about a minute, stirring with a whisk until all the cocoa lumps are broken up. Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate, stirring until pieces are melted. Stir in vanilla or almond extract, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

Whisk together the sugar, egg yolks and salt until pale yellow.

In another medium saucepan, bring the remaining half and half to a simmer over medium-low heat.

Once milk mixture is hot, remove from heat and slowly pour into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour milk and egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until it registers 170°F on thermometer and a finger drawn across the back of the custard-covered wooden spoon leaves a mark.

Remove from heat and pour through a fine-meshed sieve into a large heat-proof bowl. Pour in chocolate mixture, scraping with a spatula to get ever last bit. Whisk until custard is smooth. Stir in sliced almonds. Set bowl over ice water bath to chill for 15 minutes.

Once ice cream base is cold, cover and place in the refrigerator to chill completely, at least 3 hours or overnight. Once chilled, freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.