Dark Chocolate and Cayenne Pepper..

..are an unusual yet perfect combination. I added 1/2 teaspoon to this following recipe.


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats). Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda, and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, and 1 cup brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully combined between additions. Add vanilla; beat to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients; mix on low speed until fully combined. Add chocolate chips; mix on low just until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill until firm, about 1 hour.
In a small bowl using a rubber spatula, stir together peanut butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Drop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart. Make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Fill thumbprint with 2 teaspoons peanut butter mixture. Top with a second tablespoon of flattened dough. Carefully mold dough to cover the surprise.
Bake until firm, about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets, and let cool completely on wire racks.

Labor Day Weekend Dinner

I did a little improvising in the kitchen this weekend with whatever ingredients were in the fridge.

Here's lamb tenderloin on top of israeli couscous, garnished with pomegranate seeds and lamb's ear/frisee, drizzled with saffron yogurt and port reduction.

Momofuku Style..

Here's my version of a Momofuku style sandwich. Rather than using pork belly I marinated boneless chicken thighs in fish sauce, brown sugar and fresh lime juice. Add a few slices of green onions and cucumbers, hoisin sauce if you'd like..

Hong Kong Style Curry Cuttlefish

Nowhere in Philadelphia can we find this wonderful dish. We love the curried cuttlefish that's served at Happy Chef Dim Sum House in Chicago. Notice how A and I ordered two portions of cuttlefish, it's really that fabulous.

Returning back to Philadelphia, we decided to try to replicate this dish at home. The closest I could find is on Eating Club Vancouver's post. The results from our kitchen are captured below, this may be as close as I can get to the original.





Hong Kong-style Curry Sauce
adapted from Maddhur's Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail

3 Tbsp corn/peanut oil
1 Tbsp chopped shallots
5 cloves garlic, chopped
chili flakes, to taste
2 Tbsp curry powder mixed w 4 tspn sesame oil (curry paste)
1/2 cup water/broth
4 Tbsp canned evaporated milk
1 tspn sugar (to taste)
1 tspn salt (to taste)
1 tspn cornstarch dissolved in 4 Tbsp water (cornstarch slurry)

In a pan, heat oil. Add shallots, garlic and chili flakes. Cook until fragrant, a few seconds. Add curry paste and cook for a few more seconds. Add water/broth and evaporated milk and stir until paste has completely dissolved. Add salt and sugar to taste.

For quick cooking items like shrimp or squid, add them at this point. When they are to the doneness of your liking, proceed.

Or, alternatively, one can first stir-fry any meats (sliced thinly) or seafood before making the sauce. Set them aside to make the sauce in the same pan. The stir-fried items can then be added at this point.

If the sauce is not to the thickness of your liking, add cornstarch slurry to the hot/boiling sauce and stir in. The sauce should thicken in a matter of seconds.

Serve.

Hot Doug's in Chicago

On our first day back in Chicago we headed over to Hot Doug's. It was pouring and the line was quite long, about a 2 hour wait. I almost gave up and returned back to the car, but A convinced me to stay. He thought it would be worth the wait for this unique experience eating duck fat fries and a foie gras hot dog. And after having this experience, I feel it was truly unique, a few highlights:


Game of the Day: Elk Sausage! We tried it and it was the best of the three.


Doug himself who takes all the orders from customers.




From Top to Bottom: The Elk Sausage, Smoked Crayfish and Pork Sausage with Cajun Remoulade and Smokey Blue Cheese, and Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris.

Avec: Abstinence from Absinthe

We returned back from our Chicago trip, it turned out to be a wonderful weekend exploring all the old and the new.


One of the new restaurants we checked out in the West Loop area is Avec, which is very similar to Tria in Philadelphia.

{Minimalistic ambience with the Matrix-like wall, a style you'll commonly see in the latest Chicagoland restaurants. }

It's like a casual wine bar offering a pretty extensive rustic mediterranean menu of small dishes, mostly food you would have to share with another. '


They also have absinthe here, I loved the experience but the drink itself isn't too impressive. No hallucinations, thank goodness!


{The neat little setup, with the sugar cube and slow drip absinthe fountain.}

Cooking Light..

We're making our first attempt to cut down calories and this is what we came up with. :) Not exactly a low carbohydrate meal, but definitely a lighter rendition of my cooking. Instead of doubling portions we shared this meal and it was quite satisfying.

We'll be holding back calories for a few weeks, and then we're off to Chicago!
Duck fat fries, dim sum, and delicious pork belly goodness.