Comfort Foods and Indulgences

mushroomleekpuddingIf you make anything new this Fall season, make sure it's this. It would also be an amazing addition to the holiday table because it is so dang fantastic. No one is going to be able to keep their fork out of it.

This dish is so good, my twelve year old requested leftovers for breakfast. Go figure. It's just one of those lingering tastes that leaves you wanting more. It's earthy and decadent and received rave, RAVE reviews from my family.

This recipe came from Food Network's Magazine this month (I love this magazine), but I did change a few things. I used a little more bread, regular butter, bacon instead of pancetta, sage instead of tarragon, white wine instead of sherry and more cheese of course. It was perfect, just perfect.

 

Cremini mushrooms are also a nice choice for this dish. They are a little firmer than the white mushroom, so they hold up better. And, they have a fuller flavor.

I placed the hot mushroom mixture on top of the dried bread cubes to cool slightly before tossing with the egg mixture.

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ImageOne of the most classic dishes of French cuisine is coq au vin, that famous stew of rooster braised in red Burgundy wine. Really it does not have to be made from rooster, capon or chicken are just as much called for in traditional recipes. The practice of stewing meat in wine is very much ancient. Coq au vin traces its history back to Roman times when France was a part of Gaul, which combined most of western Europe. This dish doesn't rely on one type of wine. It can be made with any wine, and regions throughout France do make it with their local wines. The two best-known versions are made with Pinot Noir or Riesling.

The region of Alsace specializes in coq au Riesling. Food from this area has a slight German slant, since the province once belonged to Germany. Alsace is a very important wine-producing region, specializing in Riesling, recognized as some of the best all over the world. The wine is used in many traditional dishes such as baeckeoffe and of course coq au Riesling. Braising the meat in wine for a long period not only thoroughly flavors the meat, but it also helps make it particularly tender, especially if your using a tough old rooster.

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darkchocolate.jpgAfter finding the best milk chocolates in one of our most popular taste tests, our editors thought it only fair to find the best dark chocolates on the market. Tasting brands that ranged in price from $1.79 to $7.99, we were pleasantly surprised when two of the top five chocolates came from a surprisingly affordable source -- Trader Joe's!

Though dark chocolate is officially defined as having at least 35 percent cocoa solids, we tested a range between 50 and 85 percent in our quest for chocolatey perfection. We tested only solid dark chocolate bars -- that means no nuts, no fillings, and no added flavors.

Over the course of two days, our intrepid editors blind-tasted 56 different brands. Check out the slideshow below to discover the top 20 performers (and see below for a complete list of all brands that were tested). Where does your favorite rank?

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icecream-cakeGrowing up, summer time meant spending time on Balboa Island.  Some summers, we would rent a house.  Sometimes with another family, yet most summer’s we just rented our own home. We participated in many daily activities; fishing in the bay, riding around the island in a small motor boat, and riding our bikes until the moon was our only light source.

The most important daily activity was eating a “bal bar”.  A bal bar is basically a brick of ice cream with a stick in it.  Then it is dipped in the most amazing chocolate sauce and covered in either nuts or jimmies.  I always went for the nuts (see original ice cream here).

This dessert reminds me of my childhood. For me, it’s all about the nuts. The original bal bar didn’t have cake in it.  However,  topping this dessert off with roasted, salted peanuts brought back some darn good memories!

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drpeppertacosI love Dr. Pepper. I love brisket. I love brie and I love tacos. So, this seems like a pretty logical meal choice...for me! I even add a little chile-lime flavor to the meat and it goes surprisingly well with the brie, which is just a great melting cheese anyway.

I do like to cook my meat in the slow-cooker in Dr. Pepper. The soda concentrates down with a wee bit of complexity and offers a very slight background sweetness to the meat. It tenderizes...it flavors...I'm using the Pepper.

When the meat is done cooking, I remove the fat and pull the meat apart. I place the pulled meat back in the slow-cooker with a slight bit of liquid from the original cooking process and season it with a chile-lime salt called, tajin clasico seasoning. The seasoning, I see it everywhere from Walmart to the regular grocery store. If you do not have it, the same result can be achieved with fresh lime juice, some salt and chile powder stirred into the meat. Just keep tasting and adding until you get the flavor result you are happy with. It's so delicious especially since beef and lime are so classic together.

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