Really Good Chili - No Beans

Alton Brown had a great chili recipe a while back and I tested it on my SO who actually liked it! Yay! I had been sticking to a concoction for years and usually added beans to be healthy but this had no beans, did have chipotle and homemade chili powder. The first time I made it I included the lamb the recipe called for. Didn't care for the flavor with everything else. Left it out on the second round.

Here's the way I actually made the chili:

3 pounds stew meat (beef, and pork)

2 teaspoons peanut oil

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer, preferably a medium ale

1 (16-ounce) container salsa

2 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, chopped

1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from the chipotle peppers in adobo)

1 tablespoon chili powder (see homemade recipe below)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and toss with the peanut oil and salt. Set aside.
Heat a slow cooker on high until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches to a large skillet and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl. Once all of the meat is browned, add the beer to the skillet to deglaze it. Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the meat back to cooker along with the salsa, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, chili powder, and ground cumin and stir to combine. Put on the lid and watch until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cook for 3-4 hours. Remove from the heat and carefully release the steam. Serve immediately.

AB's Chili Powder
3 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced

3 cascabel chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced

3 dried arbol chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced

2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon paprika

Place all of the chiles and the cumin into a medium nonstick saute pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, moving the pan around constantly, until you begin to smell the cumin toasting, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside and cool completely.
Once cool, place the chiles and cumin into the carafe of a blender along with the garlic powder, oregano, and paprika. Process until a fine powder is formed. Allow the powder to settle for at least a minute before removing the lid of the carafe. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Fancy Schmancy Multi Course Dinner for New Year’s Eve

We decided at the last minute to have people over for New Year’s Eve. I had a Costco Christmas so I kind of wanted to cook. Since we were only having two couples over I thought I could go swanky and have multiple courses. Here’s the menu:

Cocktail
Bellinis

Appetizers

Pastry Bites with feta and caramelized onions
Cucumber with smoked salmon and dill cream cheese


Soup Course
Shrimp Bisque
Homemade Onion Rolls

Salad
Spring Greens with raspberries and sugared pecans with raspberry vinaigrette

Entree
Stone Crab Claws
Thyme and Salt Crusted Prime Rib
Green Beans with Shallots and Almonds
Double Stuffed Red Potatoes

Dessert Trio
Tiny Rum Cakes
Peppermint Mousse in Chocolate Cups
Cherry Tarts

I had been watching the food channel non-stop and must have seen Giada De Laurentis make three or four kinds of Bellinis. They looked easy and since they were made with champagne it seemed like a perfect New Year’s Eve drink. I assigned S.O. to the pureeing of the peaches. Not so smooth. Chunky bellinis are not the new taste sensation! I don’t think Giada chews hers. Later I found this 3 2 1 recipe for bellinis which I tested at a friend’s house. They have sophisticated taste so they weren’t fans but I liked it. 3 parts champagne, 2 parts peach nectar (I used well pureed peaches) and 1 part peach schnapps.

I got the idea of crab claws stuck in my head. Bristol Farm had king crab claws for $39 a pound! Ummm out of my league but the stone crab claws were actually affordable. They looked nice but didn’t come out of the shells! New Years Day I boiled them with some Old Bay seasoning and the crab came out much easier when they were warm.

I made the shrimp bisque from scratch. It took more time than it was really worth. I didn’t want that canned soup taste though.

Shrimp Bisque
· 1 Tablespoon butter
· ¼ cup onion, finely diced
· ¼ cup celery, finely diced
· ¼ cup carrot, finely diced
· 1 15-ounce can tomatoes, cut up in pieces (use the juice for another dish)
· 2 Tablespoons olive oil
· 1 pound shrimp in the shell
· 1 tsp Old Bay
· 1 Bay leaf
· 1 tsp thyme
· 1 tsp Emeril’s Essence
· 5 cups water
· 4 Tablespoons raw rice
· 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
· ½ cup heavy cream
· salt and pepper
· ½ cup Sherry

In a skillet, sauté the onion, celery, and carrot in the butter for 5 minutes, until the vegetable are soft, not brown. Add the tomato pieces and sauté for another 5 minutes. Scrape out into a bowl and reserve. In the same pan, heat the olive oil then add the whole shrimp and water. Cook until the shells are red about 4-5 minutes. Peel the cooled shrimp, separating the shells and the meat, and toss the shells into the cooking soup. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and, partially covered, simmer for 20 minutes. When the soup has finished cooking, puree in a blender, solids first (take out the shells), then strain back into the pot. Take half of the reserved shrimp, puree them in the blender (slowly adding enough hot stock to completely emulsify them)--and pour them into the pot. Enrich the soup by whisking in the softened butter the cream and the Sherry, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Let sit, for flavors to blend, until ready to serve. When ready to serve, sauté the remaining shrimp. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the shrimp.
I made my old standby onion rolls. These are made like cinnamon rolls only using caramelized onions. I think they were a hit.

Poppy-Seed Caramelized Onion Rolls
Dough
1 TB sugar
¼ cup warm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
½ cup buttermilk
3 TB room temp butter
1 egg
1 ½ tsp salt
2 ½ - 3 cups flour

I dump everything into my bread maker and let it rise for an hour.

Filling
2 TB unsalted butter
2 TB vegetable oil
2 medium sized onions – chopped
1 TB poppy seeds

Heat oil and butter. Add onion and sauté on low stirring constantly for 20-30 minutes until the onions turn slightly tan. Let cool.

Roll out dough on floured surface into 16 x 10 inch rectangle. Spread with onion filling leaving ½ inch border along one long edge. Starting with long side where filling is even with the edge, roll dough up jelly roll style. Pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 rolls. Dental floss works great for this. If you want smaller rolls make the roll longer and skinnier and cut more than 12. Let them rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Cook at 350° for 15 minutes or until golden. Cooking time varies on the size of the rolls.

It seems that I always add candied pecans to my salads. I have a great way to candy pecans that I perfected in the office microwave.

Take ½ cup pecans cover with water and drain. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and mix in.
Microwave for a minute or two. Watch it carefully or it will burn. When the sugar boils take out and stir and check the syrup. When it reaches hard crack stage pour out the nuts onto foil (Quick Release is wonderful). Cool and you’re done!

SO cooked the prime rib to perfection with a salt and thyme crust.

For dessert I wanted to use a Christmas present of tiny bundt pans so I made rum cakes in them. My recipe is very easy because it uses a cake mix. The little cakes have more surface area to absorb the butter rum sugar mixture than a big cake.

Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
½ cup each rum, water, oil
4 eggs
1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix (I didn’t have this and the cakes came out fine – with the pudding they would have been moister of course)
½ cup chopped walnuts

Mix everything together and pour into greased pans. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake at 325 for 60 minutes in a large bundt pan. 15 minutes in the tiny pans

Rum Sauce
Heat 1 cup sugar, ½ cup butter and ½ cup rum until the sugar dissolves. Pour over hot cake(s)

After the cake(s) has absorbed the syrup unmold them. I made a crunch crust by baking the little cakes for about 5 minutes. They were very addictive since they were so small.



Peppermint Mousse Cups
Ingredients:
· 1 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (¾ cup chocolate melts and ¾ cup dark chocolate chips worked great for me)
· 1/2 cup white vanilla baking chips
· 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
· 1 cup whipping cream
· 2 drops of red food color
· 2 tablespoons crushed candy canes (about 6 miniature candy canes)
Directions:
Line 24 mini muffin cups with petit four paper cups. I melt chocolate in the microwave. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the chocolate into each paper cup. I have some chocolate molds that work well too. With back of small measuring spoon, spread chocolate up sides to within 1/8 inch of the top. Chocolate should be warm enough to spread. Refrigerate about 20 minutes or until completely set.
Meanwhile, in a small microwavable bowl, microwave vanilla baking chips uncovered on High for 1 minute. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the whipping cream, microwave about 30 seconds longer or until chips are melted. Stir in peppermint extract and food color. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Carefully remove paper cups from chocolate cups, or un mold the chocolate from molds.
In a medium bowl beat remaining whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold melted vanilla chip mixture into whipped cream. Spoon or pipe whipped cream mixture into chocolate cups. Refrigerate until serving. Just before serving sprinkle with candy.
I actually made these without the white chocolate the first time – couldn’t find the recipe at a critical moment.I used a bit of gelatin, diluted with water, to keep them set up. They were very light and airy.

Fudgy Cookie Trees

December was full of cookies and open houses. I experimented with the brownies I made for the shower in November and created some cookies for a cookie exchange. My nephew served as guinea pig and declared them "better than Hungry Bear cookies" This from a kid who is not big on sweets!

I was going to cut them with a cookie cutter but decided it's more efficient to cut the triangles out like the picture above. I wound up making these a bunch of times leaving off the pecan trunks and making them smaller each time. I tried cheating with the drizzle by using the royal icing I was using to decorate cookies but the icing bled a bit. Don't be lazy - melt the white chocolate and use that. It winds up much nicer. Here's the whole recipe:

Fudgy Cookie Trees

Shortbread crust
1 cup flour
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup pecans.
Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in middle of oven. Line 13 x 9 inch pan with aluminum foil. In food processor with blade combine above ingredients–reserving enough whole pecans to use as tree trunks, or mix first three ingredients with pastry blender or in mixer and chop pecans finely before adding to crust mixture. Pat into lined pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Layer
12 ounces best-quality chocolate (I used a mixture of Ghirardelli dark and semi sweet chocolate chips.)
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
Melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until mixture is smooth. Let cool until lukewarm. Stir in sugar, vanilla and eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in salt and flour, stirring just until combined. Pour into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out with a few crumbs attached. Let cool completely and cut into triangles.

Ganache
6 oz dark chocolate chips
6 oz cream
Heat cream in microwave for 1-2 minutes. Cream should not come to a boil but should be hot throughout. Pour in chocolate chips and let stand for a minute or two. Stir mixture until it is smooth and a uniform color.

Dip the cooled triangles into the ganache. To make tree trunks insert a pecan in the base of each triangle. Decorate with a drizzle of white chocolate, non pariels or dip the sides in more chopped pecans.

I finally got a chance to make some gingerbread snowflakes with the myriad of cutters I've accumulated and added sugar cookie stars and poinsettias. They looked pretty. So pretty that the hostess of the party took issue with two charming little girls taking them off the plate!

When decorating the stars I wanted silver and gold sugar and discovered that the big sugar crystals can be mixed with luster dust with a slightly dampened knife. The results were very sparkly.

I made royal icing to decorate gingerbread and sugar cookies. I use Wilton Color Flow Mix which can be mixed stiff to outline shapes on cookies or diluted to flow. Here are the instructions:
1/4 cup + 1 tsp water
1 lb (4 cups) sifted confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp Wilton Color Flow Mix

Blend all ingredients on low speed for 5 minutes with an electric mixer.
I use the Wilton pastry bags because they are just easier than the parchment triangles. A number 3 tip works best for piping designs.

Dense Rich Brownies

I'm usually a cakey brownie girl but I wanted to try to achieve the dense brownies I get at Royal Bakery in Ventura. This recipe makes a super moist dark chocolate brownie. Last weekend I made a second batch for a bridal shower and cut them into hearts. Dipping them in ganache and decorating them with white chocolate hearts made them look fancy.

Ganache is just equal amounts of chocolate and cream. Heat the cream in the microwave and add the chocolate. I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips

Chocolate-Fudge Brownies

12 ounces best-quality chocolate (I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips)

3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in middle of oven.
Butter and flour a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
Melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until mixture is smooth.
Let cool until lukewarm.
Stir in sugar, vanilla and eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Stir in salt and flour, stirring just until combined.
Pour into prepared baking pan (release foile works perfectly for this) and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester comes out with a few crumbs attached.
Let cool completely and cut into 24 bars or cut into shapes.

Pumpkin Cake with Orange Glaze

worked itself into great muffins for bruch last month. The orange in the glaze is a nice compliment to the pumpkin. I think I'll do these again for a holiday breakfast.

INGREDIENTS:
Cake:
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
1 (16 ounce) can solid-pack
pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt

Orange Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon grated orange
peel
4 teaspoons orange juice
Chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

1.Pour boiling water over raisins in colander. Drain. Press lightly to remove excess water.

2.Combine granulated sugar, melted butter, pumpkin and eggs in large bowl. Beat at medium-high speed of electric mixer 5 minutes.

3.Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, salt and cloves in medium bowl. Add to pumpkin mixture, 1 cup at a time, beating at low speed after each addition until blended. Stir in raisins with spoon. Pour into muffin tin.

4.Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

5.Combine confectioners' sugar, orange peel and orange juice in small bowl. Stir with spoon to blend. Spoon over top of cake, letting excess glaze run down side. Sprinkle with chopped nuts before glaze hardens.

One Handed Cooking

I haven't been doing too much cooking this summer after breaking my wrist in July. I was wearing a contraption called a wristjack all summer.

Right before I got my device off I did some cooking for a friend's birthday party. It was a Hawaiian themed party and I wanted to see how gumpaste flowers would turn out. I consulted a baking 911 website. There was no way I could mix any from scratch and Confectionately Yours had Bakels gumpaste available Wire and the gumpaste flower tools also seemed like necessary purchases. I used paste food colors and mixed some green and some dark pink dough. It was like playing with play dough. My theory was that it was good therapy for my almost healed hand. Thankfully I was able to locate my pasta maker. Using a heavy marble rolling pin would have been dangerous with one hand. I might have wound up with a broken toe!

The pasta maker rolled out the dough perfectly after it had been sprinkled with a little cornstarch. I was experimenting so I wasn't at all sure how the flowers would turn out. I cut circles and then cut them in half for the plumeria petals. The tips of each petal were cut to make them look more realistic. Then 5 petals were put put together and squeezed at the bottom. The tool called the umbrella tool helped make the centers look pretty good. The petals were a little floppy so I had to prop them in tiny cookie cutters to dry. I free handed some leaves and got the bright idea of cutting the edges with some (brand new-never used) zig zag scrapbooking scissors. That worked great. Freehanding the edges of the hibiscus leaves worked fine. From a whole circle I cut 5 leaves, leaving them attached at the middle. I had molded some sort of a stamen for the hibiscus earlier. If I'd had two hands I might have tried to make them look more realistic, but they looked like the ones on my Hawaii towel. Good enough! I squished everything around these stamens. Bigger flowers were floppier flowers and I was fresh out of tiny cookie cutters, so I used quick release foil and molded it around the flower.

OK, one day later and the flowers really weren't drying very hard. Again, experimenting, I used my toaster oven at 150 for abount 20 minutes. 200 toasted the white flowers a bit. The hibiscus stamens flopped in the oven so I propped them up with more foil. Everthing came out nicely and looked good after I added some yellow to the centers of the plumeria, painted the stamen of the hibiscus yellow and added some red to the middle. Vodka and gel color worked great. Gumpaste holds up on fondant but melts into wet frosting. Adding the flowers to the cheesecakes right before serving would be recommended.

The only other thing I cooked this summer was this coffee cake. Pillsbury is one of my favorites and I've wanted to try this for years. It was a bake-off winner back in 1991.

Blueberry-Poppy Seed Coffee Cake

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 egg
1 1/2 cups Pillsbury BEST(R) All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
2 tablespoons poppy seed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed, drained on paper towels
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Pillsbury BEST(R) All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk, or as needed

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour bottom and sides of 9 or 10-inch springform pan. In large bowl, combine 2/3 cup sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add lemon peel and egg; beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, poppy seed, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add to margarine mixture alternately with sour cream, beating until well combined. Spread batter over bottom and 1 inch up sides of greased and floured pan, making sure batter on sides is 1/4 inch thick.
In another medium bowl, combine all filling ingredients; mix well. Spoon over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 10 minutes; remove sides of pan.
In small bowl, blend powdered sugar and enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or cool.
Yield: 8 servings