Chocolate Truffles

I hope Mom doesn't look at this post before her birthday, because this is her present.

G suggested making Alton Brown's Chocolate Truffles few weeks ago. I finally got around to it. He loves them, but they are too *gasp* rich for me. I do have to say, that they were the best I've ever had though.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Pulled-Pork Sandwiches
reprinted from Martha Stewart's Food Everyday


Ingredients
Serves 6
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
coarse salt and ground pepper
3-pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
Tangy Red Cabbage, for serving (see above; optional)
6 crusty white rolls, split in half horizontally


Directions
In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, stir together 1/2 cup ketchup, sugar, garlic, sage, oregano, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cut pork in half lengthwise; add to slow cooker, turning to coat. Cover, and cook on low until meat is very tender and falling apart, about 8 hours (or on high for 6 hours). Meanwhile, prepare Tangy Red Cabbage, if desired.
Transfer pork to a large bowl. Using a large spoon, skim off and discard any fat from surface of cooking liquid. With two forks, pull meat apart until shredded. Pour any juices from slow cooker over pork, add remaining cup ketchup, and stir to combine; season with salt and pepper. Spoon meat onto bottom half of rolls; add red cabbage, if desired, and top of roll.

Tangy Red Cabbage: In a medium bowl, toss 1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage with 2 tablespoons cider vinegar and a little coarse salt. Let stand until soft and bright in color, at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

In the Oven: Preheat oven to 350. Follow step 1, using a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid instead of the slow cooker. Add 1 cup water, and cover. Transfer to oven; cook until pork is tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Proceed to step 2.


I made the crusty rolls from our homemade bread dough stash. Just shape a couple of orange-sized handfuls and place on floured pizza peel. Rise for 40 minutes, slit the top and bake for about 25 minutes.

Sake, Salmon, Sushi

How much easier can it get? You don't even have to cook it!!!




Sushi Rice
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005

2 cups sushi or short grain rice
2 cups water, plus extra for rinsing rice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Place the rice into a mixing bowl and cover with cool water. Swirl the rice in the water, pour off and repeat 2 to 3 times or until the water is clear.

Place the rice and 2 cups of water into a medium saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes.

Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl and heat in the microwave on high for 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer the rice into a large wooden or glass mixing bowl and add the vinegar mixture. Fold thoroughly to combine and coat each grain of rice with the mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature before using to make sushi or sashimi.


I didn't have rice vinegar, so I just substituted a little less apple cider vinegar and it was fine. Wet your hands to handle and shape the rice.

November Frost

I know it's January, but the frost was really cool.

Tortas de Aceite

G and I just happened by Garden of the God's Gourmet in Old Colorado City. The place is a catering joint, but will make you a sandwich on the spot. They also have samples of a lot of their catering out for you to try. I picked up a cracker from one bowl and liked it. G tried one and fell in love and bought a package. The package was Tortas de Aceite by Matiz, made in Spain. It cost $10 for 6 tortas. Let me tell you, they are delicious. I do not normally like anise, but these were yummy with coffee or milk. Since we are trying to save money AND buy local, I tried to make some of these. I found a couple of recipes and both were kind of close. My first batch was too floury, doughy. The second was too thin. Neither had quite enough anise flavor.

Matiz makes these both sugared and savory. The savory are just without the sugar and almonds on top, so you can eliminate them if you want to use them for something like tapanade.

Here is what I finally came up with:


Tortas de Aceite

1/4 olive oil
Peel of 1/2 lemon
2 t anise seeds
1 T sesame seeds
1.5 c flour
2 t yeast
1/3 c warm water
2 T Anisette liqueur
1 T sugar
pinch salt
coarse sugar to sprinkle
crushed almonds (optional)

Heat olive oil w/ lemon peel to medium-high heat until peel turns black.
In the meantime, combine sesame and anise seeds and lightly crush.
Remove oil from heat. Remove peel from oil. Add seeds to oil and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In medium bowl, add rest of ingredients with oil & knead gently. Separate into small balls, about the size of a walnut. Roll into a 4-5 inch round. (I dipped my finger in olive oil and spread it on the rolling surface in between each round, to keep it from sticking) Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Optional: Sprinkle with sugar and almonds.

Bake 15-17 minutes until golden brown.

New Toy

Orangettes

Since I am catching up on posts, I have already made these Orangettes twice. The first time, I didn't even get as far dipping the candied orange peel in chocolate...for 2 reasons. First, I meant to use them in Lebkuchen, which does not call for chocolate. Second, G loved them so much he ate them as they were.

They were quite tasty. It's interesting when you taste an original recipe for the first time, of something that you've eaten many times, in its chemically replicated format. I am speaking of the candy orange slices you ate as a kid.

Back to the chocolate. I did actually dip them in chocolate the second time. However, they just didn't last very long. Sometimes, chocolate has the effect of making me forget a lot of other things, even taking pictures OF the chocolate. Oh well, these will be made again.

Granola

Another recipe made from Smitten Kitchen's website

Yummy Granola

Irish Coffee

The bottle of whiskey and shot glass may clue you into the fact that this is NOT a picture of large cappuccinos. G made real Irish Coffees for us.

Irish Coffee recipe:

1 1/2 oz Irish whiskey
coffee
heavy cream

Float the cream on top.