spritz cookies

Yesterday was quite a day in the Big Apple. I am not usually the "fan" type since we see so many celebrities going about their daily business on a daily basis you get kind of jaded to the whole idea. Paul Stanley from Kiss running to catch a cab, Molly Ringwald at the grocery store, Vincent Denofrio playing with his kid in the playground, Uma Thurman in the playground with her children, Jerry Seinfeld going to play softball it goes on an on like that but when I saw Lidia Bastianich through a window at a book signing I had to rush right in.



I seem to get all starry eyed when I see celebrity chefs, I dont know why. I saw Matsuharu Morimoto one time walking down the block and I stopped and then he stopped and it looked like we were going to have a gun fight, we both laughed and he went on his way. Anyway Ms.Bastianich is a very personable and genteel woman and I was glad I went in and asked for a photo.



Traditions and memories are what you make of them and I am in charge of giving my kid memories so what better memory than making spritz cookies, right? I have every kind of spritzer by Mirro ever made, well probably not every kind but four at least.



I think the most fun for him are the "mistakes" that he somehow keeps making and then "having to eat the dough."



Some had cranberries but they kept falling off. Who doesnt like a buttery crispy soft spritz cookie?

ruffled with truffles

The first time I made chocolate truffles I looked like a parody of someone making chocolate truffles, I had more on me and everything else than I actually had on a plate. I wish I was young and cute because the chocolate on my cheek would have really scored points with the cute police. Now granted this was over ten years ago and I havent been young and cute in at least 15 years so I looked like a chocolate, grubby mess. A lot has changed since that time. I no longer get chocolate everywhere and in fact I make these while I am doing other things since I know the whole timing process now. Did I fail to mention that they are easy to do and they make fantastic gifts? Well, they are easy - the second time - that's for sure. This was three years ago so there is a bit of a track record - bad photos - it was before I cared about the photo quality. Let me reiterate - there is a cooling process throughout - the chocolate ganache warms and is unstable. What is the Ganache, some of you are asking - the Ganache is the cream and chocolate and butter that you make in the next steps. Did I forget to say that once you mix chocolate butter and cream you have a ganache? I am so bad at including french words when necessary - New Years resolution - 'incorporate more french cooking terms' - there - done!



The recipe for the ganache is so simple - ready here goes: take 14 ounces of dark chocolate crumbled into pieces and I like to add one and a half cups of the best powdered dark chocolate you can find to add a more rich chocolatey chocolate and save a half a cup to be used later for coating the truffles (I used Scharffen Berger) one cup of heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of butter. Warm the cream to near boiling and pour over crumbled chocolate pieces, powder and butter stirring until it melts and its glossy - cool in the fridge.



When its cool and stiff form into balls, I used a melon baller, and dip into melted chocolate (I forgot to mention that you need to melt 8 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler) after dipping roll around in additional dark chocolate powder or nuts or coconut or some flavored salts. Keep cool and enjoy at your leisure. I coated a few with some dried chile pieces, and I used ground up candy cap mushrooms and some with mint and sugar, some with szechuan buttons and salty sugar some with orange zest and others with black garlic nibs, some were left plain and even others with mukhwas because I am just that way!



Here is the whole graduating class picture.



Here are some of the standouts starting from the front and working clockwise: Plain chocolate powder, minty sugar, candy cap mushrooms, black garlic, red chile, szechuan buttons with salty sugar and in the center is orange zest.



The best of show had to be the one with mukhwas. Crunch and exotica in every nibble, look at all the delights surrounding this mini globe of chocolate fun. Experiment with flavors, find what you like and go for it!

love me sweet

Elvis got that right "Love me tender love me sweet..." I have a new lover and her name is Black Garlic. I have been so eager to receive these that I was flagging down FedEx trucks to see if they had my package. Sure enough my local driver said she did not but the other girl around the corner does so I high tailed over to where she was and waited outside her truck for her to get there. Now, my FedEx people know me and they know I get anxious so she threw open the gate and gave me my box with no hesitation. I ripped it open right there on the spot and I was hit with the wonderful sweet smell of Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla beans - it smelled like a cigar shop. Had my new lover been cheating on me already?



I dug around in the box to get past the nice little vanilla bean bonus and there they were, my sweet little mistresses waiting for me, calling me with their brown and weathered looking skin. I knew that beneath that rough exterior was a soft black beauty. I gently opened the package and pulled one out and she smelled more exotic than I had imagined so I undressed her right there on the street so that I could feel her supple black interior with my own hands. She was soft, very soft and sticky sweet as I nibbled at her coyishly. This love affair was going to last, I thought immediately!



Instincts kicked right in so I took her upstairs and I knew instantly what I was going to do. Shrimp and grits, but not just any old shrimp and any old grits this was going to be a sweet and spicy chile shrimp with cheesey yellow corn grits freckled with black garlic.



It was so good the first time I had to have her twice and I have to tell you now that if I didnt think there was plenty of this heavenly treat I wouldnt tell you a thing about it - its that good.



My first plate was subtle with barely a hint of the black garlics sweet caramelized goodness, I went easy on her not knowing if she was a vixen in silk robes or a timid and demure cinderella, but my second plate was loaded with a double dose of her soft and sweet pungency. My lover came from so far away, my little mail order bride, and I am going to cherish her and love her forever!

doubled up and double down

Two new posts at MarxFoods using Szechuan Buttons, these little guys are out of this world crazy!



Bloody Button Mary



Coconut Ice Cream with Mint and Szechuan Button Foam

Each of these has a recipe, I know what you are thinking "Have I lost my mind" because how on earth could I be posting so many recipes when I posted so few before? Dont ask me, I think I've lost my mind! Nope, I sold out!

hot buttered radish

Lobster ravioli with thin sliced radish warmed in a butter sauce has to be the most sublime of all flavors. The wonderful flavor of lobster and the relaxed flavor of radish and butter - butter brings out the best in most things but it really gets along well with radish. Remember the vegetarian scallops!



I hope you check out my guest posts at MarxFoods since I will be doing more and more of them in the future - but that doesnt mean I wont be posting here it only means that I have more to do. If you get a chance to try some Szechuan buttons you will be alarmingly surprised by their unique sensation. I have a couple more ideas on how I am going to use these and I cant wait



Ravioli - right I was talking about ravioli, lobster ravioli at that. I cant tell you how nice it is to live in NYC and have so many fantastically fresh ingredients available at all times - seafood being paramount. Often lobsters die in the tank and the merchants need to sell them quickly at a great price and since I can hardly pass up a deal I will sometimes swoop in on these deals and it is these deals that afford me the comfort to make ravioli out of lobster - especially when it costs the same per pound as chicken! This was one fantastic lunch for some very lucky people!