Cornbread and Molasses: January 2011

Not Your Uncle's Chicken and Waffles
I'm back to redeem myself from the deep fried grilled cheese. This time with some fusion cuisine. This is my take on chicken and waffles; I call it "Not Your Uncle's Chicken and Waffles." It consists of fried chicken paired with a french toast soufflé served with a maple bacon custard. Not sure how many calories but it was scrumptious!

Hand Dipped Chocolate Covered Strawberries

It's almost Chocolate Time Day... I mean Valentine's Day! Whenever the holidays roll around you and your sweetheart may find it difficult to stay focused on eating right, especially when there is chocolate everywhere you turn. This year for dessert try making your own chocolate covered strawberries. By making them yourself you can control the amount of sugar, butter, and milk. You can even control the chocolate. Below the directions are a few variations to spice up the evening.

Ingredients

16 oz Strawberries
1/4 cup Butter softened 1/4 cup Milk 1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 3 1/2 cups Confectioner Sugar

Directions

Gather your equipment and ingredients.
Measure your ingredients.
Add the confectioner's sugar. Sifted confectioner's sugar works best.
Add the cocoa.
Add the butter.
Whisk until blended.
Add milk. In this picture I am adding water, which will decrease the amount of calories and sugars.
Whisk until creamy.
Pour chocolate into a bowl for dipping. You will need a fork for dipping and a plate for placing the dipped strawberries. In this picture I have a bottle of the chocolate, which I poured in using a funnel. I also have some red gel coloring for decoration.
Place a fork in the hull of the strawberry.
Dip the strawberry into the chocolate and swirl it to cover all sides.
Slide the dipped strawberry off of the fork and onto the plate.
You can use the bottled chocolate to decorate instead of dipping. Once all strawberries have been dipped place in the refrigerator to set. Remove from refrigerator 5 minutes before serving your sweetie.

Variations

Cooked
Instead of whisking your ingredients this recipe can be cooked.

Sift the sugar into a bowl and add the the cocoa. Set aside.
Place the butter and milk in a sauce pan on low. Stir occasionally and cook until the butter has melted.
By cooking on a low temperature you will avoid burning your chocolate.
With a spatula slow stir in the sugar cocoa mix until well blended.
Remove from heat.
Dip your strawberries and place on a plate.

Vegan and Lactose Intolerant
To make this a vegan dish substitute the milk with water or a non dairy milk, and substitute the butter with margarine. I like baking with Smart Butter. It has a great buttery flavor and omega 3s.

Milk
You can further reduce the calories in this dish by using non fat milk, 2% milk or a non dairy milk like soy, rice, or almond. Using half and half or cream will give the chocolate a very rich flavor, but more calories.

Flavors

Coffee - Dissolve 1 teaspoon of coffee into the water used to add a coffee note to the chocolate. Coffee brings out the rich flavor of chocolate.

Simple Syrup - Soak (or inject) the strawberries in a simple syrup to add extra sweetness. Simple syrup is made with equal parts sugar and water melted in a sauce pan. Do not boil.

Peppermint - Add a teaspoon of peppermint (or any imitation flavor) to the chocolate and whisk for additional flavor.

Nuts - Dip the strawberries in nut for extra crunch ( a little added nutrition too).

Sea Salt - Sprinkle a little sea salt on top of the chocolate covered strawberry. You will be surprised of the mouthfeel.

Chipotle / Cayenne Pepper - To spice up your evening dust chipotle or cayenne pepper on the strawberries.

Tequila - Last but not least soak the strawberries in Tequila for an hour before dipping in the chocolate. Oh what a night!

Celebrating a Year of Me

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Three, two, one Happy New Year! This year I resolve to celebrate me! I jumped started my New Year’s resolution in October on my birthday [after all our birthday’s are our individual New Year celebrations]. First goal lose the baby fat, and now that the baby is 11 years old I officially need to lose the preteen fat. After many hours of infomercial watching I finally purchased the program of all programs that would melt away the pounds just by eating. Fast forward to December… I followed all the instructions to put the kit together, and lo and behold the fine print for success was 30 minutes of daily cardio along with plenty of water and 6 small meals. Every lifestyle change I have tried comes with tracking my success, and although I love to journal I do not like the monotonous task of keeping track of what I ate, how long and hard did I exercise, and did I drink enough water today. Read More at Blogher

Recipes

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About the Chef

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"My culinary adventures began a little over 2 years ago. What’s that old adage the way to a man’s heart is through his esophagus? Well after serving him dry chicken and practically choking him it became apparent I needed to learn how to cook. Ina, Sunny, Pat, and the gang quickly became my refuge. First I would watch their shows and then look up the recipe online. Then it was off to the grocery store with my grocery list. Did you know it’s not just about the ingredients it’s about the process as well? So after trial and error of dumping it into the pot I finally read the directions. I, lacking patience said there has to be a better way. Pausing videos, reading instructions, where are the pictures? Enter Cornbread and Molasses" - Chef Saidah

Saidah currently lives in Cleveland and attends Tri-C pursuing a degree in Hospitality Management - Culinary Arts. She is the author of Cornbread and Molasses as well as Olivia Rose Confections websites.

Low Calorie Chocolate Soufflé

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Soufflés can be quite intimidating from the ingredients to beating the egg whites perfectly.

Come enjoy your soufflé and this one has almost half the calories than the original. In the modified recipe you will find you can still enjoy a chocolate soufflé, by first cutting your portion size. Read More...

Lobster Pot Pie

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I came across Lobster Pot Pie through a sweet subliminal message. My better half finds Ina Garten’s cooking to be quite divine, and whispered to me, “I want to try Ina’s lobster pot pie.” I took this as a challenge more than wishful thinking. After reading the recipe and printing off the directions I headed to the market for the freshest of ingredients. I was successful in finding everything I needed, except the Pernod. Pernod is an anise-flavored liqueur. After combing many liquor store shelves I finally found it at $30 a bottle. Now that’s an expensive Lobster Pot Pie! The recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons. The magic of the internet assisted me with finding a substitute: soak star anise in vodka. Although the recipe says to soak it for two months, I soaked it for 2 hours and it gave the fennel a bolder flavor. Yet today I managed to borrow two tablespoons of Pernod and if you can do so. The flavor profile is like no other.

Ingredients:

1 large onion

1 fennel bulb

1/4 pound unsalted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups seafood stock

1 tablespoon Pernod

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 pound cooked fresh lobster meat

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley

Directions:
Mise en Place! Gather all your ingredients and measure them out. Preheat oven to 350°
Slice the top of the fennel off as we will only need the fennel bulb
Slice 1 large onion
Melt butter over medium heat
Sautee fennel and onions until onions are translucent (about 10-15 minutes)
Add flour slowly and stir. Cook for 3 minutes
Add stock slowly and stir
Add Pernod (can be substituted with anise soaked vodka)
Add salt
Add pepper. Simmer for 5 more minutes
Add heavy cream let simmer for another 10 minutes
While sauce is simmering let’s prep our other ingredients beginning with the lobster.
If you have a whole lobster break down the claw meat and tail, and cut into chunks. You can also use just lobster tails
Dice the parsley
Add parsley and peas to a bowl and mix together
I’m using a 5” pot pie tin to make individual pot pies. You can also bake in a 9” pie pan for a large pot pie. I prefer the individual tins for single serving and to ensure we each get an equal amount of lobster
For the crust I am taking a slight short cut and using Pillsbury Pie Crusts. This package comes with two pie crusts. For the 5” pie tins I cut one crust in half. For the 9” pie pan you will use one crust for the bottom and one for the top
Roll out the pie crust into the bottom of the pan
Remove the sauce from the stove and add enough to cover the bottom of the pie pans
Add the peas, parsley, and lobster
Again with making individual pot pies I add one whole lobster to each pot pie
Top with the remaining sauce
Use the second pie crust to top
Pinch away the excess dough
Use a fork to crimp the sides
Poke about 3-5 holes at the top
Brush with egg wash or as you can see I used Olive Oil. Bake at 350° for an hour and a half (watch your pie crust to ensure it is not burning)