June 28, 2011

Triple Chocolate Martini

I've been intrigued lately by all the different types of vodka that are available. It's amazing what is out there. I mentioned before I had discovered whipped cream and cotton candy vodkas, but that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Now I love chocolate, I've mentioned it before, many, many times, so when someone told me that Godiva made a chocolate vodka well I couldn't not get a bottle and then you've just got to play around with a new "toy" and in this case the "toys" would be my new martini shaker and martini glasses. I had been looking for glasses that were a bit different than just your standard glass and when I saw the ones pictured in this entry I instantly fell in love! I love cobalt glass, and I loved how this glass had the cobalt rim, bottom and swirl. I also love how it is basically stemless!

Anyway...I got sidetracked by my glass love. Let's get back to the martini!

A few weeks ago I played around with an idea for a chocolate martini and it was good, but this version turned out so much better! I decided to just go all out chocolate for this one. Chocolate drink, chocolate drizzle, chocolate whipped cream. I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much chocolate!

What You'll Need for the Chocolate Whipped Cream:
1 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of organic cane sugar
1/3 cup of cocoa

In a bowl of a mixer add all three ingredients. Mix on low until incorporated and then turn to high and beat until stiff peaks form.

What You'll Need for the Martini:
1 shot of Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
2 shots of Godiva Chocolate Vodka
1 shot of Chocolate Whipped Cream Vodka
1/2 cup of sparkling water
Ice
Chocolate or hot fudge sauce
Chocolate whipped Cream (see above)

In a martini shaker add chocolate liqueur, and the two vodkas, along with the sparkling water over ice and shake to mix well.

Add two or three tablespoons of chocolate sauce to the bottom of a martini glass and then pour the martini mixture over the chocolate. Top with the chocolate whipped cream.

At this point you can serve the drink as is:

Or you can drizzle on a little more chocolate sauce:

Now it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little piece of chocolate heaven!

Notes: Be careful because this is a bit strong if you have a low alcohol tolerance such as I do. I keep all of my vodka in the freezer, but I like to shake it with ice anyway. The colder the drink the better!

Posted by Dianne at 2:53 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 14, 2011

Grilled Vegetable and Lobster Salad

I've become obsessed with grilling. When I was in my late teens and early twenties I loved to grill! But once I met Jamison I didn't grill as much because he's very picky about how his food is prepared and hates being outside.

I know, I know! Have I mentioned lately my culinary skills are lost on him?

Anyway, I'm becoming snarky at my old age of 37 and I've decided by golly I'm going to grill more often and I have been! I like to grill in the spring, fall and winter, because I'm also not so keen on the heat during the summer. I don't want to stand over a scorching grill when it's 90+ degrees outside. But really that's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of this salad, so we'll move on.

I started thinking about making a grilled salad. The idea of warm salads intrigues me, but up until this point I had not had a warm salad that I actually cared for. I like potato salad warm occasionally, right after it's been made, but that isn't really what you think about when you think about a salad.

I've heard of people grilling lettuce chunks before, but that didn't really appeal to me. I might try it someday, but for this I wanted more hearty/sturdy vegetables and definitely bread. What's not to like about bread?

I also decided I wanted some sort of grilled seafood added to the mix. Alexis and I both love shrimp and lobster so I decided to go with one of those. I had some lobster tails in the freezer so that ended up being what I went with this night. Our local store puts them on sale occasionally for $3 to $5 for a nice sized tail, so when they do I buy a few and freeze them for later use.

The lobster is really a great grilling "fish" because of its shell. You don't have to worry about putting it on a cedar plank because it will flake away on the grill like you would with a fillet of fish. When it's a bright red color it's ready to go! This usually takes 15-20 minutes depending on the heat of your grill.

So after I had the idea I started chopping and this is what resulted. This is a perfect summer time dinner that doesn't take a lot of time, but you end up with a really fabulous result. My kind of dinner!

What You'll Need for the Salad:
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tomatoes cut in half
Sea salt
Black pepper
1 small package of button or baby Portabella mushrooms
1-2 bell peppers, cut into big chunks
2 carrots, cut into thick sticks
1 large zucchini, cut into big chunks
1 large red onion, cut into thick strips
1/2 loaf of day old french or Callah bread, cut into cubes
1-2 lobster tails
Grated Parmesan

First mix up your dressing and set aside:

See the recipe below for the dressing. Shake again really well before adding to the salad.

Then sprinkle your veggies with a little sea salt and pepper and then toss with some extra virgin olive oil to thinly coat:

Next sprinkle your cubes of bread with sea salt and toss with a little olive oil as well:

Now we're ready for the fun part...Grilling!

I like to use natural charcoal. It gives the food such a wonder flavor and it doesn't have any of the weird chemicals in them that many other brands do. I like to use Stubb's. They don't have their charcoal listed on their website, but I've found it at Lowe's.

Now to use a charcoal chimney or not?

I really love the ease of use of a charcoal chimney. You don't need lighter fluid, which is again an accelerant and who wants to add that to your food, because if you're cooking over it your food is absorbing whatever is burning underneath it.

BUT

I don't think that a charcoal chimney holds enough charcoal to actually cook something well. I like a lot of coals going beneath my food. So lately I've been using brown craft paper spread throughout the coals to use as "wicks" if you will and splash a little PGA on top of the coals to get it going. Be careful if you're using the pure grain alcohol because that stuff ignites fast and big!

Once your coals are hot you're ready to start grilling!

I like to do the "sturdier" vegetables first. The softer the vegetable is the faster it will grill. You also want to get your lobster tails on first as well. The bread will come last.

So you grill and flip:

And grill and flip:

And grill and flip some more:

As you can see some of my veggies "jumped" into the grill because I was careless when turning them. The bigger the chunk of vegetable, the less likely you are to lose it through the slits of the grill. Live and learn as they say. Or maybe in this case it would be do and learn.

When things become done you'll remove them to a plate or platter and set them aside until the other aspects of the salad become done:

When you grill the bread be careful. Each side will literally grill in 30 seconds or less over direct coals!

Once everything is grilled it's time to assemble your salad!

First place the bread in the bottom of a bowl:

Next cut the grilled tomatoes into wedges and then add to the bread:

And then the mushrooms:

And the bell peppers:

Zucchini:

Onions:

And then add the carrots and roughly chop the lobster meat and add to the bowl as well:

Finally sprinkle the veggies with some Parmesan:

And some of the dressing (see recipe below):

And it's ready to toss!

Now dig in and enjoy!

Notes on the Salad: As I mentioned above you could use shrimp in place of the lobster or even a cedar grilled salmon would be great too. I sometimes like to serve this with extra grilled vegetables as you can see in the picture at the top of the entry. You could also use grilled squash or cherry tomatoes, or whatever you like in place of, or in addition to what I used.

What You'll Need for the Dressing:
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic or champagne vinegar
A pinch of sea salt
Black pepper
1 tablespoon of dried Italian Seasoning mix
~OR~
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of dried basil
2 teaspoons of dried oregano

Add all ingredients to a glass jar. Put on an air tight lid and shake until mixed. Use to toss the salad.

Notes on the Dressing: You can use either type of vinegar that you like. I like to use balsamic when I want a bigger flavor punch. I use champagne when I want it a more delicate flavor.

Posted by Dianne at 1:43 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 8, 2011

Chocolate Covered Vanilla Cheesecake With A Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust

Cheesecake.....

Even the name makes me daydream. There is just something about a creamy, cold cheesecake that makes it the ultimate dessert for me. Give me cheesecake, Mexican food, goat cheese, Vodka and some good bread and I'd be perfectly happy on a deserted island. Oh and a cute cabana boy to wait on me hand and foot...Sounds like my kind of life! ;oP

What? Never mind! Where was I?

Those of you who have been readers of Dianne's Dishes know I have somewhat of an obsession with Cheesecake. I mean cheesecake has an entire category on my blog all to itself! Cheesecake should be a food group, I've said it before, I'll say it again!

This cheesecake takes the best of two worlds, cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies and marries them together to make a fabulous overall dessert. Top the cake with some chocolate ganache and you have rich sin on a plate! A little slice of this cheesecake is more than enough at one sitting, but oh what a slice it is!

What You'll Need for the Crust:
10-12 Back to Nature Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 stick of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 F with the rack in the middle of the oven.

Now let's talk about the chocolate chip cookie crust. For this crust you need a hard variety of chocolate chip cookie. A soft cookie will not work. I like the Back to Nature cookies because they are natural.

Chop the cookies until roughly the size of peas:

Stir in butter until mixed:

Press cookie mixture in to an 8 inch spring form pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray:

Set aside.

Notes for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust: When I make a graham cracker crust from scratch I usually add a little bit of sugar to the crust. When using the chocolate chip cookies that isn't necessary unless you really just like things sweet. You could add in 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar if you wanted.

What You'll Need for the Cheesecake Batter:
2 - 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups of organic cane sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of vanilla
1/2 cup of unbleached all purpose flour

When making a cheesecake it is ESSENTIAL to make sure that your oven is preheated BEFORE you begin baking your cake so make sure your oven has preheated before you put in the cheesecake.

I like to bake my cheesecakes in a water bath, which helps keep the cheesecake from cracking that much (if at all) as it bakes. I usually just fill up my tea kettle with water and set it to boil as I'm making the crust and the filling of the cheesecake. You want enough water to come up the pan about half way when you place it in a baking dish.

In a large bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and beat until incorporated.

Next add eggs and vanilla and beat on medium for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes slowly add flour and mix until smooth.

Wrap the outside of your spring form pan that has the crust pressed in to the bottom with aluminum foil to keep water from seeping in to your cheesecake as you bake.

Pour batter in to prepared pan:

Place pan in a deep baking dish and pour boiling water in to the dish being sure not to get any water in the cheesecake itself.

Bake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and crack the door of your oven (Some call this the broil position) and let the cheesecake sit untouched for another hour.

Take the cheesecake from the water bath and set on a towel to absorb moisture. Next remove the aluminum foil:

As you can see as the cake baked it pulled away from the sides of the pan a bit. Doesn't it look great already?

Store cheesecake covered in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Notes on the Cheesecake Batter: At this point, once it's chilled you could dig in to the cheesecake right then as is, but who wouldn't want a bit more chocolate? There's no such thing as too much chocolate despite what Jamison might say! ;oP

What You'll Need for the Chocolate Ganache:
1 cup of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of butter
1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Remove the ring of the springform pan and place chilled cheesecake on a plate that is big enough to catch any overflow of the ganache. Place back in the fridge until ganache is ready.

In a medium sized sauce pan melt butter in heavy cream and then bring to a simmer. Stir in chocolate chips and stir constantly until they are melted and the mixture is smooth. This takes 1-3 minutes to melt.

Once the ganache is smooth pour the mixture over the chilled cheesecake:

Chill cake for at least another hour before serving.

Notes for the Ganache: You could use milk chocolate or dark chocolate instead of the semi-sweet chips.

And as always this cheesecake is sous chef approved!

Notes Overall: This a very versatile cheesecake and you can change things here or there to your liking. Adding mini chocolate chips to the batter would be a great addition, or adding in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cocoa to make a chocolate cheesecake would be fabulous too!

Posted by Dianne at 1:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack