Coaching Cooking

A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune to score an invite to a chocolate tasting. A free chocolate tasting in a hip bar with Moet & Chandon’s Dolce champagne to go with the chocolately goodness. It was an excellent evening. The tasting was organized by a company called Chocolate Dividends. Here’s a quick pic of us after the tasting. We tried so many different chocolates and it was really fun to try and guess the different flavor profiles of the chocolates. It was also very difficult to separate out the different flavors. The tasting came with a booklet that included flavor profiles for chocolates from around the world that included flavors like cinnamon, smoke and hummus (I tried really hard, but I could barely taste that one). I also had some great conversations with Andrea, the chocolatier at Mirabai Chocolates. She is so passionate about chocolate and she made some wonderful truffles for our final chocolate tasting that included a chocolate with bergamot (the key ingredient in Earl Grey tea) and a chocolate truffle with basil. This particular truffle really blew me away because it tasted like a pizza truffle. Believe me, it was actually really delicious with the best flavors of chocolate and pizza together in a sweet-salty-tangy trifecta of flavor. See where the magic happens at Mirabai right here.

So, one that note, I set out to find some other amazing candy companies. A new candy store is opening in New York City (which really doesn’t help me at all, but the website is totally fun with great music). Check out Papabubble, a candy store that has branches in Tokyo, Amsterdam and Barcelona and now NYC. Now I have to go to New York just to see the delicious and beautiful sugar candies!

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to Donnelly Chocolates and Richard Donnelly in Santa Cruz, CA. This is a place that I can definitely travel to on my own (with my lovely Prelude). We had Donnelly truffles at our wedding and they were, by far, one of the most fabulous desserts that I have consumed in my foodie life. We chose the raspberry truffles and the caramel macadamia nut truffles. My uncle was visiting from Saudia Arabia and he drove down to Santa Cruz on the premise of checking on his house in Carmel. Yeah, right. I know he was just going for the Donnelly chocolates of which he bought about FOUR boxes. You can’t have too much of a good thing, sometimes.

Happy Halloween! Wishing you candy dreams and no nightmares!!

**Stay tuned for my review of Chez TJ…a local restaurant that just garnered 2 Michelin stars…I’m looking for all treats and hopefully no tricks (or some good foodie tricks!).

I came across this hilarious blog written by “Steve Jobs.” You have to take a glance…right here.

I just feel like sippin’ some iced tea and reading that blog. I made my light lemonade today and went to town nerd-style. The brisk weather here in California has made me think of tea both iced and hot. Tea is one of those beverages that I often overlook. I always enjoy a hot cup of tea in the evening or on a Saturday morning while I check out the latest online gossip here.

Here are some great tea shops that you might want to check out:

One time I received a great birthday gift with tea from this place. It was beautifully wrapped and the tea was delicious.

This place is my new favorite. I love the store so much it is ridiculous! Their store is pristine and has tea displayed in flat canisters with windows so you can see the tea blends and the lids open so you can truly savor each tea. The packaging is slick and it has that gorgeous Japanese flair. Also, this website features Tea School which is offered at the stores in Japan. The descriptions of the tea classes are both hilarious and informative in their mildly-awkward English translations. Enjoy this one!

Finally, this is the tea shop I adored in college. I never got used to those freezing cold winters in Boston. This place always made the wait for the bus back to Wellesley that much more enjoyable. Ahhh, college…I don’t miss the ramen noodles or the fifty kinds of fries, but I do miss the tea from Tealuxe.

For me, this is probably not a good idea. I’d probably chop off a finger. And yet I’ve grown fond of watching some high-end drama while preparing a meal. Yes, there are probably chefs out there who cringe at the thought of ruining their Zen moment of cooking with noisy and melodramatic chatter.

And yet I can’t stay away from the dramatic tv shows while I prepare dinner. There must be something satisfying about watching drama unfold in front of me while I sit and chop vegetables or sort the whithered outer layers of a green onion. Perhaps is comforts me to place myself close to drama (okay, and to my laptop screen).

A long time ago, I traveled to Danville for a Spanish wine-tasting with Kareasa, the wine goddess herself. To our great delight, the wines were accompanied by a roasted pork accented with garlic and chipotle chilies. Kareasa and I debated whether we should just grab the pork shoulder and run out of the place (hey, there are tons of wine stores, we don’t have to return to this one ever again…). Instead we tried, somewhat subtly, to eat our weight in roasted pork while discussing wines in a somewhat dignified manner (okay, that didn’t work because we were at least 15 years younger than the next youngest person there).

Since then, I have dreamed of that roast pork. It was tender and lusciously flavorful with spicy chipotle and sweet garlic to compliment the buttery meat. Yesterday I decided to find a recipe that approximated those flavors. This is the one that I used.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe based on what I had in the kitchen. I omitted the oregano and used ground cloves instead of whole cloves. I seared the pork shoulder until it was lightly browned instead of a darker browning. The searing took some time because I used a 3-lb. pork shoulder, but the final results were worth all of the prep time.

After the pork is ready, I let it rest for about 10 minutes. I also steamed some corn tortillas in the microwave by wrapping them individually in paper-soaked towels and heating for 1 and 1/2 minutes on high. Let the corn tortillas rest for a minute then unwrap them and serve immediately with the pork. Enjoy!

Sometimes making a dish with whatever’s on hand turns out beautifully. Monique came over on Sunday to help us put together some IKEA furniture (only 35 steps plus insanity!). So I made this chicken dish with some goat cheese, fig jam, carmelized sweet onions and chicken breast.

Chicken breast goes down as one of the most boring foods of all time….unless you season well and add lots of goodies. Try this one at home when you have extra goat cheese and something else delicious to go with it (try shallots or chopped chives plus sauteed garlic and figs or another fruit that you like).

Goat-cheese Stuffed Chicken with Figs and Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, lightly pounded to 1/2 inch thick
4 tablespoons of goat cheese (or 4 half-inch thick slices from a goat cheese log)
2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
4 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of fig jam
2 medium-sized onions
2 tablespoons of chopped chives
salt and pepper to taste
toothpicks

Directions:

This recipe comes together easily with ingredients on hand (so experiment with different cheeses or fruit jams!).

Cook the onions first. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small, nonstick saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the onions and let them cook without stirring for at least 7-10 minutes. The onions will start to slowly caramelize and brown. Resist the urge the stir. The onions are done when they are translucent and brown with that distinctive caramel color and scent. Set the onions aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

First, coat the chicken breasts lightly with flour. Pan-fry the chicken breasts in some vegetable oil (about 2-3 tablespoons) so that the chicken is browned on one side and cooked, but not brown on the other side. Place the chicken breasts, browned sides down, on a cutting board. Spread the tops of the chicken with goat cheese and then place one tablespoon of fig jam per chicken breast in the center of each breast. Top each chicken breast with several spoonfuls of caramelized onions. Roll each chicken breast (keeping the fig jam carefully in the center) and secure with two toothpicks. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly (test the chicken with a knife to make sure the centers are cooked).

Serve with creamy mashed potates, a roasted green vegetable and your favorite wine. Enjoy!

In the past month I have moved to a new apartment, gained a new kitten and reveled in the joys of a new kitchen while simultaneously starting graduate school and teaching full time. It’s been just a leeetle busy since September began. Now things are slowing down and I’m getting back to the kitchen. The temperature is changing just a bit (fluctuating hot and cold like a true, flakey California!). I’m craving warm and toasty home-cooked dishes like steamed, ginger and scallion fish with jasmine rice or a pasta bolognese. So stay tuned! I’m ready to chop, to bake and to saute my way back into foodie paradise.

Coming up: I went to the farmers’ market near my apartment today and bought some Muscat grapes. They are gorgeously perfumed and delicious. Look for some pan-roasted chicken with Muscat grapes very soon!

And here’s some inspiration for busy people who still like to cook:

Queenly Things, the best queen in my life, has some gorgeous new pictures and links to recipes. And her friend over at Derfwad Manor (yes, that is really the name of it!) have some great new recipes to stir your cooking soul.