Mocha Mousse with Sichuan Peppercorns

I've been trying really hard to be a better baker this year. By habit, I’m an eyeball-er not a measure-er, so baking often ends in a flop for me. This recipe isn't really baking, but it involves chocolate and eggs and lots of chemistry, and that’s enough of a challenge for me.

Surprisingly enough, this was very easy. Definitely use a hand mixer for your egg whites; I don’t own one (gasp!), and neither my immersion blender nor my stand mixer did the trick because the liquid volume was so small. In the end, I beat them by hand. GREAT workout if you need one!

Mocha Mousse with Sichuan Peppercorns

by Dawn Harmon

adapted from Epicurious

1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, ground

1/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons ground Lock-n-Load Java Double Tap Special Reserve coffee

Flank Steak with Coffee-Peppercorn Marinade

We've been on a serious beef drought in this house, since my husband decided to give up red meat for the new year (crazy talk). And since the introduction of the infamous Green Drink for breakfast in our house, coffee has been almost nonexistent. My Nespresso machine has been on vacation. So...when the Lock n Load challenge came up, I thought why not beef and coffee? 

I really like Eating Well magazine, and I was surprised to find some recipes involving coffee on their site. This one pairs coffee with balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. I also topped my steak with a little avocado salsa for some kick. 

Flank Steak with Coffee-Peppercorn Marinade 

by Dawn Harmon

adapted from Eating Well Magazine

For the salsa:

1 avocado, cubed
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
one handful cilantro, chopped
1/2 a red onion, chopped
juice of one lime
salt and pepper

For the steak:
3 Tablespoons brewed Lock-n-Load Java Charlie Don’t Surf Kona coffee
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 pound flank steak – I actually used a tri-tip cutlet because that’s what was in my freezer!

1. Combine all the salsa ingredients and refrigerate for at least an hour.

2. Whisk together the brewed coffee, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper. Marinate the steak in this mixture for at least one hour – the longer, the better!

3. Heat a bit olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is heated, saute the steak for 2 minutes on each side. (Tip: to keep the steak from arching or bowing, place another frying pan on top of the steak while it cooks). Remove the steak from the pan and let rest for 3-5 minutes before serving.

4. To serve: slice the steak against the grain. Serve atop dressed greens (I used a champagne vinaigrette) and top with the salsa.

Flavorful but healthy!

Best in Breed Dog Cookies AND Moab's Favorite Dog's Cookies

Two of our cooks came up with a great idea for this month's cookie challenge: Dog Cookies! Our pets are always at the top of our Christmas shopping lists, aren't they? Of course! So why not try out one of these wonderful homemade treats for your canine friend. If you have a feline friend, you might try this recipe. ~37 Cooks

I really wanted to participate in the Christmas Cookie challenge, but I can’t put my finger on a particular sweet that our family makes every year. Except for my mom’s pecan tarts, but all I can recall of those is HUNDREDS of them being made at a time, for teachers, friends, anyone who actually liked them. The only good part was the brown sugar/egg filling, and I ate that raw (hello Salmonella!).

For the past few years, Christmas has mainly consisted of me, my husband, and our furballs – Papillons Bailey (10) and Murphie (4). So, as any good mom does for their kids, this year I decided to make treats for them.

Every dog biscuit is more or less the same (no sugar or butter like sweets for their upright companions) – oats, peanut butter, flour, maybe a little mint for bad breath... I found a MILLION recipes. But since I've become a regular user of King Arthur Flour in the last year or so, I decided to give their recipe a try.

When it came down to it, these cookies were a hit. I have 2 finicky dogs and they scarfed these right up. We also bagged some up and gave them as gifts to my coworkers’ “children”.

Best in Breed Dog Cookies
by Dawn Harmon

adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats, regular or quick (I used quick!)
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped mint
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or plain
1/2 cup water

1: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2: Mix the oats, flour, herbs, milk, and salt
3: Add eggs and peanut butter.
4: Add water and stir; dough should be cohesive yet a little crumbly.
5: On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4” thick. With a cookie cutter (I used bones and snowflakes), cut the dough and place cookies on parchment lined baking sheets. Scoop up and re-roll the dough make additional cookies.
6: Bake cookies for about 40 minutes, they should be crisp and slightly golden brown

Yield: about 20 cookies

Moab's Favorite Dog's Cookies

by Chiffonade

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup peanut butter

Dry ingredients                           

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup white flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup corn meal

1 cup oats

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 400º/375º convection. 

Line a half sheet pan with parchment.

Place the wet ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Mix together to blend, they do not need to be well combined.  Add the dry ingredients and combine well.  Roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter.  (Note:  "people" cookies are a cute idea but the arms and legs get too well done.)  Place the cookies on the baking sheet about 1-2 inches apart (they don't swell much).  Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until nicely set -- they don't brown much.  Turn off the oven and leave the biscuits in the turned off oven to cool.  They will become crunchy.

Depending on the size of the cutter used, this recipe can yield from 1 to 3 dozen cookies.   For training treats:  Cut with a very small circular cutter.  It’s assumed that during training, multiple treats will be used.

Also, I'd only make the bone shaped cookies for a large dog.  These cookies are rich with peanut butter so not too many at a time!

Smoked Jalapeno Sausage and Shrimp Gravy

Smoked Jalapeno Sausage and Shrimp Gravy

by Dawn Harmon

adapted from My New Orleans by John Besh

Let me begin by saying I LOVE New Orleans.  The culture, the vibe, the resiliency of the city.  And John Besh is one of my absolute favorite chefs. In his book, "My New Orleans", he returns to his roots and cooks REAL Cajun food, not the deep-fried hot sauce-slathered fare you often find near Bourbon Street.  My husband got me this book when he worked at Sur la Table, and I have cooked several great recipes out of it.  The photography is beautiful, and the book could be displayed as a foodie coffee table book.

This recipe originally called for green onion sausage, but I swapped it out for Teet’s Smoked Jalapeno sausage to give it some heat.  The gravy is best served over homemade biscuits and topped with an oeuf au plat aka a fried egg.

1 1/2-2 Tablespoons cubed bacon, fatty part only (I cut the ends off some bacon I used in the past, chopped it up, and put it in a Ziploc in the freezer!)

1 pound Teet’s Smoked Jalapeno Pork Sausage, casings removed and chopped

1 small onion, diced

1 Tablespoon flour

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 pinch allspice

2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1/2 14-ounce can diced canned tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock

leaves from 1 sprig fresh thyme

1 green onion, chopped

1.  Cook the bacon in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat (I used a Le Creuset cast iron pan) until you have approximately 1 tablespoon of rendered bacon fat.  Remove the bacon from the pan. 

2.  Add the sausage to the fat and cook, breaking up the meat as you go, until it is browned, 12-15 minutes.  Add the onions and cook until they are soft and browned, another 15 minutes.

3.  Reduce the heat to medium. Add the flour into the pan, stirring to mix it into the sausage and onions.  Cook for about 2 minutes to blend the flour into the meat.  This will help thicken the sauce – you want a good chunky sauce, not a runny one!

4.  Season the shrimp with the salt and pepper, then add them to the pan. Saute until they turn pink, about 3 minutes.  Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.
5.  Add the bell pepper, garlic, pepper flakes, allspice, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, and stock to the pan, stirring well.  Increase the heat and bring the sauce to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.  Add the thyme, green onions, and shrimp and cook for another 5 minutes.

Side note:  My favorite biscuit recipe is from Alton Brown.

Tasso Grits Batons with Scotch Bonnet Shrimp

Tasso Grits Batons with Scotch Bonnet Shrimp

by Dawn Harmon

1/2 cup instant grits

2 cups water

1/2 cup diced Teet’s Smoked Pure Pork Tasso

1 green onion, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon butter

Flour for dredging

1 egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

Panko for breading grits

oil for frying

 

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 jalapeno, halved, seeded, and sliced

1 tomatillo, husk removed and coarsely chopped

1 handful cherry tomatoes, quartered (I like Trader Joe’s myself!)

2 Tablespoons Scotch Bonnet or any pepper jelly

1/2 cup chicken stock

salt and pepper

olive oil

For the grits:

 1.  Bring the water to a boil. Add the grits and whisk, reducing the heat to medium.  Whisk the grits often until all the water is absorbed, about 5-7 minutes. 

2. Add the butter, tasso, and green onion to the grits, mix thoroughly, and spread into a 9x9 baking dish.  Place in the fridge to cool and firm for 8 hours.

3.  When the grits are firm to the touch, cut into 2-inch squares. (NOTE:  an offset spatula is great for lifting the squares out of the pan!) Dredge each square in flour.

4.  Heat oil over medium-high heat.  When the oil is ready, dip each square into the egg mixture and then into the panko.  Drop into the hot oil and fry until golden, approximately 5 minutes, flipping batons over halfway through.  Remove the batons from the oil and place on a paper towel to dry.

For the shrimp:

 1.  Heat olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat.  Saute the shrimp until pink and firm.

2.  Add 1 tablespoon of the jelly, reduce the heat to medium, and stir to coat the shrimp.  When heated, the jelly will glaze the shrimp.  Remove the shrimp from the pan (so the jelly doesn't burn) and set aside in a dish.

3.  In the pan you used for the shrimp, cook the jalapeno, tomatillo, and tomatoes over medium heat.  Add the remaining jelly and chicken stock.  Cook until the sauce reduces by half.  Add the shrimp back to the pan.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To plate:  

Stack 2 or 3 batons in the center of a plate.  Place shrimp mixture around the base of the batons, and ladle sauce over the shrimp and veggies.  Enjoy!

Pasta with Chorizo and Saffron-Puya Chile Cream

Pasta with Chorizo and Saffron-Puya Chile Cream

by Dawn Harmon

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a Chopped fanatic. I never have any fewer than 20 episodes on my DVR. So it's no surprise that inspiration for my one of my Marx Foods Challenge dishes came from there!

I’ve racked my brain trying to figure out a new way to use saffron; I mean, paella to me is the most obvious. But last week I saw a guy make a saffron-infused cream sauce on Chopped so I had to try it! This dish is pretty much a Latin take on Italian food – pasta, meat, cream sauce. But I LOVE what saffron and a chili can do to a simple cream sauce! This really is an easy recipe and provides a lot of flavor with only a few ingredients! The most important thing to remember is not to go crazy on the oil; chorizo is natural oily so you don’t want your sauce floating in grease! The saffron combined with the chorizo’s own oil will give the sauce a beautiful orange color too!

1 link chorizo, casings removed and cut into chunks

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

½ cup heavy cream

2-3 Marx Foods Sargol Saffron Threads

1 Marx Foods Dried Puya Chili

2 cups cooked pasta (I used small penne.)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1: Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and puya chili, and cook for 1 minutes to infuse the oil.

2: Add the bell peppers and chorizo, cook until the chorizo is thoroughly cooked (approximately 5 minutes).

3: Add the tomatoes and sauté for 1 more minute.

4: Add the cream and saffron, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. (P.S. If you like a thicker sauce, you can add some arrowroot powder or a cornstarch slurry here!)

5: Season the sauce with salt, remove the chili, and serve over pasta.

Zesty Shrimp & Black Bean Salad

Zesty Shrimp & Black Bean Salad

by Dawn

Adapted from EatingWell:  July/August 2012

Ingredients

• 1-2 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama Original Cajun Seasoning
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon minced chipotle chile in adobo, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
• 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
• 1 large poblano pepper or bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Season 2 quart waters with SYM seasoning and bring to a boil.  Add shrimp, reduce heat, and cook until shrimp are pink and firm.  Cool shrimp, and cut into 1/2” pieces.

Whisk vinegar, oil, chipotle, cumin and salt in a large bowl. Add shrimp, beans, tomatoes, poblano (or bell pepper), scallions and cilantro; toss to coat. Serve room temperature or cold.

Serve with tortilla chips or fresh corn tortillas.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

Slap Ya Mama'd Deviled Chicken Thighs

Slap Ya Mama'd Deviled Chicken Thighs
by Dawn

Inspired by this recipe:

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama Original Cajun Seasoning
8 small bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds), skin removed
Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

Melt butter and garlic in a large microwave-safe bowl. Whisk in the Dijon, cayenne, Parmesan, parsley, paprika, and Slap ya Mama seasoning.

Spread the mustard mixture all over the chicken to coat and roll in the breadcrumbs on all sides. Lay on the prepared baking sheet so the pieces do not touch. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the coating is browned and crispy and the chicken is no longer pink near the bone, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a large platter and serve.