Hu Kitchen Chocolate

Chocolate is life, right? And because I love chocolate so much, I was excited to be asked to promote Hu Kitchen's chocolate bars. The 70% stone ground dark chocolate hits all the right notes with me: it's made from organic, fair-trade cacao beans and contains no GMOs, emulsifiers, or soy lecithin. It's also vegan, gluten-free, and contains no dairy or refined sugar. There are bars stuffed with hazelnut, cashew, or almond butters, made crispy with quinoa and crunchy with cacao nibs, but also plain and salted bars. My favorite to eat out of hand is the almond butter + puffed quinoa bar, but I knew if the chocolate was that good for snacking on its own, it would be terrific for baking.

So I made chocolate chip cookies. Giant ones. I usually don't make them that large, but I really wanted the chocolate to stand out.

I think it does, don't you?

This recipe makes 6 large cookies, but you can make smaller ones if you so desire, just break the chocolate into smaller bits. Definitely don't omit the sea salt.

Giant Chocolate Chunk Cookies

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 2.1oz Hu Kitchen chocolate bars, salty or simple or one of each
Handful of chopped nuts (optional, I used almonds)
Maldon sea salt

Put the melted butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Add the vanilla and egg and stir again. Dump in the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix well until all of the flour is incorporated.

Break 1 of the chocolate bars into small pieces and stir into the batter along with the nuts, if using. Refrigerate this mixture for at least one hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide dough into six evenly sized balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheets at least 4 inches apart. (I put four cookies on a standard sheet and two more on a smaller pan.) Take the other chocolate bar and break apart the segments, then cut each segment into two pieces. Press about half of the chocolate into the balls of dough. Reserve the rest for later.

Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes, until golden brown. If using two baking sheets, about halfway through, rotate the pans and move the top sheet to the lower rack and vice versa.

Remove the cookies on the parchment to cooling racks. Press the remaining chocolate pieces into the cookies while they are still warm. Sprinkle each with a generous pinch of the sea salt.

Allow to cool completely before eating.

Makes six large cookies.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Chicken Cutlets, Kung Pao Style

We Minxes love kung pao chicken, but find restaurant versions to be so inconsistent. We like our sauce to be somewhat sweet, but also well balanced. Some restaurants do cloying, others just do salty but otherwise flavorless. Sometimes it's best to take matters into one's own hands and just cook the stuff at home.

But I don't want to mess with chopping chicken into small pieces and dealing with a wok. We have at least two woks but never use any of them. The flat bottom-style wok isn't really a wok, IMHO, just a pan with tall sides. And a classic round-bottom wok that fits on a burner cover is a bit too dangerous for clumsy oafs like the two of us. (Hard to believe that when I was a pre-teen, I was daring enough to attempt making tempura for the family in a round bottom wok. My Mom thought for sure I'd burn the house down.) Plus, it doesn't seem that a home range can generate enough heat to develop that lovely wok hay flavor that good Chinese food should have. So I decided to simply pan fry the cutlets in a bit of corn starch. A more fussy flour-egg-panko crumb coat would have been lovely, too, but I didn't feel like going all out. If that's more your speed, then go for it. I just wanted to make something that was fast.

The sauce turned out really well. Sweet, but not too, plenty garlicky, and lightly spicy. Would be great over shrimp or strips of sauteed pork tenderloin or fried tofu or however you like your kung pao best.

We served our kung pao with a new rice bowl product from Healthee USA. The Fried-Style brown rice is USDA-certified organic, and fortified with coconut milk. Best of all, it cooks up in the microwave in 60-90 seconds. Perfect for those nights when you're in a rush or just plumb forgot to put on the rice cooker (that would be me). I was really glad the company had sent us a few varieties to try, as they provided a tasty starch that I didn't really have to think about.

Kung Pao Chicken

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar (or rice vinegar)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon grated or minced fresh ginger
1/2 - 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, crushed
10 dried red Chinese chiles
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

For the chicken:
Corn starch
Salt
1 pack thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breast (18 - 24 ounces)
Vegetable Oil
1 tablespoon butter

To serve:
3 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
Unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

To make the sauce: Combine the vinegar, stock, sugar, hoisin, soy, and cornstarch in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar and cornstarch and ensure there are no lumps.

Heat the oil in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, peppercorns, and chiles and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil.

For the chicken: Put about half a cup of corn starch in a gallon-sized zip top plastic bag and add a good teaspoon or so of salt. Shake to combine. Add chicken pieces one at a time and shake to coat. Pat excess corn starch off each piece and put on a plate until all are coated.

Heat a few tablespoons of oil and the butter in a large saute pan. Add as many pieces of chicken that fit in your pan and cook until lightly browned on both sides and cooked through, 4-5 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm until all pieces are cooked. Cook the remaining chicken, adding more oil to the pan if necessary.

To serve: Arrange chicken cutlets on a platter pour some of the sauce over top. Garnish with scallions and peanuts and serve remaining sauce on the side.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $ at no cost to you! Please buy!



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Mielbio Organic Italian Honey Lavender Loaf Cake

Honey is one of my favorite sweeteners; about the only thing I won't use it in is tea. I know, tea + honey (especially with lemon) is a classic combination, but it's not a favorite. When I was a kid, I was sick a lot, and among my mother's favorite remedies was big pots of Lipton tea with tons of honey and lemon. So it reminds me of having a bad cold. (She also loved Ben Gay, therefore, I have also developed a deep-rooted dislike for wintergreen in any form. Even root beer can be an iffy proposition.) But I do like honey on its own. And it's great for adding a bit of sweetness to a savory dish, or spread on a piece of buttered toast or a biscuit. And as an ingredient in baking.

When we received a jar of MielBio organic honey in their limited edition Mandarin flavor from Rigoni di Asiago, I knew I had to use it as a flavoring element for a cake. The cloudy raw honey syrup, from Calabria, is made by bees who sip the sweet nectar from clementine trees and has a distinct orange-y flavor. I didn't want to add more orange to the cake, thinking it would detract from the honey flavor, so instead I added a small bit of lavender flowers. They lend a herbal touch to the cake that marries perfectly with the sweet citrussy honey.

The cake gets a nice brown crust while baking; the crumb is light and airy with a delicate orange flavor. It's terrific toasted, with butter (and honey!) or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Honey Lavender Loaf Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup MielBio mandarin honey (or other light, flavored honey)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon food-grade lavender buds (We get ours from the Spice House)
2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the honey, and then the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and sour cream.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. Beat it into the butter mixture just until combined.

Scrape into a greased 8" or 9" loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before unmolding cake. Cool on rack until at least room temperature before slicing.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Chamomile Honey Tea Gelato

Over the past few years, we've been hearing about the puzzling mass die-off of honey bees. Studies show that 85% of all plants are due to pollinators--like honey bees--so this is an issue that should concern everyone. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has instituted special programs to address this issue and have recently entered into a charitable partnership with The Republic of Tea. Their new Biodynamic Chamomile Honey Tea, available exclusively at Whole Foods throughout the Mid-Atlantic, was created to bring attention to this issue. The company was kind enough to send us a can to sample.

The chamomile in this tea, as with other The Republic of Tea chamomile varieties, comes from a small biodynamic farm at the base of the Italian alps, and is highly fragrant. In this particular tea, the flower is infused with a delicate but noticeable honey flavor, and it makes a terrific hot or iced beverage. While sipping it (iced), I thought it would make a lovely ice cream. Indeed, at the Fancy Food Show last summer I had tasted a chamomile tea ice cream that knocked my socks off.

So, after a fruitless search for my own ice cream maker (likely tossed in a fit of pique, as my kitchen is too small to hold such unitasking appliances), I borrowed one from a gracious friend and set to work. Because chamomile is a rather delicate flavor, I thought gelato, made with whole milk rather than tons of heavy cream, would be a better way to show off the flavor of this tea. And it was. The flavor of the chamomile is subtle, but the honey is quite pronounced. There is no vanilla in it at all, but Mr Minx thought there was. It's really very delicious, on its own or scooped over a piece of pound cake. It'd also be dynamite served with a fruit crisp or crumble.

Chamomile Honey Tea Gelato

2 cups whole milk
¾ cup sugar
6 The Republic of Tea Chamomile Honey Tea bags
5 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream

Put the milk and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar melts. Add the teabags and continue to heat the milk just until tiny bubbles appear around the edges. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the tea to steep for at least one hour. Remove the tea bags from the milk, gently squeezing them dry.

Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl. Reheat the milk until steaming. Using a ladle, dribble some of the hot milk into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking constantly. After about half the milk has been whisked in, pour the egg and milk mixture back into the pot with the remaining milk. Cook over medium-low heat until thick enough to coat a spoon, whisking all the while.

Strain the custard and stir in the heavy cream. Refrigerate until cold.

Freeze the cold custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Gelato has less air than ice cream, so keep it in the machine only until it starts to hold its shape. Once the consistency is like somewhat melted ice cream, scoop it into a covered container and freeze until firm.



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Masala Mama

One of the many products we were introduced to by this summer's Fancy Food Show was Masala Mama spice mixes. The company puts out a whole line of individual spices, but they also do pre-measured dry mixes to make cooking Indian food at home super easy. They're not stupid simple though - one doesn't merely dump the contents into a pan a la Hamburger Helper. There are explicit instructions included along with multiple seasoning packets that get introduced at different points during cooking. So you learn a bit of technique while being mostly lazy.

For instance, the Goa Coconut Curry came with a packet of kokum (related to mangosteen and nothing that the average American home cook will find in the supermarket) that needed to be added to a can of coconut milk and heated. The dried pink fruit was then left to soak in the warm milk in order to impart flavor and color. While that was going on, a second package of spices was fried with onions to make the base for the dish.

Goa fish curry doesn't normally have a ton of vegetables in it, as pictured, but we had carrots and tomatoes and peas and not a whole lot of fish, so I tossed them in for both bulk and nutrition. The dish turned out really well, tasting a lot more like something that came from a restaurant than from my kitchen. We haven't had an opportunity to try the Vindaloo spices yet, as the first ingredient is "chiles" and I have no idea how hot it's going to be. Not that we dislike spicy food--on the contrary, we enjoy it--but I've heard stories about the heat levels that dishes like vindaloo can reach. It's for the American market though, so I suppose it can't be that mind-blowing.

Masala Mama, founded by chef Nidhi Jalan, is based in Brooklyn, NY. Their products are certified USDA Organic and come from artisanal farms in India. They also offer three gourmet simmer sauces (Goa curry, Tikka Masala, and Vindaloo), 10 spice kits in addition to the two above, three spice blends (Garam Masala, Tandoori Masala, and Magic Curry Powder) and over 30 organic individual spices. If you can't find them in your local Whole Foods, you can buy the spice kits online at http://www.masalamamaspice.com/organic-indian-spice-kits/.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Peas Please Snacks

Peas seldom get any respect. They were the vegetable you pushed around on your plate when you were a kid. They are almost never a featured player on a restaurant menu like kale or Brussels sprouts. They tend to be tossed in with other vegetables as a "medley" or in a casserole like an afterthought.

The people at Peeled Snacks are giving peas the spotlight with a line of new snacks called Peas Please. Using organic whole green pea flour and organic brown rice flower, these pea-pod shaped snacks are baked and enhanced with seasonings. The effect is something like puffed Cheetos or a similar snack, but without the overpowering fake cheddar flavor. Or the thirst-provoking amount of salt. Or corn.

Peas Please come in three varieties: Sea Salt, Garden Herb, and Southwest Spice. Sea Salt is the most subtle with just enough salt to bring out the flavor of the peas. Garden Herb tastes of vegetables and herbs with a strong hit of garlic. The one with the most kick, of course, is Southwest Spice, but unlike some of the other crunchy snakes out there, Peas Please is not a raging salt bomb. The cayenne, paprika, onion, and garlic stand on their own with just a hint of saline. Any flavor works well as an accompaniment to a lunchtime sandwich (even on a salad), or as a snack eaten directly from the bag (our favorite way to eat them).

Completely organic and gluten free, Peas Please snacks provide 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber per serving. They're also relatively low in fat compared to other snack foods with only 4.5 grams of fat per one ounce serving. Peeled snacks are available at major retailers around the country like Target, Whole Foods, and Wegman's. In the Baltimore area, Peeled products can be found at MOM's Organic Markets, Wegman's, and some Giant stores. (Starbucks also tends to carry Peeled dried fruit snacks.)

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Fancy Food Show Summer 2015 - Tea

The Summer Fancy Food Show has come and gone and I'm just getting around to writing about it. :) But the summer has been busy with other stuff, and it's always a good idea to cogitate on things before putting them on paper. Or in this case, online.

Judging by the many tea products I sampled, tea is trending. Here are a few products that I really enjoyed.

Kombucha is a tea-based product that some find hard to drink. Granted, fermented tea does have a lot in common with vinegar, and for the most part, the non-hipsters among us don't go around drinking vinegar. I think kombucha is quite palatable, but it all depends on the flavor. Ginger works really well to mask the fermented taste, for example. What really works to hide the whole kombucha-ness of the stuff is to add fizzy water and sweetener and turn it into soda. Live Soda company does just that in flavors like rhubarb and rootbeer that are actually very tasty. And because the company is based in Texas, they also make a flavor called Pure Doctor that mimics Texas' own Dr Pepper quite nicely. There's just a bit of tangy afterburn with each sip, but it goes down like a refreshing soda. Unlike soda, Live Kombucha Soda has probiotics (Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces boulardii), electrolytes, b-vitamins, and antioxidants.

I also had a rose flavored chai tea latte by Bolani that was scrumptious. It was sweet and creamy, with chai spices and also a fairly heavy hit of rosewater. Not enough to be perfumy, but it was definitely there. It was like drinking liquefied Turkish delight, which, if you're like me, you'd be totally into. They also do black tea, plain green tea, and a mint green tea that can be consumed straight from the package, or warmed up.

Numi Teas has come out with a line of organic, fair trade teas made with turmeric, a spice with anti-inflammatory properties. They also have four new "Indulgent" teas flavored with chocolate. The turmeric teas are on the unusual side, but the chocolate flavored ones are quite a treat. I like to drink them warm, with milk and sugar.

My favorite tea product of the show also involves milk and sugar. Tea-rrific Ice Cream, out of Connecticut, is a line of tea-infused ice creams in six flavors: Ginger Matcha, London Mist (Early Grey with vanilla), Masala Chai, Chamomile, Chunky London Mist (with chocolate and pecans), and Lavender Blueberry. The ice creams are made with hormone-free cream, cage-free eggs, and evaporated cane juice infused with high quality teas, like chamomile from Egypt. I don't even like chamomile tea (nor did any of the people I spoke to at the Tea-rrific booth), but the chamomile ice cream, with its distinct honey notes, was my favorite of the bunch. Honestly, they were all excellent. In fact, Tea-rrific Ice Creams were my favorite product at the whole show. And considering how many things I tried, that's saying a lot.



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