Chocolate Gravy

Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits

I just finished off a plateful of Saveur 100's #48 - Chocolate Gravy with biscuits. It was hard for me to imagine a breakfast that combined a rich, velvety, buttery chocolate sauce as a component (unless I were a 5 year-old), so when I first saw the recipe I was intrigued.

In our home savory has ruled as the Queen of Breakfast and every one of my 7 children knows that I don't embrace the idea of chocolate or sugar as the first meal of the day. But, the recommendation did come from Saveur, and the woman who submitted it is from the South, so I figured it had to be good. And I was right. And I apologize to my children for denying them chocolate for breakfast for so long.

I think I'm in love - the dark chocolate sauce on top of flaky biscuits is nearly sinful. I'm not sure I should have been making it for Sunday breakfast. I did, though - and I don't apologize for it. If you've never had chocolate gravy for breakfast, please do go and make up a batch - you can find the recipe at Saveur.

It's Not Even Spring Yet!

I couldn't help it. I tried to restrain myself, really, but this stretch of warmer weather had me champing at the bit to grill something. Anything. So, after spending the morning zesting citrus for various things (Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake was one) I felt the need for fresh flavors on my dinner plate.

I had already thawed chicken breasts and was planning on fried chicken with a tomato based sauce, but I caught sight of the grill outside and made a last minute executive decision: the chicken must be grilled.

I had also been cooking beans to have on-hand. The beans were cooking with dried arbol chiles, bay leaves and garlic, and after tossing the lime shells (limes sans zest and juice) into the beans I felt like they needed to come to play in our dinner somehow. I scratched the tomato sauce idea and instead made a quick salsa with beans, avocado and tomato. It was the perfect complement to the grilled chicken. It was so good, in fact, that I had to keep from finishing it off myself. There are no herbs added and it doesn't need any at all - the combination of crunchy onion, tender avocado and tangy lime juice is terrific as-is.

Our dinner was a thrown-together delight. The chicken was topped with the salsa and I made a simple side of linguine tossed with olive oil, dried lemon zest and basil. It was divinely delicious and even the kids liked it. Not quite summer, but so close I could almost taste it.

Simple Tomato, Bean and Avocado Salsa
Makes 3 cups
Printable Link

1 1/2 cups seeded and diced tomato
1 1/2 cups cooked and drained beans (I used kidney and pinto)
1 small Hass avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 cup white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 limes, juiced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Combine all in a small bowl and toss well. Let stand for several minutes to blend flavors before serving.

Adopt a Blogger: Round 4

I've adopted a food blogger! Kristin of Dine & Dish has successfully paired veteran bloggers with newer bloggers for the past 4 years and this year I jumped on board and offered to be an adoptive blogger. I figured with 4 years under my belt and being halfway through my 5th year that it was high time to give back.

I've been paired with a wonderfully precocious young blogger named Lauren. She has written Celiac Teen for nearly 2 years (and she's only 17!) about her disease and how she manages to eat well despite it.

She's got quite the following for someone so young, and she is SO good at what she does that I'm afraid I won't have much to offer her. In fact, I can easily see Lauren being the adopter for Round 5 of Adopt a Blogger.

Even if you're not gluten-free, you must see this blog ... for the recipes, the photos, the writing and the general yumminess of it all. Brazilian Cheese Bread or Gluten-Free Tiramisu, anyone?

But, wait - there's more! More? Yes, yes, there's more! She created an ebook specifically to provide help to Haiti titled, Help for Haiti. A compilation of 87 recipes from 71 bloggers, the book was made to raise funds for Haitians in the aftermath of the recent earthquake there. The Red Cross matched donations, as have Lauren's parents (up to $1,000) and the book costs whatever you'd like to donate. Please go check that link, and every link leading to Lauren's blog, she is one fantastically talented young woman and I am so proud to be her adoptive blogger.

Poached Eggs on Ratatouille Bruschetta

Poached Eggs on Ratatouille Bruschetta

Ratatouille has been one of my favorites for over twenty years. The first reference I had ever come across was in a Sunset publication that I picked up at an Atlantic Books warehouse that long ago. I recall thinking then that it was one of the most delicious sounding dishes I'd heard of. It was billed as a salad in that book and included no background whatsoever.

As the years passed I learned more about its origins and the slight differences and variations, but I always came back to making it close to the way I first learned. My own recipes can be found here and here and it is those I used to make this breakfast.

Poached Eggs on Ratatouille Bruschetta

I've taken to eating ratatouille bruschetta-style, on toasted thick bread and there's nothing so satisfying to me at the moment. Until this particular craving is fully sated, I expect I'll find more new and interesting ways to consume this thick French stew.

Poached Eggs on Ratatouille Bruschetta
Serves 1 or 2
Printable Link

2 slices French batard
1 cup prepared ratatouille, warmed through
2 large eggs

1. Toast bread rounds until desired crunch is achieved.
2. Top toasted bread with ratatouille.
3. Poach eggs (slide gently into simmering water from a small bowl or plate - one at a time - and cook until whites are just firm and center is still soft). Remove with a slotted spoon and set atop ratatouille. Grind fresh pepper over the eggs. Serve.

Dear Michael Ruhlman, This is Why I Cook

Food writer, Michael Ruhlman wrote about why he cooks and asked of bloggers to share as well why they cook. This is my response.

The first, and I'll admit, seemingly conceited thing that comes to mind for me is, "I cook, because I can." That's true and not so arrogant as it comes off ... really.

I cook because I love to eat.

I cook to nourish my family in the best way possible. Letting someone else do it removes me from the process of knowing exactly what goes into our meals.

I cook to earn money. I develop recipes and take photos for a living (and write about the process), and that end of it is ever fascinating and ever educational. I learn something new each day by doing.

I cook to remember. There is nothing so memory provoking as the aroma or flavor of a food loved as a child. Nothing. I make my grandmother's brownies or my great-grandmother's brown sugar cookies or my mother's fried chicken to recall all that was good and pure and wonderful about my childhood - even if it wasn't all good or pure or wonderful.

I cook to create new memories. Yes, the common thread here is that food is central to my feelings of well-being and health, and I aim to continue building those feelings in my children and their children. I want them to have memories of love and home and nurturing all rolled into one loaf of bread or layer of cake. The more I cook, the more chances they have to watch and learn and begin to cook for themselves.

I cook to live. Eating is truly secondary for me to the creation process that takes place each time I make a dish. I tell people often that cooking is an art like no other with an instant gratification (or let-down, whichever the case may be) that you can't get by creating with any other medium. Paintings can take days to months to complete. Books are the same. Recordings, movies, sculptures - they all take much more time to create and to be appreciated. With food, the 'yea' or 'nay' are immediate - you know if your creation was loved or liked or hated before the creation is gone.

I cook to bring others happiness. There's nothing else to say about that.

So, I echo Michael Ruhlman - what are your reasons for cooking?