More Brownies!

Time for brownies.

Again.

 

 

One can never have brownies too often, so I just keep trying out different variations on chocolate.

These are rich, dense, and fudgy and you only need one bowl to mess up for the batter and one 9 x 13- inch pan to bake in.

Here's the latest brownie batch:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted  (I always use unsalted butter.)

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 TB vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips (bittersweet or semisweet)

 

Heat oven to 350°.

Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with parchment paper and butter it or use non-stick spray.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

Whisk in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in flour, cocoa, and salt.

  

Spread batter in prepared pan.  Bake about 25 minutes, or until outer 2-3 inches are set.  You want moist crumbs on a toothpick.  Doesn't have to set all the way because it will continue to cook in the pan.

Let cool.

After cooling the brownies, I cut them into squares and sandwiched them together with chocolate ganache.  Then, since I subscribe to the notion that more is more, I cooked up some caramel to add to the partay.

Melted butter and sugar.

 

 

 

 

Add vanilla.

Add in eggs, one at a time.

Flour in.

Cocoa powder.

Stir until smooth.

Fold in chips.

Pour into prepared pan.

Ready to bake.

Let cool.

Slice into squares.

I like to add more chocolate to the chocolate, so I'm making chocolate ganache, which is simply a mixture of cream and chocolate.  It can be used as a filling, frosting, sauce, or glaze, depending on its consistency.

For the ganache:

I pour about a cup of heavy cream into a bowl and nuke it until the cream is hot.  Then I pour about 8 ounces of chocolate chips into the hot cream.  Let the chocolate melt, then stir until smooth.  If you like, you can flavor your ganache.  You can booze it up with a teaspoon or so of rum. Or you can sprinkle in some espresso powder for a coffee kick.  Flavoring is up to you, as is the consistency of the ganache.  I refrigerate whatever ganache I don't use, then reheat later to pour over ice cream.

Next, I decided to go a little further with caramel.

Usually when I make caramel, I carefully and painstakingly melt sugar in a small saucepan, watching it like a mother hen so it melts slowly and doesn't burn.  I've found a new recipe for caramel sauce that takes the worry out of melting sugar and it's super easy.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 stick butter (4 oz)

1/2 cup cream

1 TB vanilla

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat, whisking until thickened, about 8-10 minutes.  It will thicken more as it cools.  You can drizzle the warm sauce over the brownies and refrigerate what you don't use.  Reheat to use over ice cream.

Tuna #3

 

 

 

I’ve been enjoying lots of tuna lately and it’s been a fun challenge to come up with different ways to prepare this wonderful fish. 

 

 One of my first preparations was this Non-Traditional Tuna Salad.

My version of tuna "salad" has all the salad fixin's - sliced cabbage, radicchio, red onion, radishes, cucumber, avocado, sweet peppers, Fresno chilis, toasted pistachios, sesame seeds, sliced scallions, cilantro and fried wonton strips for "croutons."  The tuna was marinated, then seared and sliced, and it's served on a bed of lime/cilantro rice with a sriracha and soy sauce dressings on the side. It explodes with colors, textures, and tastes.

 

My second tuna preparation was Herbalicious Tuna.

 

This tuna was also seared and sliced and then served with an herbal condiment - sort of a combination chimichurri and gremolata.  A fresh tomato and cucumber salad straight from the garden accompanied the tuna.

 My third preparation is marinated tuna served with a blackberry sauce.  I’m marinating inch+-thick tuna steaks, then searing the outside, leaving the inside deliciously rare, almost butter-like. The steaks are then sliced and accompanied by my version of a gastrique.

  I like to offer new techniques and ideas for you to try and today’s contribution is a gastrique, a French name for a sweet and sour sauce.  The sweet component typically comes from sugar (and honey, in my case) and fruit; the sour element from vinegar.  The combination is cooked down, or reduced, along with other flavor infusions.  The result is a sweet and tart syrup-like sauce which is an excellent complement to the tuna, enhancing the fish and amplifying its flavor.  A gastrique is beautifully versatile.  With one basic technique, you can create many different variations depending on what fruits, vinegars, and flavorings you choose.  For this preparation, I’m using blackberries and balsamic vinegar.

I would be remiss if I didn't explain about balsamic vinegar.

  Balsamic vinegar is a dark, syrupy vinegar, glossy and viscous, slightly sweet with a mellow tartness, bold with a rich complexity, and intensely flavored.  There are many varieties in stores and you want to find a good one, not a poor imposter. 

 True balsamic vinegar comes from only two areas in Italy – Modena and Reggio Emilia.  The production of balsamic vinegar is a time-honored tradition and process and dates back to the Middle Ages so quality balsamic vinegar won’t be cheap because you’re paying for knowledge, tradition, history, craft, and time.

So, how do you choose a quality balsamic vinegar?  You check the labels.  You’re looking for one of two designations on the bottle:  DOP or IGP.  The DOP and IGP labels serve to preserve Italian culinary heritage, allowing consumers to distinguish authentic regional specialties from low-quality knock-offs.  The need for guaranteed authentic products began in the mid 1900s when Italian cuisine gained popularity in the United States and other areas.  To supply the increasing demand for Italian products, the market became flooded with mass produced, inferior imitations of Italian products, all sold under the guise of the high quality products they tried to copy.  (For example, think about the green can of “Parmesan” cheese vs authentic Parmigiano Reggiano.) To protect their culinary reputation and the uniqueness of certain food products, to protect names from misuse and imitation, and to guard against food fraud, Italy worked with the European Union to create legal certifications to insure quality, tradition, reliability, and authenticity.  To earn the labels, producers must adhere to a strict set of guidelines, overseen by the government.

 The red DOP stamp on a bottle stands for Denominazione d’Origine Protetta,or Protected Designation of Origin. This stamp is a European Union certification and a designation of authenticity that guarantees that the vinegar was made only in Modena or Reggio Emilia, from grapes of those regions, using traditional methods and recognized techniques, with production overseen from beginning to end by a special consortium dedicated to safeguarding the product. By law, only DOP products can carry the word “traditional” on their labels.  Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia DOP are the Mothers of  balsamic vinegars. The sole ingredient is grape “must,” the must being the whole pressed grapes (including juice, skin, seeds, and stem), only from the designated regions of Modena or Reggio Emilia. Aged for at least 12 years in a series of barrels and sold in wax-sealed bottles with unique identification numbers, these vinegars are quite expensive.  They are not what I’d recommend for this particular recipe because of the cooking involved. Heating these vinegars would affect the properties of the vinegars, destroying subtle flavors and their distinctive bouquets.  These vinegars are meant to be tasted and enjoyed sparingly and judiciously.

 For a good quality balsamic vinegar, and one more to my budget, I look for the blue IGP seal.  This designation – “Indicazione Geografic Protetta” or Indication of Geographic Protection, is similar to DOP.  A consortium controls the production process from beginning to end, but the regulations are less strict. At least one phase of the process must be done in the areas of Modena or Reggio Emilia. To keep up with the demand for balsamic vinegar, derivative methods are employed, using grape varietals typical of, but from outside, the Modena and Reggio Emilia regions.  The processing, however, takes place in Modena and Reggio Emilia facilities with consortium approval. The aging process is nowhere near as long and IGP vinegars will likely contain additional ingredients besides the grape must – notably, wine vinegar, thickeners, and caramel.

 For my purposes, a balsamic vinegar with the IGP label will work just fine with this recipe.

 

 Now, on to the tuna.

 

For the marinade: 

¼ cup orange juice

¼ cup soy sauce

1 TB fresh minced ginger root

Combine ingredients and marinate tuna while you’re making the sauce.

 

  

 Blackberry and Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

½ cup balsamic vinegar

Zest and juice of two oranges

2 TB sugar

2 TB honey

1 cup blackberries, plus more for garnish

Combine ingredients in small sauce pan and heat low and slow until mixture is reduced by half.  Takes about 30 minutes, but you need to watch it because this can burn quickly.  I always set the sauce pan in a cast iron pan so the heat is diffused and it cooks evenly.  When reduced, add in a handful (or more) of blackberries, mashing them into the sauce and heating through.  Remove from heat.

 To plate, lay the seared tuna next to thin orange slices, spoon the reduction sauce over the tuna, and tumble on some whole blackberries.

Enjoy.