Nigel Slater’s Extremely Moist Chocolate Beet Cake Simplified

Beets were on sale this week for on .88cents a bunch and I haven’t baked desserts with beets before so I thought I’d find a great recipe for baking with beets. YES Nigel Slater’s Recipe is Iron Clad Fantastic. It might be that one recipe you want if you want that one really awesome tasting chocolate cake. The recipe is so good I didn’t even need to read the directions. It’s somewhat involved and many bowls need to be used.  I simplified the recipe by bringing down 5 bowls to only two bowls to prepare the cake. The only major change I did to the recipe was to leave out the 1/4 cup of hot espresso because that would never be in my kitchen and I don’t want the added deepness in flavor because it’s deep enough. The suggested topping for the cake is creme fraiche with poppy seeds. That sounds amazing……but I don’t feel like running to the store to spend $6.00 on a small tub of creme fraiche………so I just used 3 oz of 63% all natural cacao chips melted with 2 oz sweet butter and a splash of warm cream. The cake is super moist and very decadent with deep chocolate flavor. You might not notice the beets. The beets are only in the background and you see a the slight color difference. I was about to use a fresh ricotta cream – mascarpone  with the cake maybe tinted with some beet puree …but didn’t this time……maybe next time… Here’s the simplified recipe.

Ingredients for about 10 servings

8 oz beets – roasted with just water and then peeled and pureed (you need one cup of puree)

7 oz fine dark chocolate (the best my store sells is 63% all natural cacao) (optional to purchase a 10 oz bag of 63% chocolate chips and use 7oz for the cake and three oz for the topping)

8 oz unsweetened butter – cold temperature (optional extra 2 oz for topping)

1 cup flour – plus extra for dusting the springform pan

1 1/14 teaspoon baking powder

3 Tablespoons quality cocoa powder

5 XL eggs

1 cup sugar

optional creme fraiche and poppy seeds to serve

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

in a large bowl chop up the butter into cubes and either put the bowl over a pot of heated water or being very careful micro wave it covered with plastic wrap for 30 seconds at a time till it’s half melted. Then add the chips and either way slowly melt the chips into the butter. (this is the hardest part of the whole recipe).

Add the sugar mix.

Add the beet puree and mix.

Add the cocoa and mix.

dump the flour and baking powder on top.

set to the side

In another large bowl add the eggs and with a mixer beat the eggs till they are light and fluffy.

With a fork stir the chocolate and beet bowl till the mixture is almost mixed.

Carefully as possible stir in the eggs till the mixture is incorporated.

Spray the springform pan with non stick spray.

Add a few Tablespoons of flour and shake it around the pan till it’s dusted.

Fill with cake mixture and set in oven

TURN DOWN OVEN TO 325 DEGREES F.

In about 40 minutes the cake should be done

Leave in pan till the cake is slightly warm and run a soft knife around the cake to make sure it doesn’t stick. Slide the cake off onto a plate.

Decide on how you’d like to serve the cake.

It’s really deep with chocolate and extremely moist…you don’t really need anything but it looks naked.

A few options are….

just powdered sugar or sweetened cocoa

The suggested creme fraiche and poppy seeds

3oz deep chocolate chips melted with 2oz unsweetened butter and a splash of warm cream.

Sweetened fresh made ricotta – mascarpone  cheese….maybe tinted with beet puree…drizzled with chocolate or chocolate shavings…..

Nigel Slater’s Extremely Moist Chocolate Beet Cake Simplified

The cake is excellent…Everyone will love this cake!

The Forking Truth

Modern Reduced Fat Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

Green Goddess Dressing is an old fashioned dressing that is traditionally made from mostly all high fat ingredients like, Mayonnaise, Creme Fraiche and Sour Cream blended with green herbs. I enjoy high fat foods like everyone else does but I prefer my salads to be somewhat healthy so I came up with this recipe. Traditional Green Goddess dressing does NOT contain avocado. I had some extra avocado so I thought I could make a rich tasting Green Goddess type of dressing and I did. You can use this dressing for salads, chicken salad, dip or drizzle it on vegetables, chicken or fish.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

8 oz ripe avocado

3 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup scallions sliced (packed tight)

1/4 cup parsley (packed tight)

8 anchovy filets (I used Delallo Brand…I note some other reasonably priced brands sold in Phoenix will not work out as well)

3 Tablespoons white vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon dried tarragon…..(fresh would be better but I very rarely use tarragon..so I usually use dried)

1/4 teaspoon or to taste fresh ground black pepper…( I found after I made the dressing I needed slightly more than 1/4 teaspoon)

Fresh ground sea salt to taste….(not much)

Directions

Just blend all the ingredients.

Modern Reduced Fat Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

This dressing seems very rich and is delicious.

The Forking Truth

Forking Awesome Kicked UP Waldorf Inspired Salad

The Waldorf Salad was created in the 1890s at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. A typical Waldorf Salad is made from apples, celery, grapes and walnuts dressed with a mayonnaise dressing. That sounds sort of boring and heavy to me so I went with that idea and used some unusual ingredients like kumquat, rambutan and tomatillo that made it more interesting. There is a lot of flavors and textures in this salad with a little heat. It really is Forking Great….most people will like all the flavors and textures. Even if you don’t want to make this salad you will still want to make the walnuts like I do. I cook the walnuts with water for 3 minutes in the microwave to release the bitter flavor and toss the walnuts in the oven with minimal amounts of sugar, oil and seasoning and they are just delicious! My recipe makes more walnuts than you need for this recipe. I don’t think you will have a problem using them or snacking on them.

Ingredients for about three servings

1 cup walnuts

2 cups water

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

a few cracks black pepper

12 rambutan – peeled (you can substitute lychee fruit or large grapes)

2 celery ribs – peeled and cut in bite size pieces

1/2 fennel bulb – core removed and sliced thin (save some fennel fronds to toss in)

1 tomatillo – cut in quarters, then eights and each eight in fourths

1 apple – cored and cut in bite size pieces

3 Tablespoons jumbo raisens

2 radish sliced thin

2 kumquats sliced thin (remove seeds if you come across any)

1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

few cracks fresh black pepper

Directions

Place the walnuts in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and heat for three minutes.

Set oven to 350 dries F. When the walnuts are cool enough to handle remove from the muddy looking liquid and blot as best as you can on paper towels. This is to remove even more of the bitterness. Place the walnuts in a small mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne and a few cracks of fresh black pepper. Toss well and spread out the walnuts on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Cut the peeled rambutan off the pits and place in a large mixing bowl.

Add celery, fennel, fennel fronds, tomatillo, apple, raisins, radish, kumquats and remaining ingredients.

Toss.

Top with desired amount of walnuts.

Forking Awesome Kicked UP Waldorf Inspired Salad

It’s really very light delicious and different.

Most people will enjoy this salad!

The Forking Truth

Romaine dressed with Avocado Cilantro Caesar Dressing

Real Caesar Dressing is never white and is suppose to be very bold in flavor. It’s not Caesar unless you have flavors of garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, fresh cracked black pepper all equal in flavor with none outshining the others. Believe me I know…..back in the day I did this professionally. Here is an avocado variation of what caesar is suppose to taste like. I don’t usually use the oil from the anchovies but I found that the King Oscar brand that my local store sells to be the mildest, tiniest, (worst) anchovies I have ever come across and for the recipe to work out I needed to fortify the flavor with the anchovy oil. If you got good anchovies you might want to substitute olive oil instead to the one Tablespoon of anchovy oil that’s listed in the ingredients. A good anchovy is one that has some body to it. It should be about as long as your thumb. You should be able to lift each filet out of it’s container. The King Oscar Anchovies almost dissolve instantly. Sadly King Oscar Brand were the only brand of anchovies my local Safeway Store sells.

Ingredients for 4 servings

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

4 anchovies – (note- quality and size of anchovies differ greatly, 4 from a small can, I used King Oscar because that was my only choice and found out the anchovies were very mild and very tiny….Good quality big ones you might need less)

1 XL egg yolk

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice – fresh squeezed

1 Tablespoon oil from the anchovies

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 avocado – just the creamy flesh

1/2 cup cilantro – finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon black pepper – fresh ground

sea salt – fresh ground to taste

Directions

If you are doing caesar table side you need a large wooden bowl and you use two forks to break down the garlic and then break down the anchovies with the two forks like this. Or you can simply ground the garlic on a garlic grounding board and then use the two forks to break down the anchovies.

With the fork beat in the yolk till it thickens.

Mix in dijon till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon vinegar till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon vinegar till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon lemon juice till it thickens.

Mix in one tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in Worcestershire sauce.

Mix in anchovy oil till it thickens.

Mix in avocado till it’s smooth.

Mix in remaining ingredients, taste and adjust.

Avocado Caesar Dressing

Serve..Spread the dressing heavy on a cleaned 1/2 head of romaine that is chilled or grilled (or tossed in torn romaine). Top with roasted red pepper strips, either parmesan or cotija cheese, some more anchovies, toasted pumpkin seeds or seasoned croutons, scallions and maybe a little fresh cilantro. A few pieces of grilled chicken will turn this salad into a dinner.

Romaine dressed with Avocado Caesar Dressing

Forking Good!

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Chef Vivian Howard’s “Best Picked Beets She Ever Ate”

Chef Vivian Howard is a James Beard Foundation Award Semi Finalist, She also runs her own AAA Four Diamond Restaurant, she is a host on her Award Wining PBS “A Chef’s Life” TV Show and Cook Book Author. If Someone like Chef Vivian Howard says these are the “Best Pickled Beets She Ever Ate then they must be Forking Great!

Ingredients for about 12 servings

3 lbs beets

3 cups cider vinegar

2 cups water

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 cloves

3 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon chili flakes

3 star anise

Directions

Put the washed skin on beets in a pot and cover with 2 inches of water.

Boil covered for about 20 minutes or knife tender.

Drain and cool. – Peel when cool.

Slice in 1/2 inch half round and quarter if they are real big.

Combine the rest of the ingredients and bring to boil.

Pour over beets.

Refrigerate and they will be good for three months or can if you want to hold them longer.

Chef Vivian Howard’s “Best Picked Beets She Ever Ate”

These pickled beets are more firm than how I usually do pickled beets. They also are spicier and are infused with more flavors and are not sweet. For me they needed a week for the flavors to develop.

On the TV PBS TV Show A Chef’s Life they had a Beet Farmer on the show doing his version of pickled beets and his trick was to boil the beets leaving the greens on. He said the beets bleed out when you cut the leaves off. I tried it doing a basic pickled beets recipe with just plain white vinegar, sugar and water like the farmer did and the beets do have a much earthier flavor leaving the greens on.

With the extra beet brine from all the beets I’ve been pickling I used some for mini cucumbers for salads.

I also pickled some eggs and made tiny open faced sandwiches.

Chef Vivian Howard’s “Best Picked Beets She Ever Ate”

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Bavarian Inspired Potato Dumplings

This recipe is based on German Food Expert Jennifer McGavino’s Recipe for Bavarian Potato Dumplings. Bavarian Potato Dumplings are a Sunday Comfort Food. You can eat them with melted butter and toasted bread crumbs. You can simply pour cold milk on the hot dumplings and eat them that way or serve them with a gravy. There are many variations of Bavarian Potato Dumplings. Kartoffel Kioesse, Rotte Kloesse and Baumnollene Kloesse. Some involve using a combination of raw mushed red potatoes that are drained threw linen cloth and are mixed with cooked potatoes. They take lots of practice before you will be successful because they are even difficult for experts to prepare. Besides incredible fluffy breakfast eggs and BBQ, the only food my father used to prepare when I was a child were similar Bavarian Dumplings….he said his mother made them for him. I took a few liberties to make the dumplings more delicious by infusing the potatoes with flavors and I skipped the extra buttered bread crumbs the original recipe called for because I never had these dumplings that way and for my taste they weren’t needed but feel free to butter up a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs if you desire. The other change I did was that I substituted polenta for farina of the original recipe but not to make a change but due to what I had in my pantry. The dumplings still came out with the same taste…..My husband never had Bavarian Dumplings before and said they came out very delicious. Try them and see what you think!

Bavarian Inspired Potato Dumplings

Ingredients for about 6 servings

5 or more average size russet potatoes – peeled – cooked till tender and chilled (you will need 3 1/2 cups riced)

1 hot pepper – to boil with potatoes for flavor (I used a banana pepper)

1 garlic clove – to boil with potatoes for flavor

1/2 sweet onion – to boil with potatoes for flavor

1 Tablespoon kosher salt or sea salt – to boil with potatoes

2 slices quality white bread – cut in small cubes.

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup polenta (not instant)

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3 1/2 cups of riced potatoes

2 eggs beaten

a few grates fresh nutmeg

a pinch white pepper

Directions

In a fry pan heat up the butter on medium high heat and add the bread cubes and let go till golden brown.

If you didn’t boil your peeled potatoes yet do so now with the hot pepper, onion garlic and 1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt. Boil potatoes till fork tender, SCOOP the potatoes out with a slotted spoon and toss out the pepper, onion and garlic in the trash. BUT SAVE THE WATER!!!!!!!! You will use the flavored water to boil the dumplings in……The potatoes must be chilled for this recipe to work out so make sure your potatoes are good and chilled. Once chilled…

In a large bowl rice the potatoes.

In a small bowl combine flour, polenta, 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, nutmeg and pepper and eggs. The small bowl mixture will be very thick.

Mix well and combine with potatoes.

Now get a pot on to boil with the flavored water you saved and add enough to boil dumplings.

Once pot boils turn it down to just over a simmer.

I did one smaller dumpling as a test..I rolled it into a big marble and stuffed a small crouton in it then it went into the pot..to check to see if I had enough flour in it and also checked for seasoning. I let the smaller dumpling cook for about ten minutes. I thought it came out perfect.

So then I rolled dumplings about meatball size inserting a small crouton in each.

I rolled the potato mixture into balls.

I boiled the balls 8-10 at a time for 12 minutes a batch.

When I was a child my dad would serve these similar dumplings hot with just cold milk. I served then with unsweetened butter, sliced scallions and remaining toasted bread cubes broken down to crumbs.

Bavarian Inspired Potato Dumplings

These are delicious. These Dumplings came out very similar to what I remember and you might want to give them a try!

The Forking Truth

White Meat

I was watching Cook’s Country Cooking Show on PBS and they showed their method for slow roasting Chicken. They started the chicken pieces by putting a few drops of oil in a screaming hot pan and 5 minutes on each side. I think they only lightly salted and peppered the chicken. Then they put the chicken in a 250 degree F oven for 90 minutes on a cooling rack that is over a protected sheet pan…sort of like what I did below but they left a little more space around the chicken. They said on Cooks Country that it’s better to put the white meat pieces towards the inside of the oven and the legs on the outside of pan because the air is slightly hotter on the outside. My pan is crowded (I know my bad) but it’s such a good recipe the chicken still came out amazing.

I skipped the fry pan step because I almost never eat chicken skin….

But sometimes I do brown the skin like in the photo below.

They said on the show you want the white meat to reach 160 degrees F

and they said on the show you want the dark meat to reach 175 degrees F

I found in 90 minutes my smaller pieces were at temperate and I removed them to rest.

The large legs needed another 15 minutes to reach 175 degrees F but as they rest I saw red juice filling up the skin so I put them back in the 250 degree oven for another 30 minutes and they were perfect. So to sum things up the smaller pieces of chicken needed about 90 minutes in a 250 degree F oven. The Larger Chicken Legs needed about 135 minutes in a 250 degree F oven.

The skin all filled with juice and the juice went back into the meat. The whole house has a really good chicken aroma and I hear the pitter patter of furry feet.

This one in photo above won’t leave my side.

“15 1/2 years old and I’m still handsome and alive despite all my doctor’s predictions……….He says….”.I’m getting lots of Forking chicken soon from my human because she’s a sucker for me.”

“I’m moving in closer…I’m getting me lots of Forking Moist Deeply Flavorful Chicken”

“I’m getting me some Forking Moist Flavorful Chicken too!” “But ..I will wait till I’m given some…unlike the pushy old man”

White Meat

The meat is extremely moist and very flavorful with a deep really good chicken flavor. I really like this method for chicken on the bone. Especially for the deep chicken flavor and moistness for white meat. The skin is almost dry. I pulled it off and put it on a rack like this.

It took about 30 minutes in my oven at 350 degrees F. to get shattering crisp.

This was a very easy way to prepare flavorful Chicken that’s moist and juicy.

Thanks to Cook’s Country for a new (to me) alternative way to cook moist flavorful chicken.

The Forking Truth

Not Too Sour Delicious Spaghetti Squash “Faux” Sauerkraut

Pastrami Potato Plank Sliders with Not Too Sour Spaghetti Squash “Kraut”

I had a bunch of spaghetti squash that I cooked and thought that I could make a not too sour…. “faux” sauerkraut kind of condiment out of the spaghetti squash so I did and it came out delicious , flavorful and not too sour. If you are the kind of person that finds sauerkraut sometimes runs too sour for you then you will be a fan of this not as sour “faux” Sauerkraut.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

non stick canola spray (you can substitute a Tablespoon of oil if you prefer)

2 cups spaghetti squash – cooked – (pierce squash all over and throw in a covered pan with about a 1/2 in of water in a 350 degree F oven for about an hour or until you can pierce with a fork – seeds and seed membrane needs to be removed when cool enough to handle – scoop squash out of shell)

1/2 sweet onion – peeled and sliced very thin

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

splash sherry vinegar

1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

4 juniper berries – ground in spice grinder

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/4 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

Directions

Spray a medium size fry pan with oil and place on medium high heat. Then add the onion and cook till translucent.

Add garlic, stir well.

Turn down heat to medium-low add squash and mix well.

Then add vinegars.

Then add remaining ingredients.

Mix well and remove from heat.

Serve.

Not Too Sour Delicious Spaghetti Squash “Faux” Sauerkraut

No fermentation. Forking easy and quick.. and Delicious!

The Forking Truth

Crispy Roasted Potatoes

On the Huffington Post I saw a video of The Food Lab presenting “The Best Roasted Potatoes ever.” I remember The American Test Kitchen did potatoes in a similar way. I tried it and got a good but slightly different result. In both recipes the potatoes get parboiled with a small amount of baking soda that breaks down the surface of the potato to like mashed. When the mashed gets roasted a crispy coating forms. The recipe is pretty easy and straight forward. I think the crust will differ depending on how long you parboil. The potatoes come out with a really nice crust and are filled with creamy soft potatoes almost like mashed.

Ingredients for about 8 generous servings

3 lbs poatoes

1 oz salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 quarts water

5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves – finely chopped

handful rosemary

salt

pepper

handful parsley

optional (my addition was just a tiny squirt of non-stick spray that I rubbed on very slightly because I don’t use non stick pans)

Directions

Get your pot with water, salt and baking soda. Add peeled potatoes cut in very large chunks and parboil till knife tender.

While potatoes are parboiling. heat up the olive oil with rosemary and garlic add some salt and pepper. Once heated drain…but save the herbs. (unless you use dry like I did…..then toss the used dried herbs)

Drain potatoes and let them steam and add the seasoned oil to them. Season the potatoes with some salt and pepper. Shake the potatoes around to gently bust up the surface of the potatoes.This makes your crust.

Set your oven to 450 degree F or 400 bake if you have a convection oven and place the potatoes on a pan leaving some space around each potato.

Put them in the oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes turn each potato over and put them back in the oven.

Let the potatoes go for another 20 minutes and pull them out of the oven.

Decide if you want to go another 10 minutes or not.

Add fresh parsley and saved fresh herbs to the potatoes.

Enjoy.

The potatoes have a nice crisp coating and are moist and creamy inside. The potatoes are Forking Delicious!

Thanks to The Food Lab and The Huffington Post for presenting a video of this recipe.

Crispy Roasted Potatoes

The Forking Truth