Global Happy Hour - Week 2

This week's drink is a favorite of mine. I often order this at bars if I don't find a beer I like. It's also a drink I favor while I'm cooking. So, this week, I'm glad to share the Screwdriver as the Global Happy Hour drink of the week.

THIS WEEK'S DRINK:


Screwdriver

2oz Vodka
5-6 oz. Orange Juice

Pour vodka over ice in a highball glass. Add orange juice, stir, and serve!

Making the Best of Things #1

Sometimes, things go wrong. Chef Z knows this. Sometimes, despite best intentions, you just plain fail. But fear not! A Hardcore Gourmet does not fret! A Hardcore Gourmet makes the best of things! So, welcome to the first edition of The Hardcore Gourmet's "Making the Best of Things."

A few nights ago, in the interest of having some fresh bread for my French Onion Soup (recipe soon!), I got to work baking a few loaves. I had altered my recipe slightly to add more yeast to the dough. I noticed that the dough was rising extraordinarily well. I was excited. But suspicious.
I gave it a second rise and threw it in the oven. The loaves looked like they were doing fine. I took out the bread, let it cool slightly, then FINALLY sliced in, hoping for some delicious goodness.



Alas.
The bread was flat-tasting. Immediately, it all made sense. The bland taste, the hyper-rise...
I had forgotten the salt.
Dumb.

So, I had a bland, though edible, loaf of bread. What was I to do?
Make the best of things.
Immediately, I took the easy route. Having a problem with funny tasting bread?
Make croûtons.
The saving grace of any bread blunder.

I sliced up the bread into thick slices, think Texas toast thick, then sliced again into strips.


You can choose to slice again into cubes, but I just tore the slices into smaller pieces in the interest of convenience. Then, I tossed the bread in a large bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.


Then, I laid the croûtons to be on a pizza pan, and stuck it into a an oven, preheated to 350 degrees. Once the croûtons were browned and crunchy looking, I took them out.


Voila!

Saved!

And delicious. ;-)

Global Happy Hour - Week 1

One night, while slamming away kamikaze shots at a local bar, the guy sitting next to me turned to me, bought me another shot, and asked,
"Where did you learn to drink like that?"
I took down another shot and answered.
"My parents."

And it's true! While my parents taught me many socially-acceptable morals, they also taught me that there's nothing wrong with a good drink. So, when my father suggested a communal drinking time for my interwebs readers, I took notice.

So, let me be the first to welcome you to the Global Happy Hour!

It works like this, kids. Every Monday, I'll tell you what is the drink of the week. You have until Friday to gather the ingredients. FRIDAY NIGHT at 8PM EST, DRINK THAT DRINK. Drink it with friends, drink it with loved ones, drink it with strangers, drink it with pets, drink it with your cyber-buddies. But we will ALL be drinking together.
So, I dedicate this week's drink to my parents by using one of their staples. HI MOM AND DAD!

They're very proud.

THIS WEEK'S DRINK:

Vodka and Tonic

2oz. Vodka
4oz. Tonic water

Pour vodka over ice in a highball glass. Add tonic water, stir, and drink!

Have fun!
~Chef Z

Chocolate Covered Strawberries with Godiva

Firstly, a very happy Valentine's Day to all you out there who celebrate it. And a very happy Singles Awareness Day for the rest of you.

For those of you engaging in romantic activities of varying levels today, I have a special treat for you. There is one food that truly means "sex" to Western culture, and that food is chocolate-covered strawberries. The sweet, juicy tang of the strawberry and the warm, luscious cover of chocolate is enough to get anybody in the mood. Plus, these have booze in them, just in case you're feeling tense! So, sit back, take notes, and get ready for that romantic favorite.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries with Godiva

First thing's first. Go out and get yourself a carton of strawberries. Look for large ones with good color and minimal bruising. Mind you, February is not exactly "in season" for strawberries, so just do the best you can. Now go ahead and wash those berries, then pick out the prettiest ones. You want to show your best side for this dish.

Now, melt about a cup, cup and a half, of chocolate chips or whatever chocolate you have hanging about. (You might want to pick the favorite variety of your intended love target. I'm fond of dark chocolate myself, even though I used semi-sweet in this recipe for convenience.) If you have a double boiler, commercial or makeshift, by all means, use it. If not, go ahead and nuke your chocolate in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring at each interval. Careful! Burnt chocolate is not sexy!

Now make sure your berries are DRY. Give them a gentle toweling if they're still wet from washing. If your strawberries are still wet, the chocolate won't adhere well to them. You may want to add your liqueur now (as covered below), but I chose to wait until later.
Now it's time to dip those strawberries!
Grasp the strawberry by the top and give it a dip and a twist in the chocolate, giving it a good, thick coating. Then lay out the covered strawberry on wax paper and let sit in a cool place to harden.

Now is when I injected my strawberries with liqueur, although you could certainly do it pre-dip. It may even be less messy that way.
Anyhow, for this operation, you'll need a flavor syringe, widely available in any grocery store. It is a fun tool to have around, so it's worth the cheap, cheap price.
Take the syringe and fill it with a liqueur of your (or your beloved's) choice. A popular liqueur for this dish is Grand Mariner. However, this time around, I used Godiva liqueur, because... well... it's chocolate.
Now stick the loaded syringe into the strawberry and aim for the center.

Squirt just a tiny amount into the berry, because a tiny amount is all that's going to fit. It's a tiny cavity.

(I often wish I had a similar sign pointing to my mouth)

Now for the fun, and utterly frustrating, part. Decoration! Melt some white chocolate and put it into a pastry bag with a small, fine tip. If you don't have a pastry bag, you could technically get away with a ziplock baggie with a hole poked in the corner. But seriously, get a pastry bag. They are mad useful. Now carefully, decorate your strawberries. It may take some practice, but here's a hint; hearts are the easiest to do! Make two dots next to each other and give a quick, light flick down the middle!

Now let your designs set. One last thing to do! Artfully arrange your strawberries on a plate for your sweetheart one and get ready for some sweet, sweet lovin'.

Happy Valentine's Day!
~Chef Z

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars

I've often said that my feelings towards Valentine's Day are like drinking a couple ice-cold, ultra-hopped beers:
They'd be pretty bitter if I weren't so numb.

However! Don't let that stop the rest of you from enjoying some delicious Valentine's Day treats! And what says Valentine's Day better than a decadent dessert with tart raspberry against nature's greatest aphrodisiac, chocolate? A crunchy cookie with a truffle-like layer of chocolate is just what the love doctor ordered.

I first found a recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars in the Nestle Classic Recipes cookbook (which is a surprisingly delicious collection of recipes and worth the buy, considering how cheap you can find it.) I made some for a house concert with the Vulgar Bulgars and they went over well. However, I cannot leave well enough alone and made an attempt to mod the recipe, because that's what hardcore gourmets do.
So, without further ado:

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars

Crust:
1 cup softened butter or margarine
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, divided
1/4 tsp. salt

Topping:
3 cups chocolate chips, divided
2 14oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease up a 9x9 baking dish.

Now, in a large mixing bowl, whip up that butter until it's light and creamy.



Beat in flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt until crumbly.


Reserve 3/4 cup of the crumb mixture, mix it with the remaining brown sugar, and set it aside.
Take the rest of the crumb mixture and press it into the bottom of the pan. You might want to flour up the hands for this part!

Now, go ahead and bake that crust until it's brown around the edges and the middle seems reasonably firm, but don't overbake! You don't want it to burn during the second bake cycle! It's best to just eyeball this, as it's hard to give a time; but if pressed, I'd say it'll be about 10-15 minutes.

Now to make some luscious chocolate topping. Put 2 cups of the chocolate chips (I used half dark chocolate, half semi-sweet) and the sweetened condensed milk into a large microwave safe bowl. Heat it in the microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring at every interval. You do NOT want burnt chocolate, it will not get you the lovin' you crave.

When the chocolate/milk mixture is fully blended, go ahead and spread it on the newly-baked crust.

My GOD, that is delicious looking. But it gets better! Take your reserved crumb mixture and sprinkle over the the fudge topping. Now, spoon... spoonfuls... of raspberry jam over the whole delicious looking layer. And lastly, sprinkle that remaining cup of chocolate chips all over the whole thing.


Now stick that whole kit and kaboodle back into the oven for another 20 minutes or so. The top layer of crumbs should be browned. Take it out and let it cool. Then cut and serve to your sweetie for some guaranteed ROWR.


And let this be Chef Z's V-day gift to you.

Post-Post Notes:
While this dish came out fully edible, even decadently delicious, there are some changes I'll be making when I make this next.
* I had issues with the bars being too chewy for comfort around the edge. Next time, I'd probably mold a crust up the sides of the pan to protect the raspberry/fudge layer.
* The chocolate layer seemed a bit too thick and too creamy for what I imagined for this dessert. Next time, I'd use all dark chocolate for a little extra bite. I'd also decrease the chocolate layer to 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk.
* I love the raspberry/chocolate combination and I longed for more from this dessert. Next time, I'd probably refrigerate the fudge topping after being poured into the crust. Hopefully, it would harden enough to spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the entirety of the layer before adding the crumbs and additional chocolate chips before baking for the final time.

~Chef Z