Chocolate Noms

Tunnock's Wafer Biscuits

I was walking down that aisle of Berkeley Bowl where they house the British food stuffs, Heinz baked beans and so on, when I spotted some familiar packaging. Red and gold and shiny. I stopped, of course, if only to investigate the “shiny” part. It turned out to be a package of Tunnock's Milk Chocolate Coated Caramel Wafer Biscuits, made in Scotland, and until last week I had completely forgotten they existed. In college I took a semester to study in London, and I was addicted to these crunchy, chewy little treats wrapped in foil. How I forgot about them, I'm not sure—they just got misplaced in my memory. Thanks, Berkeley Bowl--you rock.

Giuseppe Alberti Strega Candy

One of my favorite foodie spots in SF is Miette's Confiserie in Hayes Valley—they sell Miette's macarons and cupcakes, but also a vast assortment of strange candy, fancy (and sometimes expensive) chocolate bars, and just about every variety of licorice you can find. On the table in the window where you walk in, they have sundry small sweet bites, usually pretty cheap, and always changing. Sometimes Italian amaretti, sometimes chocolate caramels—every couple of months there's something new in the selection. A few weeks ago I found a confection made with the liqueur Strega—and it was very tasty indeed. A layered treat the bottom is a nut croquant (French for “crisp”) with a chocolate covering and a hint of the herbal liqueur.

449 Octavia Street

San Francisco, CA 94101

And yea, looks like they're going to stay!

Savory Bread Pudding with Sausage and Red Pepper

Typically when I have bunch of random food in the fridge that needs to be used up, it gets tossed in a risotto. It's an easy one-pot method to make miscellaneous meat, cheese, and veggies disappear. Then last week I found myself with a fridge of leftover salad fixings, cheese bits, and an unopened package of chicken sausages that never made it to the grill (rained out), and lots of leftover bread that had gone stale. The new one-pot method, I decided, would be a bread pudding. And unlike risotto, bread pudding needs no tending while it cooks. So while it's baking you have almost an hour of free time to do really important things, like make cocktails or set Lost to record.

Savory Bread Pudding w/Chicken Sausage, Red Pepper, and Mozzarella

2-3 chicken/turkey sausage links (such as Aidells), sliced thin
1 cup chopped onion or shallot
1/3 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups milk
1 cup egg substitute,
or 4 large eggs, beaten well
1 tsp hot sauce
2/3 cup mozzarella, cubed
1/3 cup Parmesan or similar, grated
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper
8-9 cups crusty white bread (preferably stale), torn into pieces

Pre-heat oven to 350º

1. Saute sausage, onion, and red pepper until sausage is lightly brown and veggies are tender. Set aside. *If you're using a sausage that hasn't been pre-cooked (i.e., not “ready to eat”) then add the meat first-- after the sausage is brown and crumbly, add the onion and peppers.

2. Combine ingredients milk through salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk to mix.

3. Stir in sausage mixture, then add bread. Mix gently. Let stand about 10 minutes, stirring again after 5 minutes.

4. Pour mixture into a large, greased casserole dish. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Let stand 5 five minutes before serving.

Good to know: The more dry and stale your bread is, the more suitable it will be for a bread pudding—more milk will be absorbed, giving the dish a better consistency. Sourdough is my favorite.

Asian Style Turkey Burgers w/ Wasabi Mayo

Okay, after a long break due to computer issues, Alpha Cook is back in business. For this simple recipe you don't need a grill; the burger patties are too wet for grilling, so you'll want to pan fry them. To make it as healthy as possible, ask the butcher for ground turkey breast, instead of mixed or dark meat.

Wasabi Mayo/Sandwich Spread

There are two ways to do this, depending on your preferences. You can take about 6-8oz of (light) mayo, and whisk it with 1-2 tsps of prepared wasabi* OR you can use about 4-5 oz of mayo and blend it with a few Tbsp of sour cream for a thicker, slightly less fattening alternative. I usually prefer to add the sour cream.

*I typically buy prepared wasabi in a tube that you can find in most grocery stores, near the Asian food stuffs. As an alternative you can use powdered wasabi, but the mayo mixture will need to sit for a few hours for the flavor to really take hold, and usually the texture is not quite as smooth.

Asian Style Turkey Burgers

1 pound ground turkey breast
1 egg, beaten
1-2 tsp Hoisin Sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Nori Furikake* (I used JFC brand)
1-2 tsp veggie or sunflower oil

Mix the meat and all other ingredients well, until the egg is completely integrated. Let the mixture set for a few minutes. Form the meat into four patties. Meanwhile, heat a large (preferably nonstick) skillet, adding the oil so that it covers as much surface area on the pan as possible.

Add the burger patties and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. They should have a nice golden brown outside when you're done. Serve with lettuce, onion, and wasabi mayo. A little sliced radish is also a nice touch.

*For more information on this tasty ingredient (Furikake) and another way to use it, go here.

Mixology Monday: Absinthe

Absinthe is the topic of this month's Mixology Monday, hosted by Sonja over at Thinking of rinking. Still settling in on the shelves after a long, undeserved banishment, absinthe is making an exciting comeback in the U.S. I was going to use the Monkey Gland (gin, orange juice, absinthe, grenadine), but then I had a strange dream that I was in a terrible champagne bar (think Starbucks meets wine bar) in a terrible shopping mall (think two levels and a parking garage plus Belks) ordering a Death in the Afternoon. It's the sort of dream you get after eating strange spicy food and going directly to bed. Not recommended. However, this started a thought process – with which I won't torture you – that resulted in something like “DITA meets a French 75 in a cringe-worthy head-on accident.” Hence the name, An Untimely Death.

An Untimely Death

½ oz absinthe

½ oz Cherry Heering
¼ oz lemon juice
dry sparkling wine
crushed ice

Tools: Ice crusher (or a mallet and a ziploc), cocktail shaker.

Fill a champagne flute (I used an oversized 8 ouncer) about 2/3 full of crushed ice. Shake the absinthe, cherry liqueur, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker for about 15 seconds. Strain into the crushed ice and top off with chilled sparkling wine.

Chicken Korma

I had to suffer through some bad news last week. Beta Wife came home last Monday and said, “why don't you sit down.” She explained that our favorite (and most convenient) Indian restaurant, Khana Khazana, had closed. We had just picked up dinner on Friday and had seen no signs of impending closure. There was no warning, except the subtle signs I failed to notice...the oversized condiments and the free mango lassi. And then on Monday, brown paper over windows with Sharpie-written block letters: “Coming soon, Ms. Wally's cafe.” After the initial shock, came anger...then betrayal. Then came the desire to stamp my foot and throw a tantrum involving the repeated statement: NO FAIR.

But I'm a survivor. If I can't walk down the street to pick up my Friday night Indian fare, then dammit, I'll just make my own. I did a little research, found a few recipes, and used the ingredients I thought most closely resembled the flavor profile of my late Khana Khazana favorites, Chicken Korma and Saag Paneer. The korma was our favorite of the pair, so I'm putting that recipe up first (recipe for the saag coming soon). It is magically delicious and probably a good bit healthier than ordering at a restaurant. So there, Khana Khazana. Turns out I didn't need you after all.

Chicken Korma

1 pound boneless chicken breasts (or thighs), cut into pieces
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cardamom pods, crushed/broken
4-5 cloves, whole
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
5-6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 ½ tsp ground coriander
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground red pepper (hot or mild, choose your heat level)
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp ground allspice
1 tsp kosher salt
1 heaping cup plain yogurt, low fat
2-3 oz heavy cream
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup roasted almonds, ground*
oil for sauteing (I used sunflower oil)

1. Sauté the onion, cardamom pods, and whole cloves until onion is soft.

2. Add the garlic, ginger, and chicken, sauté for 5-6 minutes, or until chicken is lightly browned.

3. Add all remaining spices, coriander through allspice. Stir for about one minute or until mixture is fragrant.

4. Stir in in the yogurt, cream, chicken stock and tomato paste. Mix well, then add the ground almonds.

5. Cover and bring to hard simmer; remove lid, reduce heat, and cook uncovered until the sauce is reduced to cream-like consistency, or about 35-40 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Serve with rice—I prefer Jasmine or Basmati—or a piece of Naan. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro, or top with chopped cilantro. Feel free to add more red pepper to taste.

*To make ground almonds, take regular, whole roasted almonds and throw them in the food processor until coarsely ground.