The Ardent Epicure

I can barely believe it has been two years since we started this little blog.

Well, thanks so all of you it's not so little anymore :)

So to celebrate going into our third year here...I made a Frozen Champagne

treat...I'll drink to that, join me?

Some of you may remember the Clementine, Meyer Lemon and Ginger Juice,

a few posts back? Well that was the inspiration for this treat :)

This is such a simple way to have a refreshing after dinner treat/drink,

and would work with any of your favorite juice or juice combinations. Or

perhaps a fun early Spring Brunch?

There is really no recipe, just add 1 part juice to 2 parts champagne.

Place in a shallow freezer proof container and allow to freeze for

several hours. Check after about 2 hours of so and scrape with

a fork to loosen into shavings. Continue until you have fully

frozen shavings. 

You can serve in a glass or bowl, or use the citrus rinds

halved like I did, by just placing them in the freezer

until your shaved treat is ready.

I am going to admit that I have been way behind and a few of these 

are from several months ago. But since we are celebrating...

3 cups black sea salt, finely ground

3 cups smoked sea salt, finely ground

3 pounds fresh sardines (about 12 large)

12 small sprigs fresh thyme

12 leaves lemon verbena

12 large sage leaves, halved lengthwise

1 lemon

Make sure your sardines are cleaned with heads and tails left intact, 

your fish monger will do this for you. 

Combine both salts and fully incorporate On a large stick resistant baking

 sheet, evenly layer half of the salt in a large enough area to support all of your

 sardines. Pat the salt down to make a base for the sardines. 

Rinse sardines thoroughly under cold running water and lay onto a cutting board or

 dish. Gently pat dry with a paper towel leaving them just damp.

Stuff each sardine with herbs and lemon slices, then layer on top of salt bed 

about 1-2 inches apart. Take remaining salt and place evenly over tops of the 

sardines. Pat the salt down to create a tight mound.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees (f) for 15 minutes or until

 internal temperature reaches 140 degrees (f)

To serve or eat, remove salt shield by tapping on the surface until it cracks 

and gently lift away salt. Make sure to remove any bones prior to eating.

Serves 4

I was recently invited by the lovely Priya author of the wonderful site Bon Appetit

to do a guest post feature as Blogger of the Month. 

I was so excited and honored when Priya Invited me to be included in her monthly

 highlight series. Her site has a vast and quite scrumptious array of vegetarian delights.

  And as a vegetarian myself, I truly enjoy experiencing the varied flavors and

 dishes that so many around the world have to share.

I chose to share  a culinary technique, rather than a recipe. So this can be

 adapted in any way you see fit, or to accommodate what you may have

 on hand. This is a very simple presentation that makes either a lovely side,

 or can add a bit of glamour to a dinner party.

So please join me over at Bon Appetit for my featured guest post! 

This juice has a couple of my favorite winter citrus these adorable little

clementines and Meyer lemons. Both being less acidic than more traditional 

varieties of both oranges as well as lemons, gives us an ultra-smooth juice,

with just enough tang to maintain a refreshing burst.  

Clementines are a variety of mandarin oranges and are typically seedless. They

have a deep vibrant orange outer peel and typically boast a similar deep color

in the fleshy area. They have a wonderful balance between tart and sweet.

As for our Meyer lemons, they are said to be a cross between the 

mandarin orange and the traditional lemon. The have a rounded body

typically, and a thin smooth outer peel. many times they have a deeper

yellow than the traditional lemon. And like our clementines, are

less acidic than their counter parts, lending them to be far

sweeter than the traditional lemon. 

But before we start our juice, we have a knife sharpener that we recently
review for the people over at Happy Chef. They carry a large assortment
of chefs attire along with a really nice selection of culinary tools. 

The sharpener was sent to us for review, it is a Chef Sharp series, with a
Two Stage Sharpening capability. What this means is there are two different
blade sharpening tools in one. A Carbide that sharpens the edges, and
a Ceramic that finishes the edges.

So we dug up a sorely neglected knife and gave it a whirl...
We were very impressed by the sharpeners ability to bring some
life back into the old guy. And as for our other knives, yes we
have many ;) They are getting a polish up from the Ceramic side.

Both this sharpener along with a selection of chefs knives,
cases and other culinary tools can be found on their
"Chef Knives" page.

We were very pleased with the performance of the sharper
and will not hesitate to check out more items from them. Please
stop over and take a look...Oh, and the prices are unbelievable!

What you will need:
1 1/2 pounds clementines
12 ounces Meyer lemons, about 4
2-3 ounces fresh ginger
Agave to taste, optional
Juicer

Let's get juicing: 
Start by cutting your citrus in half. Juice the citrus first, then add ginger
pieces cut in half, leaving outer skin on. You can start with a smaller
amount then taste adding more until desired flavor is achieved.
*Note: I used the full 3 ounces.
Makes approximately 1/2 Liter.

And as for our remaining ginger pulp...you can freeze this for making
teas, or adding to cooking water to enhance the flavor or rices or pastas.
Now for those little empty clementine shells, you can dehydrate or freeze
both the zest and/or peels to use for future purposes. And you can
also freeze the entire little halves intact, then utilize
them as mini bowls for frozen treats...perhaps we shall try this :)

And since we have such a lovely and fragrant juice...Mimosa anyone?

It is time once again for our 5 Star Makeover Groups challenge. And this months
ingredient challenge were beets, as you may have guessed. The challenge
as is every month, is to take a common ingredient or dish, and produce a
5 Star Gourmet dish. And as I just adore beets in just about any form
imaginable, this veggie head was game :)

Then of course comes thoughts of all the glorious ways these organic lovelies
can be dished up. So my thoughts turned to dessert, something I have
never personally tried before. And I mean, never tried before,
 as a dish prepared by anyone.

My thoughts quickly steered towards truffles, and the thought of combining
chocolate and beets was an acceptable idea to me. But then, how can I make
that a creative venture I asked myself? Well then I quickly became a bit lost.

I was however determined to keep my original truffle theme, with all
of the stubborn grit I could muster. So my truffles morphed into
this dessert you see before you :)

And as a side note, the Red Wine and Beet Juice Reduction, may
just be one of the best things I have ever created in a kitchen. I mean
I may be slathering this stuff on my morning toast...it's that good!
In fact this entire little candy/dessert is now at the top of
my favorite desserts of all time!

What you will need:

For the chocolate truffle cups
8 ounces of 85% cocoa dark chocolate
1 cup of organic heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
2 1/2 tablespoons red wine

For the beet mousse 
3 medium size red beets
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2-3 tablespoons reserved beet juice
1 pint heavy cream
2 tablespoons agave, halved

For the red wine/beet juice reduction
1 1/2 cups red wine
1/2 cup reserved beet juice
2 tablespoons agave, or  fine grain raw sugar

For garnish
A few tablespoons Aztec cocoa powder,
or semi sweetened coca powder

*You will also need small silicone cups, blender or small
food processor, large mixing bowl and hand mixer.


 Lets get cooking:

For the chocolate truffle cups
Chop your chocolate, and place it in a mixing bowl. Heat your cream over
medium-low heat in a pot, add the butter, and heat until boiling. Once the cream
 begins to boil, remove immediately from the heat, and put the mixture into the
 chocolate. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes, then stir until fully incorporated.
Now add the wine, stir the chocolate mixture until it is smooth.

Place your mixture in the refrigerator about 30 minutes or so to firm up a bit.
Now take a few spoonfuls of the mixture and press into the silicone cups
like you would a pie crust. Making sure to have an even coating, place
back in the refrigerator for a few hours to overnight, or until set and
the silicone cup can be easily removed and you are
 ready to add your mousse.

For the beet mousse
Gently clean beets with a vegetable brush and trim off leaves and top
 stem to about 1/2 inch, then trim off root end to just expose a bit of the
beet bottom. *Note: typically when boiling beets you do not want to
expose any of the inner portion of the beet. However since we will
be utilizing our liquid, as beet juice, we will be here.

Place beets in a medium to large pot with a lid. Add enough water
to cover beets about 1/3rd of the way up. Place on a medium/high
heat and bring to a boil. Once you reach a boiling point place a tight fitting lid
 on pot, reduce heat a bit to prevent the pot from boiling over. Continue to
boil beets until completely tender, any were from 30 minutes or more
depending on the size of your beets and pan.

Once beets are tender, remove from heat (reserve beet juice) and
place beets under cold running water until cool to the touch. Peel beets and
 roughly chop. Place cooled beets into the food processor or blender,
add 1/2 of the agave, lemon and beet juices. Purée until completely
smooth, adding more beet juice if necessary. Place beet purée in
refrigerator until completely chilled.

Now prepare your whipped cream. Place heavy cream in a large chilled
mixing bowl. Beat with a hand mixer or whisk that has been chilled. Continue
to beat cream until just softly peaked. Add agave or sugar at this point and
 continue to beat until you have just achieved a slightly firm peak.

Once whipped is ready, gently fold in the chilled beet purée,
until smooth. Chill for about 30 minutes or so until you have
the desired creamy mousse like texture.

Assemble by placing generous amounts of mousse into chilled truffle
candy cups. Then sprinkle on a bit of Aztec cocoa powder.
Allow cups to rest for just a minute or so then serve.

Makes approximately 10 candy cups.

I recently realized that, though I love beef stew, I had never actually made the dish before. So I set out to make a classic beef stew, with a couple of personalized twists. This recipe came out great. It was super flavorful, and the meat was literally falling apart to the touch! Delicious for a cold, rainy evening meal.

Ingredients
3 cups of beef broth or stock
2 large carrots
1 parsnip
3 stalks of celery
2 pounds of beef (top round or another large, inexpensive cut)
3 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium white onion
5 smaller or 4 medium red potatoes (another kind will do just as well)
1/2 cup of flour (plus extra in case)
1/2 cup of red wine (any type)
A few sprigs of rosemary, thyme and flat-leaf parsley
Seasoned salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste


Directions
Chop your vegetables into nice size chunks. If you like smaller pieces in your stew, you can cut to fit your desired size, but I used large pieces in mine. Just make sure they aren't too large to be bite-sized! Don't be afraid to cut the onion into larger pieces as well, as it will end up entirely soft and translucent after the cooking process.

Set a pot or stock pot to medium-high heat, and place your beef in it. Brown each size until you achieve a nice caramel color. Burnt ends won't hurt at all, so don't be too worried about overcooking. However, the goal here is not to cook the meat through, but just to brown the outside.
Take the meat out and cut it into large chunks, about an inch and a half or so. If you like smaller-sized pieces, feel free to cut them however you like.

Pour the flour into the pot, and deglaze with the red wine. Make sure to scrape up any of the delicious meaty goodness that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot. Stir the mixture, making sure the flour dissolves completely.

Place your meat and vegetables, along with the bay leaves and other herbs, into a large pot or slow cooker. I used a slow cooker for my stew.
Pour in about two cups of the broth, and set the rest aside to add if needed. Add the wine deglaze mixture.

Cover and cook on low for about nine hours, or until the stew has thickened nicely and the meat is falling apart.
Check the stew for consistency every hour or two. During the latter half of the cooking process, you may add broth as needed if there is not enough liquid to cook the vegetables. On the other hand, if the stew has not thickened to your liking by the last hour or so of the cooking process, add some extra flour to help the thickening process.
When the stew resembles a proper stew, you may add some salt and pepper to taste. I used seasoned salt. Don't add salt too early, as cooking over time can bring out the salty flavor in the stew, and it's easy to add too much. Remember, you can always finish with salt after, but you can't take it out!

Note: if you don't care for parsnip, you can use two or three more carrots in place of the parsnip.

Remember to fish out the bay leaves, and serve with warm bread. Enjoy!

Also, if you haven't already, don't forget to enter our current giveaway!  Click HERE for more information.

Posted by Truffle Shuffle
Photo credits: Magic of Spice