Ina Garten's (aka the Barefoot Contessa's) Chocolate Cake

Happy Spring Break to all my fellow students out there!  My Morning Chocolate will be on hiatus for the rest of the week.  But I didn’t want to leave you hanging.  So, dear readers, here is the Barefoot Contessa’s chocolate cake recipe.

The cake is fudgy and moist, and the icing is buttery with a strong coffee flavor.  I decorated with Whoppers because I made this cake for my Dad, and they’re his favorite.  (Although, I did pick more than my share of them off the cake when we cut into it – thanks for not minding, Dad!).  I think it’s the perfect week for cake – after our long winter in the East, everyone has a reason to celebrate because Sunday is the first day of Spring.

The cake decorated with Whoppers and chopped chocolate.

Until next week, enjoy!

Image courtesy of Lucas Seipp-Williams of Baltimore Health Coach. He will lead a raw chocolate class in Baltimore on March 27th.

In this week’s Food News, a raw chocolate class in Maryland on March 27th and Cleveland’s new food project in the Galleria mall:

Raw Chocolate: You’ve seen how dark chocolate has taken over our candy choices – in last night’s The Mentalist, Simon Baker’s character, Patrick Jane, said he liked “what we’re doing with chocolate these days,” i.e. using dark chocolate in regular candy bars – so raw chocolate just might be the next logical evolution in our chocolate tastes.  Raw chocolate bars combine unroasted chocolate with gentle ingredients like agave; thus, raw chocolate is a more nutritious, socially-conscious way to enjoy sweets.  If you live in Maryland, you can learn all about this natural sweet (and taste 8 chocolate flavors!) at Baltimore Health Coach’s raw chocolate class in Baltimore at the Ruscombe Mansion on March 27th.

A Mall’s New Farm Stand:  Cleveland may have given us the best example of how to deal with vacant retail space in malls – Fast Company says they’ve started the Gardens Under Glass project to sell fruits and vegetables in the empty areas of their Galleria mall.  I don’t go to malls often enough to know how much vacant retail space we have in Maryland, but either way, this is a great way to make fresh food more accessible.  And wouldn’t it be great to shop for clothes, and then fresh fruit and vegetables all at once?   (Thanks to 1000FriendsofMD for tweeting about this project!)

Chickpea Fries = Chickpea Flour + Water, heated until thick

A few months ago, I bought some chickpea flour, mistakenly thinking it was the type of flour I needed to make Indian breads (it’s actually chapati flour that is used to make them).  So what do you do with chickpea flour?  The back of the bag had a recipe for hummus, but I still left it untouched for weeks.  (Honestly, I couldn’t see a reason to make hummus with chickpea flour instead of real chickpeas.)

But I can’t just leave an unused bag of flour on my shelf for long.  When I started researching recipes, I discovered that Mark Bittman is a fan of chickpea flour, so much so that chickpea fries, made only with chickpea flour and water, were his “new favorite thing” in 2008.

Because the recipe couldn’t be easier – cook chickpea flour and water in a ratio of 2:1 until thick but not dry, spread in a pan, refrigerate for an hour, cut into shapes, and fry – and because chickpea flour has such high protein, I was prepared to love this recipe.  I thought I would be making chickpea fries all the time, for lunch, for dinner, for a late night snack.

To make chickpea fries, spread the "dough" in a pan and refrigerate (See the holes in the dough? Not good. You may want to use a smaller pan.)

So of course I was disappointed when I discovered that, once fried, they tasted just like their main ingredient – heavy, thick flour with a crispy outer crust.  But then again, my fries did not look like Mark Bittman’s.  Instead, they stuck to a pan and only got partially crispy.   (If you make them yourself, make sure you use enough oil for frying.)

Use plenty of oil or your chickpea fries will stick to the pan like this

I got so frustrated with frying the fries on my slanted stove that eventually I gathered the uncooked fries together in a ball, smushed it down with some flour, and fried a chickpea patty instead.

If your chickpea fries aren't working out, smash the dough together to make a patty and fry it up

But Kenny loved them.  And I did have four or five bites, which I wouldn’t do if I didn’t think the fries had some redeeming qualities (like the crispy outer shell).  But next time, I might try a different chickpea flour recipe like Mark Bittman’s tortillas or socca, a skillet flatbread.

Have you ever worked with chickpea flour?  What recipes do you recommend?

A Typical Bull Roast Meal

I grew up hearing about bull roasts.  To my younger self, it seemed like my parents were always going to one.  But I didn’t know that bull roasts are a distinctively Maryland event until I had to explain them to Kenny, a native New Yorker.  It took a while.  Marylanders (or my family at least) pronounce “bull” like “bool” (rhyming with “pool”) making it hard for Kenny to understand what I was saying.

But once we got past local dialect differences, I realized that New Yorkers do not have bull roasts.  Which made me wonder, does the bull roast have a decorated history, some tale of culinary lore in Maryland?

Before we go there though, here’s a bit of explanation about bull roasts for those who aren’t familiar with them.  (I just went to my first one on Saturday, which, like my distaste for picking crabs, makes me feel like a crappy Marylander.)  As you might expect, the bull roast is all about eating a lot of meat.  At Saturday’s roast, there was turkey, ham, and roast beef, potato rolls, and condiments like barbeque sauce and mayonnaise.  My table ate their sandwiches straight up: just meat and condiments on bread.

What’s interesting is that this all-you-can-eat meat fest is the ultimate way to raise money in Maryland.  Nonprofits, schools, the Teamster Horsemen – they all hold bull roasts.  So why do Marylanders love the bull roast so much?

The answer is that I don’t know.  At least not yet.  I haven’t been able to find any research on the subject, even in my school’s database.  But I’m curious about this event.  So I plan to go to the Maryland Historical Society this week to see if they can help me unearth the history of the bull roast.

But I would be most grateful to hear about your bull roast experiences too.  Do you go to many bull roasts?  Do you know anything about the history of the bull roast in Maryland, or any ideas where I could do some research?

Can you find organic and local food at your local Walmart?  Yes, at least in the Boston and Austin areas, according to the March 2010 The Atlantic.  The writer Corby Kummer even holds a ”grocery smackdown,” buying identifical ingredients from Walmart and Whole Foods and illiciting the help of a chef to make two four-course meals.  You’ll have to read to find out who wins.

After seeing Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, I’ve become even more skeptical of the changes that Walmart is trying to make these days.  But there are Walmarts everywhere and, if they do start selling fresh, healthy food, I think they could have a positive effect on our eating habits, especially in areas where fresh food isn’t readily available.  Someone in my running group said a new Walmart is opening in Baltimore, and I’m now interested to see if they have produce, what it looks like, and where it’s from.

Have you been to a Walmart that sells organic and local produce?  Would you shop there for fresh food?

Photo courtesy of AlishaV from Flickr

Endangered Species Chocolate with Maca Powder (Note: if you buy this bar it will be bigger. I just ate three squares.)

When I went to the store yesterday, I looked carefully through the chocolate section to find the most interesting bar.  The winner at my local store was Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans & Maca.  Clearly, this bar won because of the maca; I had no idea what maca might taste like and I wanted to know.  I vaguely remembered hearing about maca before, back when I was a student at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.  But that was five years ago.

Maca is actually a root from Peru, one that was consumed as far back as the Inca Empire when soldiers ate maca to increase their strength.  Maca root is also thought to improve libido and increase overall energy (apparently, the Incas were forbidden from using maca after they were done fighting because it increased their libido too much).  Discovery Health says Peruvians use maca in many foods, from cookies and cakes to porridge and blender drinks, and that it tastes like graham flour.  Churin, Peru even has an annual Maca Festival to celebrate the root.

The first and second pages of a Google search on the history of maca and chocolate shows several natural food sites that have recipes for maca combined with cacao liquor, cocoa powder, or cacao nibs, and maca seems to be most often used in making shakes.  That’s probably because it’s often sold as maca powder in the U.S. (you can also buy it in capsule form).

So what does the maca powder add to the Endangered Species chocolate bar?  I get a very, very faint whiff of graham flavor, a taste I couldn’t have identified without reading the Discovery Health article.  But there’s definitely an earthy flavor there, even though it’s subtle.

By buying the maca bar, you will also be supporting the Spider Monkey, endangered because it inhabits the rain forests in Central and South America.

• Food & Think blog: I love Smithsonian magazine’s Food & Think blog.  This week, the blog has posts on “science-themed baked goods“ and expiration dates.  And last week, there was a great post on the amazing number of food-related holidays.  A quick look at the American Food Holiday Calendar for March shows that every single day celebrates a different food.  My favorites:  National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day on Easter, Turkey Neck Soup Day on March 30th, and, for my fellow Marylanders, National Crabmeat Day on March 9th.
• Compost Cookie: Since Regis & Kelly posted the recipe for Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookie, made with equal amounts of sweet baking ingredients like chocolate chips and savory ingredients like potato chips and pretzels, a couple of bloggers have tried out the recipe.  Visit The Amateur Gourmet and Cookie Madness to see their results.
• Baltimore Food Blogs: I’ve learned there are many Baltimore food blogs, many that I haven’t even begun to explore.  But so far I really like BmoreSweet (great baking recipes), Mango & Ginger (food, as well as some culture and design posts), and Kitchenography (great food pictures!).  Each of these blogs has a list of other Baltimore food blogs.  I’ll need to add them all to my Reader and update my links soon!

What food blogs do you recommend?

Linda Collister's Mocha Macaroons

Lately, I gotten tired of making drop cookies.  Not of eating them – that’s the best part! – but of making them.  It’s the same old cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then mix in the dry ingredients recipe, and it can get pretty dull if you make them for once a week for several months.

So when Kenny said he was in the mood for macaroons last week, I couldn’t wait to make them.

Macaroons can be Italian merinque cookies like amaretti or the fancy and colorful French sandwich cookies filled with ganache or jam, according to The Nibble.  Their common ingredient is almonds, though the nut may take the form of ground almonds, almond paste, or almond liquor.  Although they originated in Italy, France is the country that has an Almond and Macaroon Museum – Musee de l’Amande et du Macaron – in Montmorillon.  Spain makes its own version with hazelnuts; India uses cashews.

I used a ground almond recipe that required some different baking tasks.  I would get to melt chocolate over a double broiler and grind almonds in a food processor! I would need to beat egg whites until stiff peaks formed!  And then delicately fold in ingredients by hand instead of mixing them on medium speed with my stand mixer!  All fun stuff, hence the exclamation points.

Which means that these are the cookies to make when you want to feel a little more like a baker.

And here’s an added bonus for my kin out there who think cookie batter is just as good as a baked cookie – the stiffed-peaked eggs mixed with sugar taste like marshmallow so make sure to take a taste.

Mocha Macaroons
From Linda Collister’s Book of Baking

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 egg whites
1 cup superfine or granulated sugar
1 ½ cups ground almonds
1 tablespoon strong brewed espresso coffee
Sliced, split, or slivered almonds to decorate (I skipped this part)

Put the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of steaming, not boiling, water, and melt gently.  Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until smooth.  Cool slightly.

Chocolate that has been melted in a mock double broiler: a mixing bowl placed over steaming water on the stove

Put the egg whites in a separate bowl and beat using an egg beater or an electric beater until they form stiff peaks (when stiff, the egg whites on the beater will poke straight up).

The beaten egg whites wil stand upright on the mixer when they reach the stiff peaks stage.

Gradually beat in the sugar, then fold in the almonds, coffee, and melted chocolate.

When well mixed, put heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the prepared baking trays allowing room for them to spread.  Smooth into circles about 3 inches across, then sprinkle with almonds.

Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the macaroons are firm.

Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, then lift them off the greased tray (or baking parchment).  Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container and eat within 1 week.  (I think the quality of these cookies goes downhill after the first day.  Eat them quickly to get the best balance of crunchy outside to soft inside.)  The macaroons do not freeze well. 

Cathy Erway's new book The Art of Eating In

Do you think you can eat in for an entire week?

Even for me, a person who eats most of her meals in, a full week of home-cooked food is a long time. I run out of dinner ideas, or I’m tired of doing dishes, or I just want to eat at a restaurant because I like it.  So by Thursday or Friday, I’m going out or ordering in.

But starting February 22nd, I have signed up for The Huffington Post’s The Week of Eating In Challenge.  I love challenges like this because they add some life – a spark, if you will – to my cooking-at-home routine.

The challenge starts just a few days after the release of Cathy Erway’s book The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove.  (She ate in for two years in New York – not an easy task!)

You too can sign up for the challenge, follow Cathy’s blog, add a picture of your small kitchen to the slideshow, and use the spending tracker to see how much money eating in can save you.

I also recommend eating out this weekend – a necessary preparation for a week of eating in!