avocado meets chocolate...

...and the rest, they say, is history.


In Indonesia, kids and adults alike go crazy for a popular shake called alpokat made of blended avocado and milk, then drizzled with chocolate syrup. Oh my. Both fresh milk and condensed milk versions are equally as beloved. It's a flavor combination that really works and complements each other. And when mixed together, resembles sludgy muddy goo. Nevertheless, it's thick and creamy, a bit like a chocolate malt shake.

My take on alpokat is a duo of ice creams: avocado and milk chocolate. A spoonful of this, a spoonful of that, swirl the two, and eat both. What could be better than playing with your food?

Avocado Ice Cream
yields 1 pint

6 oz. avocado (about 2 medium)
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup plus additional 2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

1. In a food processor or a blender, puree avocado, lime juice, sugar and whole milk until smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove any clumps. Whisk in the cream and vanilla extract.

2. Chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

3. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and allow it to run for 5-10 minutes only. Place in freezer to solidify slightly, about 30 min, and serve.

roasted butternut squash in nib vinaigrette

Coarsely chopped cacao nibs

My favorite chocolate bar is the Nibby bar from Scharffen Berger. If I could melt it down and pump it directly into my veins, well, I would. It's a 62% semisweet chocolate embedded with crunchy bits of roasted cacao bean (nibs). The nibs are essentially what chocolate is made of. They have a rich intense chocolate taste, without any of the sweetness. Really smoky and complex, somewhat like a roasted coffee bean. At one point, Nibby bars were so popular that they were virtually sold out no sooner than they were put up on shelves. So... I went a little crazy when I visited the Scharffen Berger store at the Ferry Building in San Francisco earlier this year. (The elusive 3-oz. bar was all mine!)

The following recipe is adapted from The Essence of Chocolate, a beautifully written cookbook by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg (the founders of the company) that honors the cacao bean. What sets this book apart from all other chocolate recipe books is that it truly optimizes all the flavors of chocolate, even the subtle notes. Many of the savory recipes were such eye-openers for me in that I never realized how well cacao could bring out the flavors of foods such as goat cheese, beans, and in this case, butternut squash.


The recipe calls for pancetta but I instead used bacon for a bit of extra smokiness. The cacao nibs intensified the subtle sweetness of the squash, which complemented the saltiness of the bacon. If texture excites you, then you must try this dish. Silky smooth squash with crispy bits of bacon and grittiness of the nibs. Trust me, it works.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Nib Vinaigrette
adapted from The Essence of Chocolate

1 4-lb. butternut squash, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp cacao nibs, coarely chopped
1 shallot, minced
3 oz. pancetta, or bacon

1. Cut the squash into 1/4" slices. Toss with 2 Tbsp olive oil and lay out onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. In a 450F oven, roast for 20 min, until golden and soft.

3. Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. In a skillet, cook the pancetta or bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels. When cool, crumble into small pieces.

4. Combine the remaining olive oil, vinegar, nibs and shallot in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Gently whisk.

Before the emulsion

5. Place the squash in a large bowl. Add half the vinaigrette and half the pancetta, gently toss to coat. Arrange the squash on a large platter, and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette and top with the pancetta.

chorizo

Ahh the mighty pig. From this noble beast we extract so many comfort foods, hearty, stick to the ribs kind of food that makes us want to roll up our sleeves in preparation. I grew up eating so much pork that I had tasted every single part of the animal by the age of 3. I loved it all, no wonder my family gave me the nickname "piglet." Because I hit my pork peak so early on, I haven't eaten much of it since I was a kid. But I can easily understand how pork lies at the heart of so many comfort foods.

Chorizo, a spicy pork sausage, hails from Portugal and Spain, and is usually cured and cooked/served sliced in the casing. The Mexican form tends to be made from fresh ground pork, to which spices are added, and cooked without having gone through any drying or curing process. This latter form can easily be made in your own kitchen. Best yet, you can control the amount spice and the cleanliness and leaness of the meat you use.

Chorizo

1 lb. ground pork

1 heaping Tbsp paprika (preferably smoked spicy Spanish paprika**- pimenton picante)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch ground coriander
2 tsp dried Mexican oregano (regular is fine)
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/4 cup white vinegar or sherry vinegar

1. Mix together all the dry spices. Set aside.

2. With the pork at room temperature, in a large bowl, mix together spice mix with the pork, adding in the garlic and vinegar. Mix well.

3. A) You can fry up the meat at this point, flattening and chopping it up in the pan as you cook it. Taste the meat, and as always, you can adjust the spices to your taste. B) If you have sausage casings available, you can stuff them with the meat mixture. C) Take a large rectangular piece of saran wrap, and form the meat into a log shape, rolling it tightly with the wrap, eventually sealing the ends by twisting. Cover in a layer of foil, and boil in a pot of water for about 10 min. Let cool, unwrap, slice into wedges, and cook in your favorite chorizo recipe.

**Spanish paprika is made from pimientos (a Spanish pepper) that are slowly smoked and dried over a duration of ten to fifteen days. They become completely infused with the intense smoky flavors of the oak chips over which they roast. The flesh is isolated and ground to a super-fine, deep red powder. There are three kinds of smoked paprika- sweet (dulce), spicy (picante), and bittersweet (agridulce).

For dinner, I made chorizo con huevos- a scramble of eggs and chorizo, which I topped with melted cheddar cheeses and salsa.

mehek

Nostalgic for last weekend's incredible Indian food, we decided to order carryout from Mehek** in Fells Point. We didn't care to dine in since the service has been patchy in the past. The restaurant itself is bright and clean, somewhat contemporary, unlike the mustier more traditional settings of others in the city like Mughal Garden, Akhbar, and the Ambassador.

The menu is standard fare. We ordered lamb vindaloo, channa masala, and naan. This is undoubtedly the best channa masala I have ever tasted. At other restaurants, it is a mishmash of canned or undercooked chickpeas in a greasy bright red tomato sauce. At Mehek, the chickpeas are wonderfully tender, the sauce deeply aromatic and developed. I asked for medium spicy, which still packed a dangerous punch of heat. By the fourth bite, I was begging to dunk my head in a vat of raita.

The naan was superb, even after steaming in a foil pack for 20 minutes. Soft, chewy, with puffed crispy skin, the naan became my vehicle to scoop up all that fragrant sauce.

**Mehek means "fragrance."


Mehek
811 South Broadway
Baltimore, MD 21231

please to the table!

Hungry for pierogies and sauerkraut, we headed over to the Ukrainian Festival in Patterson Park on Saturday. Whenever any food is served at an outdoor festival, it instantly becomes street food, making it taste all that much better. Aside from baseball and football games, this is the only other place we'd pay an arm and a leg for some beer and a plate of mediocre eats. Everything here though, was homemade and very reasonably priced. So we ate. And kept on eating.

We started with a tray of pierogies with potato and cheese, and some stuffed with sauerkraut.


Still hungry, we shared another plate of pierogies and holupki- cabbage rolls, stuffed with ground meat and rice.


Having grown tired of eating all white food, I was on the hunt for some color.

A delicious beet salad, with potato, pickles, onion, and dill.

Some pretty eggs, but not of the edible variety.


We ended the afternoon with a go on the swings.

how to: paneer

Most Americans have tasted this Indian staple cheese due to its prevalence now in Indian restaurants, commonly appearing in familiar dishes like palak paneer (spinach with paneer) and matar paneer (peas with cheese). Chewy and incredibly mild, it easily takes on the flavors of the surrounding spices in which it stews. Since much of the population of India are vegetarian, paneer has become a great source of protein because it's not made using rennet, an animal enzyme used to make most cheeses of the world. Paneer, instead, is acid-coagulated using lemon or lime juice, or vinegar. The curds are pressed to release any moisture and cut for immediate use in cooking.

It's believed that paneer was originally introduced to India by invaders from the west, Persia and Afghanistan. Paneer means cheese in Persian. To this day, paneer production is most common in the northwest outlying regions of India. It wasn't until about 40 years ago that paneer started to spread and gain popularity throughout the rest of the country.

You can find paneer sold in blocks at Indian and international markets. I've also seen it at Whole Foods ($6-$7). In Baltimore specifically, it's available at several Halal markets in the city and in Catonsville. But then again, you can simply make your own at home...

Paneer
yields 10-12 ounces

1 quart whole milk
juice of 2 lemons or limes

1. In a large stockpot, heat the milk to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 10 minutes, constantly stirring.

2. With heat on low, stir in the lemon juice. Keep stirring for 30 seconds. The curds will seperate from the whey.

3. Line a colander with 2 layers of cheesecloth. Pour the curds and whey into the colander. Rinse the curds with cold water to wash off excess lemon juice and foam.


4. Gather the edges of cloth and wring out any liquid from the cheese. Tie a knot to secure the cheese in a tight ball. Slip a chopstick through the knot and balance in a deep bowl to facilitate draining. Let hang for 1 1/2 hours.


5. Untie knot and squeeze out any more liquid. Twist the cloth again to reform a tight ball. Set on a plate and weigh down the cheese with anything heavy (casserole dish, bricks, etc) for 2 hours.

6. Remove weights and place pressed cheese in refrigerator for about 1/2 hour to firm up. Cut the cheese into strips, then cubes.


7. Fry on all sides in a pan with butter, ghee (clarified butter), or vegetable oil.

free-form fig galette

You know those distinct moments when you tasted a certain food for the first time, and it was a revelation for your tastebuds, not only in terms of flavor, but texture and the feelings it conjured? It was like... crack. For me, figs fall into that group, along with avocado, butternut squash, black truffle, lardons, toro, browned butter,etc etc....

Soft, sweet and complex. The black mission variety were on sale (!) at Whole Foods last week, 3 pints for $5. Half of it I ate, fresh and raw, standing barefoot in my kitchen. The other half I decided to roast, in a dessert dish, with leftover pate sucree pastry dough from my freezer. Of course, you can use any type of pastry dough you like, or even puff pastry and phillo.

Caramelized fig, on its journey to my mouth

Fig Galette

pastry dough of your choice, rolled into a disc, 8-9" diameter, 1/16" thick

1/2 pint figs, stemmed and halved
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Gently use your fingers to toss the figs with sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Arrange in the center of the dough, in concentric circles. Fold the edges of the dough in, slightly covering the outermost layer of figs. Bake at 375F for ~25 min, or until golden.

Cool on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

matthew's pizza

Sometimes, a girl's just gotta have her carbs- preferably in the form of thick, buttery, doughy pizza crust. It reminded me of Pizza Hut's pan pizza, but with more bite, and a sweeter, yeastier flavor. What, you ask, could I be rambling about? Matthew's Pizza, of course! The list of accolades and rave reviews goes on and on... but completely well-deserved.

When you first walk in, you're struck by the small town pizzeria ambiance of the place, something that we've lost when we commonly nowadays pick up the phone to order pizzas from a chain. We had placed an order for carryout- a large pizza, half pepperoni, half mushroom and onion. It came sandwiched between two paper plates, then wrapped in white butcher paper. I was surprised by how light it felt in my hands. For a "large" pizza (at $10.71), it was quite small in diameter- about 10". But... didn't your mama ever tell you that size don't matter?? What it lacked in size, it made up for in texture and flavor. The crust, oh! the crust, and the homemade sauce and crispy cheese... My only peeve was that the mushrooms were canned. GASP! The rubberiness and slight taste of brine became a bit of a hinderance as I tore into my piece. For fellow fungi purists, I would not recommend adding this as a topping. All in all, the crust sealed the deal for me- it has wiped my memory clean of all pizzas that came before.

The heavenly result of the perfect dough, baked in a well-seasoned, deep dish pizza pan.

Matthew's Pizza
3131 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224

thai tomato bisque

There's only two weeks of summer left! Hurry and make the most of the season's tomatoes, zucchini, and berries. I used a medley of tomatoes from my parent's garden to make this bisque, but of course canned tomatoes are just as good. When using fresh, make sure to peel and deseed them for a smoother texture soup. This is a good transitional dish between seasons- light enough for summer, and still hearty enough for the fall.

Oh and on a side note, my orchid plant has been flourishing like its on steroids! I think I've found the secret...plenty of sun, and a warm environment. Try to keep it in doors, as far away from air conditioning as possible.



Thai Tomato Bisque with Basil Oil Crouton
serves 3-4

1 28-oz. can fire-roasted diced tomato
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced carrot
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger root, minced
5-6 kaffir lime leaves
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp palm sugar (or regular sugar)
1/3 cup half & half, whole milk, or skim milk

1. In a soup pot, sautee onion and carrot in 1 Tbsp of oil over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger; keep stirring for a few more minutes.

2. Add the tomato, kaffir lime, fish sauce and palm sugar. Water can be added if the soup looks too chunky. Let come to a boil. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 1-2 hours.

3. Pick out the kaffir lime leaves. With an immersion blender, puree the soup. Add the half & half or milk, and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

4. Serve with a piece of toasted baguette drizzle with basil oil.


Basil Oil
makes 2 cups

1 cup packed basil leaves, chopped
2 cups extra virgin olive oil, chilled
1 tsp salt

In a food processor or blender, puree all ingredients until smooth and well blended. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Store in a squeeze bottle in the refrigerator for up to one 1-2 months.