Chocolate Truffle Cake: What Jim eats on his Birthday

So, Jim just turned 45; gasp! How can that be? He opted for a nice dinner at home of steak in red wine sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, and dilled carrots. I also made wedge salads, which despite their ease of preparation and the fact that they are made with the pariah of leafy edibles, iceberg lettuce, are just so satisfying.


For dessert he asked for a three-layer chocolate cake with a creamy chocolate truffle filling and a dark chocolate ganache. It was actually a recipe he stumbled upon himself in one of my mom's old cooking magazines and had previously made himself with great success. It is a little known fact that Jim does like to make the occasional chocolate confection. Years ago, after he extravagantly bought me a Kitchenaid stand mixer that I did not immediately use, he spent a few months using it himself to make a variety of chocolate desserts. His ganache is exceptional.


So, back to the cake at hand. It took me about four hours to make, bake, and frost it. Even so, the decorations are a little lacking; it is just not my bag. Good thing I had taken the day off from work. Luckily, it was just as delicious as the one he made. I guess anything that has a pound of chocolate, a pound of butter, and a container of heavy cream would tend to taste good.

This cake is superb if you love chocolate. I personally think you need to have a little vanilla ice cream, or even a glass of milk, to balance it. Worth making for a truly special occasion. Time consuming, but not difficult.


Here's a link to the Chocolate Truffle Cake recipe at Taste of Home, which incidentally also has the most delicious fresh Glazed Raspberry Pie that is a go-to summer recipe for me.

Creamy Chicken Soup with Gnocchi and Spinach

Sam loves soup. Sometimes we go to the Olive Garden just for the soup and salad (and dessert). They have a creamy gnocchi soup that both boys like. Last weekend, I was making some homemade stock with the remains of a chicken Jim had roasted and, with urging from Jim and Sam, decided to make my own version. Of course, it is considerably better than the Olive Garden's version. I am sure it is considerably more homemade than theirs, too. I had actually planned to make the gnocchi from scratch but was seduced by the frozen ones at the supermarket.

Rich and chicken-y. A creamy broth with chunks of chicken, little potato gnocchi, and swirls of spinach. Very satisfying on a cold winter night. Balance it out with some delicious bread and a salad.

This is roughly what I did. I never do think to write things down as I go.

1 medium onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, sliced

2 large carrots, diced

1 Tbs. olive oil

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup Marsala wine

6-8 cups homemade chicken stock, fat skimmed

1/4 cup basil pesto

2 cups chopped chicken

1 lb. frozen gnocchi

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1 bag fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped

2-3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Sauté onion, celery, and carrots in soup pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over med-high heat until it begins to brown a little. Add Marsala to deglaze pan and cook until nearly evaporated. Add stock and pesto. Bring to a boil; simmer for 20 minutes or so until everything is very tender. Puree the mixture.

Add cream and chicken and bring to simmer. Add gnocchi and cook 5-10 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and parsley. Cook for another minute or two until spinach is wilted. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.

Top Five Recipes for 2010

Between recipes I try from cookbooks, internet, and magazines along with the ones that take shape on their own, I must make more than 100 new recipes every year. I keep the ones I think have merit in my recipe database so I can quickly find them. In 2010, I added about 40 new recipes to the database. All of them are good, but some of them are, IMO, great. Some of the newer ones—like posole, dilly beans, and coconut-banana sorbet—are already included in this blog. So, here I will only include my favs prior to November 2010. They are in no particular order.

Check out the texture!

Coconut Scones
2010 is the year Sam officially went cuckoo for coconut. It started in February with a three-layer coconut cake for his birthday then progressed to coconut pancakes, sorbet, and most recently, scones. Like French toast, I am a bit particular when it comes to scones. I like a crunch to the outside and a tender inside. These scones pleased both Sam and I. 


I like to brush these with extra coconut milk and sprinkle them with some coarse sugar before baking. Like all scones, I cook them on parchment to prevent the bottoms from getting too brown. They are great warm all by themselves, but Sam likes a little jam. A side of sliced, ripe mango is a nice accompaniment. 


Get the recipe from Baking Bites.


(BTW, the pancakes were also quite good, so drop me a line if you want that recipe.) 

As pictured on Epicurious.com with flour tortillas

Fish Tacos
In Spring 2010, the neighborhood cooking group celebrated Mexican food with an elaborate spread. We assembled assorted tamales under Cindy's tutelage, drank margaritas and mexican beer, and had some awesome grilled carne asada a la Shaun and Sarah. Our fiesta also included rice, bean salad, guacamole and salsas, and Diane's from-scratch chicken mole and delicious flan. 


My contribution was Baja Fish Tacos, a recipe from epicurious.com (one of my favorite recipe sources). Sean grilled the fish to perfection and everyone helped make the corn tortillas for them.  Marinated, grilled fish, crunchy cabbage slaw, a creamy lime sauce, and chipotle pico de gallo on a warm corn tortilla—I say muy bueno!! I enjoyed them so much that I made them for Jim and the boys the following week and they received equally favorable reviews.


I used tilapia in place of the mahi, since it holds it's shape nicely, and cooked the fish in my grill basket until just flaking.


Get the recipe from Epicurious.com. I would definitely sub warm corn tortillas for the flour ones they suggest, for flavor and textural reasons. 


For the homemade corn tortillas, I used Rick Bayless' recipe on Food and Wine.com. I used masa harina, of course, because where are you gonna find fresh corn masa in the gringo-land of VT? 


BTW, these tacos are gluten-free.

Butternut Squash and Carmelized Onion Lasagna
I thought I had better include a recipe of my own making or everyone reading this will start to fear I have no imagination in the kitchen. The Winter 2010 edition of Edible Green Mountains, which I likely got a a local market had a recipe for butternut lasagna, which inspired me to create this. Their recipe actually included pasta, whereas mine is more of a gratin really.

In this dish there are alternating layer of thinly-sliced butternut squash, carmelized onions with rosemary and sage, a creamy Marsala sauce, toasted pine nuts, and mozerella and parmesan cheeses. It is an elegant and savory winter dish that could served as a main meal or a hearty side. Sorry, no picture. Maybe if I make it again I will take one and post it. Until then, just imagine the cheese browned on top, the bubbling sauce, some well place sage leaves for contrast. Enough said.


2 small-medium butternut squash, peeled and sliced (1/4”)

Cooking spray

Fresh thyme sprigs (a handful)

2 Tbs. butter

1 1/2 large sweet onions, sliced thinly

1 tsp. fresh sage, finely chopped

1/2 to 1 tsp. dried rosemary

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

2 1/2 cups 1% milk

3/4 tsp. chicken flavoring (I use “Better than Bouillon Reduced Sodium”)

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp. thyme leaves

Pinch or two of freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tbs. pine nuts (toast lightly for best flavor)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

THE SQUASH: Preheat oven to 400° F.  Spray baking sheet(s) with cooking spray and add squash slices in a single layer. Spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle lightly with salt and top with some fresh thyme sprigs. Roast 15 minutes or so, until tender.  Set aside.

THE ONIONS: Meanwhile, sauté the onions and sugar in butter over medium-low heat until totally wilted and caramelized. Half way through the cooking add salt to taste and herbs.  Set aside.

THE SAUCE: Deglaze the pan you cooked the onions in with the Marsala and reduce until almost gone. Add butter and flour to make a roux. Cook for a minute then whisk in the milk, chicken flavoring, and herbs. Cook stirring constantly until thickened. Add pepper and salt, if needed.

THE ASSEMBLY: Layer ingredients in 8 x 8” baking dish.  A little sauce, a layer of squash, onions, nuts, cheeses, etc.  End with sauce and cheese. Top with some whole fresh sage leaves to add a little decorative touch. Bake uncovered at 350° for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and cheese is beginning to brown.

Picture from La Cucina Italiana

Tortellini en Brodo
This is a traditional dish from the Emilia Romagna region in Northern Italy, an area known worldwide for its pork products from Bologna and Parma, fine basalmic vinegar from Modena, and, of course, Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese. The tortellini are stuffed with mortadella, prosciutto, and pork (I used chicken) and float in a delicate beef and chicken broth. It is a simple, yet time-consuming, dish to prepare. I liked it so much I ate it everyday for a week. This should give you an idea of the quantity we made.


We had a lot of fun making these together in our cooking group. It is most definitely a group activity, which I think kids would also enjoy helping with too. I was going for authentic here so took the time to prepare the broth ahead of time using the recipe below. It was subtle and satisfying, but I am not sure I would go to the effort or expense again any time soon. A nice homemade chicken broth would suffice, I think. 


Get the recipe from La Cucina Italiana Magazine. The only change I made was to use 3 chicken thighs, poached with onion and herbs in place of the pork in the filling. If I would also make the stock with less water as I had to boil it down a little in order to concentrate the flavor enough for my liking. The stock and uncooked tortellini could easily be frozen, separately.


We also made a mushroom-filled tortellini in mushroom broth, which is a good vegetarian option.

Photo from Habeas Brulee

Chewy Maple Cookies

Jamie brought these to our Fall-themed cooking group. Sooo good! Sweet and chewy, with an incredibly intense maple flavor. He found the recipe on the food blog Habeas Brûlée. If you like maple, these will not disappoint. Of course, you'll want to use Vermont syrup.

Get the recipe from Habeas Brûlée.