Chocolate Sauce that will permanently change your life

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

¼ cup cocoa

1-cup sugar

½ cup whipping cream (I use the whole Half pint)

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp vanilla

Measure cocoa, sugar, cream, syrup, butter and salt into a heavy saucepan, about 1 ½ quart size. Stir until blended. Bring to a boil over moderate high heat. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add the vanilla.

Breakfast with Julia Child

This morning, with a day off for both Nik and myself, we took the time to make ourselves a delicious brunch instead of going out. Sounds romantic, I know- which it is always nice cooking together. But it also definitely helps staying at home to make food rather than go out. Especially for brunch- the foods are never all the complicated!

Today was started out with Eggs Benedict, green grapes, big cups of coffee, and bacon. I'm not the biggest fan of most hollandaise sauces I've had at most restaurants. They are usually far too citrus-y for my taste. I had just been reading in The Art of French Cooking how to make it, though. In the book, after explaining the old-fashioned way of making it, there is a short section on how to make it quickly in the blender. Julia Child's note is that is very convenient and easy- though the flavor is slightly "lacking" to those who are very familiar with the taste of the classic method of completely homogenizing the ingredients. For myself, I said "whatever" to that. I personally don't have the time or focus in the morning to spend 30 minutes whisking and watching carefully a sauce. Sorry die-hard French cuisine people!

Anyway, the result was divine. So I felt it would was imperitive to share the recipe:

3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2- 2 TB Lemon Juice
1 stick of butter melted

In blender WITH lid on, mix the yolks, salt and lemon juice. Then, with the blender still on (hopefully yours has a lid with a removable portion of the top that allows you to add ingredients without worrying about spattering), add the butter slowly in a thin stream. As the butter cools and mixes with the other ingredients, it will become a thick cream. If the mixture doesn't thicken on its own, pour out the ingredients and then add again with the blender on. I didn't have to do that personally, but apparently it is the way to save the sauce!

Probably took me a little under 5 minutes including my personal search for the right amount of lemon juice to have.

Easiest bit of French cooking I have ever done!

Italian Sauces and Blogging 101

Good Evening!
Welcome to the very first blog in what will hopefully grow to be a large collection of recipes by myself and my family. For those contributing to the blog, make sure to give not just proportions of ingredients and directions, but any special insight you may have found as you work out the various dishes. I also ask that you tag the blog with whatever keyword(s) you may seem appropriate (i.e. Italian, Pork, Salad).

That being said, here we go!

The very first blog from me should most certainly be one about the Italian sauces I have grown to love and use continuously. The first will be a basic alfredo sauce that never fails; the second, a marinara sauce that you will have to trust me on.

ALFREDO SAUCE

4 Tbs Butter (European if you are wanting a richer taste)
2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 1/2 cups finely grated Parmesan or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

In sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter completely. Add cream in and whisk together. Mixture will froth a little while still over high heat, which is good; this ensures that the butter and cream combine entirely. If not, the butter will separate from the sauce once cooled and on the noodles. After whisking a little bit during the minute or two that the cream/butter is bubbling and frothing, turn the heat down to medium-low (Sometimes I turn it down just barely to make sure the cheese melts well). Slowly add in the cheese making sure that it melts entirely before adding any more. The 1 1/2 cups is a general idea of how much, but it will depend on how thick you would like the sauce to be. Too little, it is a bit watery and doesn't stick to the noodles well. Too much, and it looses the smooth-ness while becoming paste-like.

This usually makes enough sauce for 4 servings. For a different spin on the taste, add some finely grated nutmeg after plating.


MARINARA SAUCE

1 can Tomato Sauce
3 or 4 Roma Tomatoes chopped into small pieces
1/2 onion cut up into small bits
4 garlic cloves diced
1-2 Tbs chili pepper
2 tsp anchovy paste or two anchovies diced up
3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
also can add: chopped basil leaves, oregano, mushrooms, bell peppers, ground sausage, fennel

In large sauce pan, sautee onions in olive oil until soft. Add diced garlic and roma tomatoes once slightly browned. Cook covered for a few minutes. Then, add tomato sauce, chili pepper, and anchovies. Stir in and cook covered again for a few more minutes. Add a little bit of balsamic vinegar to the sauce and taste. From here, I add more vinegar- it adds a nice sweetness to the sauce. I also sometimes will add more garlic (is there ever enough?!), basil and possibly whatever protein I had in mind to have along with the pasta. For mushrooms, I personally like sauteeing them with the onions at the beginning, but not started immediately with the onions as they will not take as long to cook. Ground fennel is delicious to add along with the garlic and roma tomatoes at the beginning as well. I usually let the sauce simmer (covered) over low heat while my pasta is cooking. It lets the flavors come together a little more before serving. I usually use this for a pizza sauce as well if I'm doing a vegetarian pizza- it is a little much when there is a featured protein though.

If Roma tomatoes are out of season and therefore either expensive or unavailable, using a large can of crushed or diced tomatoes works very well.