Gone with the wind.........

I had decades worth of recipes written on scraps of paper and 3 x 5 cards that I had been gathering since my teens, my Mom's, and Gramma's, wonderful family recipes of all my favorites ... my Mom's Chili Verde, her amazingly easy, flavorful Chop Suey, Granny's Chicken and Dumplings, desserts, salads, and of course, recipes for those marvelous soups and stews that warmed us on the cold blustery days... anyway, I had always intended to put them all into a book, or to at least digitize them so that they could be saved and shared. I loved those scraps of paper and never got around to it. Those grubby bits of paper and card stock, spattered by ingredients, creased and worn, soft from years of being refolded after use, and smelling oh so faintly of spices, felt real to me. tangible and homey. My mothers familiar scrawl, her funny little notes........Pulling out those handwritten treasures was almost a form of therapy, certainly they were a touchstone for me. They lived in a beautiful wooden and metal scrollwork box on a shelf in my dining room.

We found what was left of the box after the fire, we kinda recognized a bit of the metal scrollwork... my son pried it open while we held our breath, hoping that the once lovely box had somehow protected those vulnerable pages......
Once he peeled back the burned layers of what was left, a few charred edges of my treasured "receipts" fluttered out, then they just disintegrated and disappeared on the breeze.

So my mission now is to piece together those recipes, add in more that I find along the way, and get a cookbook published for my Mom. I think she would have loved that.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Chocolate Soup! (Who knew?!)

Did you ever just have one of those rotten days when everything just seemed to pile up and overwhelm you? Man, I hate days like that, and today was one.... A day like this just makes you want to throw caution to the wind and grab your "security blankie". I do not know what that is for you, but mine is chocolate. Soup just did not appeal to me today until I found this. Chocolate Soup! Who knew? It hits the right note on all levels. Especially when you feel the need to indulge your inner child.

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped / OR add 1 Tbl good quality Vanilla extract
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 tablespoons cornstarch
Scant 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper (optional)
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
5 tablespoons cold water
Biscotti
Fresh raspberries, for garnish (optional)

Directions
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla bean, cinnamon and cayenne. Bring the mixture almost to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain and return to the pan. (Rinse and dry the vanilla bean and save it for another use.)

Put the pan on low heat, add the chocolate, and whisk until the chocolate melts. Combine the cornstarch and water to form a slurry. Add the slurry a little at a time, whisking constantly, until the soup is thick and smooth. You will know it is ready when the bubbles are gone and the chocolate has thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Pour the soup into bowls and garnish with raspberries, serve with bicotti.
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