Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake. Two words that delight the senses and make the mouth water. What's better than chocolate cake? Chocolate cake with wine in it!

Unless, of course, you don't like chocolate. Or wine. But that's too crazy to contemplate.

A friend recommended this recipe from Smitten Kitchen saying it was pretty easy. I'm not a baker, at all. But I had a delicious bottle of Cabernet Franc. So very tasty, this wine. And you know what they say about cooking with wine...

If you don't know how difficult it was to leave a 2005 Domaine de Château Gaillard Saumur Cab Franc untouched, your life is semi-charmed. First of all, I was stuck in bed with alcohol-unfriendly sickies. Then I somehow convinced myself that I needed to make the cake with this particular wine, so even once I was better, I still couldn't savor it. Because somehow I'd had the inhuman willpower when I first opened the bottle to save the exact 3/4 cup needed for this recipe. Who am I?

This wine is truly fantastic. I have had many red wines and this was quite near the top of all the delectable red-hued intoxicants that have passed through these lips. I'm fantasizing about it right now as I write this.

That said, I shouldn't have wasted it on a cake. Remember how I'm not a baker? Why I tested a recipe with a bottle of wine that costs more than two dollars is beyond me. I blame the codeine-induced haze I was living in. Deb suggests that the cake comes out of the oven "shiny and smooth, like a puddle of chocolate." It sounds pretty. Mine didn't look like that. It looked like the exact opposite of that.

Don't get me wrong, it tastes good. I ate a piece for breakfast. Then another. Then I put whipped cream and powdered sugar on it and took pictures for you. Then I ate that piece too. And also the other piece you won't see pictures of, but that has cranberry sauce all over it. Yeah, 4 pieces. Then I called some friends and asked them to come eat the rest before I ended up drunk for breakfast.

You shouldn't drink alone, right? You also shouldn't stuff your face with alcohol-infused chocolate cake alone either.

Because sharing is caring. Especially when it's a Cab Franc.

Girl+Fire Turns 2 with the Annual Top 5

A few weeks ago, I was laid up in bed. I didn't cook, I didn't eat, I didn't leave my house. All I could do was sip my codeine-laden cough syrup and sleep.

At some point, while I was in a sleepy haze, Girl+Fire turned two. My little blog here has been around for 2 orange-tinged years! I'm about 12 days late on the celebration, but that's how long I was stuck in bed, so it evens out.

It's math. You can't argue.

And so to continue the tradition we began with last year's celebration, here are the top 5 memorable moments of the year:

5. Discovering the ripe freshness of extra virgin olive oil. Unfortunately CalTech wasn't able to hold their harvest this year due to lack of olives, so once I used up the contents of this very pretty bottle, there was no more to be had. Hopefully we'll procure more later this year!

4. Food Swaps and the introduction to the delicious Surly Temple. There's nothing like revisiting a childhood favorite with a dash of alcohol.

3. Turning a food fail into an exquisite spicy sweet sauce.

2. And then putting it on pizza. (How does pizza end up on the list every year?)

1. But the best possible experience from this past year was visiting Costa Rica and eating with the Murillo family. Nothing can even compare. ¡Pura vida!

So what will year 3 bring? Who knows! Thank you all for reading along. I might be getting a hang of this cooking thing.

Finally.

And now that I'm back up and out of bed, I can thankfully start cooking again. Yay!

Attempt at French Food: Fish Mousseline with Sauce Nantua

The French know everything about cooking, right? They invented it.

Because of this, I've always felt that it's pretty intimidating to attempt French food. As if somewhere, a panel of unrelenting judges will strike you from the kitchen should you not recreate a dish perfectly. You'll be banished to a life of raw and fast food eats for the remainder of your days.

That's not at all true, though French food can seem complicated. The recipes seem to have innumerable ingredients with highly complex steps. But when I happened to catch an episode of French Food at Home on the Cooking Channel, Laura Calder made it actually seem doable. Not "easy" but definitely less difficult than I had previously believed. So I attempted her Fish Mousseline with Sauce Nantua. Translation: fish mousse with a creamy shrimp sauce.

I was heading to my parents' house the next day for a family dinner, and knew that my very picky little brother has just recently started eating fish. We had gathered at Chez Mommy & Daddy to watch the Giants take out the 'Niners in the NFC championship playoffs, so I decided to test this on them.

My parents are pretty adventurous, and they too like to experiment with new recipes, so they're the perfect test subjects. My brother could always order a pizza if he didn't like it.

The sauce was quite simple, surprisingly. Butter, onions, carrots, shrimp, herbs, set them on fire then add cream and puree. It was the first time I've flambéd a dish. That was fun. Fire! We like fire here at Girl + Fire.

Then came the fish mousse. I don't know what I did wrong, but it was overly watery, so it never set properly. I could blame the blender that created butter out of the cream, but that was my fault. So I had both a watery and buttery mousse. Split personality mousse. I should have drained the liquid. And probably used a food processor instead of a blender. Tip for next time.

The Giants ended up winning that game (and then the Super Bowl! AGAIN!). We ended up loving the creamy shrimp sauce. The fish mousse...eh. But if I learned nothing else, it's that French food ain't that scary after all.

You can find the original recipe here.

Kelp Noodles in Almond Sauce

Kelp noodles! Have you ever heard of such thing? Until last week, I had not. I can't even remember what turned me on to it (probably my favorite vegan blogger Janet, again) I just knew I had to try them as soon as I could.

But what do you do with kelp noodles? They come refrigerated in a bag, filled with water, and you have to rinse them. Then what?

Then you eat them. It's that simple. They're crunchy and salty. Fat-free, gluten-free, low in carbs, calories, etc etc. So are they any good?

Because I didn't know, I decided to update my Peanut Sauce Dressing with almond butter and let them swim in it. I knew that it, at least, is very tasty.

Making almond butter is simple. You simply put a couple cups of almonds in your food processor and let it run for 15 minutes, until the oil is extruded and it all blends together into creaminess. Katie from Dishin & Dishes has an excellent photo tutorial on the process.

Adding in some julienned cucumbers and edamame, the end result:

Lunch. Simple. Excellent.

Kelp noodles can be found in the refrigerated section of your local Whole Foods (at least here in Los Angeles, your mileage may vary), or online directly from the Sea Tangle Noodle Company. The company also makes an organic green tea variety. Though I am usually game to try anything at least once, this just doesn't appeal to me.

If you try it, let us know how that works out for you.

Tia Lily's Salsa Colorada

My beloved aunt Lily is my mom's sister. They are originally from Guadalajara, Mexico and she is one of the best cooks I've ever met. As a rule, I don't eat at Mexican restaurants because nothing compares to my tia's cooking. I only eat her posole, and her tamales are a Christmas treat, but what she's best known for is her salsa.

Lest you think I'm putting my own mother down, let me tell you who the best Puerto Rican cook I've ever met is: my mom. While Tia Lily is the consummate Mexican cocinera, my mom had to learn to cook for my dad, who preferred his own homeland's cuisine. And hates celery.

The joke in our family is that you can always tell how angry she was when she makes her salsas by the level of spice. Those babies will burn through your tongue, even when she's in the greatest of moods. They can take on any Indian curry or southern Thai dish in a heat competition. You will probably sweat eating them. And it'll be totally worth it.

She made this salsa for a recent family gathering. One of the wonderful things about our family is that every occasion brings out the entire clan. I have 5 cousins on that side, 4 of which have their own children, and I love the parties we have together. Piñatas, food, music, and kids running everywhere, that's life. It was on one of these family affairs, while my mouth was on fire, that I begged her to share the recipe. She laughed while telling me how utterly simple it is.

Like my dad's salsa, it goes great on everything: rice, tacos, eggs. But the salsa verde has far less heat than this one, so be careful how much you throw on your plate. Make sure you have lots of crema (or sour cream, milk, what have you) on hand!

It's especially delicious on an egg in a hole, which has a convenient buffer for heat built right in: bread!

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Tia Lily's Salsa Colorada

by Lilia Ruiz-Velasco Colunga February-7-2012

An intensely spicy red salsa.

Ingredients

• 8 tomatillos
• 6 chiles arbol (with seeds)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon oil for frying chiles
• 3 sprigs cilantro (more for garnish)
• salt to taste 

Instructions

1. Remove the papery outer skin of the tomatillos and rinse well (they will be pretty sticky). Chop in half, and put in a large pot of water. Make sure the water covers the tomatillos by at least an inch. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes (till fork tender).2. While the tomatillos are cooking, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the chiles and fry until crispy. Remove from heat and discard the oil.3. Drain the tomatillos, reserving a quarter cup of the water. Blend together the tomatillos, fried chiles, garlic, and cilantro with half the water. Add more as needed for a thinner salsa. Add salt to taste.4. Pour into a bowl, garnish with some cilantro. Or pour over a dish that needs a bit of pizzazz. Enjoy.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 15 mins Yield: 2 cups

Semi-Raw Kale Experiment

I love kale. At least, I thought I did because I've only ever had it cooked in some manner. My mom makes a wonderful dish with kale and swiss chard, but again, it's cooked. And kale chips! Those are delicioso!

Then I tried it raw one day and almost immediately spit it out. It's not quite the same. At all. Apparently the only cruciferous veggie I can handle raw is daikon...I think I've eaten raw. But, in any case, kale is full of health benefits, so it must be eaten.

It's no wonder kids don't like vegetables...

And then I came across Janet's post over at The Taste Space, Almost Raw Asian Kale and Edamame Salad. It calls for marinating the kale in a lime juice for a bit. I figure this ceviche-like treatment would help "cook" it so it was worth trying.

I'm not one for vegan food. It's not a lifestyle I could ever adhere to, since I love cheese. And MEAT! But The Taste Space has some interesting recipes I've been eager to try, and this kale edamame salad was truly simple. And a good test of semi-raw kale.

As I suspected, the lime juice really does "cook" the bitterness out of the kale. The added benefit of sour lime juice is a bonus, since I love all things sour.

Janet suggests slicing the kale thinly, so I made kale chiffonade. It's so pretty! And yummy! Win!

For Janet's recipe, please click here.

It also works REALLY well with spinach. Spinach chiffonade! Pretty! Yummy! More win!

Pink & Lavender Turkey Mini-Burgers

I recently became obsessed with lavender. I've always liked the color (it's so pretty) but I didn't really know how it tasted. At one point I was trying to figure out what to do with a decadent wedge of Humboldt Fog goat cheese, and learned that typical French herbs lavender and thyme paired nicely with it.

Them French know a thing or two about food.

Lavender is quite perfume-like. Too much of it and you will feel like you sucked down some Chanel No. 5, which is a very lovely fragrance. (If any fans wants to gift G+F some perfume, nous aimons Coco.) But you don't want to taste it for the rest of the day. Use sparingly.

Another lovely pantry staple is pink peppercorns. These are less pepper and more berries, and also hail from France. I have had them for a while, wondering how and what to use them in. Turns out these pink beads blend nicely with its equally colorfully-hued French friend lavender. I was making on my way to making a pink and purple rainbow of food.

Plus I grow thyme in my little patio garden, so now I just had to figure out what to do with this spice blend and cheese.

Enter ground turkey and King's Hawaiian mini buns. And then you have mini burgers! Not sliders, as Serious Eats explains, but mini burgers. They're as easy to make on the stove as on the grill. And even though we're having some unseasonably warm weather in Los Angeles this winter (in the 70-80 degree range, which is weird even for southern California), I still haven't fired up the grill. Mostly because I gave it to my dad and no longer have one.

Thinking about it, I suppose you could make these into sliders. But I like my onions caramelized and IN the ground meat mixture, not just steaming on top of it.

I made two of these, ate them, and they tasted fine. I let the rest sit in the fridge until the next day, made two more, and they tasted so much better. The flavors were much better combined. So that's the trick, let the mix sit overnight. More yummy bang for your buck.

Don't forget the oozy cheese!

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Pink & Lavender Turkey Mini-Burgers

by Paulette Fontanez 

French lavender and pink peppercorns help turn a normal turkey burger into a gourmet mini burger.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup caramelized onions, choppped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried lavender
• 1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme)
• dash of salt
• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 8 mini burger buns

Instructions

1. Crush the peppercorns and coriander to a powder (use a spice mill if you have it). 2. Combine the crushed spices with the turkey, onions, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, and salt and mix well. Optional but highly recommended step: let sit, covered, in the fridge overnight.3. Form into 8 mini burgers. Grill on high heat for 3-4 minutes per side.4. Serve on mini buns with a 1-ounce piece of goat cheese (Humboldt Fog is strongly recommended!). Let the cheese melt a bit. Add additional condiments if you feel it necessary.

Details

Prep time: 5 minutes - overnightCook time: 8 minutes +Total time: 13 minutes +Yield: 8 mini burgers

New Year, New Food: Fluffy Homemade Spiced Pancakes

The first time one cooks for a man, it probably should not be a dish that one has never made. If it's true that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, then this seminal event should showcase one's best dish.

That's all well and dandy, but he wanted pancakes. I'd never made pancakes, so I faced a dilemma: did I risk the first meal on an unknown dish or opt for a tried and true breakfast staple...like what, oatmeal? Pancakes seemed simple enough. And really, there is nothing sexy about oatmeal.

Turns out he wasn't expecting homemade pancakes. I could have saved myself a lot of anxiety and simply bought a box mix, but there ain't no romance in Bisquick.

With a devil-may-care flourish, I threw caution to the wind and set out to mix flour with milk n' stuff. The last thing I wanted to do the morning after a weekend-long series of late nights and festive new year celebrations was make a complicated dish, so I found the simplest recipe Google had to offer and then added a few extra little touches. I couldn't serve him just any generic ol' pancakes, could I?

I picked up a few tips from All Recipes, such as substituting carbonation for some of the liquid and letting the batter sit. Then I added some cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Served with butter and syrup, scrambled eggs, and a banana blueberry smoothie, it was quite the successful breakfast.

And quite the auspicious start to the new year.

Why yes, we do drink smoothies out of wine glasses in this house. Don't you?

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Fluffy Homemade Spiced Pancakes

by Paulette Fontanez January-2-2012

Simple yet delicious and fluffy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Dash of salt
• Dash of cinnamon
• Pinch of cardamom
• Pinch of allspice
• 1 cup buttermilk (or milk and the juice of 1 lemon)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons ginger ale
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• butter, for greasing the griddle

Instructions

1. If making buttermilk, juice the lemon in a glass measuring cup then add enough milk to make a full cup. Let stand 5 minutes.2. Heat the oven to 200 F. Place an ovensafe dish inside.3. In a large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices) together.4. Whisk in the buttermilk, egg, ginger ale, and vanilla extract until just combined. Do not overmix, you don't want to over-develop the gluten in the flour and lose the fluffiness!5. Let batter stand 10-15 minutes. 6. Heat the griddle until drops of water sizzle and evaporate immediately. Melt butter across the surface (about a tablespoon per batch).7. Using a 1/4 cup measure, pour batter onto the hot griddle. Wait for the edges to dry and bubbles to form on top, then quickly flip the pancake. Cook for another minute or so, then move to the plate in the oven. (You may need to sacrifice one or two initial pancakes to make sure the temperature is correct. They won't be pretty, but probably still edible).

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: Approximately 12 pancakes

Exploring Costa Rica: Pura Vida! Part VII

Read it from the beginning:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

This right here was a funny little group of palms in the backyard of our vacation rental. Notice that one of the trunks is missing a head?

It cracked me up. Headless Palm.

We spent the rest of our Costa Rican vacation living by the philosophy and enjoying the sensational tropical weather. It was raining and cold in Los Angeles while we soaked in this pool under the hot sun. Notice it's a mere hop-skip from the ocean just beyond it.

And avoided what we thought was an angry pig. It was just the docile mascot at Lola's Bar & Restaurant.

That's a fully grown man in the picture next to Lolita, as she's affectionately called. So you can imagine how large she is. And how very unangry she is. She was clearly bored by us.

As lovely as Lola's was (who doesn't love a bar on the beach?) it was clearly a tourist trap. Where outside of Los Angeles clubs do you have to pony up $12 for a drink? Lola's. L'sigh. Thankfully most of the other watering holes we found ourselves in were much more modestly priced. Beers were two bucks and came with a free snack or boquita. At one point I found myself eating tripe, which I usually detest, but for some reason was completely tolerable with Costa Rican beer.

But all good things come to an end. Eventually we had to come back to the States, back to work, back to $12 drinks everywhere. Though not before having one last $2 Imperial and Costa Rican nachos at the only non-fast food restaurant in the San Jose International Airport. At Malinche, you can have authentic Costa Rican food, but I was curious when I spotted nachos on the menu.

They tasted exactly like their American counterparts. Not surprising, I guess. The guacamole squeezed out of a tube was interesting. But the meat was really yummy. And that was my last Costa Rican meal.

A mere 2 hours later I was back on native soil. So far away from our private beach. Memories...

That was my winter vacation. Full of much drink, good food, great times, wonderful people, and a really huge pig. At least I came home with an awesome tan.

Exploring Costa Rica: Pura Vida! Part VI

Recap: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

The next leg of our adventure led us to what would become the absolute highlight of the entire trip: a homemade meal at the home of the Murillo family.

Carlos Murillo is an old friend of ours who had made the trip back to his homeland to act as our welcoming committee and unofficial tour guide. The Costa Rican people are without a doubt the sweetest, most gracious people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Carlos could be their king, he is the most affable, amiable, and friendliest person I've ever known. His family, even more so.

And what was waiting for us after the short ride down the hill from Volcano Brewing Company to his parents' house cannot be overstated: this was the best food we had the entire trip. THE. BEST. FOOD. Period.

Nothing beats a homemade meal, but it is even better still when it's made with love. And there was nothing but love and laughter in the Murillo home.

Love, laughter, and did I mention the delicious food? The aroma wafting from the kitchen was intoxicating the moment we stepped foot on the porch. It had nothing to do with the Shandies we'd just sucked down, either (though probably impacted the quality of these pictures...). We were HUNGRY.

His mom Flor made us piomono, a concoction of plantains, black beans, sugar, bread crumbs, and cheese unlike anything I've ever had (and she's promised me the recipe, which is forthcoming!). Plantains are one of my favorite fruits, which we eat too infrequently here at home (mostly because Puerto Ricans fry them and it's not exactly healthy). But in the span of two days, I'd already had them with every meal. It was like food heaven.

Señora Murillo was kind enough to wrap up the few extras that were leftover so I could enjoy them every day till I came back home.  I may have eaten a dozen or two...

There were also papas rellenas, potatoes stuffed with ground meat and egg. Think baked potato, but with a meaty filling. These aren't the Cuban-style papas rellenas I've been eating all my life, which are rolled in bread crumbs and fried. (Those are also very delicious, as my bill at Porto's Bakery every time I go in will attest to.) Instead these are baked.

You can't eat just one.

And then for dessert, Carlos' sister Joleny made flan a la Tilaran, a layered dish of condensed milk, cookies, pineapple and grapes (recipe also forthcoming!). Served frozen, it was the perfect end to a truly magnificent meal.

I can't wait to make this for my family.

Simple words cannot fully illustrate how grateful we were to the Murillos for hosting us in their home and serving us such an extraordinary lunch. We were welcomed and indulged just like family. And we joked just like family.

Throughout the wonderful feast, Carlos' papi Alvaro entertained us with stories of his days in California, working the port in San Diego. Pipa Gringo, as he's known to the citizens of Tilaran, is a bit of wise cracker. So later, when he told me that the word relajada (which in the Spanish that my parents speak means relaxed) meant I was saying I was a "loose woman," I didn't believe him. He's a jokester!

But Costa Rican slang being a little different than Mexican or Puerto Rican slang, I really had no idea I was calling myself a tramp! Thankfully, I was quickly corrected and learned not to repeat that again among any other Costa Ricans.

Talk about culture shock!

We were having so much fun, we almost forgot there was still a 2 1/2 hour ride to our final destination in Piñilla. So it was with heavy hearts that we left the Murillo clan and drove out to the beach. Where we spent the remainder of our time in-country zip-lining, exploring the local watering holes, or just lounging by the 45-foot pool next to our semi-private beach.

Oh, and trying not to get trampled by a huge pig...

Exploring Costa Rica: Pura Vida! Part V

Recap: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

After leaving the very lovely Lomos del Volcan and the volcano hidden by rain clouds, we piled back in the Fortuner and drove around a really big lake for a very long time. Lake Arenal is huge, but the only way to get to Tilaran was to drive three-quarters of the way around it.

Much to our surprise, as we were hydroplaning our way around the lake, we came upon this sign. And remember, we were on vacation! It demanded we stop to check it out.

What we thought we found was an abandoned hotel. Instead it's a former hotel with its own brewery, undergoing renovations by the same guys who own Witch's Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo. It had also just opened two days earlier. They say life is about timing. Vacation adventures are just what life is all about. Do the math.

Once inside we were greeted by some very lovely ladies who were tending bar, but encouraged us to explore the grounds. Downstairs we found this beer still.

And then we tasted the beer.

Or, more like their beer concoction.

This is a Shandy: a Witch's Rock pale ale mixed with ginger ale and lemonade. The menu warns you: Watch yourself! It's easy to put these away quickly.

I managed to remember to take a picture before I was too far into this one. Now you know why I stick to scotch and other non-girlie drinks: I've learned sweet drinks are deadly. There is a reason the Shandy comes with a warning. It is delicious, but it's so very easy to forget that it's also an adult beverage.

And it also came with stickers! Because they had just opened, there weren't yet any t-shirts like we wanted. But we did come home with this nifty wench.

No, she's not just any sexy pirate. She's a Costa Rican pirate, dammit! And she'll serve you Shandies all night long if you're not careful.

Where's the food? What food, we were drinking Shandies!

But only two. We had to be careful after all. There was a home-cooked meal waiting for us in Tilaran. And we didn't want to ruin our appetites by drunkenly driving into the lake.

Exploring Costa Rica: Pura Vida! Part IV

Recap: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Day 2 in Costa Rica we woke up to a very rainy day. We began to believe that the stories about a volcano were mere rumors, made up by drunken tourists. The tree frogs we could believe, since we could hear them. But the volcano?

It must exist since it tweeted back at me when I posted this picture via Instagr.am. That's proof, people. And this picture? Clearly steam rising from the volcano, covering it in a spooky mist.

Breakfast was delightful. Eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, sausage, toast, more plantains. And gallo pinto! We hadn't seen it on the menu where we ate our first meat-heavy meal, and it wasn't on the restaurant menu the night before. I'd asked our bartender and he assured me it would be available at breakfast. Seems I didn't really do my research before going. Gallo pinto is morning dish.

Oh.

But then there it was, it all its painted glory, next to my fried egg. It tasted exactly like mine. Seems like I nailed it on my first try. Yay me.

And this is where we first had our taste of Salsa Lizano, which is the brown sauce above, on the egg. It's the Costa Rican equivalent of American ketchup, not in flavor but in ubiquity. This salsa is sweet (sugar is the second ingredient) and tangy, kind of similar to Worcestershire sauce. My father and I are currently trying to figure out the breakdown of spices. I'm convinced there's a good deal of cumin in it.

You can put this on anything, and are so encouraged. It was a tad too sweet for my egg, but I ended up putting it on just about everything else I ate the rest of the trip.

And bringing  home an unopened bottle of it too, of course. What's a vacation without souvenirs?