Monday, May 31, 2010

My Next Stop

I'm going here on Wednesday :) http://www.eileenscheesecake.com/

Chocolate Granita Ice

Few ingredients celebrate chocolate like coffee and cinnamon.

Since I had about 3 cups of leftover coffee from this morning, I poured it in a square glass baking pan. Stir in sugar to taste, a tablespoon of cocoa powder, a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Place your pan level in the freezer. Every hour or so, revisit your concoction with a fork and scrape at the ice until it is a crystallized and slushy texture. Voila: granita.

*I love to experiment with granitas. Giada makes a watermelon lime variation and I have snuck in some peach schnapps with orange juice to make a Fuzzy Navel granita. Yum. *

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Lazy Day Ceviche with Roasted Sweet Potato and Candied Ginger Iced Green Tea

Hi Everyone!

After a long hiatus of school, school, school, I'm resuming my F.A. duties!

I've been longing for ceviche (a refreshing Latin-American fish salsa) for weeks, but convinced myself that I'd wait for the first warm day after exams to splurge on some fresh filets.

I scooped up a fresh Tilapia filet, an orange, a couple of lemons, a serrano chile, a tomato, and a small onion for the ceviche.
  • Simply dice the Tilapia, chile, tomato, onion, and garlic if you wish, uniformly in 1/2 inch pieces and marinate in the juice of the orange and lemons.
  • Cover and pop in the fridge for an hour, but no longer.
In the mean time, peel and cut the sweet potato into 1-inch chunks and toss in a mixture of one tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and a pinch of salt to taste.
Spread the chunks on a roasting pan and roast at 350 degrees for an hour or until fork-tender, turning over halfway through.

To make my candied ginger iced green tea, combine 1/4 cup of candied ginger and a gallon of almost-boiling water in a big pitcher. Place in the pitcher 6 bags of green tea. leaves Cover and refrigerate. Serve unsweetened or sweetened with stevia (it tastes more like sugar than any artificial sweetener.

Serve the ceviche in a chilled margarita glass separately from the sweet potato, so that the spicy sour flavors can be separated from the caramelized comfort of the warm potato. Ceviche, like revenge, is a dish best served cold. It (ceviche) is best eaten with a spork!

Yummy!