Salted Fudge Pie

Found this recipe in this month's Paula Deen Comfort Food magazine.

Ingredients:

10 Tbsp butter, melted and divided
1 1/2 C crushed chocolate cookie crumbs
1 C sugar, divided
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
Garnish: sea salt

Directions:

Preheat to 350*

In a medium bowl, combine 4 tablespoons melted butter, cookie crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and salt, stirring well. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. (We used a premade Nabisco Oreo cookie crust instead. Just easier)

Reduce oven temperature to 300*

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, unsweetened chocolate (I melted in a mircowave double "boiler"), cocoa powder, remaining 6 tablespoons melted butter, and remaining 3/4 cup sugar, whisking until smooth. 

Pour chocolate mixture into prepared crust. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center has set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Garnish with sea salt. 

Asian Chicken Salad Wraps

Here's what we made for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 C cabbage slaw
1 C finely diced cooked chicken breast
12 Bibb/Butter lettuce leaves

Directions:

Cook chicken in 1 tsp sesame oil and minced garlic. 

In a small bowl, combine hoisin, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, oil, pepper and garlic in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk

In a medium bowl, mix 2 Tbsp peanuts, slaw and chicken; add sauce and toss well. 

Spoon about 1/3 cup of chicken salad in the center of each lettuce leaf; sprinkle each lettuce wrap with remaining peanuts. Serve immediately. 

Foodie? Prove It

Fried Alligator

A fellow foodie friend posted an app she'd found on facebook. It's a checklist of 100 top foods to eat before you die. Apparently, according to the application, (which we know can be as factual as this weeks tabloids) most people have only tried 20 (or less) of these 100 foods.

I've had 63... Does that mean it's okay to call myself a foodie? :)

Bagel and lox

Abalone
Absinthe
Alligator
Baba Ghanoush
Bagel & Lox
Baklava
BBQ Ribs
Billini
Bird's Nest Soup
Biscuits & Gravy
Black Pudding
Black Truffle
Borscht

Durian (on my patio furniture)

Spring Rolls

Calamari
Carp
Caviar 
Cheese Fondue
Chicken & Waffles
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chile Relleno
Chitlins
Churros
Clam Chowder
Cognac
Crab Cakes
Crickets
Currywurst
Dandelion Wine
Dulce de Leche
Durian
Eel
Eggs Benedict
Fish Tacos
Foie Gras
Fresh Spring Rolls
Fried Catfish
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Plantain
Frito Pie

All kinds of lobster pieces. Mmmm

Frog Legs
Fugu
Funnel Cake
Gazpacho
Goat
Goat's Milk
Goulash
Gumbo
Haggis
Head Cheese
Heirloom Tomatoes
Honeycomb
Hostess Fruit Pie
Huevos Rancheros
Jerk Chicken
Kangaroo
Key Lime Pie
Kobe Beef
Lassi

Pho. I make this at home even.

Lobster
Mimosa
Moonpie
Morel Mushrooms
Nettle Tea
Octopus
Oxtail Soup
Paella
Paneer
Pastrami on Rye
Pavlova
Phaal
Philly Cheese Steak
Pho

My one and only time trying uni (sea urchin)...far right

Pineapple & Cottage Cheese
Pistachio Ice Cream
Po'Boy
Pocky
Polenta
Prickly Pear
Rabbit Stew
Raw Oysters
Root Beer Float
S'mores
Sauerkraut
Sea Urchin
Shark

First time for spaetzle too. So good.

Snail
Snake
Soft Shell Crab
Som Tam
Spaetzle
Spam
Squirrel
Steak Tartare
Sweet Potato Fries
Sweetbreads
Tom Yum
Umeboshi
Venison
Wasabi Peas
Zucchini flowers

How many have you tried?

Cannoli

One of my sister's favorite desserts are cannoli. So this Christmas, after seeing a semi-homemade version, I called my Aunt and got our grandmother's cannoli filling recipe.

1 container ricotta (don't drain it like the link says. My Aunt was shocked!! She said if you drain it, you'll break the cheese up to shit) plus 1 cup powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla.... then with an electric mixer "whip the hell out of it. The more you whip it the fluffier it will get". Then fold in mini chocolate chips. 

Do not fill the cones until you are about to eat them Otherwise the cones/shells will get soggy. 

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