Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

Some people like to rub chocolate on themselves. Personally, while I'm not against rubbing it on myself or others, I prefer eating it. I especially prefer it in loaf form accompanied by fruits and veggies. Recently, I'm enjoying my chocolate with zucchini, and I think you might too! Thus, I present a recipe.

P.S. I have no pretension of presenting this as a healthy recipe. Though, for those concerned:
based on slicing this mo-fo into 10 tranches there are this many nutrient-thingys per serving: 262 calories, 11g fat, 5g protein, 38g carbohydrate, 2 g dietary fiber, 0 cholesterol, 266mg sodium. This will be different if you don't use eggs or the nuts.

You will need:
- ingredients (duh!)
- an oven
- some bowls
- a loaf pan

Ingredients:
* 1.5 eggs (for those who prefer sans-oeuf thats about 1 small or 3/4 regular
sized mushy banana)
* 1/4 cup canola or sunflower oil
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/3 cup milk (vanilla flavoured soymilk works great too)
* 1 cups sugar
* 1.25 cups flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 cup cocoa
* 1 cups grated zucchini (about 1 medium sized zucc)
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
* 1/4 chocolate chips (optional, but I highly recommend it though)

Here's the scoop:
1. Grate the zucchini with a cheese grater (regular grated cheese size) and pat dry with paper towel or dish cloth and set aside.
2. Mix together "eggs", oil, vanilla, milk and sugar
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cocoa.
4. Slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix together (can be done by hand with a wooden spoon or a mixer).
5. Stir in the zucc and walnuts.
6. Spray loaf pans with Pam or use a little vegetable oil into the pan and be sure to cover the entire pan in a thin layer. Then drop a bit of flour into the pan and shake it around until the whole pan is covered with light dusting of flour.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Let cool on racks for a couple minutes.
9. Devour immediately. Best served with a cold glass of milk.

In England a 'tart' is an insult

Chocolate Truffle Tarts

It only seems appropriate my first blog here (and ever!) is of tarts.

I stole and mixed this recipe from two other sites which i will post below, so technically this is 4 recipes (it's finite math, trust me), not just 1!

Crust site: http://www.jonathoncihlar.com/index.php?Post=fruittart

Filling site: http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8907

This recipe makes enough dough for probably 8-10 tart shells and more than enough chocolate truffle to fill these cups sufficiently. If you have excess filling, consider covering your hand in the chocolate for a tasty treat for the grad student on the go!

Crust Ingredients

- 3/4 cups flour
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1/16 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup vegan margarine
- 2-3 tablespoons ice cold water
- Apricot preserves

Crust Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Blend the flour, sugar, and salt until well-mixed.
3. Chill the flour mixture in the freezer for 15-20 minutes
4. Using a pastry cutter, fork, or your hands, cut the margarine into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles small pebbles.
   
5. Chill this mixture in the freezer again for another 15-20 minutes.
6. Slowly add water by the tablespoon incorporating it with a wooden spoon until it just holds together. Do not add too much water and definitely do not overmix.
7. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to relax the gluten.
8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and lightly flour the surface you will roll it out on. Take off a small walnut-sized portion for a 3-4 inch tart tin and roll it into a circle that is about 1" larger than the size of the tin. The dough should be about 1/8" thick.
   
9. Place the dough in the tart tin (I didn't have a tart tin so I used muffin tins) and press down lightly to fit the shape of the tin. Do not stretch the dough to fit the tin. Prick the dough with a fork to prevent excessive bubbling.
   
10. Bake the tart at 400°F for about 15 minutes. The edges should be turning slightly brown and the body should look dry and flaky. Remove from the oven and cool.
11. Once each tart has cooled to room temperature, brush a light coating of apricot preserves. This layer forms a barrier between the crème filling and the crust keeping the crust light and flaky.

Chef James’ Note: I didn’t do the apricot coating cuz I didn’t think it would jive with the chocolate filling, but might be worthwhile if you had a different filling.

Chocolate Truffle Filling

- 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp coconut milk, using thick cream (the junk from the top of the can, suggested you leave the can in the fridge, not shaking before opening and extract your portion from the top layer of coco milk, the fatter portion)

- 3 1/2 tbsp - 4 Tbsps organic unrefined virgin coconut oil (coconut butter) [I used sunflower oil cuz I couldn’t find coco butter]

- 3/4 tsp pure almond extract (or can use pure vanilla)

- 2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips (or can use non-dairy chocolate bars)

Directions:

1. In a double boiler (or fit a metal/glass bowl over a saucepan filled with several inches of water) over medium-low heat, combine coconut milk, oil, and extract, stirring occasionally for several minutes until melted.
2. Add chocolate chips (reserving a small portion, about ¼ cup), and stir until the chocolate chips are just about melted. Then, turn off the heat and add remaining chocolate chips and gently stir through.
3. Once just melted (do not overwork the chocolate), remove saucepan from heat and place in fridge to cool mixture while cleaning up.
4. After the filing has cooled slightly (maybe 10mins) pour the filling to the top of the cups. Place back in fridge for another 15mins to let the mixture solidify before arranging your own fruit mixture.
   

The incredibly artistic fruit decorations on the top (in case you didn’t notice i cut the strawberries into hearts as these were Valentine’s Day gifts) were my own creative genius. But I invite you to create your own designs! Possibly commemorating some other important days, such as Martin Luther King Day, Roshashana, or Waitangi Day (Feb 6, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document). One can only imagine what innovative designs you can cut strawberries into to celebrate these momentous occasions!

Enjoy!

Chef James

Milchreis, for John Casey

When I lived in Germany me and my friends would rush to the grocery store during recess to pick up 50 cent Milchreis.  It's basically delicious delicious rice pudding that can be served hot or cold and with 100000 different toppings.  I kind of forgot about milchreis till last term when I craved this comfort food. After looking at 100000 sketchy online recipes, and some trial & error, I came up with the following recipe.  

Bonus Fact: I remember hearing about some pagan christmas tradition of serving rice pudding and whoever gets the bowl with the almond in it wins a prize. and the prize is the almond. 

You will need:

- 2/3 cup short-grain white rice

- 2 1/3 cups milk (any % depending on how fat you think you are) 

- 2 tbs. butter 

- 2 tbs. sugar 

- pinch o' salt 

- rind of 1/2 lemon (peel into larger chunks for easy removal!) 

- 1 tsp. vanilla 

- cinnamon sugar (2 tbs sugar + 1 tbs cin.) 

1. Pour the milk, butter, salt, sugar, vanilla and lemon rind into a teflon pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. 

2. Stir in the rice. Turn down heat to low and cover with lid. Let it cook for approx. 45-50 mins. 

3. You will get the urge to open the lid and look and stir but REFRAIN! 

4. At the 45 minute mark check on the rice and taste to see if it's ready. The milk should be absorbed, the rice should be soft and the dish should have the consistency of pudding. 

5. If it's not ready, do not panic. It just needs a few more minutes and perhaps more milk.  Use your judgement bro. 

6. Once the pudding is done remove the lemon rind. Let it cool down, or not. Plate it and top it off with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.  It's also yummy with some fresh fruit or nuts or raisins if you're crazy like that.. 

 i hope you like this, its one of my favs!