Use your imagination
I have a friend who...how can I say this?...lacks imagination.
She is a fine cook. She can make a solid meal three times a day, seven days a week. The food is good. Not too spicy. Not too bland. It tastes just like the food her mother made...just like her grandmother made...
Everything she puts on the table is made from recipes in a little wooden recipe box with a tiny silver lock. Family secrets, donchaknow. When her daughter gets married, the key to that lock will be sewn to an apron and the apron and the box will be passed on. Passed in in the same way she had gotten them from her mother and her mother had gotten them from her mother...
I'd like to think I have passed something better to my daughters.
When my middle daughter got married earlier this year, I gave her a cookbook that included recipes and the stories behind them from in laws and outlaws from both sides of their families. I hope she has enough imagination to make those recipes her own.
My grandmother was famous in certain circles for her lasagna. When I finally learned to cook (did I mention that my mother never cooked a single meal in her 82 years?) I adjusted the sauce, took out the meat, added loads of spinach and additional cheeses. Not to take anything from Grandma's recipe, but this was mine.
And so it goes with most things from my kitchen. I try a recipe from the book and then I look for ways to make it more to my liking...or to the liking of those I'm feeding.
Steve recently discovered that he likes chocolate with sea salt. OK, he's a little slow coming to the chocolate and sea salt scene, but still...
He also loves brownies. Old fashioned brownies. No nuts. No frosting.
Despite his resistance to change, I decided to make chocolate and sea salt brownies. And, what do you know?! We have a winner...
She is a fine cook. She can make a solid meal three times a day, seven days a week. The food is good. Not too spicy. Not too bland. It tastes just like the food her mother made...just like her grandmother made...
I'd like to think I have passed something better to my daughters.
When my middle daughter got married earlier this year, I gave her a cookbook that included recipes and the stories behind them from in laws and outlaws from both sides of their families. I hope she has enough imagination to make those recipes her own.
My grandmother was famous in certain circles for her lasagna. When I finally learned to cook (did I mention that my mother never cooked a single meal in her 82 years?) I adjusted the sauce, took out the meat, added loads of spinach and additional cheeses. Not to take anything from Grandma's recipe, but this was mine.
And so it goes with most things from my kitchen. I try a recipe from the book and then I look for ways to make it more to my liking...or to the liking of those I'm feeding.
Steve recently discovered that he likes chocolate with sea salt. OK, he's a little slow coming to the chocolate and sea salt scene, but still...
He also loves brownies. Old fashioned brownies. No nuts. No frosting.
Despite his resistance to change, I decided to make chocolate and sea salt brownies. And, what do you know?! We have a winner...
Chocolate and Sea Salt Brownies
1¼ cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces of dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup of unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1½ cups of sugar
½ cup of packed brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces of dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup of unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1½ cups of sugar
½ cup of packed brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1/2 bag of chocolate chips
3 tablespoons of sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Butter the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass or light-colored baking pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, the salt, and the cocoa powder together.
- Put the chocolate and butter in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.
- Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined.
- Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. Pull the pan out and sprinkle liberally with chocolate chips. Turn the pan 90 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.
- Pull it out again and sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the sea salt.
- Bake for 10 more minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Put on a wire rack to cool and sprinkle the rest of the salt on top.
Vegetarian.
