Bearnaise Sauce

Bearnaise sauce is absolutely delicous, and like Molten Chocolate Lava Cake, it should come with a health advisory notice. So just be aware.

To make Bearnaise sauce, you need the following ingredients:

• 1/2 c. chopped green onion
• 4 T white vinegar
• 4 T white wine
• 1 (heaping) t. dried tarragon
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 t. lemon juice
• 1/4 c. half and half (or cream)

And here is how to make it:

In a small saucepan, heat onion, vinegar, wine and tarragon. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil it about 2 minutes until it is reduced. In the meantime...

Separate the egg yolks from the whites (find something else to do with the whites), and beat them well.

Put butter in a 2 c. glass pyrex measure and microwave 45 seconds, or until melted.

Combine yolks, lemon juice, and 1/2 and 1/2. Combine this mixture with the butter. You may have to temper the mixture if the butter is too hot. Don't pour egg yolks into hot butter - they will scramble and ruin this sauce. Tempering them means add a little bit of hot butter to the other mixture, and stir it vigorously. Then, you add a little more, and you keep adding a little bit at a time until it is all incorporated.

Microwave the final mixed mixture for 1 minute, stirring every 15 seconds with a fork.

Pour the reduced onion-tarragon-vinegar-wine mixture through a strainer, into the butter-cream-egg-lemon juice mixture.

Stir, and serve immediately with steaks! I have to confess that I've never actually made this; I've just watched Jamie! He's the expert when it comes to bearnaise :)

Steaks

There is a perfect way to cook a steak. It's gloriously seared on the outside, tender throughout, and perfectly pink in the center. Some may have a different idea of a perfect steak, but for Jamie and I, that's it. We like our steaks simple and yummy, and of course, sauteed in butter.

We've found it very simple to duplicate the Ruth's Chris experience (not to be confused with the Justin Bieber experience - which Jamie has also mastered) at home, as we have mastered the art of the filet - and of course the bearnaise (Jamie's favorite that turned into my favorite too!) I'll be posting how to make the bearnaise sauce later today.

Here's how we do it:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees for a long time. Let the oven get very hot.

Preheat an oven-safe (and in our case non-stick) skillet for a while, too, over medium-high heat.

Pat filets dry and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.

When you're ready to cook the steaks, add about 2 T of butter to the skillet. Let it melt and get a little brown, and then add the steaks. Cook them for 1.5 minutes on each side.

Transfer the skillet to the oven, and cook for 3.5 minutes. Remove from oven, flip steaks over, get everything else ready for dinner (quickly), and then plate them.

We serve them with mashed potatoes, bearnaise sauce, salad, and rolls. Afterward, we eat molten chocolate cake. It's a pretty amazing meal for two, and one of our favorites for special occasions.

*Note: The cooking times may need to be slightly adjusted depending on how you like your steaks, and how thick they are. For an average thickness 6 or so oz. steak, these times make the steak pink throughout, or medium (how we like it.) It takes a few times to get it right, so don't give up! If it comes out of the oven too rare for your liking, you can always put it back in for longer!

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Warning (from Jamie): Eating molten lava poses a health risk to everyone, but especially to the elderly, young children under age 4, pregnant women and other highly susceptible individuals with increased sensitivity to heat. Thorough cooling of such delicious desserts reduces the risk of harm.

On Sunday, we made molten chocolate lava cake. It was (and always is) to die for!

This time, we decided to turn it into a "Sunday Night Challenge", promising fresh, hot lava cakes to the first two Conner 5 students to answer the following questions:

1) Under what circumstances did Barack Obama say that he would attend Super Bowl XLV?
2) What team did he root for at his Super Bowl party?

The 2 lucky winners were excited for their treat! After devouring the cakes in seconds, they started asking about the recipe. I told them how easy it was and they were semi-surprised as recipes they had attempted in the past were much more complicated. This recipe is the easiest of the easy - if you can make a boxed cake mix, you can definitely make this. And I promise you won't regret it.

Here is the list of ingredients, followed by the step by step instructions:

• 4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 1 stick butter
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 T flour

Place chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl.

Microwave for about a minute (longer if necessary),

and then whisk it all together until smooth.

Add powdered sugar,

whisk,

and whisk some more until combined.

Add two eggs,

whisk,

and keep whisking until combined!

Lastly, add 6 T flour,

whisk,

and again, keep whisking until combined!

That's basically it! Now, pour even amounts into 4 greased ramekins.

Place them on a baking tray for ease of getting them in and out of the oven.

Bake them for about 13-14 minutes at 425 degrees.

In the meantime, whip 1 cup of cream with 1 T sugar until...

... you have whipped cream!

The cakes were devoured so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of them :( When they are ready to come out of the oven, the sides should be firm, but the center should be soft. Let them stand for a minute before inverting and serving.I always run a knife around the edge of the ramekins to ensure that the cakes will come out smoothly. Invert them onto a plate, and top with fresh whipped cream or ice cream. Enjoy!

 

Watson on Jeopardy

This has absolutely nothing to do with food or cooking in any way, but I think it is very interesting and worth sharing! Living at MIT makes me excited about new technology!
IBM has created a computerized Jeopardy contestant, "Watson", who will be competing tonight against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. "Watson" has been in the works for years, and was created by researchers at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY (this is he same location where Jamie interned 2 summers ago!). Watson, which is the size of 10 refrigerators (I know this thanks to NOVA), utilizes machine learning to behave more like the human brain. It should be very interesting to see who wins on Jeopardy:  man or machine? We'll find out soon because the battle begins tonight!

Rocky Road Surprise Bars

For the sole purpose of making Joellen (and everyone else who reads this) wish she (and you) lived in Boston so she (and you) could visit my kitchen often, please allow me to introduce you to the Rocky Road Surprise Bars:

Combine 3/4 c. flour, 2 T cocoa powder, and 1/2 t. salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

In mixing bowl, put 1 stick softened butter (This is 50/50 SmartBalance/Butter), 1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. Splenda, and 1 t. vanilla.

Beat until creamy!

Add 2 eggs, one at a time.

Stir the dry ingredients into the batter.

Spread into an 8x8 baking dish lined with parchment paper,

and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, spread about 1/2 c. softened (microwave about 20 sec.) peanut butter over the top. This is the surprise - not typically part of "Rocky Road".

Top that with about 2 c. marshmallows.

Then, top that with about 1/2 c. chopped, toasted pecans.

To top it all off, make a quick chocolate icing sauce by combining 2 T butter, 1 T milk, 2 T cocoa powder and 1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar in a small saucepan. Drizzle this icing sauce over the top. Refrigerate the whole thing for a couple of hours, slice, and serve (cold).

 

Mini Vanilla Cupcakes

These cupcakes were delicious! Since discovering the recipe, I have already made them twice, and they have disappeared quickly both times - the recipe makes 50+ cupcakes!

They contained some ingredients that were unconventional, including:

Creme fraiche,

ground almonds,

SmartBalance/Butter blend,

and my favorite sweetener...Splenda!

Here is a list of all of the ingredients needed to make these cupcakes:

• 2 sticks SmartBalance/Butter blend (or butter)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 2 T vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1 cup creme fraiche

Here's how you put those ingredients together to make some amazing cupcakes!

In a standing mixer, combine the butter, sugar, Splenda, and vanilla. Whisk on medium speed until creamy.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.

in a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.

Alternatively add the dry ingredients and creme fraiche to the batter. Mix on medium speed until smooth.

Spoon batter into a lined mini muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out with small crumbs on it. Try not to over-bake them.

Now, at this point, you can enjoy them as-is, or you can get a little more adventurous and add...

NUTELLA!!!!

Using a piping bag, pipe a little nutella into each cupcake. Then, ice them with the icing of your choice. I used my favorite vanilla icing recipe, and added nutella to it to make a creamy nutella icing, but you could do whatever you like, including simply icing them with nutella.

Enjoy! Happy Birthday to Kristina!!!