A Chocolate Affair

Our Recipe Collectors' Club met at Paulette's fabulous house this month for our chocolate themed dinner.  Paulette asked everyone to bring a dish of their choice that was made in some way with chocolate.  We all a good time trying to find new and exciting recipes that used this delicious ingredient. 

Let us begin our tour of our chocolatey dinner.  The picture below is a sign hung above Paulette's kitchen sink. How fitting.  I can tell she is a chocolate lover.  I think that also explains why she is a pastry chef by profession.

Here is our lovely table setting.

Appetizer:  Christie's Onion Jam

Our first bite to eat was Christie's Onion Jam.  This was an interesting appetizer that she was hoping would have a tasty effect.  The jam was delicious and was served with melted cheese over crostini (A new word for me, which I looked up.  It means thin pieces of toast). 

Christie's Onion Jam

Ingredients:
1 tsp butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tblsp brown sugar
1/4 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 
Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and begin to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Add vinegars and brown sugar, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer until mixture has a thick, jam-like consistency, about 20 minutes. Take off the heat and add chocolate, stirring until melted. Serve over crostini with melted cheese. I used Brie, but any mild cheese would work well.

Side Dish 1:  Mindie's Souper Soup

Next, we had Mindie's soup with white chocolate.  Still waiting for the recipe, but it was tasty and thick. 

Roasted Parnsip and Vanilla Chocolate Soup with Cocoa Dusted Croutons

by Chef Robert Irvine

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds parsnips (about 4 to 5 large parsnips) - peeled and cute into 1 inch chunks
• 1/4 cup canola or olive oil (1/2 to used to roast parnships and the other half for the croutons) **I used less than this**
• 8 tablespoons butter (I used 3 tablespoons of lower fat margerine and it was more than enough)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 quarts chicken stock **I used veggie stock, its about 9 cups**
• 1 whole vanilla bean or 1 tablespoon high quality vanilla extract **I used the extract**
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup vanilla white chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy cream **I used low fat half and half**
• 1 fresh lemon or lime, halved cross wise
• 1 epee loaf french bread **I used challah so I think any good quality bread you like will work just fine**
• 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder **I used only about 1 tablespoon of sweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Peel parsnips and cut into 1 inch chunks.  Toss lightly with olive oil and place on the baking sheet. 

Roast in the oven until the parsnips begin to soften and the tips begin to turn golden brown.  You will know when they are ready when they can easily be pierced with a knife.

This takes about 40 minutes (**In my oven it took only 25 to 30 minutes so watch them carefully).  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Line a baking sheet with aluminim foil.  Cut the bread into chunks.  Lightly toss with olive oil and place on the baking sheet. Dust the bread with the cocoa powder.  Toast in the oven until the bread is well toasted.

Remove from the oven and set aside.

In a stock put, melt the butter over medium - low heat.  Add the onions and gently saute until they are translucent.  This should take about 10 minutes.  The most important thing is that the onions be translucent.

Add the stock, vanilla and parsnips.  Increase the heat to medium. Bring to a boil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover and let cook until the parsnips are completely tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the white chocolate chips and cook for an additional 5 minutes to allow them to melt and to integrate the flavors.

Remove the soup from the heat.  If a vanilla pod was used, discard the pod.  Stir in the cream.  Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.  Squueze fresh lemon or limt juice into the pot and stir to combine.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with croutons.   Makes 6 to 8 servings (I would say more like makes more like 10 good sizes servings).

Side Dish 2:  Alison's Chocolate-Balsamic Salad

Our salad was made by Alison.  You would think it's an ordinary strawberry salad with cucumbers, but just wait until she basks it in her chocolate-balsamic dressing. 

Alison's Chocolate-Balsamic Salad

Ingredients:

Lettuce

Cucumbers
Strawberries
Feta cheese
1/3 C. basalmic vinegar
1/3 C. sugar
4 oz. dark chocolate

Directions:
To make the dressing place the basalmic vinegar in a saucepan, add sugar, and dissolve over a temperature. Do not refrigerate or dressing will solidify.

Main Dish: Michele's Homemade Chicken Enchiladas

Our main dish was chicken enchiladas.  Sadly no picture.  The original recipe didn't quite turn out the way Michele intended.  Her plan was to make a recipe called "Chicken and Green Olive Enchiladas" from Bon Appetit.  After slaving away in the kitchen for three hours chopping veggies and cooking chicken, the plan was to make the sauce and have it thicken for at least 35 minutes before adding the chocolate.  Once the mole sauce was made, the enchiladas could be prepared and popped into the oven.  Unfortunately, the sauce never thickened and remained as thin as water.  So Michele decided to move to Plan B and made her chicken enchiladas with her trusty Rosarita red enchilada sauce.   

Just for kicks, we'll give you her standard chicken enchilada recipe.  This is how her basketball coach in college taught her how to make them.  They are simple and delicious.   

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken breasts

1 large can Rosarita enchilada sauce

1 small can diced green chilies

1 small can chopped olives

1 block mild cheddar cheese and/or monterey jack cheese

1 package flour tortillas

Directions:

Boil chicken breasts for 20-30 minutes.  Shred chicken once cool.  In a 9x12 baking dish, pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.  In one tortilla, pour enchilada sauce and spread to cover 2/3 of the tortilla.  In center of tortilla, add a few pieces of shredded chicken, olives, diced chiles, and cheese.  Roll up and place face down in pan.  Repeat with each tortilla until pan is full.  Cover top of tortillas with remaining enchilada sauce.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  These are great to make ahead of time and freeze for another day.  

Dessert:  Chocolate Tasting

Now for our chocolate tasting event.  Paulette asked each of us to bring our favorite chocolate to the dinner.  It was funny how almost all of us ended up bringing candy bars.  Most were European-brand chocolate bars, but mine was Ghiradelli.  If I had to choose again, I would have grabbed a Symphony bar from the grocery store instead.  I just love the taste of that chocolate wrapped in toffee. 

We each took turns filling our plates with various chocolate squares and other treats and then gobbled them up!