Chocolate Moose

After my success with the Charlotte Russe with Raspberries dessert, I decided to try making a more traditional chocolate mousse.  I looked in several of my cookbooks until I found a very easy recipe in my Mark Bittman cookbook: How to Cook Everything.

And no, I didn’t make a mistake in the spelling of the title.  When I think of chocolate mousse, I think of one of my favorite shows from the late 1970’s: The Muppet Show, and my favorite character the Swedish Chef who makes chocolate moose.



As it is very difficult to find a moose in our local stores, I decided to go with the mousse.  This recipe uses six simple ingredients including four ounces of your favorite chocolate chips.

I made a double boiler with a large saucepan containing about an inch of water with a metal bowl on top and put the chocolate chips and the butter in the bowl to melt.  While the chocolate warmed, I got out two small mixing bowls and split the 1 /4 cup of sugar between the bowls.  I separated three eggs, put the whites in one of the mixing bowl, and reserved the yolks to mix with the melted chocolate.  Into the second mixing bowl, I added the 1 /2 cup of whipping cream and the vanilla extract.

The chocolate and butter melted, so I removed it from the stove, dried the bottom of the bowl, added the three egg yolks, and whisked until the mixture was smooth.  I covered the metal bowl and placed it in the refrigerator to cool while I whipped the other ingredients.

In the first bowl with the sugar and egg whites, I used our hand wand with the whisk adapter to whip the eggs until they formed firm peaks.  (I am getting better with practice to figure out what the difference between firm and soft peaks.)  I whipped the bowl with the whipping cream until it formed soft peaks.

Removing the bowl of chocolate from the refrigerator, I added a spatula full of the egg mixture and folded the two together to lighten the chocolate.  One the first spatula was integrated; I added the remainder of the egg white mixture and folded it into the chocolate.

The next step was to add the whipped cream and fold that into the chocolate.  I transferred the mousse into a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

I tried a few spoonfuls of the chilled mousse and it had a very velvety and creamy texture.  It has a nice milk chocolate taste and I would like to sit and eat the entire bowl.  Though I think the next time I make it, I will find some pasteurized eggs, as this recipe does contain raw eggs.

This was very easy to make, and it is the kind of dessert that could easily be made on very short notice for guests.  Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go back to the internet and find some more Swedish Chef video clips.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Broiled Salmon

We had the opportunity to visit with some friends at the Oregon coast over the weekend where we had a wonderful time sharing good food, conversation, and adventures.  The weather cooperated by only raining at night.  Sunday the temperature was about 65 degrees on the beach with sunshine and no wind – Amazing!

One night I made dinner consisting of: Love Your Wife Chicken, brown rice, and salad (my wife made the salad).  We finished our meal with wonderful slices of Flourless Chocolate Cake topped with whipped cream.



The second night our friends made dinner consisting of broiled wild salmon (no color added) marinated in soy sauce.  The salmon was placed in a baking dish with about a quarter cup of soy sauce and left to marinate for about five minutes on each side.  The marinade gave the salmon meat a nice dark color and added seasoning without making it too salty.

Once the salmon was marinated, it was placed on a piece of foil then on a pan and into the oven on broil.  The salmon fillets were broiled for about four minutes on each side until the fish became opaque.

They also prepared a whole grain rice medley consisting of: CalMati Brown Rice, Wild Rice, Sweet Born Rice, and Heirloom Red Rice.  Freshly steamed broccoli completed the dinner.

While the fish was cooking, our friends peeled and sliced five granny smith apples and mixed the topping for an apple crisp.  The apple crisp was made gluten-free and I wanted to see how that was different from the recipe in my How To Cook Everything cookbook.  I found the recipes were almost identical, the HTCE cookbook called for 1/2-cup of flour to be added to the topping mix and to cook at 25 degrees higher temperature.

Once the salmon was finished cooking the apple crisp went into the oven to bake for an forty-five minutes and we sat down to a wonderful dinner of broiled wild salmon, rice, and broccoli.  The salmon fillets were perfectly cooked and the soy sauce provided a wonderful seasoning to the meat.  We enjoyed our dinner with a bottle of pinot grigio and then we sat and talked until the apple crisp was cooked.

Before dinner we made a trip to the store to get some vanilla ice cream and we each had a quarter of the apple crisp topped with ice cream.  It was excellent, the apples were very tender, and the topping was crisp and crunchy.  The little bit of flour was not missed at all.

Gluten-free Apple Crisp

• 4-cups thinly sliced apples (~5-6 Granny Smith's) as many as can comfortably fit in the baking dish
• 1-Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1-cup gluten-free oatmeal
• 1/2-cup brown sugar
• 1/2-teaspoon salt
• 1-teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3-cup melted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix the apple pieces with lemon juice and place the apple mixture into a greased 9x9 baking dish or glass pie pan.
3. Combine dry ingredients and then add melted butter.  Mix until crumbly and sprinkle on top of apples. 
4. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes (or 15-30 minutes longer to get a very gooey apple texture).
5. Top with ice cream or whipped topping

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Broiled Tilapia

I read in my new How To Cook Everything cookbook on page 278, about different ways of cooking white fish.  I decided to try the first recipe listed, which is for broiled flatfish or other white fillets. 

In thirty-five years of cooking, I had only used the broiler once before when I made French-onion soup, so this was a new cooking experience for me.  In the past, we always had concerns about handling the smoke and smell generated when broiling meats.

I prepared by getting some tilapia fillets out the freezer and started them thawing in cold water in the sink.  While the tilapia thawed, I prepared the remainder of the meal.  I retrieved some frozen green beans that I placed in a pan, and then I peeled and sliced some fresh carrots.  We already had some fresh brown rice cooked earlier in the day that I could reheat when it was time to eat.  I turned on the oven and selected the broil function, then set the temperature to 450 degrees.


I found our broiler pan and brushed the bottom of the pan with a very thin coating of grape seed oil.  I opened the individual packages of tilapia and placed them on a cutting board.  The recipe calls for fish that is about 1/4-inch thick but these tilapia pieces were about 1/2-inch thick so I sliced each piece in half.  I placed the thin tilapia pieces into the broiler pan.

The cooking instructions give several options for boiling the fish and I wanted to try out a couple of different recipes.  I decided to use the basic cooking technique, which is giving the top of the fish a brushing with oil, and then a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and also a mustard and herbs coating.  I prepared mustard coating by placing about two-tablespoons of Dijon mustard in a ramekin, adding about one-teaspoon of white sugar, some lemon juice, and about one-teaspoon of fresh rosemary.  I stirred this mixture together and spread it on one-half of the fish.

I turned on the range top to cook the frozen beans, and placed the broiler pan in the oven for four minutes.  While everything was cooking, I washed and sliced a couple of tomatoes for color, and a lemon that we could squeeze over our cooked fish.  After the four minutes were up, I checked the fish and while it was close to being cooked, it needed another minute to cook the thicker areas.

We had a wonderful dinner with tilapia, rice, tomato, carrots, and beans with lemon garnish.  Most of the tilapia was perfectly cooked and was light and flaky.  There were a couple of small areas that were thicker and were not quite cooked all the way through, but I microwaved those small areas and they were fine.  We enjoyed the basic preparation of the fish as well as the fish with the mustard and rosemary coating; it was nice to have both options during the meal.

The next time I broil tilapia, I may try some of the other suggested ways of preparing the fish: garlic parsley sauce, dill butter, and sweet soy.  We are enjoying different ways of preparing basic foods, the variety of recipes in the cookbook has added to our appreciation of the different foods we consume.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Sautéed Chicken Thighs with Soy Glaze

This is the first recipe that I made from my new How To Cook Everything cookbook. After I read the introduction and techniques sections, I found a recipe to try. As I had some fresh chicken thighs in the refrigerator, I found the perfect recipe: Sautéed Chicken Thighs with Soy Glaze is on page 397 in the poultry section.

The recipe gives two options; marinating for two or more hours or just cook the chicken. As it was later when I started dinner, I passed on the marinating step and went right to cooking. I mixed the sauce as specified in the cookbook: 1/2-cup soy sauce, 1/3-cup plus two-tablespoons water, two-tablespoons honey, and 1/2-teaspoon ground ginger.

I really like the cookbook as it lists the primary ingredient (which you may not have in your pantry) and then lists a suitable replacement: 1/4-cup mirin (sweet rice wine) or two-tablespoons honey plus two-tablespoons water. I didn’t have the mirin on hand or any fresh ginger root, so the provided substitutions were very handy.

I prepared the one-pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs by drying them with paper towels, and then I cut the chicken thighs into about one-inch cubes. I gave the chicken pieces a very light sprinkle of salt and pepper and set them aside. I heated my large non-stick pan for several minutes on medium-high then added about a tablespoon of grape seed oil. Once the oil heated, I added the chicken thighs pieces into the pan to cook for about eight minutes while occasionally stirring.

When the chicken pieces were brown, I removed them from the pan reduced the heat to medium and poured the soy mixture into the pan to heat. Once it simmered for several minutes, I added the chicken pieces back into the pan to heat.

At this point, I though the dish looked wimpy, so I grabbed four of the larger mushrooms (mini portabella), cut them into chunks, and tossed them in to the pan with the chicken to heat. After a couple of minutes, everything was ready to eat.

I served the chicken thighs with mushrooms over brown rice with some raw carrot sticks on the side. We enjoyed the meal, but thought there was a little too much salt from the soy sauce. Next time I will only add 1/3-cup of soy sauce, then a splash of white wine to make up the difference in the liquid content. The mushrooms made a great addition to the meal and next time I may add a few more items to the mix: bamboo shoots, mini-corn, peppers are all potential additions.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell