Halloween: Caramel Apples From Culinary Institute of America

Check out how easy and less expensive it is to make your own caramel apples for the spooky season.

From Denny: One of the pleasures of childhood during the spooky silly Halloween season was when one of our neighbors, the local baker, used to make awesome candied apples. They were beautiful and his wife gave them out every year at the door as she congratulated the kids on the creativity of their costumes.

Fast forward into adulthood and now chefs have taken off with their own versions of the candied apple, offering all kinds of variations like the caramel apple, the caramel apple with nuts and the chocolate coated apple.

Of course, the food companies got on the trend wagon and now have sent the price of those same childhood delights soaring into the stratosphere price wise. The Culinary Institute of America is here to show us how easy - and far less expensive - it is to make our own caramel apples! To get the freshest apples that are not coated with wax like the grocery store versions, take a trip to your local farmers' market to pick up your area's apple stars of taste.



Caramel Apples

From: Chocolates and Confections at Home with The Culinary Institute of America

Makes: 12 to 18 apples

Skill level: 1


Ingredients:

12–18 Apples
12–18 sticks
4 oz (½ cup) Water
1 lb (2 cups) Sugar
1 can (14 oz) Sweetened condensed milk
12 oz (1 cup) Light corn syrup
6 oz (12 tbsp, 1½ sticks) Butter, unsalted, soft
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla extract


Directions:

Clean and dry the apples. Insert a stick into the stem end of each apple. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Combine the water, sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup, and butter in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a heat-resistant rubber spatula.

Continue stirring while cooking until the batch reaches 245°F. This is a good estimation of the required temperature. When the thermometer reads 240°F, begin testing the caramels using the spoon technique outlined on page 30 (below). The cooled piece on the spoon should be firm but not hard when the caramel is properly cooked.

Stir in the salt and vanilla extract.

Pour the caramel into a 2-quart saucepan or other narrow, deep, heatproof container.

Dip the prepared apples in the hot caramel. Allow the excess caramel to drain off and place on the prepared pan. Allow to cool fully, about 20 minutes. Any excess caramel can be poured onto parchment paper or into a buttered pan, allowed to cool, and cut and wrapped.

Caramel Apples with Nuts: Before the caramel has cooled completely, roll the dipped apple in chopped toasted walnuts or pecans.

Chocolate-Coated Caramel Apples: After the caramel has cooled entirely to room temperature, melt and temper 2 lb/5¹⁄³ cups milk chocolate, chopped into ½-inch pieces, and dip the apples. Roll in chopped toasted nuts before the chocolate sets fully, if desired.


Keys to Success from the Culinary Institute of America:

• If using supermarket apples, wash off the wax for the caramel to adhere.

• Caramels tend to foam during cooking. Use a larger than normal saucepan to prevent boiling over.

• A few degrees can make a big difference in the finished product: Undercooked caramel will be too soft, and overcooked caramel will be too hard to bite.

• If the caramel gets too thick during dipping, rewarm it by stirring it over low heat or in the microwave.


Spoon Technique for Testing Sugar:

Place a small bowl of ice water next to the saucepan of cooking sugar.

As the sugar boils, spoon small samples of the syrup out of the saucepan and immerse the spoon holding the syrup in the ice water.

Allow the syrup to cool for several seconds, then remove the spoon from the water.

Take the cooled sample of syrup between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze it to evaluate the consistency.


*** Here's the Culinary Institute of America's newest cookbook they are promoting:

Chocolates and Confections at Home with The Culinary Institute of America



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*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

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The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
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Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

Cake Tuesday: Bobby Flays Awesome German Chocolate Cake

A special cake for celebrations and the holidays! Recipe and video.

From Denny: We love the Food Network at our house and often watch Bobby Flay on his show "Throwdown!" You get to find out what other people are cooking throughout the country as well as view a trained chef figure out how to match their recipes. It's a friendly "show-off cook-off" and always entertaining. Chef Bobby Flay has compiled his best - and most popular - recipes from the show into a new cookbook called "Throwdown!"

Here's a bit of cake trivia: Did you know that German Chocolate Cake is not from Germany? It's actually named after Sam German because he was the guy who created the type of distinctive chocolate baked into the cake. Technically, says Chef Flay, it should be called German's Chocolate Cake. Well, oops, too late, Bobby. America calls it German Chocolate Cake.

This recipe is a great idea to serve for the upcoming holidays. OK, since it's chocolate I'd serve it year 'round since chocolate seems to make the most mundane suddenly special... :)







Bobby Flay's German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan Cajeta Frosting

Makes: one 4-layer cake

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the cake pans
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutchprocess cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light muscovado sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups strong brewed black coffee, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Frosting:

1 3/4 cups whole milk
1 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup goat's milk or additional whole milk
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, cold
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1⁄8 teaspoon fine salt
2 teaspoons coconut rum (optional)
1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut


Ganache:

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Coconut Whipped Cream (recipe follows), for serving
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted, for garnish
1/4 finely chopped pecans, toasted, for garnish


Directions:

To bake the cake, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to
325°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the muscovado and granulated sugars, and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Add the coffee, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract, and continue whisking until smooth and just combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake pans, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto the wire rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before frosting.

To make the frosting, combine the milk, coconut milk, and goat's milk in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat. Keep warm while you prepare the caramel.

Combine the sugar and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan over high heat, and cook without stirring until a deep amber color, 8-10 minutes. Slowly and carefully whisk in the warm milk mixture, and continue whisking until smooth. Add the vanilla seeds and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the sauce is reduced by half and has the consistency of a caramel sauce, about 55 minutes.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, vanilla extract, salt, and rum (if using). Transfer the sauce to a medium bowl and stir in the pecans and shredded coconut. Let the frosting cool to room temperature, stirring it occasionally, before frosting the cake.

To assemble the cake, slice each cake in half horizontally. Place 1 cake layer on a cake round, and spread one-third of the frosting evenly over the top. Repeat to make 3 layers, and then top with the remaining cake layer, top side up.


Coconut Whipped Cream:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, very cold
1/4 cup cream of coconut, such as Coco Lopez
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar or granulated sugar
1 teaspoon coconut rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whisk until soft peaks form.


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 5 Oct 2010

*** Check out news, political opinion, political humor and funny cartoons, recipes, poetry, funny posts, photography, spiritual thoughts and great quotes.





From Denny:  All this weekend - and early this week - I've had the usual case of "Fall Fever." Who really wants to stay inside after a dreadful summer of weirdly high heat and humidity? When Louisiana weather calms down to cooler temperatures at night and low humidity during the day it's, well, irresistible. And the blogging just had to wait this weekend.

It was also a case of cleaning up all the overgrown "everything" in the flower beds since it's been several months - when it was so hot and humid medical professionals were telling everyone it was too hard on your heart to be out in the heat doing hard workouts.

Anyway, my crazy plants thank you for your patience. They now have newly planted homes since there were so many of them multiplying they had to move out from their parents' homes and into new places in the yard. Purple irises love to spread the love.

Chocolate Mint has pink trumpet flowers Photo by Denny Lyon


The party down plants are the chocolate mint. They are indestructible - whether it's flooding rain waters or drought - these crazy plants just keep on thriving! I'm wondering if they are the comedians of the plant kingdom.

What's nice about chocolate mint is that hummingbirds love them as much as those fat bumblebees. When pollinating insects were rare the past couple of years, well, it must have been because they were all partying over in my yard.

Try crushing the leaves of the chocolate mint in your hands and you get this light chocolate scent wafting up into the breeze along with a faint mint companion. You can even cut back chocolate mint and treat it like a low growing shrub or let it go hog wild and it looks like a two foot tall grass. Definitely a cool plant.

I've come to the conclusion that all artists must be gardeners. It's just such an irresistible canvas to play with and shift and change at will. Of course, the mud factor is definitely appealing too. :)

Included here are links from the past couple of weeks and some popular posts too - especially recipes. Lots of humor to keep you de-stressed and laughing!  Make sure to check out the new convenient Google Blogger gadgets on the blogs that feature the most recent posts and the most popular posts.


Recent Post Roundups:

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 27 Sept 2010

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 19 Sept 2010

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 12 Sept 2010

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 22 Aug 2010

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 15 Aug 2010

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 8 Aug 2010



The Social Poets:


American and World Politics Cartoons - 2 Oct 2010

Friday Lite: Roundup of Late Night Jokes and Videos - 1 Oct 2010

Funny Video: Jon Stwart Announces Restore to Sanity Rally 

Funny Video: Colbert Announces Keep Fear Alive March 

Funny Video: Jon Stwart Lampoons Republican New Pledge As Tired Old Pledge 

Funny Video: Stewart Questions Character of Congress 

Funny Video: Colbert Ponders Tea Party Christines Next Crazy Outburst

Funny Video: Stewart Finds Obama Kryptonite 

Funny Video: Jon Stearrt Discusses Rally to Restore Sanity Advice From Larry Wilmore

Funny Video: Stewart Says Tea Party Won The Battle For The Soul Of The GOP 

Funny Video: Colbert Proposes Christine O'Donnell Witch Test 

Funny Video: March to Keep Fear Alive Media Coverage 

Democrats: 400 Groups Rally This Weekend 4 Jobs and Votes 

Creep Factor: Feds Turning X-Rays on Americans to Catch Terrorists? 

What Is Really Happening In This BP Claims Process? 

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 27 Sept 2010 

America and World Politics Cartoons - 25 Sept 2010 - Check out cartoonist opinion on American and world politics this week.

Presidential Memoirs: Who Bombed, Who Soared and Why - Check out some fun facts about presidential memoirs, how well they were paid and who really wrote some of them.

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 19 Sept 2010





Beautiful Illustrated Quotations:


A Delightful Way Of Seeing Our Lives

How Do You Fit Into The Universe?

How Well Do You Handle Adversity?

President Theodore Roosevelt Quote About Courage

Do You Promote Others As Well As Yourself?

Meditative Moon Photos - The moon continues to fascinate humanity - and creative photographers.

7 Thoughtful Quotes About The Future - Enjoy these reflections upon how we think about our future.

A Healing Spiritual Poem: Waking The Day - Spiritual symbolism is all around us in our daily life, ready to help heal and balance.

Ancient Healing Oil: Sandalwood - Modern technology life can be stressful and counter productive to spiritual growth. Try this essential oil to bring balance into your life.






Dennys Funny Quotes:


Funny Tech and Situational Hunh?! Cartoons - 2 Oct 2010

AWwwww For Cat Lovers: Animated Cartoon, Simons Cat in the Box

Funny Video: Priest on a Skateboard

Funny Hunh?! Cartoons - 25 Sept 2010 - Check out this week's amusing observations about Life: relationships, pets and the tech world cartoons.

22 Funny Situational Hunh?! Cartoons - 18 Sept 2010 - Check out the funny twisted minds of cartoonists as they envision various life situations.

25 Ridiculously Funny Celebrity Duck Face Photos - Laugh at celebrities posing for the camera, mocking sexy.

Republican Tea Party of the Devil: Meet Satanist Christine ODonnell - Tea Party Delaware Senate nominee admits to practicing witchcraft and Satanism.

Funny Video: Bounty Mocks High School With Rap - Video: Bounty Brings It. Paper Towel Gang Keeps it Clean - great rap music video production for an ad.

Funny Work Cartoons - 23 Aug 2010 - Funny Work Cartoons - 23 Aug 2010





Dennys Food and Recipes:


Famous Restaurant P.F. Chang: Ground Spiced Chicken in Lettuce Wraps

Cake Tuesday: Chocolate Sin Cake From New Orleans - Rich cake from a hundred year old famous New Orleans restaurant: Café Sbisa.

Sesame-Ginger Truffles From Culinary Institute of America - A simple tasty recipe worth of gift giving during the holidays.

Red Lobster Restaurant: Cheddar Bay Biscuits

4 Casseroles 4 School Night Dinners: Chicken, Tex Mex, Tamale, Shepherds Pie - Check out some family favorites, easy and quick to cook - and nutritious.

Muffin Monday: 5 Yummy Breakfast Muffins - Skip the coffee shop muffin, make your own, save some money and save a whole lot of calories too.

5 Easy Game Day Recipes For A Barbecue - Simple crowd pleasing recipes, easy to make, for your successful tailgating on game day weekends.

Cake Tuesday: Lemon Cheese-Filled Cake - Check out what heavenly confection you can do with a simple cake mix.

Celebrate: Yummy Southern Gulf Coast Shrimp and Crab Boil - Find out how easy it is to do your own shrimp and crab boil to celebrate the great seafood of the summer!





Visual Insights:


American Economy Cartoons - 2 Oct 2010

Cartoons About Our American Economy - 25 Sept 2010 - Check out cartoonist opinions this week on the state of the American economy.

Dennys Photo Gallery: Our Mysterious Moon - The moon continues to fascinate humanity - and creative photographers.

Dennys Photo Gallery: Swinging Good Fun!

Arts: Fun Incredible Beach Art Photos

Raucous Tea Party Republicans Cartoons - 21 Aug 2010 - Check out what the cartoonists are lampooning about the Tea Party and the Republican idea of politics this time!

Dennys Photo Gallery: Beautiful Yummy Artichokes and 11 Recipes

Arts: Whimsical Fiber Artist Ed Bing Lee - This fiber artist has a sense of the whimsy while he explores new ways to use simple knotting techniques to develop his art.

Funny Photos: How Your Brain Can Be Fooled

Dennys Photo Gallery: Summer Heat Wave





Dennys People Watching:


Education Reformer Michelle Rhee Takes Hits For Bold Action - Take a look at town hall debate after viewing the education documentary film "Waiting For Superman" as NBC kicks off their reports on education in America.

Funny Outrageous Tea Party Politics - Check out cartoonist opinion this week as they draw the funny happenings from the Tea Party.

American Education Sec. Arne Duncan Talks Reform in Education




*** Coffee photo by Quoquo @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

Famous Restaurant P.F. Chang: Ground Spiced Chicken in Lettuce Wraps

Check out P.F. Chang's popular chicken in lettuce wraps recipe recreated by a chef for ABC's Good Morning America show.

From Denny: Another favorite dish when we dine out for lunch. Usually, P.F. Chang's is terrible for high salt and oil levels but hey! once in a while just splurge, right? OK, so I like their lighter salmon dish but we often split this chicken lettuce wrap too because it's so tasty. What fun when I happened on Good Morning America's site today and found the recipe! Food hound hard at work... :)



P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

From Todd Wilbur: While working on the formula for P.F. Chang's Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps, I discovered that there were several ways I could improve the clone recipe for the Chicken Wraps. I've now perfected the flavor of the stir-fry with the addition of mirin (a sweetened sake syrup) and oyster sauce, both of which you can find in your market where the Asian foods are stocked. The "special sauce" that you spoon over your wraps has also been tweaked and perfected. And finally, after reducing the amount of chicken from two breasts filets to just one, I think this new and improved version of P.F. Chang's most popular dish is the absolute best clone it can be.

Ingredients:

Special sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/8 teaspoon chili oil
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Chinese hot mustard paste (see Tidbits)
1 to 3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
Stir-fry sauce
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large skinless chicken breast filet
one 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and minced (about 1 cup)
one 6-ounce can diced straw mushrooms, drained and minced (about 2/3 cup)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 to 1 1/2 cups fried maifun rice sticks (see Tidbits)
4 to 5 iceberg lettuce cups

Directions:

Make the special sauce (for spooning over your lettuce wraps) by dissolving the sugar in the water in a small bowl.

Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili oil. Add the chopped green onion and set the sauce aside until you're ready to serve the lettuce wraps. Eventually you will add Chinese mustard and garlic chili sauce to this special sauce mixture to pour over each of your lettuce wraps. In the restaurant, waiters prepare the sauce at your table the same way based on your desired heat level. We'll get into the specifics of that in step #7.

Prepare the stir-fry sauce by mixing all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.

To prepare the filling for your lettuce wraps, heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a large saute pan or wok over

high heat. Saute the chicken breast for 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan to cool. Wipe out the pan. As the chicken cools, chop your water chestnuts and mushrooms into pieces that are about the size of small peas. If you haven't fried the maifun rice sticks, this is a good time to do that.

When you can handle the chicken, hack it up with a sharp knife so that no piece is bigger than a dime. With the pan or wok back on high heat, add the 3 remaining tablespoons of oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and garlic to the pan. Cook the mixture for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the stir-fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple more minutes, then stir in the green onions and spoon everything out onto a bed of fried maifun rice noodles on a serving dish.

Serve the chicken with a side of lettuce cups. Make these lettuce cups by slicing the top off of a head of iceberg lettuce right through the middle of the head. Pull your lettuce cups off of the outside of this slice.

Prepare the special sauce at the table by adding your desired measurement of hot mustard and chili sauce to the special sauce blend: 1 teaspoon of chili garlic sauce for mild, ½ teaspoon of mustard paste plus 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce for medium, and 1 teaspoon of mustard paste and 3 teaspoons of chili garlic sauce for hot. Stir well.

Assemble each lettuce wrap by spooning the filling into a lettuce cup, adding special sauce over the top and eating it like a taco.

Tidbits: Follow the directions on the package for frying the maifun rice sticks - usually by pouring 2 inches of vegetable oil into a pan and heating it to around 400 degrees F. Add the maifun, and when it floats to the top remove it to a paper towel.



Photo by Donna Svennevik/ABC Food Styling by Karen Pickus



*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

Cake Tuesday: Chocolate Sin Cake From New Orleans

Rich cake from a hundred year old famous New Orleans restaurant: Café Sbisa.

From Denny: Louisiana loves good food and New Orleans loves good food and tradition, especially when it comes to venerated restaurants of culinary celebration.

The world renown restaurant was first opened back in 1899 with the Sbisa family, changed hands a few times over the century and found its way back into the family.

Located across from the French Market in what was once the financial district of New Orleans is now an historic building erected in 1820 as a ship's chandler on the lower floors. The family residence occupied the upper floors as was a common practice for the owner to "live over the store."

Originally catering to seafarers, even as a bank for sailors where they could park their pay. Of course, there was the usual brothel upstairs for inquiring minds.

Fast forward to today and the restaurant gave up its once wicked ways and now serves some wickedly good Creole food - contemporary as well as the classic cuisine.

This flourless chocolate cake is adapted from one Chef Hogh's grandmother used to make when he was a child. Many of his recipes at Café Sbisa's are from his childhood like gumbo, crawfish bisque and fabulous sweet potato bread pudding. "The kitchen was the most fascinating room in the house for me," he says.

Some of his other menu creations:

Oysters Sbisa showcases lightly crisped Gulf oysters tossed in an essence of Pernod over creamed spinach with Applewood smoked bacon.

Stuffed eggplant is half of a Japanese aubergine, roasted down with a bit of miso, then stuffed with duck confit cooked until it falls off the bone, with a melted foie béchamel and basil pesto.

The seared Hudson Valley foie gras is served with a rhubarb apple chutney and green tomato marmalade and croustades.

From the appetizer menu are steamed mussels in white wine butter with capers and shallots, fresh dill and a side order of crusty pommes frites. Try sautéed veal sweetbreads with wild mushrooms, onions, crispy prosciutto and sherry butter.

An unusual salad combination offered here is seared scallop with greens, almonds and dried tomato vinaigrette.

The smoked duck and andouille gumbo is a Creole classic. The ducks are smoked on the premises on Café Sbisa’s patio. The they drip off much of the fat before being adding the duck to the dish.

Try Hogh's new Creole style soup which is a red wine crab bisque. He makes it with the liquid from crabs that were deglazed with a bit of red wine, seafood stock, crabmeat, seasonings and a bit of cream.

Tasty entrées include a cold smoked, then breaded and fried soft shell crab. Try a pan roasted fresh Gulf fish over a black-eyed pea ragout. Or how about a glazed semi-boneless Louisiana quail stuffed with pecan Chorizo wild rice over a sweet potato mash. Or get adventurous and try a vol-au-vent filled with exotic mushrooms and Madiera cream.

He makes a mean bouillabaisse with Gulf Shrimp, fish, mussels and scallops in a savory saffron-tinged broth. Do you enjoy roasted rabbit leg? Prefer scallops? Hogh makes seared diver scallops with wild mushroom ragout and roasted corn grits. His New York strip steak is paired with a Stilton mornay sauce. Upscale Creole is a Gulf shrimp epice’ which is jumbo BBQ style shrimp in a spicy andouille cream around a focaccia biscuit.

From some of his evening specials were a grilled trout on a wilted apple and celery slaw with fig butter' escargots Bordelaise; and marinated wild mushrooms with truffle oil and shaved granna padano.

Hogh's desserts include the chocolate sin cake featured here, the sweet potato bread pudding, a coconut tart, crème brulée and a cheese plate.

From Chef Hogh: "With a place like Café Sbisa in the French Quarter that is as locally known and venerated, I want to cultivate the aspects that people always loved about it: an approachable menu and staff, a good casual dining experience; and friendly pricing."

If you plan to visit New Orleans and want to experience this wonderful historic restaurant with creative contemporary Creole food along with the tasty classics:

Café Sbisa
1011 Decatur St.
New Orleans, La
(504) 522-5565
Open Wednesday—Sunday 5:30 pm to 1 am.
Closed Monday & Tuesday
Most cards accepted. Reservations recommended but not necessary.

Chocolate Sin Cake

From: Chef Glen Hogh at Café Sbisa

Ingredients:

2 lbs. chocolate chips
1 1/3 lb. butter
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
16 eggs

Directions:

Heat chocolate and butter (chunks) in double boiler. Combine sugar and water in a sauté pan and simmer until dissolved, combine with chocolate mixture. Blend until smooth, then remove from heat. Whisk eggs lightly, avoiding excessive air. Gently combine egg and chocolate mixtures.

Using 2 loaf pans lined with parchment, pour cake mix about 1 ½ inch thick. Place pans into a large roasting pan. Place in oven and fill the pan with water being careful not to float the cake pans. Bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Remove and let cool.

Refrigerate to remove from parchment, slice prior to service.

At Café Sbisa, we whip 1 teaspoon finely ground espresso with heavy cream and powdered sugar and top the cake. Add berries and a mint sprig for garnish.


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor