Dessert Comes First

We had company for dinner last night. This past week was crazy busy, so I decided to keep supper simple and go all out for dessert. The menu was grilled salmon, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, and caesar salad with the dressing I shared last time. It was all delicious, but dessert was the super star!

I made molten lava cakes. You know, the rich, chocolately, individual cakes with the melted center. They look like they would be a complicated chemistry experiment, but in reality they are super-easy to put together. JUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERBAKE THEM.

This recipe will make 4 individual molten chocolate cakes.

1 stick unsalted butter (8 TBS), plus extra for greasing ramekins
2 TBS granulated sugar (for dusting ramekins)
1 c confectioner's sugar
1/2 c all-purpose flour (I like the unbleached - better for baking)
4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 tsp strong, brewed coffee
3 large egg yolks
2 large whole eggs
Good quality vanilla ice cream (I used Blue Bunny french vanilla)
strawberries to garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Liberally coat the inside of four ramekins with butter. Dust with granulated sugar and shake out excess.

In a medium bowl, sift flour and confectioner's sugar together and then set aside.

Put chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Stir occasionally until both are melted and mixture is smooth. Add coffee.

Beat the eggs at medium-low speed until thoroughly mixed - about 2 minutes. While mixer is running, add chocolate mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Add flour and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into the prepared ramekins - dividing evenly. Bake until tops are puffed and edges are done - the middle should be soft - this may take anywhere from 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. DO NOT OVERBAKE! (If left in the oven too long, you will have a brownie with a firm center - not a molten cake.) Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around edge and turn out on dessert plate. Garnish with a scoop of ice cream and a couple of strawberries. An elegant and really yummy dessert!

The Mission

I love to cook. I love to watch cooking shows. I am also guilty of daily checking way too many cooking blogs. I decided to take the recipes I really, really wanted to make and tweak them by substituting ingredients I could find in my local grocery store. You can eat extremely well at home without pricey and hard to find ingredients. I made the decision to buy locally and grow what I could on my own. The results have been delicious. I look forward to sharing my adapted recipes with those of you who want to cook with local ingredients.

I recently found lots of fresh spinach at my local grocery store. I was not a huge fan of spinach until I married my husband, who could eat spinach at every meal. Knowing my husband's love of it, I decided to pick up a couple of packages and find something to do with it. I also thought some fresh asparagus would be nice with the spinach, so I grabbed a bunch of it, too. At home, I found a recipe for a spinach caesar salad online. Traditional caesar dressing calls for a raw egg yolk and anchovies. Because I want my kids to eat with us, I decided to leave out the egg and anchovies. I set out to tweak! The results are below.

Spinach Caesar Salad with Asparagus

1 lb. of fresh spinach
1 bunch of asparagus (if you so desire)
1 TB mayonnaise
1 TB dijon mustard
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce - to your taste
1/2 c olive oil

For the asparagus: Bend asparagus stalks to snap off the tough part. Cut asparagus on an angle to give you three portions from each stalk. Put asparagus in a pot of boiling salted water for two minutes. Remove and immediately put in a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Done!

Add all ingredients but the olive oil to a blender and blend well. Slowly drizzle in olive oil to emulsify.

Put spinach and asparagus in a large bowl. Drizze dressing over greens and toss to coat. Enjoy!