Banana Walnut Brownies of Chocolate Deliciousness

I love cheese but sometimes what you really need is chocolate.  After a hard week with a fussy baby and being disappointed to miss out on a nice dinner out with friends because Orion was sick, I required chocolate.  I called Patrick to task him with picking up some chocolate deliciousness on his way home from work.  He needed more specifics and I was helpful enough to say “no ice cream, maybe something cake like or a brownie but nothing from Whole Foods as their sweets never satisfy me and nothing from Wegman’s, and not the standard chocolate cake from Santini’s”.  With instrusctions like that, it is no surprise he came home empty handed.

That night around 8 pm, I checked the cupboard to see if we had anything on had to create something yummy.  Cocoa powder-check, butter, we have that, brown sugar- yup, all of which I can transform into brownies.   I found an Alton Brown recipe, who I love, but he often makes things a bit complicated in his quest for food perfection.  His recipe had way to much sifting going on (how do you sift sticky brown sugar?) so I skipped it.

Here is my recipe for Banana Walnut Brownies adapted from Alton Brown’s Cocoa Brownies recipe By Charlotte McConnell adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

8 ounces (2 sticks) melted butter

11/4 cups cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon 
1 cup of walnuts

1 ripe banana, mashed and mushed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.

Beat the eggs then add brown sugar and granulated sugar.  

Mix in everything else and pour batter into pan.

Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or you can no longer wait.

I love that Alton Brown says “resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool”.  Obviously, he is not a woman, and I did not wait.  Yes, they fell apart a little but it was near 10pm and I had been waiting many hours for a chocolate fix and I knew they would be cool tomorrow.

These really hit the chocolate spot and were so easy that I really can’t understand why anyone would make brownies from a box.  Plus they were almost, kinda, sorts healthy with the one banana and all its potassium and the healthy walnuts who are full of good fats and omega-3!  I know this picture really does not do these brownies justice but I was busy eating them.  I made them Thursday night and this was the only bit left on Sunday morning.  

The Dark side of Chocolate

What Christ rising from his grave has to do with bunnies, eggs, and chocolate, I may never understand. Even though I do not celebrate Easter, this holiday has gotten me thinking about chocolate. I never really though about how many chocolate holidays we have, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Halloween. Halloween is the kick off to get fat season and what Thanksgiving or Christmas would be complete without a bit of chocolate.

I pay a lot of attention to where my food comes from and what is in it but chocolate somehow is not held to the same standard in my mind. I look forward to this time of year so I can indulge in Cadbury Mini Eggs and White Chocolate Reese's Eggs. I only recently learned that Monsanto owns Cadbury (they also own Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, Peppridge Farms, Hershey's Nestle, and Famous Amos just to name a few). This means this year was the last time I will enjoy those Mini Eggs because I do not want to give my money to Monsanto.

The ingredient list for the aforementioned Mini Eggs looks pretty tame, but where does their chocolate come from? Chocolate is another example of you get what you pay for. Why is some chocolate really cheap and other chocolates are really expensive? The cheap stuff might be filled with flavor additives, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenates oils and the actual chocolate might be of a lesser quality, while the expensive chocolate is made of the "good stuff". Nothing is cheaper because of the goodness of the company, usually the opposite is true.

How would you feel knowing the chocolate stuffing your Easter basket was made with child labor? Chocolate is made from cocoa beans and 43% of cocoa beans are grown in the Ivory Coast. Working on a cocoa plantation is no easy job and often this work is being done by children who were basically tricked into slavery. We need to start asking ourselves where does our chocolate come from, how was it harvested, and what are the conditions for the workers. Cocoa beans do not grow in Virginia so you could also consider the food miles involved in getting that bar of chocolate into your Easter basket.

Chocolate should be a special treat, not an impulse buy at the cash register. This is an item that really should be purchased in a socially responsible way. Not to mention that we really do not need any help fattening up America. Granted, buying Fair Trade chocolate to give out on Halloween may get really expensive and you don't want to be the house giving out toothbrushes for fear of being egged. Maybe Halloween is the only day of the year when you buy low quality chocolates. If everyone did this, it would make such a huge difference in the world.

Personally, I would rather have something that is really good infrequently, then more of something that is low quality. I love these Earl Grey chocolate bars from Chuao. They are expensive and hard to find but for Christmas my husband bought me 3 bars and gave me 3 more for my birthday a month later. I can make one of these chocolate bars last almost an entire month. I keep them in the freezer and take one bar out a month and savor their flavor as I nibble away. I may be paying $8 a bar after shipping but that is only $8 a month for delicious, indulgent chocolate. That works out to about $0.26 a day for something that is delicious and I can feel good about buying.

And you really shouldn't bother with cheap chocolate on Valentine's Day. The Whitman's sampler picked up at the gas station does not say "love" it says "Oh, shit, I forgot". One thing I can really respect about Easter is Lent. I like the idea of giving something up for 40 days and then treating yourself after. It also helps to have Fat Tuesday or what we called Donut day, before the start of Lent. If you are going to have an Easter basket filled with cheap chocolate, I hope you would consider giving up chocolate for Lent.

I know things will soon get complicated when my now almost one year old son starts noticing Easter, Valentine's, and Halloween. I do look forward to celebrating Valentine's and Halloween with him but Easter will be hard to explain. I was raised Catholic so I do have fond memories of Easter baskets and egg hunts. I do not want to deny my son fun experiences and happy childhood memories. I also do not want those moments to come at a high cost to others, especially children. Also, Easter is a religious holiday and we aren't religious. I think it is funny that there is a whole put Christ back in Christmas campaign but I have never heard of a put Christ back in Easter campaign. I guess the slogan isn't as catchy.

Remember to vote with your dollars and carefully consider what you buy and who profits from your purchase as well as who suffers from that purchase.

Club Co Co

My husband, Patrick and I went to see Exit Through The Gift Shop (which was totally awesome and you should see it if you are at all interested in street art) at E Street Cinema in downtown DC. The movie got out around 9:30 pm and we were looking for a place to eat. We headed over to Co Co Sala as I had heard great things about the place which is a "Chocolate lounge and boutique".

When we got to the restaurant we were hoping for a table outside as it was a nice night but the last open table had just been snagged. We did not have reservations but we were free to sit at the bar but by the time we checked the other side of the bar for open seats, all available seats had been filled. So we walked out of the restaurant to discuss plan B.

As we were standing on the sidewalk, the restaurant manager came out and asked if we were leaving because he had arranged a table for us if we could come in and have a look. We went back in and found a table near the front door that was crammed into an odd little corner. But it would do and plan b had not materialized.

The interior of the restaurant was very dark which made it hard and awkward to read the menu. You had to huddle close to the tea light candle on the table. It was also loud with some head bobbing Night at the Roxbury music. But it was posh with a huge bar and cozy seating. But then it got worse, around 10 pm the DJ went on and played some 70's/80's funk which would have been better left alone. Once he let the beat drop with a most horrible sound. But we were there for the food, not a club night.

We started with a flight of their Hot Coco. You pick three from their choice of six options. I wanted the pumpkin but was told they only have it in the fall which lead me to wonder why was it still on the menu in May. So we got the dark chocolate, peanut butter, and salted caramel. The dark wasn't that dark and we were told it was blended with milk chocolate but the salted caramel was very good and I loved the peanut butter. You can order the coco hot or cold but the flight is only served hot, not really sure why.

On to the food, Patrick ordered the charcuterie platter which was standard but served cold which is sad as salami and cheese are always more flavorful at room temperature. I got the Alaskan black cod that was marinated in honey then crusted in bee pollen and served with creamy lemon lime asparagus risotto. I like my fish to flake apart but I actually had to use my knife to cut it and was unable to tell if it was under cooked because it was too dark to tell. The fish also did not seem to be crusted with bee pollen but sprinkled. The risotto was more chunky then creamy which left me wondering if it was really risotto. The dish was saved by a generous amount of micro cilantro and citrus flavor.

I was really looking forward to dessert and had heard customers exclaim that this or that was the best thing they ever had. I asked our server which items on the menu were gluten free and he came back with a disappointing answer. The only gluten free dessert option was sorbet. Chocolate itself is gluten free but most of their desserts consisted of cookie, crumbles, and cake. I know I could not have been the first person to come in who does not eat wheat and I was disappointed but their lack of options.

So I ordered the trio of sorbets which included passion fruit, green apple, and pear. They were good but nothing special and easy to do at home. Patrick got the Basil and Berry Shortcake and the best thing about it was the basil foam. If you are living gluten free, don't bother with Co Co Sala. It is a tease of things you cannot eat.

I had hoped for a nice romantic late night nosh but it turned out to be a most stressful event. We should not have walked back in that night but you have to learn these lessons. It was a Saturday night and the place was packed but even still it took a ridiculously long time to get our food, then longer to get our dessert. Considering the only dish that needed to be cooked was my cod and everything else laid out on plates, our dining experience really should not have take an hour and half.

We were told there was a computer error but we really didn't want to hear excuses. Our server was nice and attentive even thought he seemed less than knowledgeable about the menu items. We were rather unhappy and ready to get the check when our dessert was finally served. We did complain to our server about the volume (which made me wish I had an app for a decibel meter) and long wait for our food. He must have mentioned it to the manager who lured us back in because he came over to our table to hear our grievances.

He was very nice and told us that after 10 pm it turns into a lounge atmosphere and the music is loud to keep people awake. OK that's fine, it was our fault for coming in so late at night but do you really have to deafen us? He would not let us leave without a goody bag and his card. Inside was chocolate dipped bacon. I do love bacon but I would rather have a Mo's Bacon Bar from Vosges.

I also hate restaurant websites that have music, especially lame club music. But it is not surprising that http://www.cocosala.com/ has a great example of this and no silent button on the site. Their website takes a bit to load even with a fast connection then tries to invoke a seizure with some flashy photos most of which you can't figure out what the image is even supposed to be. The set up of their site does not work well with my small lap top computer as it cuts off the top navigation bar and when I hit the back button I have to start all over and flash through the opening of their site.

Co Co Sala might be a great place if you are on a third date and have exhausted all conversation but still want to get your date into bed or really love to eat while clubbing. It is a trendy place that is all flash and no substance. It was a great place to people watch which was nice as conversation was difficult over the loud music. They need to decide if they want to be a restaurant, bar, lounge, or club. Do they want to focus on food or atmosphere because so far they are not living up to their potential.

Chocolate and Cheese?

No, I am not talking about the Ween album, but it is a good one.
If you have ever enjoyed a Chocolate cheesecake then you have experienced the flavor combination of chocolate combined with cheese. Many chocolatiers have began to add brie or blue cheese to their truffles and some offer chocolate cheese fudge. A Chocolate cheese called Chesdale has even gained popularity in Taiwan of all places.

Why Chocolate & Cheese? Both share the commonality of milk and richness. I enjoy both with some salt and love the combination of sweet and savory. Not every cheese will pair well with every chocolate but it is fun to play and experiment. This Valentine’s Day you could pick out a few chunks of cheese and a selection of chocolates and see what tastes good to your palate. Some recommendations I have found are Pierre Robert with raspberry or prosecco ganache and salt caramels with Valdeon and Mahon. You can have your chocolate and cheese separate or combined.

I have also enjoyed a smoked gouda and nutella sandwich but it has been awhile. A few of my favorite chocolate and cheese combinations are Capri Chocolate goat log which is a chocolate chevre that is excellent for making cheesecake, a heart shaped chocolate goat cheese with bourbon soaked raisins and walnuts, and Cocoa Cardona. Let us explore Cocoa Cardona.

Cocoa Cardona is a semi-firm goat’s milk cheese made by Carr Valley in Wisconsin. The rind is rubbed with cocoa powder to infuse the creamy cheese with a subtle chocolate flavor which is balanced by the sharpness of the cheese. This cheese took 1st place at the 2004 and 2nd place at the 2006 American Cheese Society Competition. Carr Valley’s head cheesemaker, Sid Cook is one of the few certified Master Cheesemakers in the United States.

If you want to enhance the chocolate flavor, you can drizzle this cheese with chocolate syrup or honey. This cheese is like a chocolate goat cheese truffle, a rich indulgence! This cheese will pair well with Syrah, Merlot, Gewurtraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. I have adapted the following recipe for those adventurous enough to try this at home.

http://www.extremechocolate.com/the-harsh-reality-of-chocolate-cheese.html

Chocolate cheese fudge

Ingredients
1/2 pound of Cocoa Cardona, shredded
2 16-ounce boxes of fine confectioners’ sugar
1 cup of butter
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of chopped nuts (pecans and walnuts work best)
Instructions
1. Spray a 9×12 pan with non-stick coating.
2. Melt the cheese and butter together in a large saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat, mix in the nuts and vanilla extract, and set it aside.
4. Mix the cocoa and sugar together in a large bowl.
5. Fold in the cheese/butter mixture.
6. Press the resulting stiff concoction into the prepared pan by hand.
7. Pat the surface of the candy with a paper towel to reduce the amount of excess oil.
8. Put the candy into the refrigerator until it’s firm.
9. Cut it into squares.
10. Chow down on the home-baked chocolate cheese goodness — if you’re extreme enough.