Holy Holidays! Peppermint Bark Cupcakes

It's official. I am in the holiday spirit. Hide the eggnog. Lock up your sleds. The Holiday Hurricane has arrived. Oh yeah. It's gonna get festive up in here.

And my first act as holiday lunatic was to create some Peppermint Bark Cupcakes. Yeah, I said it. Peppermint Bark in cupcake form. I know what you're thinking - 'Aaaaah! No, Julie. Stop we can't take it it's too much aaaah!' Well tough tinsel.

This. Just. Happened.


Peppermint Bark Cupcakes
makes 24

Cupcakes
6 Tbs cocoa powder
1/2 c hot water
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1/2 an orange
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 c buttermilk
1/2 cup butter - melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 c of dark chocolate chips

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
6 oz white chocolate
1/4 c heavy cream
1 stick of room temperature butter
4 oz of cream cheese (softened of course)
1 small bag of confectioners sugar

Crushed candy canes for garnish

Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl - mix the cocoa powder with the hot water and set aside.

Like So.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the orange zest.

In yet another bowl (large), (yes my washing machine got a work out tonight), whisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined. Next whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, peppermint and cocoa mixture. After that whisk in the cooled butter (if it's not at room temperature the hot butter will cook the eggs and you'll have chocolate scrambled eggs...ew.).

Finally you may gradually whisk in the dry mixture. Then fold in the chocolate chips.See? It eventually all goes into one bowl.

Pour the batter about halfway up in lined muffin tins and place in a preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Don't fill them all the way up. They'll overflow and become big, messy cupcake masses.

Let them [get] cool. Like...way cool.

Speaking of cool...look who stopped by! My friend April helped me take care of all that pesky excess batter. Thaaanks, Ape!

Frosting:
In a double boiler* melt the white chocolate with the cream. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Mmm...melty chocolate

Once it's at about room temperature, you can whisk in the cream cheese and butter. Once that gets all incorporated and whatnot, mix in the confectioners sugar until you reach the desired consistency.


Pipe in little snowy peaks onto your cupcakes and sprinkle some crushed up candy canes et voila! Christmas in a cupcake!!








...or you could just buy this...


*If you don't have a double boiler, you can always just MacGyver one like I always do. Just place a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Just make sure that the water in the pot never touches the bottom of the bowl or else your melting thing will scorch and you will be sad.

A Taste of Summer During This Weird Semi-Heatwave in November

Ok. I promise I'll stop posting only pasta recipes. Someday. Maybe...

I know artichokes aren't exactly "in season", but hey. It was 65 the other day. Also, I happened to have frozen artichokes. So there.

Artichokes, for most of us, come in the form of the "Spinach &" dip so popular in restaurants requiring servers to have "flair", and while it's delicious most of those recipes are weighed down with sour cream and cheese (delicious delicious cheese). Actually, though, artichokes are extremely good for you - especially for your liver. Artichokes are an excellent source of dietary fiber, magnesium, vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin A, biotin, niacin, and a bunch of other "-ins". Yay artichokes.

I made this the other day when I was home alone (dinner for one...womp womp) and I was very glad I did, but as a result, the ratios might be a bit wonky. So, as with anything in the kitchen, I must ask for some patience.

Artichoke and Lemon Linguini
Serves about 3

2 leeks, trimmed, rinsed and patted dry
2 cloves of garlic
1 bag of frozen artichokes (thawed)
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups of white wine
1 cup of arugula

Linguini

Grilled chicken (optional)

Start with the leeks - I bought them already trimmed and washed at Trader Joe's (ah, laziness), but if you can't find them already cleaned for you just cut off the tough dark green part and cut them down the middle length-wise (hot-dog style for those who still think in terms of elementary-school crafts). Run them under the sink and make sure you really get in there and get all the sand and dirt out of there. Sand is great at the beach, but has no place in your linguini. None at all. Pat them dry and chop em up.


(Oh, p.s. start boiling up some salted water for your linguini. Cook that according to the boxes directions....You get the idea. It's pasta!) Heat up your sautee pan over medium heat. Sautee your leeks with about 3 cloves of finely minced garlic. Salt and pepper those babies up and let them cook until soft.


At this point you're going to want to throw in your thawed artichokes, lemon zest, lemon juice and wine. Cover and let simmer for a while and let all those yummy ingredients get all friendly-like. After a few minutes or so throw in the arugula and let that get wilted and delicious. Once your linguini is cooked to your liking just toss it in the pan that you've been cooking your sauce in.


Ta-Da! You now have Summer in Almost-Winter-But-Really-It's-Fall in a bowl. Enjoy!

First Real Post! Whole Wheat Gnocchi with Pumpkin Sage Sauce

Salutations my fellow culinary explorers! Welcome to Meals in Heels - a travelogue of sorts. Except instead of far reaching and pocket-draining world travels (which, trust me, I'd rather be doing), I'm recording my own epicurian adventures for (hopefully) your benefit!

But before we get into tonight's first post - a little bit of background for those who don't know me. I'm from right outside of Boston but went to college in Connecticut. Up until about the age of...well, waaay too old...I was THE pickiest eater in the world. But once I hit a certain age, though, I became obsessed with cooking and I haven't looked back. I grew up on my Dad's Italian cooking (yes, I have a little Italian grandma) and studying abroad for a semester in Siena, Tuscany only strengthened my love of all things Italian. Food-wise, I'd have to say my most favorite cuisines have to be Italian and French - not only for the flavors and textures, but for the attitudes that those two cultures have towards their food - that it is something to be shared and celebrated and savored. Food should be a joyous occasion, something simple and easy yet challenging and engaging. I think, at least.

For my first post I've made for you all

Whole-Wheat Gnocchi with Pumpkin and Sage Sauce
Serves about 3

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Sauce
1 Medium Onion
3 cloves of garlic
3 large sage leaves, fresh
3 sprigs fresh thyme
The juice and zest of 1/2 an orange
1/2 c white wine
1 can of pumpkin puree

Brown Butter with Fried Sage
1 tbsp butter
5 small sage leaves, fresh

1 Package of Whole Wheat Gnocchi

Method:

Cut the onion in half and cut into thin slices (I used a mandolin to get them super thin...and also cause it's faster). Sautee in a large pan with about 4 tbsp on low heat. Salt and pepper the onions. Salting the onions at this point is so important - it draws out a lot of the moisture and helps them get to that caramelized point faster. And more deliciouslier. Peel and mince the garlic and add it to the onions in pan along with the orange zest, thyme, and chiffonaded sage leaves (pile the leaves on top of each other, roll into a little cigar and cut into strips). Continue to cook on low heat until the onions are nice and caramelized.


Now here comes my favorite part. The Deglazing. This may seem unnecessary but, trust me, it imparts flavor + gets all the little tasty brown caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan + make the dishes easier to do :)
Once your little onions have practically melted they're so brown and caramelized, splash into the pan the orange juice and the wine and, with a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom and sides of your pan to make sure you get all those yummy bits. Now it is time to add your pumpkin puree (NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX! Pumpkin Puree. Available at your friendly Trader Joe's...or probably anywhere else). Mix up and set aside.

Now tis time to cook up your gnocchis according to your directions.

In another tinier pan, git your butter and sage together for your brown butter and whatnot. Brown butter sounds ever so fancy, but it's ever so simple and ever so delicious. Basically you're just toasting melted butter. How in the world could that be bad? You just want to melt the butter until all the milk solids have toasted up to a nice golden color

Like so.

Throw those little sage leaves in towards the end so that they crisp up nicely.

Yay! Now it's time to combine everything! Hooraay!

So I just threw all those piping hot little gnocchi into the pumpkin puree. Add a few ladle-fulls of the water the gnocchi cooked in. I know it sounds weird but, yet again, I must ask you to trust me. It takes the pumpkin sauce from super thick puree to nice, velvety pumpkiny sauce.

The most important part of the whole process: don't let cute, fluffy dogs in silly sweaters steal your food. No matter how effectively they plea.

I had some roasted chicken that I threw on top of all that yummie stuff as well as a nice knob of ricotta cheese. Oh. And I crisped up some prosciutto. More is more, right? Drizzle your brown butter and fried sage over that and voila you have some deliciousness. Your friends will think you're absurdly talented (and hey, you are). Enjoy!

Nonne and Rabbits: My Experience with "Cooking with Italian Grandmothers"

Everyone who loves to cook has an Italian grandmother. Even if you're no where near Italian by heritage or through any other vague relation, somewhere in your psyche lives an impossibly small woman brandishing a thick wooden spoon and making deliciously simple, honest food. Jessica Theroux, a chef, artist and author of Cooking with Italian Grandmothers understands the idea of every cook's inner Nonna. In her book, Theroux travels around Italy, staying with and learning from various Italian mammas in this incredibly enlightening collection of stories and recipes. After living for several months in Italy myself, I must say that Theroux's depiction and understanding of Italian life is not only accurate but totally immersing. I found it so welcoming - flipping through the pages of vibrant photographs and reading Theroux's experiences in the kitchen and out of it.

The dishes that Theroux has compiled are lustily, almost inappropriately delicious-looking. I think I was most pleased to find so many rabbit dishes - especially the ones that Theroux learned from Mary, the mamma from Arezzo. During my time abroad in Siena, a small medieval city in the heart of Tuscany, I visited the ruins of San Galgano just outside of the city. A once impressive Gothic abbey, all that remains now is a crumbly, disintegrating mess, and naturally, I fell in love. A short walk from the ruins is an agriturismo (a hotel/working farm/hiking, biking and trekking retreat) where, as the sun set on a buzzing, late summer night, I was tricked into my first bite of rabbit.

I was not planning on eating a cute, fuzzy, big-eared bunny. To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to eating any of the food they put in front of me. I was young and foolish, obviously. Risotto di spinaci? Rice? No, thank you! But my first bite and madonna. It was so creamy! That was our first course, and already doors were opening up in my tiny little mind. Delicious, delicious doors. The risotto was followed by a plate of golden potatoes and tiny bits of what was, to me and my friends, mystery meat. "Pig! Pig!" The Italian man at the table next to us said, pointing with his fork and smiling when a friend asked if he knew what it was. The old woman in the kitchen stuck her head out around the door and smiled in playful menace, and that should have been my first tip-off that what I was about to put in my mouth was not, in fact, pork. What it was, was deliriously good. I cleaned the plate before the man giggled and made bunny ears on either side of his head. "Coniglio!" he laughed.

Theroux didn't seem to have the same qualms over eating Bugs Bunny as I did, and, honestly I think that's for the best. The dishes she's acquired are unflinchingly authentic, yet still accessible to the modern American cook. And with dishes like Lasagne di Vincisgrassi, a dish named after an Austrian prince from the 1700's, we get a glimpse of how old, how time-honored the Italian tradition of food is. That same dish that I was duped into trying and loving echoes in the receipes that Theroux learned from Mary from Arezzo (though maybe her version, with rosemary potatoes and fennel roasted rabbit might be a bit more sophisticated than the simple rabbit and potatoes from the agriturismo). The fact that Theroux was able to collaborate with so many quietly talented grandmothers is such an inherently Italian and good thing - a partnership between those who know and those who want to learn. We as readers can consider ourselves lucky to have a glimpse of Theroux's rich and culinarily rewarding experience.