mire-poix [mir-pwah] noun

The holy trinity in French cooking: onions, carrots and celery.


Monday, December 12, 2011

Roasted Chicken Drumsticks



If you are are looking for a dish that will perfume your kitchen with roasted garlic and rosemary, then look no further because I have just the recipe for you. All you need for this recipe are six simple ingredients: Chicken drumsticks, garlic, dried rosemary, olive oil, Chinese spice salt and black pepper. The secret to making these drumsticks extra savory is the spice salt, which is salt mixed with Chinese Five Spice. We always have this on hand because it's a fast and easy way to add flavour to food other than the usual S&P.

I made this dish for my family the other night and honestly there's nothing nicer that coming home to the wonderful aromas of dinner cooking and roasted garlic. They thought I slaved in the kitchen all day.



Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks

Garlic cloves

Dried rosemary

Chinese spice salt

Black pepper

Olive oil


Directions:
1. Wash the chicken drumsticks and pat dry with paper towel

2. To marinade the chicken, add spice salt, black pepper, dried rosemary and enough olive oil to coat. Using a grater, grate 1-2 garlic cloves over the chicken.

3. If you have time, pop the chicken into the fridge to marinade for a few hours. This step won't make a huge difference.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and roast the drumsticks for 40 minutes.
5. After 40 minutes, turn the oven to broil for about 10 minutes. Once the skin is crispy and golden, they are ready.

Note: Don't worry if the garlic looks burnt, it should look this way. The garlic will taste sweet and not pungent like raw garlic.

xoxO

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Truffles



Chocolate truffles are one of my all-time favorite desserts. Luckily, it also happens to be one of the easiest things to make and with the holidays just around the corner, these decadent treats make the perfect hostess gift or for easy entertaining. This recipe comes from Canadian Living and the recipe is foolproof. The most difficult part is stopping yourself from snacking on leftover chocolate and licking the whisk. Anyway, did I mention that this was my first time making truffles?





Ingredients:

277g of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (make sure it's good quality)
2/3 cup of
whipping cream
1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 tbsp vanilla

Cocoa powder (for the coating)

Preparation

Place chocolate in heatproof bowl. In saucepan, heat cream with butter just until butter melts and bubbles form around edge of pan. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Whisk in vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about two hours.

Using a melon baller or teaspoon, drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto two waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Gently roll each to round off completely. Freeze until hard, about one hour. (Make-ahead: Cover and freeze for up to one day.)

Coating: Roll each truffle in a small bowl with a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder.

Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and refrigerate for up to one week or freeze for up to three months.

*note: You will notice that I used cocoa powder for the coating instead of chocolate because that's how I like my truffles.


xoxO