I felt like chocolate. Correction, I needed chocolate. To get me through the evening.
Not that the day had been particularly busy, but I needed chocolate. I was craving chocolate. The world was possibly, probably going to end if I didn’t get my chocolate.
I didn’t have any chocolate. At least no readily edible chocolate. And it was past store-closing-time. Besides that, it was raining. Very very hard, so even the walk to the night shop wasn’t a real option.
Still, I needed chocolate.
The solution, a molten chocolate cake. Once I thought of molten chocolate cake, I knew that it wasn’t chocolate I craved, it was that specific chocolate cake. I craved a cake that so far, I’d only ever eaten in restaurants. But I really needed it. I had to make it. I couldn’t help it.
We had leftovers for dinner, so I had all the time in the world to figure out how to get my hands on that cake. Especially since L wouldn’t be home for another hour or so.
I went online to search for recipes. All recipes were different, but most of them asked for the same ingredients, and partially the same prep method.
I didn’t feel like separating eggs, I don’t know why. I didn’t really feel like measuring either. I figured I’d just try something. I guess my bout of ‘no-recipe-baking’ just hasn’t come to an end yet.
Now I wish I had measured. Or at least written down what I added, and how much of those things. How come I never learn? I feel that way every time I bake something without a recipe.
The molten chocolate cakes were divine. They coul’d’ve used a couple more minutes in the oven, so they would’ve set a little more on the bottom. It was a bit of overkill on the ‘molten’ part. Which made them look less-than-perfect.
But the taste, the texture. It was divine. It was exactly what I had craved. It was just what I needed.
The leftovers had leftovers that night, but I was satisfied.
Long story short, no exact recipe today. Maybe some other time, when and if I’m able to recreate it.
For now, I leave you with just the ingredients without measurements, and the method used. Just give it a try, see if it works, ’cause if it does, your tastebuds will thank you!
[print_this]
Molten chocolate cakes
- dark bakers chocolate
- butter
- cocoa powder
- sugar
- eggs
- a hint of vanilla extract
- slivered almonds
- all-purpose flour
Start out by melting the butter and chocolate together (30 second intervals in the microwave), let it cool down a bit. Mix sugar and eggs, add some cocoa powder, then the butter and chocolate mixture. Add a tiny bit of vanilla extract. Mix in AP-flour to make a medium-thick batter. Stir in some slivered almonds, just because you can!
Divide batter over ramekins, which are placed in a casserole with water in the oven. Set the oven fairly high, 200 to 220 degrees celsius, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until it’s not fully cooked on the inside. (there’s no surefire way to check this, or at least I haven’t found it yet. If you make sure, by feeling, that the top is fully cooked, you can serve it and have lots of ‘molten’stuff which is the best part anyways!)
Remove from oven and invert ramekins onto a plate and serve (would be very good with fresh whipped cream or ice cream). Next time I might just serve it in the ramekin, more like a chocolate soufflé.
Enjoy![/print_this]
“You defrosted this very well”, my dad joked, when he started on his ravioli. He had seen me take a bag of ravioli from the freezer. He didn’t realize I made it myself and froze it myself.
I told him and he still liked it - though he thought his joke was even funnier.
When we made my in-laws’ anniversary gift, we made quite the amount of extra ravioloni. I’d frozen them, so they could keep them, and so they wouldn’t stick together. We brought them 45 pieces and I had about the same amount left.
When we invited my dad for a nice dinner, we decided on pasta first and then a steak and grilled veggies. And since I wouldn’t dare to serve guests packaged pasta (I’ve told too many people that fresh pasta tastes so much better), I was glad I had some really nice ravioli in the freezer.
I chose to cook the napoletana, with a simple tomato sauce (a couple of cubes of frozen sauce from the soup base with some passata di pomodori).
And my dad thought I’d defrosted our dinner well.
For our secondo, the second course, we decided to grill some eggplant and steaks. The new grill that was delivered on Monday, came with a very nice, heavy cast iron griddle. I’d tried it, and it fit perfectly on the wok burner of my stove. Instead of standing outside in the slight drizzle that seems to be going on continuously this season, I decided to try out the new griddle.
The steaks had perfect grill-marks and were cooked to a perfect rare. Warm enough to be tasty, and a perfect mix of cooked outer layer and pink inside.
My dad said he was willing to pay good money for a steak like that in a restaurant.
All in all it was a nice meal!
It’s amazing how used we get to unripe, not so fresh vegetables. Especially during the ‘off-season’ vegetables just aren’t that great. And the old-fashioned produce stores seem to have disappeared.
Last summer, in Colorado, I went to a farmer’s market. Everything was fresh and wonderful. It was a Sunday morning and I couldn’t have been happier with the quality of all the foods that were for sale there. Not just the veggies, but also meats, breads, pasta. It was all amazing.
We do have farmer’s markets (or at least something like that) in Amsterdam. However those markets either aren’t in my neighborhood, or are on weekdays. Which is when I’m at the office and unable to go there.
When we moved to our new home, I was researching the area a bit. Since we’re the last urban street and behind us there’s either industry and the airport (a little ways back though!) or farmland. I read about a ‘care farm’ not even 5 minutes away from the house. Now this ‘care farm’ as they call it, is really a produce farm. It’s run by a foundation that helps people with social/emotional or mental difficulties. A team of social workers/farmers guides the people who need some special care while they take care of the produce they grow. Everything they grow is fully certified organic and seasonal. They exchange some of their veggies for meat from a nearby organic farm.
They have a farm store. There they sell the produce they grew and some extra’s. They sell the meat they’d exchanged (which is, like everything, subject to availability). On Saturdays an organic baker brings some bread, which they sell as well. They import a few things they can’t really grow themselves, all organic.
I’d been meaning to check out the farm store. Last Sunday I finally did. And I wasn’t disappointed.
The vegetables were all so fresh and ripe. Even though there isn’t that much in season, they still had a nice selection and everything looked and felt good. Ripe and fresh. L actually mentioned we should eat the veggies quickly, because they were at their prime right when we bought them. I agreed, however, there’s no way I’ll cook up a weeks supply of veggies in one night. They deserve better. And since they’re so fresh, they’ll still be tasty in a couple of days.
I can’t believe it took me so long to finally visit the farm store. Yummmm, fresh veggies! I love it!
A number of months ago I posted a rant here about grocery store meats and how I dislike them. Grocers sell ýoung meat’ or meat that hasn’t been left to age. And that’s the best case scenario. Often enough they actually add water to meake the weight and therefor the price, go up.
Last Saturday I wanted to fry some Canadian bacon and eggs. After a minute or 2 or 3 the bacon was cooking in water, even though I’d put the bacon into a dry pan. It wasn’t until I drained off the water, that I was able to brown the bacon. It then occurred to me that I should check the ingredient list. It stated: Pork (87%), water, salt, bunch-of-additives.
How can bacon be anything less than 99.9 percent pork?
I got fed up and decided to go to a butcher instead of a grocery store for my meat that day. It cost me more money and an extra trip out of the house (I get my groceries somewhere else and always on Sunday). but boy was it worth it.
I told the butcher I was new to his store (first time I went there since the move). He proceeded to cut meats for me, exactly the way I wanted them. He also gave me some freebies (expensive freebies, actually) because he considered those his specialty, and thought I needed to try them. My dad already tried the beef spread and said it was really, very good!
Today our brand-spanking-new barbecue arrived. I’d ordered it online. I knew which one I wanted and they had a good deal. It was supposed to arrive last Saturday (which is why we took turns staying home all day) and it never showed. This morning I called and they said tomorrow. My dad just let me know it arrived (he’s spending a couple of days with us.)
I have no idea what the logic of this company is supposed to be, but I’m happy it arrived. I can’t wait to give it a test run and eat some flame-grilled foods again! Yumm!!
I didn’t post my daily post last night, or earlier yesterday. We had such a busy day though yesterday.
Pretty much right after breakfast (while I just got out of the shower) my dad arrived from France (he was there on fencing-business). We visited for a little while before we went grocery shopping. We went to this awesome farm-store only 5 minutes from our house. It’s some sort of urban farm I’ll tell you about later. Then on to the grocery store for the essentials.
Back home I quickly changed before we went to my brother’s birthday. We had fun and a wonderful dinner.
Home way late, I just sat for a slight little while before going to bed.
So no time to post. Can’t help it. It was too busy. But today will (hopefully) be(come) a double-post-day!
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