Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

Serves: 8

1 LB Semi sweet chocolate

1 LB Butter

6 OZ Water

2 OZ  cognac or brandy

1 TBL Espresso powder

1 C Sugar

8  Eggs

1. Melt butter and chocolate in double boiler.  Then stir in espresso powder.

2. Beat eggs. Mix sugar and eggs together then stir Tequila and water.

3. Slowly stir in chocolate mixture.  Pour batter in an oiled 9 inch baking pan.

4. Bake at 335 degrees for 1 hour in a warm water bath.

5. Allow to cool before serving.

Minted carrot salad w/ lemon vinaigrette

Minted carrot salad w/ lemon vinaigrette

This easy salad is fantastic!

2T fresh lemon juice

2t olive oil

1t brown sugar

4 lg carrots shredded

1 c golden raisins

3Tchopped fresh mint

Whisk lemon, oil and sugar together.  Toss carrots, raisins in a non reactive bowl.  Drizzle carrot mixture with dressing and if time allows let stand 30 mnutes.

Mad Coyote Joe’s Twelve-turn Buttermilk Biscuits

Mad Coyote Joe’s

Twelve-turn Buttermilk Biscuits

If you're wanting to start baking bread this is a good place to start.

My friends from east Texas tell me the secret to a great biscuit is cold buttermilk, and only kneading the dough twelve times.

2 C Self-rising flour, sifted

1 TSP Baking powder

1/2 TSP Salt

2 TBL Unsalted butter, very cold

2 TBL Vegetable shortening, very cold

1 C Buttermilk

1. Place pizza stone in grill and light all burners and set to lowest setting.

2. Before measuring out your flour, stir it up with a fork.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter until flour mixture resembles a coarse meal.  Add the buttermilk a little at a time, mixing gently with your finger tips until dough  forms a loose ball. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and need exactly twelve times.

3. Roll the dough 3/4" thick.  Cut the biscuits out with a 2" biscuit cutter, making sure that you dip the cutter in flour between each cut and that the cutter is very sharp, or the edges will seal and not rise correctly.

4. Check the heat in your grill.  Look for a temperature of 400º to 450º, but no more( in the oven is also fine.)  If your grill is hotter they will burn on the bottom and be doughy in the center. Once the temperature is correct, turn off the burners directly below the pizza stone.  Place the biscuits on a non-stick cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet on the pizza stone.  Close the lid and let the biscuits bake for fourteen to fifteen minutes.  Serve immediately.

Perfect Bread

The bread is just out of the oven and it looks great!  If you're lucky enough to live in Cave Creek I'll be at The Grotto Coffee Shop at 10:30 am, Janie's at 4:30pm and The Horny Toad at 7:00pm.

Southwestern Potato Skins

Southwestern Potato Skins

1 hour, 30 minutes

These are great with other toppings; salsa, hamburger, chopped fresh vegetables, and a variety of chiles.  

1 (10-lb.) bag russet potatoes

3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 lb. chorizo or bacon, fried and drained

1 stick butter

1 small tub sour cream

Chives or the green tails of scallions, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Bake the potatoes at 350º for 1 hour. Let the potatoes cool a bit and then cut them length-wise and scoop out the insides*, leaving a thin layer of potato. Place the potato halves on a cookie sheet. Place a small pat of butter inside each potato skin, and then sprinkle each with cheese and chorizo or bacon. Top with sour cream, chives, salt, and pepper. Serve immediately.

Makes 20-24 Servings
*Left over potato can be frozen for potato soup or mashed potatoes!

Grilling Vegetables and Basic Vinaigrette

Grilling Vegetables is easy.  The problem is, the moister content of vegetables is too low so they burn before they can become fully cooked.  The answer is, to make a basic vinaigrette and to toss the vegetables in the vinaigrette before grilling. 

Basic vinaigrette

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive oil

Juice of ½ fresh lemon

3-5 cloves garlic, smashed

Pinch of crushed red chile

1 tsp. dark brown sugar (optional)

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Whisk it all together and toss the vegetables well before grilling.

Just keep a few things in mind hard vegetables like winter squash, beets or carrots take about twenty minutes to become soft enough to eat so start them first and when they start to soften add the other vegetables.  Secondly the oil in the vinaigrette will flare up so keep an eye on the vegetables while they are directly over the fire.  Once they are browned or grill marked to your liking, move them away from the direct heat. Please send any thoughts, comments or questions and I’ll answer ASAP.  I hope you enjoy these posts and please share them with your family, friends and online social networks.

Warmly,

Mad Coyote Joe