Chocolate Brownies: My deep and darkness passion!

I think even I don't say it, everyone know that I love chocolate. How can you resist it? The richness, the bitterness, and the smell of it alway blow my heart away ^^.

So, I always end up with making all the baking from it or just eat a little piece of the chocolate everyday. And today is the same, last night I went to bed with the feeling of longing for the chocolate, then when I wake up all I want to do is making a "Chocolate brownies".
But this one is not the same as the one that I make before, because I make "chocolate brownies" the famous brownies from the place where I went to have lunch with my friend on my vacation. The chocolate brownie is very rich and delicious, I really want to create it in my home. 


As usual, when making any kind of chocolate dessert, I really recommend you to use the chocolate that your love to eat, because the flavor of the chocolate will be the main flavor of the dessert. This time, I use 70% dark chocolate, but if you love your brownies to be less intense, you can use less percentage, so keep in mind that this is your brownie, what do you want it to taste like, haha.
My brownie is deep in flavor and dark in appearance ^^, but if you ask me "Do you like it?" I will reply you that "I love it". So, for your darkness passion, why don't you make one for yourself and have a happy time like me.

Chocolate brownies

Makes 1 (20x20cm square)

125g ................................ Butter
100g ................................ Dark chocolate 
75g ................................... Chopped nut
40g .................................. Cocoa powder
30g .................................. All purpose flour

½ tsp .............................. Baking powder
175g ................................. Caster sugar
2 ....................................... Eggs

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line a 20cm/8 inch square baking tin with greaseproof paper. 

In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. 
Then remove from the heat.

Add the nuts and stir together. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour. baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate mixture, stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix in ulitil you have a silky consistency.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 20 minutes.  The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares. 

Chocolate Brownies: My deep and darkness passion!

A rather pleasing carrot cake with lime mascarpone Icing

Tangy and fragrance, this is not a usual carrot cake. Again this is from my dear chef:  ............... the recipe came form .................. I have to admit that I doubted the recipe at first but the cake came out great, the tangy taste is a good contrast to the sweetness of the simple carrot cake. Anyway, I add the candied orange instead of the orange zest because I really like the sweet taste of it than the zest of the orange, but you can use only a zest from 1 of the orange instead of it, if you want.

Note: If your icing gets thin after mixing put it in the refrigerator before using (it will be firmer).

A rather pleasing carrot cake with lime mascarpone Icing

Serves 8-10

for the cake
285g/ 10oz	unsalted butter, softened
285g/ 10oz	light brown soft sugar
5 large	free-range or organic eggs, separated
	juice of 1 orange
170g/6oz	self-raising flour, sifted
1 slightly heaped teaspoon	baking powder
115g/4oz	ground almonds
115g/4oz	shelled walnuts, chopped, plus a handful for serving
1 heaped teaspoon	ground cinnamon
	a pinch of ground cloves
	a pinch of ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon	ground ginger
60 g	candied orange (chopped)
285g/ 10 oz	carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
	sea salt
for the lime mascarpone icing
115g/4oz	mascarpone cheese
225g/8oz	full-fat cream cheese
85g/3oz	icing sugar, sifted
	zest and juice of 2 limes

Note: I use 2-16X16 cm square pans, if you want to use the same size as me reduce the baking time to 35-40 minutes.

Sift together self-raising flour and baking powder, set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350° F/gas 4. Grease and line a 22cm/9 inch square cake tin or a round equivalent with greaseproof paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one, and add the grated carrot. Stir in ½ of the sifted flour and baking powder.

Add the orange juice and the rest of the flour mixture, and add the ground almonds, walnuts, candied orange, spices and mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake mix.

Scoop the mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes until golden and risen. You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a cocktail stick into it. Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky it needs a bit longer, so put it back in the oven. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and leave for at least an hour.

Mix all the icing ingredients together and spread generously over the top of the cake. Finish off with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts.

Deeply satisfied chocolate tart

This tart is really good esp. for anyone who fall in love with really dark chocolate (aha, I am, I really like dark chocolate and this tart is like dark chocolate in a tart form). I have to warn any people who don’t have a great love for dark chocolate, stay away from this one, because you may find this tart is too bitter for you sweet tooth, cause the main flavor of the tart came from 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate (very intense and pleased). The recipe is an adaptation form...........by .....one of my dearest chef, and I think after you taste this deeply dark chocolate tart you may agree with me.

Fifteen chocolate tart

makes 2 tarts (size 18cm)

For the pastry
110 g	unsalted butter
75 g	caster sugar
	a pinch of salt
190 g	plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
1	large free-range or organic eggs
20 g	cocoa powder
For the filling
70 ml	whole milk
190 ml	double cream
20 g	caster sugar
120 g	best-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
1	large free-range or organic eggs

Grease a loose-bottomed 18 cm X 2 tart pans tin with butter.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together.

To make the pastry:

Cream the butter, sugar and salt, together then fold in eggs and the flour- cocoa powder mixture.

When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, gently work it together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly.

Wrap the dough in cling film and put it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Remove it from the fridge, roll it out, line your tart tin with it and put it in the freezer for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and bake the pastry case blind for around 12 to 15 minutes or until firm and almost biscuit-like.

Remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.

To make the chocolate filling:

Put the milk, cream and sugar into a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring gently. Take off the heat and add the broken chocolate, whisking until smooth, then add the eggs and whisk again. Pour the filling into a jug.

Carefully pour in the filling into the baked tart case and put the tart back in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. It is cooked when the filling still has a slight wobble to it. It will firm up a little as it cools down.

Baked pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella

Baked pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella

I think this kind of recipe is like a comfort food for me, soft and sticky cheese is easy to fall in love with. I like mozzarella cheese very much and reading this recipe; it’s a lot of cheese in it (so, if you like cheese, this can be your answer). This recipe came from ............. this is Italian school lunch (oh, I would like to have it every lunch too), for me, I had it in front of the TV. Top of the pasta is covered with a lot of cheese and while it’s still warm, it’s delicious.

Baked pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella

Serve 4

	sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
	extra virgin olive oil
1	white onion, peeled and finely chopped
2	cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 or 2	dried red chilies, crumbled
1.5kg/3½1b	ripe tomatoes or 3 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
	a large handful of fresh basil leaves
	optional: 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
400g/14oz	dried orecchiette (pasta in the shape of ears)
4	big handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 x l50g	balls of mozzarella

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6

To an appropriately sized pan add a couple of glugs of good extra virgin olive oil, onion, garlic and chilies and slowly fry for about 10 minutes on a medium to low heat until softened but without any color. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.

If using fresh tomatoes, remove the core with the tip of a small knife, plunge them into the boiling water for about 40 seconds until their skin starts to come away, then remove with a slotted spoon or sieve and remove the pan from the heat. Put the tomatoes into a bowl and run cold water over them, then slide the skins off squeeze out the pips and roughly chop. Add your fresh or tinned tomatoes to the onion and garlic, with a small glass of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. Now put them through a food processor or liquidizer to make a loose sauce. Tear your basil leaves into the sauce and correct the seasoning with salt, pepper and a little swig of red wine vinegar (if using). And this is very importance because the main flavor comes from here.

When the liquidized sauce tastes perfect, bring the water back to the boil. Add the orecchiette to the water and cook according to the packet instructions, then drain and toss with half of the tomato sauce and a handful of Parmesan. Get yourself an appropriately sized baking tray, pan or earthenware dish and rub it with a little olive oil. Layer a little pasta in the tray, followed by some tomato sauce, a handful of grated Parmesan and 1 sliced-up mozzarella ball, then repeat these layers until you’ve used all the ingredients, ending with a good layer of cheese on top. Pop it into the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden, crisp and bubbling.

About Jamie Oliver

I really didn’t pay attention to him when he launched his first about 8 years ago, I thought that Jamie Oliver was just a young famous chef that didn’t have much to care for. I didn’t buy his book, didn’t watch his program, at that time the new faces were many. So, I didn’t think he is special. Until about 3 years ago, I subscribe to ABC Delicious magazine, and I started read his recipes. I have to admitted that I like him, reading his recipes is funny and relax (I read cookbook more than novels or may me I think it’s some kind of the novel). Don’t have to feel stress when cooking, all things comes naturally that what he make me feel. Now I have 4 of his books,

The Naked Chef

The first cookbook from Jamie Oliver, lively and funny.

JAMIE'S ITALY
Easy style Italian food.

COOK WITH JAMIE: MY GUIDE TO MAKING YOU A BETTER COOK

This cookbook is a fund rising for Fifteen Foundation that Jamie Oliver found to help teach people who have a problem to be a chef and working in Fifteen restaurant after they have trained.

Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

This cookbook focus on organic food because Jamie Oliver start to grow vegetable and rise chicken too.

The recipe that introduce him to me is “Pasta with Olive and Fresh Cherry Tomato” from ABC Delicious magazine (I’m sorry that I can remember the issue and too lazy to search from the large piles of my magazines). I make it so often, it becomes my favorite, this of the recipe is like his style easy and fresh and I really love it.

“Pasta with Olive and Fresh Cherry Tomato”

Pasta (I use fusili) 1 C

Pitted dark olive (chopped) ¼ C

Cherry Tomato (cut in half) ½ C

Bell pepper (diced)

(this is my own version) ¼ C

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt, pepper

Parmesan cheese

Put olive, cherry tomato and bell pepper in a bowl, sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and salt, toss a little bit. Boil the pasta in salted water according to the package instruction. When the pasta ready, take them out of the water and add the pasta into the prepared bowl immediately. Toss the entire ingredient together; adjust the taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. This makes one dish for one person.