Single Serving Miracle Brownie

I don’t eat dessert often. My husband always says he’d rather have another serving of dinner than dessert and I sort of agree. After dinner I’m rarely in the mood for something sweet and if I am, I’d rather have a boozy coffee or cocktail than cake or pie. I do love to bake though, and if I’m having a dinner party I love to make a special sweet treat for the end, but with only two of us in the house it makes very little sense to spend time and effort on dessert when we don’t love it and don’t need the calories. 

That being said, I am a big fan of chocolate and I’m a fan of single serving desserts that take very little effort, so this little bite of magic is just perfect!

The first time I made it, I forgot the flour and ended up with a warm chocolate pudding that, while delicious, was by no means a brownie. I also used frozen yogurt because I had no regular yogurt and once I added the flour, it turned out beautifully.  

The next time I had normal yogurt but added a little too much coffee so it didn’t set up properly (as you can see in the picture) but it was still good.  All this to say this “recipe” is very forgiving and there’s no need to fear messing it up because with such small portions you can just start again.

In a small bowl or ramekin combine:

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 pinch salt

1/16 teaspoon baking soda

Once combined, mix in:

1 tablespoon yogurt (fat free is fine)

1 tablespoon cold coffee

Stir to combine.

Then fold in 10 chocolate chips.

Microwave for 46 seconds on high then let cool for 10 minutes (that’s the hardest part).

You’ll end up with a rich, thick cake.  It is a miracle!

Chicken Mango Curry with Coconut Risotto

Inspired by some 3-ingredient recipes in Chatelaine Magazine I, of course, had to make things a little more complicated. I have tried risotto a few times but never felt the effort was worth it. Spoiler alert: it's not worth it here either. Rice cooked in coconut milk mixed with some toasted coconut would have been just as good for a fraction of the effort. But this was a nice, flavourful, colourful dinner.


First, for the coconut risotto:

Warm the coconut milk with some vegetable stock in a small pot. This may be one of the grossest looking things I've ever photographed. 

Saute some shallots in olive oil in a large pan.

Then add the Arborio rice and coconut and toast lightly. 

I toasted longer than necessary. You want a light golden colour, not brown.  

Add some wine to the pan and stir until it is absorbed, then add the coconut milk mixture a ladleful at a time, letting the liquid absorb after each addition.

Once the liquid has absorbed...

... add another ladleful of liquid.  

It should take about 35 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente.  

Now for the simple chicken curry. This really is a 3 ingredient dish.  Well, 4 if you count the olive oil.

Coat chicken thighs or breast pieces in curry paste and sprinkle with a little salt.  Brown them in hot oil for around 3 minutes per side.

Slice or cube the mango. I like to use this technique where I score the flesh then turn it inside out to slice it off the skin in cubes because it looks so otherworldly.  

Add the mango to the chicken with a 1/2 cup of water and cover and simmer about 5 minutes.

Once it has simmered, remove the lid and let it simmer a few more minutes until the sauce thickens up a bit.

Serve the chicken curry alongside the coconut risotto.  Delicious!

Pork Squash & Fennel Stew

Sometimes a recipe can be revelatory.  Even life changing.  It can make you look at an ingredient in a whole new way or shock you with how simple ingredients can become something spectacular.  This week I want to share two such recipes. The first is a multi-ingredient, long-simmering stew. The other is a quick, single serving microwave treat. Both are simple to prepare, delicious and could possibly change your life. 

This recipe for pork stew with squash and fennel comes from Epicurious. The pork takes on a wonderful spicy flavour from the cayenne, ginger and nutmeg and the squash and fennel make it a wonderful, hearty winter dish.

I’ll be honest; pork shoulder is a pain in the butt to trim. Coincidentally it is also called Boston Butt (who knows why?)  

It is a very fatty cut of pork but all that fat gives it a lot of flavour.  I like to trim it well but if you’re making this a day ahead you could leave a little more fat on and skim it off easily once the stew has been refrigerated. 

Trim the fat off the pork and cut it into cubes. 

Mix the sage, cayenne, nutmeg, ginger, salt and pepper to coat the pork.  

The recipe calls for ground ginger powder but I used fresh grated ginger. I also like to grate fresh nutmeg. The nutmeg nut is pretty cool inside and gives great flavour.

Let the pork sit, coated with the spices for 30 minutes while you do some serious chopping.  

Chop 4 ounces of pancetta...

2 cups of onions and 3 garlic cloves...

Then peel and cube a butternut squash...

...and 2 cored fennel bulbs.

In a totally rad enamelled cast iron pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil...

...and brown the pancetta for about 3 minutes. 

Once it’s a little crisp remove it with a slotted spoon.

Next add one layer of pork to the pan. 

Once it is brown remove it from the pot and add brown the rest of the pork and remove.

Now the bottom of the pan is getting nice and brown but don’t worry about it. Add the onions and garlic and soften them for a few minutes.

Magic time. Add one cup of wine to the pot with the onions to deglaze it. Scrape the brown stuff off the bottom as the wine bubbles. Liquid with acid in it is great for deglazing. It cleans things up in no time and that brown stuff is super delicious.

Next add a can of tomatoes and 2 cups of chicken stock to the pot and get it bubbling. 

Then add the browned pork and pancetta and submerge it in the liquid. 

Cover and place it in a preheated 350 degree oven for an hour.

After an hour, add the squash and fennel to the pot and let it simmer another 30 minutes.

Serve the stew over hot noodles topped with some fennel fronds for maximum deliciousness.  

Crock Pot Pot Roast

I roast beef all the time but haven't done much pot roast. I haven't always been interested because I can usually buy a premium beef roast for the same price as a pot roast and just assumed regular roast beef would be better.  How wrong I was!  Pot roast is a completely different world, and so delicious!  Cooking it in the crock pot while I'm at work all day makes it a super easy week night dinner.  

I used a boneless beef cross rib pot roast, onions, carrots, potatoes, beef stock, tomato paste, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. 

In the morning, before work, I sprinkled the roast with a little salt and pepper... 

...and browned it in hot oil for a nice crust.

I added the onions and carrots to the bottom of the crock pot.

Then added the mini potatoes. I peeled a little strip off each potato in an unlikely burst of energy just to let the gravy soak into them a little more. Then topped them with the herbs.

Then I popped the roast on top and poured the beef stock and tomato paste over the whole thing.

I turned the crock pot to low and let it simmer all day, 8 to 10 hours until the roast was tender and the veggies cooked.  

Once it has simmered all day remove the meat from the crock pot and tent with foil. 

Remove the veggies and set in a warm oven to keep warm.  You can either thicken the gravy right in the crock pot on high heat, or strain the liquid into a small pot on the stove. Whisk in a bit of flour mixed with water and allow it to thicken for a few minutes.

Slice the pot roast and smother it in gravy to serve with veggies and potatoes.  I also added steamed green beans.

Make sure you serve it with lots of extra gravy because you'll want it all over the potatoes. The meat is tender and flavourful and takes very little effort.  The perfect meal for a cold winter night.

This is another Canadian Beef post to enter in their Eat, Write, Retreat contest. I am so excited about the chance to go to Washington DC and learn more about blogging and food photography.  Best of luck to everyone who entered!