Week 17: Chocolate Peanut Lava Cake

The Recipe
110g butter
100g dark chocolate, chopped
4 heaped tbsp peanut butter
4 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Extra butter (for greasing the ramekins)
Cocoa powder (for dusting the ramekins)

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Grease the inside of 4 ramekins with butter and lightly dust with cocoa powder.

In a microwave-proof bowl, add dark chocolate and butter, and microwave at 15-second intervals, stirring after each interval until fully melted. (Remember the stirring! This part is very important as the chocolate will seem not to melt until you start stirring it - resulting in burnt chocolate! Go ahead... ask me how I know...)

In a mixing bowl, whish together eggs, sugar and vanilla. Slowly pour in the chocolate mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

Put about ½dl batter into each ramekin, add a heaped tbsp of peanut butter and finish with another ½dl batter.

Bake at 220C for 10-12 minutes or until the sides are firm and the center is soft.

At this point you're supposed to be able to turn the ramekins upside down and have the lava cake come out on a plate. That never worked for me, but fortunately they could be eaten just as easily straight out of the ramekins.

The Verdict
I used creamy peanut butter in the assumption that it would work better than crunchy. I was wrong - should've definitely gone with the crunchy! And even with the peanut butter, I think it could still have benefited from just a tad more salt.

That aside, it was extremely rich and absolutely delicious! Both warm that same evening, and cold the next day.

Week 16: Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pasta

The Recipe
~500g chicken breast, pounded thin
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Chili flakes to taste
0.5dl white wine
2.5dl chicken broth
5-6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
1dl heavy cream
0.5-1dl parmesan cheese
A large handful of rocket salad, sliced
Basil to taste (fresh is best, dried can also be used)
Penne pasta

Cook pasta according to the instructions on the bag.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan and cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. Remove from pan and cut into stripes - the chicken is probably not quite done yet at this point - if that's the case just return the stripes to the pan for a few more minutes until done. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add a bit more oil to the pan and cook garlic and chili flakes until fragrant - about a minute or so. Add white wine and scrape the pan to get all the deliciousness off the bottom of it. Add chicken broth, cream, sundried tomatoes, parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Return the chicken to the sauce, add the rocket salad and basil and stir until it's just wilted.

Add pasta and serve.

The Verdict
SO good!! As in close-to-restaurant-worthy good! Definitely something I'll make again. I wouldn't have minded a bit more sauce, and will probably add more sundried tomatoes and rocket salad to the sauce next time, but even just as-is it turned out to be one of the best pasta-dishes I've made in a long time.

Fortunately we had leftovers :-D I've already claimed those for myself.

Week 15: Roasted Mushrooms

The Recipe
250g mushrooms, cleaned. Cut the largest ones in halves if there's a huge difference in size.
Oil
Salt, pepper
30g butter
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp thyme
lemon juice to taste.

Put mushrooms in a bowl and toss them with oil, salt and pepper. Place them on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 20-30 minutes at 200C. Keep and eye on them - you don't want them to get too dark.

Melt the butter in a pan and cook until it's just starting to brown. Add chopped garlic, thyme and lemon juice and cook until the garlic has gone soft and the butter is a darker brown. Transfer the mushrooms to the pan and coat with the butter-garlic mix.

The Verdict
Not sure how it happened, but I completely spaced out on tossing the mushrooms with oil, salt and pepper! I just put them in the oven "as is".
It was still really good though, and definitely something I'd make again... I'll just have to remember the oil next time, and see how much of a difference that makes.

Week 14: Honey Glazed Ham

I've missed a few weeks due to illness, but hope to get back on track now.

The Recipe
1 2lb ham
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp (~30g) butter, melted
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp thyme

In a small bowl, mix together vinegar, honey, butter, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and thyme.
Unwrap the ham (including the netting around it) and place it in a crockpot.
Pour mixture over the ham, cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.

Serve with baked potatoes and steamed asparagus.

The Verdict
Unfortunately I couldn't find a plain ham, so mine already had a bit of flavouring which didn't do it any favours. That said, the glaze still worked out really well (although better on day 2 as it thickened somewhat when reheated), and was super-easy to make, so I could easily see myself making this again.