Dark chocolate molds

So, I have this flat sheet mould that I used to make the chocolate fish. The mould was from a kit to make soap, but that's a crafty adventure for another post.

Directions to melt chocolate

1. Water-bath / double boiler method

a. chop chocolate into smaller pieces and put it in a heat-proof bowl that fits snugly on top of a saucepan that has been filled with water.

b. Bring the saucepan to a simmer and stir the chocolate until it melts completely (it should look smooth and shiny); be sure to have the stove heat low enough so that the water doesn't boil. Turn off the heat once the chocolate has all melted.

Directions for Tempering Chocolate

The Cooking for Engineers blog has a good explanation of how this is done and why it is different than just melting chocolate.

Filling the mould

Spoon the chocolate into the mould, but don't overfill it. If the chocolate is still warm, you can gently swirl the spoon around in the melted chocolate to fill the detailed parts (like the fish's fins). Tap the mould on the counter to settle the surface of the chocolate as well as release any air bubbles.

Refrigerate the mold for about 30 minutes until the chocolate has set. Invert the mould onto a wax paper or parchment paper and chill it again.

Now then, I need to find a natural way to keep this chocolate from melting at room temperature. They look fine after having set in the refrigerator; but there's not a whole lot I can do with it.

When making bread...

The recipe calls for dried onion as one of the ingredients for curry bread. I don't like onions and don't eat onions, if I can help it. If I swapped that out for powdered garlic, would that still taste ok? Also, it seems that my area had a power surge and the electricity flickered.. resetting the timer for the current loaf (oatmeal bread) in the bread machine. Seeing how it's just in the first kneading stage, I wonder if an extra 10 minutes of kneading will affect how it rises. Hmm.. Making bread at home seems easier than going out to the store to buy, except now I have to go to the store to buy things to eat with the bread.

Garlic in a jar

Sure, garlic in a jar is nothing new. You can get it at the grocery store, peeled, minced, or sitting in some funky liquid like olive oil; but garlic is pretty darn cheap and it only takes a few seconds to prep garlic this way rather than buying some pre-packaged stuff. Want to keep garlic fresh like when you bought it, but live in a climate where your garlic either sprouts like mad in the cupboard, rots in jars in the cupboard, or goes all wonky on you in the fridge? Try this method, then decide what's best for your cooking style. 

Keeping Garlic Fresh 

Take a clean glass jar with a screw-on lid. Take a garlic bulb (or several bulbs if you bought in bulk). Take the outer paper layers off the bulb, the ones that encase the bulb but not the paper that encases the cloves. Break apart the bulb into individual cloves. Put the cloves into the glass jar, screw the lid on, and put the jar in the fridge. That is it. When you need garlic for whatever purpose, simply prepare the garlic cloves as you normally would.

A quotation for early risers

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh, "What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said. --A.A. Milne, Winne-the-Pooh (1926)

Beef stew, or something

Earlier in the year I picked up some fresh giant enoki mushrooms. I thinly sliced and air dried the mushrooms, and put them into a glass container for later use. The flavor that they added to this soupish-stew was pretty decent, a bit earthy.

I don't like how soggy pasta gets in most noodle soup dishes, so I cooked the pasta and the soup separately, adding the cooked pasta right to the soup immediately before serving. I think this ingredient combination came out quite well. You'll find all sorts of traditional vegetable ingredients missing from my soups/stews because I simply don't like them, but adapt away if you like. I also like my pasta cooked just past al dente.

The ingredients:

4-6 cups of water
1/2 cup red wine
1/3 lb beef stew meat
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried or fresh mushrooms
generous dashes of garlic powder
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup tomato sauce, fresh or canned*
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup cut corn
1-2 organic carrots, roughly chopped

1. Bring water to boil. Add all ingredients except for the corn and pasta.

2. In a separate pot, boil as much water as you want to cook pasta. You don't have to use celantini pasta, you can use any type of small bite-sized pasta if you wish. I am using celantini pasta because I've never cooked it before and thought I'd give it a try. When the pasta is done, either by the pasta's instructions or your measure of taste, drain and set aside.

3. When the soup is just about done, add the corn and cook for about 3-5 minutes. When you're about to serve the soup, stir in enough pasta for each person (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked pasta per person). Serve hot.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes to mosh all the flavors together

*For canned tomato sauce, try to use one that has natural or no sugar in it and no corn syrup.