Quick fix Chocolate Chunk Cookies

The weather is awful in London right now. The sun shows up sometimes, but I needed some good homemade cookies to feel better. Here's the recipe!

Chocolate chunk cookies for a quick fix

• 75 g melted butter
• 85 g (½ cup) light brown sugar
• 85 g (½ cup) dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 250 g (1cup) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of sodium
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 100 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
  

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a small pan, melt the butter over low heat. When the butter is melted, add both brown sugars and mix well. Remove from heat.

Cool, then beat in the egg. Add the vanilla and mix well.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of sodium, and salt. Add the butter mixture and mix well. Add chocolate chunks and mix well.

Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture a few centimeters apart on a prepared baking sheet. Shape them, as they don't spread that much. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, until golden brown but still soft. Don't overcook. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with a glass of milk. Don't you feel better now you've eaten ALL of those Chocolate chunk cookies?

Sources : personnal recipe

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Stuffed zucchinis : zuccanoes!

As announced with the torta pasqualina, I cook vegetarian meals more often now, to the great pleasure of Mrs. Monk. I think the dish she preferred was the «zuccanoes», a really nice recipe from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook. They are stuffed zucchinis. It might not sound very sexy, but they are! What is nice is that you can use leftover rice in this recipe. But if you don't have any (it was my case) just cook some rice while you go through the other steps. It's well worth the effort!

Stuffed zucchinis (for four to six persons)

• 4 medium-sized zucchini (about 7 inches long)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 midsized onions, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 227 g mushrooms, minced (I'm not that obsessed with precision... it's the weight of the pack I bought! And by the way, make a special effort to choose good, tasty mushrooms, like oysters)
• two bay leaves
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice (Cook 180 g rice in 375 mL of water for 20 minutes)
• 150 g ground almonds or other ground nuts (use your pestle and mortar)
• juice and rind of one lemon
• black pepper and cayenne pepper, to taste
• some handfuls of freshly minced herbs (use whatever you have on hand : Parsley, basil, and oregano all work well)
• 110 g grated gruyère cheese

First of all, start some music

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cut the zucchini lengthwise down the middle. Scoop out the insides, using a spoon. You will have nice canoes with a half centimeter shell. Finely mince the scrapings. Set the canoes aside.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onions and salt, and sauté for 5 to 8 minutes, so the onions soften.

Add the zucchini scrapings, bay leaves, and mushrooms, and sauté for another 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for for another two minutes.

In a small bowl, combine rice and almond. Stir in the mushroom mixture, half the grated cheese and lemon juice and rind. Mix well. Season to taste with black pepper, cayenne, and the fresh herbs.

Fill the zucchini shells with this very nice and tasty mixture and top with the other half grated cheese. Put in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Broil at the end to give a nice color. Put aside to cool a little bit. Drizzle with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar and serve with your favorite salad. A roasted bell pepper salad with some white wine and mustard vinaigrette would be nice. Enjoy!

Sources : Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook

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Conversion of cups or ounces to grams, by ingredient

Probably since I'm a bit lazy, I prefer to weigh most ingredients than to measure them with a cup. And for sifted ingredients, that's probably not laziness, but common sense! You just weigh them and then sift them, without the hurdles (and mess) of transfers (and bowls to clean)!

Also, many great cookbooks come from abroad. Or you might have foodie friends from all around the world! Sharing recipes can then be confusing depending on the units used. A good example would be the buns of Rachel, my neighbour. Easter crossed buns, I mean, for which you will have the recipe some day on L'Avenue Monk... Rachel is from New-Zealand, and people from Oceania use different measures in some cases. The spoken accent is not there only difference!

Gradually, I will change my recipes to convert every cups and ounces to grams, but since I'm not finished yet, this table is very handy, and I tought you might find some use to it. I find it's much more useful to have a chart on hand. This way, you don't have to go to the computer, power it on, wait for everything in there to open and then go to your favorite calculator... Just print it! Select the table, then print the selection. How handy?

If you have any information to fill in the blanks, please forward.

Ingredients	USA	Europe		Australia
		Metric	Imperial	Metric	Imperial
Flour (sifted)	1 cup	125g	4 ½ oz	140g	5 oz
Granulated and caster sugar	1 cup	170g	6 oz	225g	8 oz
Brown sugar	1 cup	170g	6 oz	170g	6 oz
Icing sugar	1 cup	120g	4 oz	170g	6 oz
Cacao (sifted)	1 cup	80g	3 oz	-	-
Honey, golden syrup), molasses	1 cup	-	-	340g	12 oz
Butter, margarine, lard	1 cup (2 barres)	225g	8 oz	225g	8 oz
Dried fruits	1 cup	140g	5 oz	170g	6 oz
Ground almond	1 cup	100g	3 ½ oz	-	-
Cheese (grated)	1 cup	110g	4 oz	-	-
Nuts (chopped)	1 cup	100g	3 ½ oz	110g	3 oz
Coconut flakes (dehydrated)	1 cup	-	-	85g	3 oz
Breadcrumbs	1 cup	55g	2 oz	140g	5 oz
Cookie crumbs	1 cup	-	-	110g	4 oz
Rice (uncooked)	1 cup	170g	6 oz	200g	7 oz
Tapioca (medium, uncooked)	1 cup	160g	5 ¾ oz	-	-
Barley (uncooked)	1 cup	200g	7 oz	-	-
Quinoa (uncooked)	1 cup	180g	6 ½ oz	-	-
Millet (uncooked)	1 cup	180g	6 ½ oz	-	-

Sources : some datas are from Leiths Cookery Bible

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Conversion chart : teaspoon, tablespoon, ounce, cups to milliliters

A teaspoon, while being the quickest method to measure small quantities, is not always the unit with which your (future) favorite recipe is written. It's ease of use probably explains why it's a ubiquitous unit in most american cookbooks, but the internationally oriented foodie always come across ounces or milliliters. This conversion table gives it all : from tablespoon or teaspoon or cups to milliliter (mL), no volume unit will have any secret anymore!

You will note that the English pint is bigger than the American pint... Beer is serious stuff on this side of the Atlantic! Besides, why didn't any Englishmen bring a regular teaspoon to Australia?

American units	Imperial units (UK)	Metric
¼ teaspoon		1 mL
½ teaspoon		3 mL
1 teaspoon		5 mL
½ tablespoon		8 mL
1 tablespoon (3 c à thé)		15mL
The Australian tablespoon is different	1 tablespoon (Australian)	20 mL
¼ cup		65 mL
1/3 cup		85 mL
½ cup		125 mL
2/3 cup		170 mL
¾ cup		190 mL
1 cup		250 mL
1 american pint (16 fluid ounces)	The English pint is different	450 mL
The american pint is different	1 imperial pint	570 mL
~2 1/5 american pint	1 ¾ imperial pint	1000 mL (1 litre)

Quantity	Milliliters	Fluid ounces
1 glass of wine	100	3
1 glass of porto or sherry	70	2
1 glass of liquor	45	1

Sources : some datas are from Leiths Cookery Bible

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Convert weight units : grams to ounces and kilograms to pounds

If you are an internationally-oriented cook and buy cookbooks from many different countries, you probably sometimes find it hard to convert the units presented for many ingredients to your most favourite unites.

Weighing is certainly the easiest and most reliable method to measure solid ingredients, particularly if you bake some buns or cakes or breads.

I hope you will find this chart handy, and more of them will follow. You might know some sites which provides similar information, and even calculators, but nothing is as handy as a chart. And of course a complet one is a must!!! Here is how to convert grams to ounces or pounds to kilograms. And I might be in England for now, but the pound I refer to is the weight unit...

Metric	Imperial	Metric	Imperial
8 g	¼ oz	15 g	½ oz
20 g	¾ oz	30 g	1 oz
55 g	2 oz	85 g	3 oz
110 g	4 oz (¼ pound)	140 g	5 oz
170 g	6 oz	200 g	7 oz
225 g	8 oz (½ pound)	255 g	9 oz
285 g	10 oz	310 g	11 oz
340 g	12 oz (¾ pound)	370 g	13 oz
400 g	14 oz	425 g	15 oz
450 g	16 oz (1 pound)	560 g	1 ¼ pounds
675 g	1 ½ pounds	785 g	1 ¾ pounds
900 g	2 pounds
1 kg	2 pounds 4 oz	1,15 kg	2 pounds 8 oz
1,35 kg	3 pounds	1,8 kg	4 pounds
2,3 kg	5 pounds	2,7 kg	6 pounds
3,2 kg	7 pounds	3,6 kg	8 pounds
4 kg	9 pounds	4,5 kg	10 pounds

Sources : some datas are from Leiths Cookery Bible

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Change your favorite quiche for a torta pasqualina!

I am really glad to be in London, but it's quite expensive. In fact, the only thing which is less expensive in London is my subscription to Delicious. In fact, I received it as a gift for Christmas. Having some problem would put delivery, I finally received the last issue. It is a special issue about Italian food, which I promptly tested. We have been discussing with Ms Monk about reducing the amount meat in our diet, for both financial and health reasons.

Some friends with vegetarian inclinations just came last Saturday, and it was a great occasion to test my vegetarian cooking skills. Here is a recipe for Torta Pasqualina from Delicious magazine (may issue), but I made some changes. I used my usual dough recipe. And I used quail eggs dissimulated throughout the ricotta and spinach mixture, in an attempt to surprise our guests. That part was less successful than I anticipated, but we greatly enjoyed the meal. Couldn't see the eggs at all! But if you use bigger eggs, you'll probably impress everyone!

For vegetarians, it is imperative to have some part of your diet coming from animal sources, like eggs are new products. Vitamin B12 can't be found anywhere else. Well, you could find some in capsules from your health shop, but what's the point...

Torta Pasqualina (for 6-8 people)

• 225g puff pastry (or any pastry you'd like)
  
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 200 g oyster mushrooms, finely diced
• 6 roasted artichokes, in oil (approximately 160 g, drained), roughly chopped (I used artichoke hearts)
• 400 g spinach leaves, prepared and roughly chopped
• 1 large handful of Italian parsley, roughly chopped
• 450 g of ricotta, drained
• 50 g breadcrumbs
• 85 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 2 eggs, plus a few eggs, whole (depending on their size, you might change the number so your torque looks good when you serve it...)
• salt and pepper, to taste

First of all start some music

Preheat oven to 425°F

If you don't use store-bought puff pastry, and you don't have any other pie dough at hand, make some shortcrust pastry and let it rest in the fridge for approximately 20 minutes. What I do is try to make sure I always have some in the freezer, and I thaw it overnight in the fridge, or for two hours at room temperature, whenever I need it.

While your dough gets ready, prepare the spinach mixture, which will taste fantastic. Heat some oil in a large pan and fry the onions for five minutes, steering occasionally. Add the mushrooms, and cook for another five to seven minutes. Add the artichokes and mix well, and cook for a few minutes. Then add the spinach, gradually. The volume will look impressive at first, but it will reduce a lot during cooking... Don't overcook the spinach, though. When all the spinach have found some place in the pot and are soft, remove from heat and cool down a little bit.

Puree half the spinach mixture with parsley, Parmesan, the first 2 eggs and the breadcrumbs. Note that, by leaving the other half whole, you will give some body to the mixture. But you might as well puree the other half, if you prefer. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the ricotta.

Roll out the pawtry, and use half to line deep 23 cm plate (or even a springform cake mould). Cover with the spinach and ricotta mixture. Make some wells in this nice mixture, and crack an egg in each of those.

Brush with beaten egg and bake in the center of the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Serve with a roasted bell peppers salad, with tomatoes, parsley and balsamic vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Sources : Adapted from the Annual Italian Issue—delicious magazine (may 2007)

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That nice pizza and its dough

I'm a bit shy to tell you that but the most recent pizza we ate was a from Tesco. If you're from the UK you probably know Tesco. If you're not from the UK, you probably know Tesco anyway. Well the problem with the Tesco's finest pizzas is not that they're not good. In fact, it's fully satisfactory, much more if you have been drinking some wine and drink some more while you eat it (isn't it good for arteries?). But pizzas have a history that we should treat with respect...

Since that time, I can't stop thinking about all the pleasure we would have had if I had decided to make our own pizza from A to Z (en passing P and I)... well it's done now. I made this pizza dough with herbs that seduced Mrs. Monk a few years ago... And the kneading is so relaxing I'm glad I don't have a bread machine!

Pizza dough (makes 2 nice 25 cm pizza)

• one tablespoon (7 g) the acreage and 19 East
• 110 million editors want water
• one tablespoon sugar
• 150 g plain flour
• 50 g whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

First, start the music

In a small bowl, mix the yeast with some water and sugar. Let to rest for approximately 10 minutes. You will smell a nice smell of «to-be bread», meaning the yeasts are alive!

In a large bowl, sieve the flours and salt. Add the herbs, mix slightly and dig a small pit in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Add the water left and the oil to your now-alive yeast. Pour this liquid on the dry ingredients, and mix to get a nice dough ball.

Knead about 5 minutes, and add some more flour if the dough is too sticky. You should obtain a dough which feels supple and non sticky.

Oil, cover and let rest for approximately 35 minutes to an hour. The dough should've double in size by then.

Punch down, and knead a little to make a ball. Note that you don't need to beat down the dough, but just gently push it down. You could leave to rise again, time permitting.

Split the dough in 2 portions, roll it to a pizza shape. Sprinkle a baking sheet with some corn meal, cover with the dough, garnish as you prefer and cook in a preheated oven at 450°F for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to 400°F for 15 minutes or until cooked satisfactorily.

Garnishes

Feel free! I love to make a simple basil and tomatoes sauce which reduces while the dough rises. A taste of Venice: Traditional Venetian cooking, which I never read really, but who is cited in Leith's Cookery Bible, has a nice recipe for Salsa Pizzaiola. Here is an adaptation.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 25g basil leaves, chopped (keep the stalks and chop them)
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can (400 mL) Italian tomatoes
• 3 tablespoon double tomato puree
• 2 bay leaves
• salt, pepper, sugar

In a medium pan, heat the oil over low heat and cook the onion until tender and clear. Add garlic and basil stalks, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Add the other ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour. Season with salt and pepper, and maybe some sugar.

Remove the bay leaves, adjust seasoning. The sauce is quite thick and chunky. Ideal for a pizza.

Garnish with anything you like. Some classics :

• Pizza Margherita : mozzarella, basil, olive oil
• Prosciutto e funghi : mascarpone, prosciutto, mushrooms, basil, pepper, parmesan.
  

Source : I was inspired by Josée Di Stasio some 2 or 3 years ago to make my first pizza dough. I don't know if the pizza dough presented here is still related to her in any way... Salsa Pizzaiola adapted from Leith's Cookery Bible, who adapted there own from A taste of Venice: Traditional Venetian cooking

Sources : some datas are from Leiths Cookery Bible

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