Thursday, July 30, 2015

Almonds, Bowling, Chicken in Foil.

Churchill nailed it when he said "two nations divided by a common language". I posted a recipe for salmon last week which called for slivered almonds so I used slivered almonds and they burned. I then ran out and asked Matt to get me some more when he shopped. I got slivered almonds but to me they were chopped. I checked it out and what I call slivered almonds are actually what North Americans call sliced almonds so maybe this is why the almonds got burned. I now will have to remember what name to use. The one's on the left are American slivered, and on the right American sliced or what I mean when I say slivered. After all this, I still need some sliced almonds anyway. I keep nuts in the freezer. They last forever.

Whoopee, I actually had a really good game on Wednesday bowling league for a change. So often it I only bow well on Thursdays lately. But today I did well. Our team is still in 3rd place though. We don't seem to be able to pull up any higher.

Wednesday night I kind of amalgamated a bunch of recipes I have been getting lately. The idea was cooking in foil which always appeals, less cleanup. What I did was peel and slice a large carrot, sprinkling it over the bottom of each piece of foil, then some sliced onion, and some tiny peas. Everything was seasoned. I also added the zest of a lemon to the packets. I then took a chicken breast for each of us which I slathered with a mixture of Dijon mustard, olive oil and salt covering both sides. After that I placed lemon slices on top of the chicken and closed up the packets. I cooked them in a 375°F oven for 25 minutes. Not long enough. I think 35 would have been better. I had to microwave them to finish them off as the chicken was quite pink. However, the end result was delicious. Me being me, I forgot to take a picture. This kind of looks similar.

I could make a mess of these brownies right now. I have really gone overboard for the salted chocolate salted caramel stuff going the rounds at the moment, I think it is delicious. There are a lot more recipes where this came from.

Salted Caramel Brownies

Take indulgent, fudgy chocolate brownies to the next level with a layer of salted caramel running through the centre of each bite


BBC Good Food Show

Makes 16 larger or 32 bite-sized brownies

Ingredients

200g (7 oz) unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing
100g (3 1/2 oz) chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
100g (3 1/2 oz) chocolate, 50% cocoa solids
397g (14 oz) can Carnation caramel
1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus a little extra for the top
200g (7 oz) golden caster sugar (just regular sugar for us)
4 medium eggs, at room temperature
130g (4 1/2 oz) plain flour
50g (1.8 oz) cocoa powder

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease then line a 23cm square tray/bake tin with baking parchment. Melt the butter in a medium pan, break in all the chocolate, then remove the pan from the
heat and wait for the cubes to melt.
2. In a small bowl, mix 175g of the caramel with 1 tsp sea salt – it will loosen up. Put the rest of the caramel in a large bowl with the sugar and eggs, and beat with an electric hand mixer or balloon whisk until even.
3. Whisk in the chocolate and butter. In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and a good pinch of table salt, then sift this on top of the chocolate mix. Beat briefly until smooth.


Have a great day
 

26 comments:

  1. I remember when I used to be able to have almond flavoured things. I miss that. Great news on the bowling though! I'm not sure I get this 'salted caramel' trend. I don't like salt on my sweets.

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    1. Pity you can't any more JoJo. I love the salted caramel and chocolate. Didn't think I would at first, but I liked it from the beginning.

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  2. Not sure which sounds better, the chicken or the brownies.

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    1. So start with the chicken and finish with the brownies.

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  3. Yum on the brownies! We do a lot of those foil type meals with both chicken and meatloaf with veggies. The best one we made one time was with halibut fish. I like how easy they are to clean up afterwards :)

    betty

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    1. I do it sometimes with salmon and veggies. It's a great way to cook Betty.

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  4. I love the chicken in foil idea. Might have to try that on the grill. :)

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    1. I didn't use sufficient salt for us Melissa. But I guess seasoning is a matter of choice. It would certainly work on the grill but I believe you have to cook on one side that is turned off with the heat coming from the other side.

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  5. Salt, caramel, and chocolate. My favorite combination in any dessert.

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  6. So easy to burn slivered or sliced almonds. Love the recipe, and aluminum foil! Brownies, oh dear, don't think so! Yummy, but dangerously good, I mean bad!

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    1. It is easy Yolanda, but if one used the other kind, wouldn't be as easy I guess.

      Know what you mean about the brownies.

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  7. My mom always called the almonds on the right slivered as well. I grew up thinking the same as you. Brownies look always delicious

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  8. I love BBC GoodFood magazine. And their webpage. As for almonds, I use all the names plus chipped almonds, blanched and so on.

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    1. Except if you call one a different name to me, that's where the confusion arises Ivy.

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    2. I speak multi-language food speak.

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    3. Maybe Ivy but if you go into a grocery store, they may not speak the same language.

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    4. But it's okay, because I know a lot of the different names, and ingredient hunting is my most favorite sport.

      Today, I bought a box of rice pasta. Curious to give it a go.

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    5. Trouble is, I don't go to the store very often because Matt shops at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday.

      Rice pasta Ivy? Never come across that. I do have pasta that looks like rice granules - can't remember what it's called right now.

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    6. Yes. they made it with brown rice flour. We didn't like the texture. It was both under and over cooked. Very odd. But I am not one for boxed foods. Still, I was curious.

      I give it a score of zero.

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    7. In that case I am unlikely to try it Ivy.

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  9. I love the idea of those foil packets. It's an ideal way to cook a balanced meal. Chicken smothered in mustard, yum. I tasted salted caramel and it was just like normal caramel to me.

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    1. I agree Pinky. You can cook them on the barbecue too if you don't want to make the house too warm in summer. I guess it depends on the caramel.

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  10. English is complicated as i find out every now and then on the website where i'm studying languages. There are huge fights as to what is correct English when the truth is what is incorrect or regarded as uneducated where I live may be quite acceptable where someone else lives. - oh, and I'm with you as regards to slivered almonds.

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    1. Didn't know you were studying languages Helen. Which ones? Or are we talking generally. There is a correct form of grammatical English where all the rest are dialects or colloquialisms. However, as Churchill once said, nobody would say "Up with which I shall not put" which is perfect English grammar.

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