TWD - Yummy, gooey, Rick Katz brownies

Before we start talking about these brownies, I like to give a big FAT thank-you to the lady that sat in seat 2D on my flight from LA to Hawaii on Jan. 31st. That would be the Delta flight that also lost my luggage, but I digress. The fine lady in seat 2D hacked up a lung for the entire 6+ hour flight (yes, I said 6+ hours.....thank you very much head wind). She sniffed and blew and coughed and I'm sure contaminated the entire first class cabin. I can personally attest to the fact that those germs made their way to seat 4C with no problem. This woman was so scary that the poor Asian couple seated in 3C and 3D pulled out their little white SARS masks and wore them for the entire flight. I giggled at the time, but am now kicking myself for not politely seeing if they had an extra one.

So on top of having some beastly jet-lag, I also get to battle a really stuffy head. Which means I'm moving a little slower than usual so I didn't get this week's TWD posted on time.

But, ohhhhh mamamama, if anything could make me feel better, it's these. These just kicked Ina's brownies to the curb. Sorry, Ina. These are ooey and gooey and chocolatey and salty(?). Yeah, for some reason you can really taste the salt in these....in a good way. There's only a teaspoon and I used unsalted butter, so I don't quite understand, but whatev. It works.

There's an extra step in making these that involves combining the eggs and sugar and then separating that mixture in half. You add one half directly to the chocolate mixture and you whip the other half in your stand mixer for three minutes and then gently incorporate into the chocolate mixture. Understand? A little confusing but I think that's what made the texture of these so amazing.

Thanks to Tanya of Chocolatechic (can you imagine.....someone who's blog is named that picking this recipe? hehe) for this fabulous pick. Head over to her site for the recipe. I happen to love her blog, BTW.

Spicy Calamari with Bacon and Scallions

Mr. B and I spent the day trying to buy a house for Barry and Carly to share. I thought it was going to be easy. All you hear is that it's a "buyer's market". And while that may be generally true, it seems that every house we were interested in, the sellers were not negotiating. At all. Really?

And these were all houses that needed work. We're talking knocking out walls, ripping up 1960's kelly green carpet, replacing avacado appliances, etc., etc., etc..

So we're back at it tomorrow.

When we got home tonight, I wanted something easy. And then there's the whole commitment I made in yesterday's post. Whatever "easy" I wanted needed to come from the pages of all those magazines.

This Spicy Calamari with Bacon and Scallions was perfect. Mr. B looooves both calamari and spicy. And I looooove bacon. We were both happy!

Try this one:

Spicy Calamari with Bacon and Scallions

Serves 4 (Main Course)

Gourmet, November 1997

Sauteing the squid in the bacon fat adds tons of flavor to the seafood itself. Fried calamari with marinara sauce will be but a distant memory once you try this.

1 1/2 lb cleaned medium squid

1/4 lb bacon (about 5 slices) cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces

1 cup chopped scallions

1/2 tsp dried hot red-pepper flakes

Rinse squid under cold water, then pat dry between paper towels. Halve large tentacles lengthwise and cut bodies (including flaps, if attached) crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide rings.

Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally until golden and crisp, then transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.

Toss squid with 1/4 tsp salt.

Heat fat remaining in skillet over hight heat until very hot, then saite squid with scallions and red-pepper flakes until just cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Serve squid immediately, sprinkled with bacon.

As you can tell, I've started the November recipes in October. Here's why.....during the month of November I will be in New York City, Whistler, B.C., Naples, Florida and then back to The Villages, FL for Thanksgiving. Ummm, yeah.

Lamb Shanks

Well, I finally made them......lamb shanks.  They are probably my favorite thing to order when dining out.  I.  Love.  Them.  But, I'd never made them.  And don't you hate it, when you're really afraid of doing something, and you put it off for a really long time, then you finally bite the bullet and you wonder why you were such a weenie for so long.  This was about the easiest thing, evah!!  Why was I so intimidated.  I guess I always thought that something that yummy had to be really hard.  But, no!

So, I followed the recipe to the letter and it turned out great, but the next time, I'll just do this in my fabulous new All-Clad slow cooker.  Will make cleaning up much easier.  I have to admit that I didn't do the roasted tomato part....I'm just not a fan.  I did, however, do the toasted orzo, but I wouldn't probably do it again.  It just wasn't mind blowing for the effort involved.  Besides, there's nothing better with lamp shanks than good ole mashed potatoes.  I'd just roast another head of garlic and add to the potatoes.  

I can totally see me putting this all together in the slow cooker on a Saturday morning (say, September 13th) this Fall to enjoy for a Saturday night Buckeye whoopin of Southern Cal.  Holla!!

Here's the recipe:

Oven Roasted Lamb Shanks with Roasted Tomatoes and Toasted Orzo