Blue Cayenne

They’re ooey and gooey and delicious.

This brownie recipe is from David Leibovitz’ updated The Great Book of Chocolate cookbook. You can order the book through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

According to Lebovitz, this recipe originated with The Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, California,  under its founding owner Kathleen Stewart.

Ahhh chocolate! Did you know it is a fruit grown mostly in the hot and humid rainforests of Africa, Central and South America? Being a fruit makes it a healthy indulgence. Right? Let’s agree on that.

In his book about chocolate, Lebovitz has an interesting discussion about the provenance of chocolate. He writes:

“Every step–from growing and harvesting, fermenting and drying to blending, roasting and conching–affects the flavor of chocolate. Most beans are processed far from their place of origin. With that in mind, resist the urge to assume that, say, Belgian or French or Swiss chocolates are better than chocolates made elsewhere. While those countries have well-known traditions of producing excellent chocolate, it’s better to look beyond the country of manufacture as a barometer of quality. Much depends on the quality of the beans, how they are treated, and how the chocolate is made, rather than the country where the chocolate-making facility is located.”  (Note: Conching, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is the part of the treatment of cocoa beans where the liquified chocolate is kneaded by granite rollers. This refining of the crushed chocolate particles improves the texture of the chocolate and also removes some of the acidity and astringency from the chocolate thus improving its flavor.)

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.

“We all are Citizens of the World. What’s good for you, must be good for all. If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger… you will find who you are.”
— Chef José Andrés

Need a hero?

How about considering Jose Andres?

His work with his non-profit World Central Kitchen is the real stuff of heroism.

With World Central Kitchen, Andres has built a charity organization (rated the maximum four stars by Charity Navigator, by the way) that feeds people in crisis all over the world–sometimes in very dangerous locales.  From Gaza to Spokane, WCK is there. They were even in my community this year when we had a toxic leak that disrupted lives and communities. The goal of the organization is to provide locally-cooked dishes specific to the region for people displaced by war and catastrophes of all kinds. 

So, I send him contributions for WCK’s work. I buy his cookbooks, too. Zaytinya. The World Central Kitchen Cookbook, and Vegetables Unleashed are among the titles on my shelves. They are excellent cookbooks. If you collect cookbooks, you might consider them. They are available through your local bookstore, through Thrift Books and on Amazon. Andres, by the way, has a collection of about 1500 rare cookbooks and culinary manuscripts including a rents and receipts book belonging to Thomas Jefferson’s chef, Honore Julien, a 1631 Spanish cookbook Arte de Cozina discussing royal court dining and the use of new foods from the New World, and a prized 1931 first edition of The Joy of Cooking. Andres says The Joy of Cooking volume, in particular, is a prized possession. He used it, he says, when he immigrated to the United States from Spain in 1991 to learn about the spirit of America and American cooking. 

Andres is Spanish born. He is yet another American immigrant success story, immigrating here in 1991. Andres’ accomplishments and accolades are myriad. He has won several James Beard Awards and is the winner of a National Humanities Medal. He served as co-chair of the U.S. Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. He holds honary doctorates from Harvard and Tufts and founded the Global Food Institute at George Washington University. 

This Cauliflower Gratin recipe is from Vegetables Unleashed. In the introduction to the recipe, Andres pays homage to his mother’s cooking, particularly her understanding of how to turn cauliflower into a sweet and tender dish covered with bechamel sauce and cheese, a dish he says remains one of his favorite dishes to serve his family on a cold autumn or winter’s night. 

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. You’ll thank Andres and his mom when you taste this creamy, rich and comfrorting dish.

This has long been a “viral” hit among the many popular recipes in the Ottolenghi cookbook world. The Hot Charred Tomatoes With Cold Yogurt dish even graces the cover of one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks, Ottolenghi Simple. 
You can buy the cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

It is late summer here as I write this post. Tomato season is at its peak. This is the perfect time to enjoy this dish. It makes a beautiful presentation on your table, too.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.