Mood:
amorousTopic: Food
In case you haven't heard, WE GOIN' TO DA SUPERBOWL! You may be surprised to see my enthusiasm for football—a sport I am still learning to love. But, I love hype. And dammit, the Saints deserve to go. It's certainly exciting to be a part of the Who Dat Nation; everyone is in a good mood. Naturally, Sunday night's game has been all the rage at the water cooler.
After my successful run of the homemade Saints snack mix, I gave things another go around for the big game last weekend. I haven't done any serious baking since Christmas and I have a mixer I had to put to use (thanks Angela!). So I made a batch of Saints-inspired black bottom cupcakes, recipe courtesy of The Hummingbird Bakery.
These cupcakes have a dark chocolate sponge-cake as a bottom layer, topped with cheesecake. Of course, there is an option to add cream cheese frosting...but I chose not to add the extra calories.
For the chocolate sponge base, you'll need 1.5 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup plus one tablespoon of sugar, 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 cup of sunflower oil (I used sesame seed oil), 1.5 teaspoons of distilled white vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. For the cheesecake filling you'll need 4.5 ounces of cream cheese, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, 2/3 cup of chocolate chips (I used the mini chips), and of course a 12-hole cupcake tray lined with paper cups.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Make the chocolate base first. Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a large bowl and mix with a handheld electric whisk on slow speed until all dry ingredients are well-mixed.
Put the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of water in a container and mix. While the mixer is going in the dry ingredients, slowly add the wet ingredients. Continue to mix until all of the ingredients are well incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake liners (I did one spoonful in each cup and saved the extra for later). Set aside.
For the cheesecake filling, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips until evenly dispersed (I also added a ribbon of caramel at this point just for added 'Saints' effect).
Scoop the cream cheese filling into the paper cups—this is where I used the remainder of my chocolate cake batter, so the chocolate would be visible on top of the cupcake, too. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheesecake has a golden color—don't over bake or the cheesecake will become dry and crumbley.
Without the frosting, these things are a real treat. The chocolate is rich, while the cheesecake is moist. So delicious.
Aside from my Saints cuppy-cakes, I also whipped up a delicious pasta that packs plenty of New Orleans' flavor. I saw this recipe on an episode of Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa D'Arabian on Food Network. If you haven't seen this show, it's worth watching. The challenge is to serve four people for $10. Usually, she'll make a dish along with a dessert.
The dish, sausage and roasted vegetable penne, was very easy and incredibly tasty. It calls for 1 sweet onion cut into wedges, 1 medium zucchini sliced in half length wise, 1 red bell pepper with cheeks removed, olive oil, salt and pepper, 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, 1/2 pound button mushrooms stemmed, 2 sweet or hot italian sausages thinly sliced or casings removed, 12 ounces of whole grain penne, and freshly grated parmesan if desired.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss vegetables in olive oil (2.5 tablespoons). Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange on baking sheet (leave out the tomatoes for now) and roast until caramelized—about 30 minutes. About half way through, turn the vegetables and add the tomatoes to the baking sheet.
While the veggies are roasting, cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute until cooked through, turn up the heat and add white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook the pasta according to instructions. Once the vegetables are cooked, let them slightly cool and rough chop them. Mix everything—vegetables, sausage and pan drippings, and penne—in a large dish. Top with parmesan.
It's so simple, but the vegetables all have great flavor from roasting. The sausage holds onto the wine well and has a great texture. This is inexpensive and healthy!
For the Super Bowl, I'm already thinking of food ideas. Right now, I'm thinking a new take on sloppy joes (ground turkey with hot wing sauce and bleu cheese). What will you be cooking?
