Kah KOW!  It sounds like a cartoon, "pah POW," doesn't it?   As if it should be in a little white cloud star burst in a comic strip when all hell is breaking loose.   I think I'll add it to my repertoire of socially acceptable expletives.  I could have used it during our last kitchen Egg Snafu.  Instead of yelling something profane, I'll really just be screaming CHOCOLATE!   And since chocolate is a great comfort food, it will only enhance using it as a silky comforting expletive slipping across my tongue.

The irony is that my kitchen Egg Snafu was a simple 6 ingredient recipe.  One that I had done before perfectly, and then really Kah KOW'd it up this last time.  Turned it into some crappy scrambled eggs.  Then I dove into this 20- ingredient-multi-step-hard-to-find-spices-recipe and it turned out great.  Go figure?!  I guess because some of the ingredients (like Harissa and Hungarian Paprika) were not in my spice rack or immediate awareness ... and the fact that I'd be combining chocolate with tomatoes ... maybe that gave me pause and I paid more attention to what I was doing.

I found the word Kah KOW when I looked up the origins of chocolate ... the phonetic spelling of cacao.  It just jumped off the page at me.  Originally, hot chocolate was not sweet at all, but very spicy.    This recipe from Chestnut Street Inn really does it justice.  Chocolate in it's most original form ...

Savory and Spicy.

Make this as an appetizer to spice up your Valentine's Day dinner... while it's not as dramatic as my Egg Snafu ... it definitely has all the trappings of a good LifeTime or Hallmark movie.  Watch and learn ...

The character you love to hate, but still can't resist ... Harissa.  She's a spicy one.

I had a heck of a time finding Harissa.  I looked all over the supermarket.  But for you men out there, this isn't the type of character you can discover the old fashioned way.  As in  ... shopping ... physically ... in an actual store.  This one is global and high tech.  I thought I'd find it at Marx Foods.   But nope.  No Harissa.  Googled it  ... found a bunch!  And I even found a recipe to make Harissa.  Now ... I wish I would have done that BEFORE making the soup.

Enter stage left ... the stand in ...

In my creative zen at the grocery store, since Harissa was described as a North African Chili Paste, I figured some tomato paste and chili powder sounded about the same.  And while it tasted great ... it's not really the same thing.  So here are some references for you ...

Harissa Shopping Online

Recipe:  How to make Harissa

After reading the description of some of these as "hot" and "pain is good" ... I'm kinda glad I went with my homemade thought up version.  I like the taste of a little kick, but so spicy that I can't feel my tongue is no good.

And as for character development, this is the bitch in the story ... and while I have found substitute words like "kah KOW" and "Shut The Front Door" ... I haven't found an adequate replacement for the noun referenced above.  If you have a cute one, please let me know!

My fake Harissa ...

Heat oil and butter in a stock pot over medium heat ... this is the plot.

Add chopped onion and saute until translucent.  Get out the Kleenex ... chopped onion is a sure tear jerker.  What kind of Hallmark/Lifetime movie would it be without a few weepy eye moments?

Now the Italian favorite comes in and makes a squishy, but well scented, mess of things ...

3 garlic cloves.

A little spa action with the skin peel.

And now all the characters are getting thrown together in the same plot ... I mean ... pot.

Here comes the heroine of the soup story.

Hungarian Paprika.

She's also a bit spicy and mysterious ... but words like "pain" are not associated with this spice.

Add a little wine to the moment and the plot thickens.

Funny tangent ... I was cooking at my friend Beth's house and had called and asked her if that Magnum of chardonnay I saw in her fridge only a couple of days ago had about a 1/2 cup left in it that I could cook with.

Nope.

Lush.

I told her I'd bring over a fresh bottle ... she said she'd drink that too!

The plot thickens ...

Add the rest of the ingredients listed in the recipe and let it simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

And then gets whipped and turned around a bit so you have no idea where it's headed!

Side note/Sub-plot ... I actually had to blend twice ... the volume of the soup was too big for the blender.  So while you may SEE one blender shot ... know that it took two.  And ... because it was hot it sort of exploded (just a little) and got bits of red soup all over the place.  Told you there was drama.

Add the blended soup back to you stock pot ... add the greens ...

then add the hero ...

kah KOW!

Chocolate.

He's smooth and rich, and while a bit bitter, he still absolutely melts with the other characters.

Add a little honey to sweeten it up and cut the acidity.

Sprinkle on the cheese for a nice happy finish!

The End!

CREDITS

Spicy Tomato & Chocolate Soup

from Chestnut Street Inn, Sheffield IL

Yields: Approx. 6-8 Servings

2 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbl Unsalted Butter

1 Onion, Diced

3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

2 Carrots, Peeled and Diced

2 Celery Stalks, Diced

1 Cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Sliced

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste

3 Tbl Harissa (North African Chili Paste)

2 tsps Hungarian Paprika

2 tsps ground Cumin

1 tsp ground Coriander

½-3/4 cup Dry Sherry or White Wine

1-28 oz Can Diced Tomatoes

4 Cups Chicken Broth

¼ Cup Cilantro, Chopped

¼ Cup Italian Parsley, Chopped

3-4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate

2 Tbl Honey or to Taste

Queso Fresco, Goat Cheese or Crème Fraiche to Garnish

1) Heat oil and butter in a stock pot over medium high heat until butter melts.

2) Add onion and sauté until translucent, approx. 5 mins. Add garlic, carrots, celery and sun dried tomatoes.

3) Season with salt, pepper, harissa, paprika, cumin and coriander. Saute for a couple of minute to toast spices and soften vegetables.

4) Add wine and continue cooking on high until all of the liquid has evaporated. Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 45 mins or until the vegetables are tender.

5) Pass soup through a food mill to puree (I used a blender) and remove any large particles. Return soup to pot and place over low heat.

6) Add parsley and cilantro. Add chocolate and enough honey to balance acidity. Adjust seasoning to taste.

7) Serve hot, garnished with queso fresco, fresh goat cheese or crème fraiche.

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Even though breakfast is my favorite food group, I do eat other foods.  For instance, I love fish.  I just don't usually cook them.  If it wiggles, has scales, gills, tales, and ESPECIALLY eyeballs ... I can't see it until it's prepared.  Call me squeamish, but I just can't look my food in the eye.  I know, some day I'll have to face my fear and chop off a fish head and roll some sushi ... but today is not that day.

So that made things real interesting when I received a couple of recipes from Elisse at the Elkhorn Inn in West Virginia.  She refers to her husband, Dan, as Hot Chef.  He's definitely a huntin-fishin-spear-em-up-cook-em-out-on-the-grill type of manly man.  Retired from the US Army and a chef, he's the type that you'd want to be-friend on the show Survivor.  When it comes to smokin, roastin and grillin ... guests from NYC say he can kick Bobby Flay's butt any day.

But I'm a girlie girl.  I can't look my food in the eye.  I was even considering buying a barbie pink grill yesterday ... and unless my foodie friends came over it would probably only see vegetables.  So ... I tackled the one recipe that didn't involve prepping fresh fish or smoking ribs (although I'll love eating them both!).  Pumpkin Mango Soup.

Pumpkin and mango are two ingredients I can handle and I've never had them married together in one dish before ... so this is the dish I tried.  Call it a "brunch" recipe.  It would actually make a great Thanksgiving appetizer so it fits perfectly with the season.

This is a signature dish at the Elkhorn Inn and the ingredients are simple, fresh and it's one of my favorite regional cuisines ... Thai.  Call me a nut for peanuts, but it's pure comfort food for me.

Here's what you'll need ...

2 Cups chicken broth, 2 cups pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 cups mango nectar, 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter, 2 teaspoons rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons minced green onions, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon  crushed red pepper, 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind, 1 garlic crushed garlic clove, and candied ginger for garnish.

There are a lot of ingredients in here that individually are my favs ... ginger, garlic, peanut butter, pumpkin, mango ... so it's gonna be real interesting to mix them all together.  Similar to gathering all your unique friends over for a party ... will they all get along?

Combine the chicken broth, mango nectar and pumpkin puree in a large pot.

(Make sure to get plain pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!)

Mmm.  It's getting steamy.  Can you smell it?  Yum!  And we haven't even added the good stuff yet.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

While it's simmering, you can prep the other ingredients.  Such as chopping your green onions ...

And grating fresh ginger.  Jaden with www.SteamyKitchen.com actually shared this little secret trick with me last weekend when we were playing around in my kitchen.  She had an awesome recipe for wings that had a hint of ginger. And all this time I had been "chopping" my ginger.  Sheesh! What was I thinking?  This was one of those "aaaaaaah" moments where I realized I could save a ton of time AND pull out a lot more flavor.

Take off the skin/bark ..

And then grate.  (I'm gonna try making some ginger tea now with this new little trick.)

Then some orange ...

Now your kitchen should smell fresh and clean ... orange and ginger zest molecules floating all around.

Scoop out about a cup of the soup mixture into a bowl or measuring cup.

Then add in the chunky peanut butter and stir until dissolved.  Add back into the soup pot.

Stir in the rice vinegar ...

green onions ...

ginger and orange ...

red pepper ...

... and garlic.  Just use a garlic smasher and squeeze it right into the pot.

Stir together an let it simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Chop up some fresh cilantro.

Garnish and serve!

This soup was really fabulous.  You can really taste all the flavors ... they DID get along!  First the mango, then the bite of ginger, then creamy peanut, and then a latent heat from the red pepper.  Yum.

Elkhorn Inn's Pumpkin Mango Soup

Ingredients

2 Cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups mango nectar

2 cups pumpkin puree

1/4 cup chunky peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons minced green onions

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 garlic clove, crushed

Garnish:  fresh chopped cilantro, sugared ginger slices, mango slices

Directions

1) Combine chicken broth, pumpkin puree and mango nectar in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

2) In a large cup or bowl, combine 1 cup of the hot pumpkin soup mixture with the peanut butter and stir until well blended, then return mixture to pot.

3) Stir in vinegar and the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 3 minutes until the flavors have blended and it's heated through.  Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Serve with a thin slice of mango and sugared ginger.

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Here in Florida, since the weather stays warm, the only way to know if the season has changed is when the store fronts change their displays.  And since orange and black and purple Halloween stuff is around every corner I turn when shopping ... we must be entering into my favorite season ... FALL!!!  I'm glad all the stores have their stuff out early because the month of October seems to fly by too fast.  I say, better to get started sooner rather than later ... even if it's still 90 degrees out.

Fall brings with it many big festivals to our quaint little town and one I'm really looking forward to this year is the 25th Annual Craft Fair. The sweet smell of kettle corn, funnel cakes and cinnamon brooms.  The buzz of the crowd.  And the many really cool artisan crafts lining the streets.

During our last festival, I had the opportunity to meet Teresa Haun, craftsman artist and creator of Mind's Eye Journals. She stayed at our cottages during Mount Dora's Annual Art Festival and we instantly became buds while sharing travel stories and philosophies on life around a fire pit while roasting marshmallows and making smores.

Teresa resides in Tahoe, but has spent the last year with her husband innkeeping at the Silver Forset Inn located in Montana between art shows. Being an innkeeper has given them both the opportunity to express their creative side in the kitchen mixing ingredients and and flavors.

She's coming back this October and I can't wait!  Teresa recently sent me two of their favorite recipes, and this one below is the perfect thing to wake your senses out of any Halloween-candy-sugar-induced coma you may find yourself in during the coming months.

I trimmed the recipe in half since I was just cooking for two ... however, I have the full recipe at the end of this post.

Here are the players ... full character roll listed at the bottom with the recipe.

Italian seasonings include marjoram, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and basil and are very fragrant. Usually you can find this in a gourmet spice blend. Once you add them to the simmering butter ... the aroma will lure people into your kitchen asking, "whatchya makin'?" Meaning ... "I'm going to get to taste this, right?"

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the spices and crushed garlic.  The garlic crusher takes two hands for me ... it was a big clove ... but no vampires will be lurking around here for Halloween with this recipe for sure!  Set your oven to 350 degrees to start warming up.

Garlic, spices and melted butter ... is anyone hovering over your shoulder making "Mmm" noises yet? I recommend doing this on low heat so that the butter doesn't bubble or burn.

While your waiting, wash your mushrooms and place them in a cake pan or cookie sheet with edges gill side up with the stems removed.

When the butter is fully melted and the spices have simmered for a minute or two,  evenly divide the mixture in all the caps. My baking dish is clear, so it looks like I'm doing this on my counter top.   Bake the caps for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

While your caps are cooking, your ready to start poaching your eggs. "I don't have an egg poacher," you say. No problem! You can poach eggs without an official egg poacher.
Next, add a tsp (maybe a dash more) of white vinegar. This helps the eggs stick together as one piece instead of making a stringy egg drop soup.

My first tip, bring the water to a boil, then turn down the heat so it is more of a simmer and not a rumbling bubbly boil.

And the secret ... crack your eggs into a small bowl and slide the egg from the bowl to the water.  This also helps them stay in one piece as opposed to plopping into some stringy Saturn-shape. Also, if you happen to break the yolk, you won't be dirtying up your water.

The eggs will take about 3 to 5 minute to cook depending on the firmness you like. I would start the process when your caps are almost complete. If you need to, you can add your eggs to an ice bath to stop the cooking process while you're preparing other things. We'll warm them up again in the oven with the mushroom caps.

You can use a slotted spoon to corral the egg when you first slide it into the water. Cover and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.  For this recipe ... be sure not to over-cook the eggs as you're gonna add them to the oven as well.

While your eggs are cooking (and this is going to happen quickly, so don't be like me and wait until the last minute to get your spinach out of the fridge), saute/steam your spinach in another frying pan with a little olive oil and water. This should also only take about 3 to 4 minutes. We'll be flash broiling all the ingredients together in a little bit.

At this point, your caps should be done. Take them out of the oven and switch the temperature on the oven from 350 to Broil.

Arrange your spinach onto oven safe plates and gently slice your mushroom caps onto the spinach.

Next, you'll add the cream. I was a goof and forgot to divide the cream in half when I was reducing the recipe for two people. So ... I have a pint ... and at least I can use what's left over to cream my coffee. If you are baking 4 mushroom caps, then a pint is perfect. If you're only baking two, then a pint will drown them so don't add the whole thing.

Now that my confession is over with ... add two eggs to each cap and then drizzle with a cream.

The cream will blend with the butter, garlic and seasonings and create a rich savory sauce.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan. This is getting good ...

Cover with foil and broil (didn't mean for that to rhyme) for about 3 to 4 minutes.

Just enough for the cheese to melt.

Mmm. Delish. When you remove from the oven, sprinkle with chopped parsley and enjoy!  Be sure to add the plates to a charger for a moment as they will be hot!

Portobello Eggs

Ingredients

2 Portabello Mushroom Caps
1 Garlic Clove
1 tbsp Italian Seasonings
3 tbsp Melted Butter
1 tsp White Vinegar
(not pictured and used for poaching eggs)
4 cups Spinach
(totally forgot this in the fridge come picture time! but it's in the recipe!)
1 pint Heavy Cream
(yeah, I should have reduced this to half ... at least I had some left over cream for my coffee!)
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan
Parsley for Garnish

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Melt the butter, add the crushed garlic and Italian seasonings. Using a cake pan or cookie sheet with edges, place the caps gill side up and without the stem. Equally divide the butter mixture between caps and bake for about 20 minutes. Caps should be cooked but not shriveled ... firm to the touch and just a little light color left. When the caps are done, remove them and cover with foil. Turn the oven up to broil.

3) While caps are cooking, start your poached egg water. It should almost be at a boil, but not rolling bubbling boil. Add a teaspoon of white vinegar to help bind the eggs. Crack the eggs one at a time into a small bowl, and slide the egg from the bowl to the water to poach your eggs. This helps contain the egg better and prevent it from spreading out and getting stringy in the water. The eggs should only take about 4 minutes depending on the firmness desired.

4) In a separate large frying pan, saute/steam your spinach in just a touch of olive oil and a little water.

5) Arrange spinach on oven safe plates. Place 1 cap on each bed of spinach, place 2 eggs on each cap.

6) Drizzle with heavy cream over the whole plate. (this mixes with the butter mixture adn creates a rich sauce) Sprinkle with Parmesan and flash under the broiler, just enough to melt the cheese a little. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve. (I like to "chop" my parsley with kitchen scissors)

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