Ace!'s Recipe Thread!

[Ace!]

Someone asked for my recipes from last night's dinner, so I thought I'd bring this back and share with the world. Anyone else who wants to share, please feel free!



Here you go, guys! Last weekend I substituted the chili powder for two ground chipotle peppers and half a ghost chili. You can easily start with the chili as a base and amp it up however you want. Make sure they're dry, though!


* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup unsweetened, non-alkalized cocoa powder
* 2 cups water
* 2 tablespoons New Mexico medium ground red chile (Dixon is best)
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
* 1/2 cup buttermilk
* 2 large eggs at room temperature


For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the center of the oven. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment or waxed paper. Lightly dust the sides of the pans with flour, tapping out the excess.

For best results, use a mixer with a wire whip attachment. Combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa and beat on low speed until well mixed.

In a medium saucepan, cook 1 cup of the water with the chili powder over medium heat until simmering. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Add the softened butter to the dry mixture and beat thoroughly on medium-low speed. The mixture should be grainy. Raise the speed to medium and gradually add the remaining cup of water and the buttermilk. Add the eggs on at a time, beating well after each addition.

Slowly add the hot water/chile mixture and continue to beat just until well combined--be sure not to overbeat. Pour the mixture into the pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centers of the cake comes out clean.


So there you have it! It's essentially a regular chocolate cake, with chili water in place of half the water of the recipe. If you remove the chili you have a great, homemade chocolate cake!

[Fang]

Wait so...

Mix in an extra bowl with no lining on the sides, and then pour the mixture into the cake pans?

Also what's with the chili powder?

[Ace!]

... That's how you make a cake, Fang! Mix it up, pour it into the pans.

And the chili powder is what makes the cake truculent.

[Fang]

I am not good at cooking yet!

[Ace!]

That's okay! None of us were at one time!

[M_B]

Chili...Cake?

[Kingpun]

chilli chocolate is cool. sounded odd as hell at first though, its so weird you have to try it though right

[Ace!]

It's a wonder and a joy. I wanted to make some for Baconfat, but we had five pies in the house tonight. I don't really think we need a cake on top of all that.

[ploppy]

this cake is the bees tits

[mobilisq]

well yeah capsaicin brings out the flavor in anything

[Ace!]

Carrot Ginger Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (make sure it's fresh off the root!)
3 cups vegetable stock (I used boullion cubes and it was fine)
2 1/2 lbs carrots, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander (I used other green herbs and it was fine, but this may be better)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, deep saucepan. Saute the onion and ginger over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the onion softens.

2. Add the stock and chopped carrots. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the carrots are tender enough to split with a spatula or other instrument.

3. Process the soup in small batches in a blender until smooth (you can probably also use a food processor or, if you're industrious, a fork). Return to the saucepan and add more stock/water until the consistency is what you desire.

4. Warm over low-medium heat and add in salt, pepper and herbs to taste.

There you go! This soup is really, really easy and the flavor is incredible. Easily the highlight of last night.


Potato Tortilla (more like Fritatta)

1 lb 2 oz. potatoes, scrubbed and left unpeeled, then cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
1/4 olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced (I used a Maui onion and it was awesome)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley (again, I used regular green herbs, you can play with this)
6 eggs
1 teaspoon sea salt (more might be required, as this came out a little bland in the end)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (see sea salt)

1. Put the potatoes in a deep saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 5 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan (I used the same one I used for the potatoes, putting the potatoes in a seperate bowl). Saute the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, or until the onion softens.

3. Add the potato and parsley/herbs and stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes, gently pushing the mixture into the bottom of the pan.

4. Crack the eggs into a bowl and mix with the salt and pepper. Whisk together. Pour the mixture evenly over the potatoes. Cover the pan and cook over low-medium heat for 20 minutes. You can serve this directly from the pan or you can slide it on a plate (but seriously, use the pan).

PROTIP: I added cheese to the egg mixture because, seriously, no cheese? What the fuck, right?


Ginger Snaps




2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar (I used ginger sugar instead of cinnamon sugar)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl. (I only used one bowl and I sifted with my hands. Just jump on in there and mix it all up with your fingers until it's an even brown color and there are no chunks of powder)

3. (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS! I put the wet ingredients directly into the dry, so I didn't cream my butter and sugar together, so the cookies were thinner and crisper instead of thick and chewy)

Place the butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the wet mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar (I used ginger sugar instead), and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

These cookies are incredible.

[Ace!]

The ginger snaps are even better this morning! They actually snap and the ginger sugar mix I rolled the dough balls in is really burning my tongue. They're fantastic.

[Alceste]

These look absolutely delicious. Soon as the snow lets up and I can get to the store I'm going to try to make some of these. I'm thinking the soup first. Mmm.

[Ace!]

The best part is how easy all of these really were. I did them all at once, and two of the three were for the first time, so it took me about two hours total, but next time it'll be less than one for the three. While the carrots are boiling, prep the fritatta. While the fritatta is cooking, make the cookies. One hour, tops.

I'm now on to cook every Wednesday in this house, so expect weekly updates to this thread! That is, if no one else adds anything.

[Ace!]

So, I made shortbread again. And I've found the perfect recipe.

Simple Shortbread

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
4 oz (1 stick) room temperature butter

That's it. Seriously. That's all.

First, cream your butter. You do this by mashing the butter with a spoon as you pour the sugar in. You can also just use your hands, which is a lot more fun. Then add the flour and knead until you have a crumbly looking dough that's not actually crumbly.

Press down onto a pan, but leave space around the edges for it to expand into. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes

BAM. Shortbread.

Now comes the fun part. Plain shortbread is so boring. So add something to the mix. As your dough is coming together, add an additional ingredient. Flowers work very well. So far I've tried lavender, chamomile, anise and, of course, ghost chilies. Make sure you grind the flowers down to a powder, or at the very least crush them up into pieces to unlock the flavor. The first time I tried the chamomile it was barely noticeable because I didn't get the scent and flavor going beforehand. Lavender is still the best I've tried, as it's quite unique. There's not really a flavor as much as a smell, one you feel inside your mouth and nose. It's so soothing and relaxing.

Tonight I put rosemary into my shortbread and it worked marvelously. I think next time I'll lessen the amount of sugar a bit, as it was a little too sweet and I really wanted more savory, but it was still quite good.

I'm thinking about candying some bacon and making rosemary bacon chocolate chip cookies next.