Chocolate Cream Pie

“You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day where nothing is certain-- and when I say noting, I mean nothing—you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. Its such a comfort.”
 --Quote from the movie “Julie and Julia”, during a scene in which Julie Powell is making a chocolate cream pie after a rough day at work.    

Chocolate Cream Pie
(The original recipe calls for a chocolate wafer crust, but I changed it to include a graham cracker crust, like the one in the above-mentioned movie)

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter melted
1/4 cup sugar

Pie Filling:

1 cup sugar

½ cup flour

3 cups whole milk

3 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped

4 egg yolks

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

2 to 3 cups whipped cream (sweetened to taste if homemade)

Serves 8 - 10
Set oven to 350°F.

Directions:

Pre-Make The Crust:

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar until all the crumbs are moist.  Mixture should be crumbly.   Transfer mixture into an 9-inch pie pan and press the mixture evenly to the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Bake crust 7 to 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Filling:

1. In a 3 quart sauce pan, combine the flour, sugar, and milk. Whisk together. Add chopped chocolate. Over medium-high heat, whisk the mixture until chocolate melts and mixture gets thick and bubbly (between 5 and 10 minutes). Remove from heat. 

2. Using a ladle or large serving spoon, slowly drizzle about ½ cup of the mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly as you go, to temper he eggs and avoid scrambling them. 

3. Add the yolks and chocolate slowly to the saucepan, whisking constantly. Blend well. Return saucepan to heat and allow it to bubble up and simmer for about 2 minutes, or until nice and thick. It should be about the consistency of a smooth, pourable cake batter.  

4. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract. Pass mixture through a strainer into a bowl, to ensure it is smooth with no clumps. 

5. Pour into pie shell, scraping the bowl well with a rubber spatula. Cover with plastic wrap, allowing the plastic to touch the surface of the chocolate, to prevent a “skin” from forming. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Whipped Cream Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In an electric mixer with a whisk attachment (or using a bowl with an electric hand mixer) whip together the cream, sugar and vanilla on a medium-high speed, until peaks begin to form.  Spread topping evenly over pie, or pipe it on to create a design. You can also garnish the pie with chocolate shavings, loose graham cracker crumbs, or chopped nuts.

Dad's Chicken-Fried Pork Chops

 

Our family would have pork chops probably once a week, or at least once every 2 weeks.   We always used pork SHOULDER chops.  They had better flavor because of their good fat marbling. They tended to come out more scrumptious—crispy fat, and tasty meat.  Other cuts would often be too thick or too dry and tough, because the center of the meat was so un-marbled and dense. The ones we selected were often oblong, and we would cut them in half either before or after cooking. We almost never used any other cut. 

Dad's Chicken-Fried Pork Chops

Ingredients:

2 to 4 pork shoulder chops, about ½ inch thick

2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup corn starch

Salt and pepper to taste

Enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet

Directions:

1.        Heat a heavy bottom skillet between medium and medium-high heat (cast iron is best).  Cover bottom of pan with oil.  

2.       Place the flour and corn starch in a container large enough to hold a pork chop.   Blend the 2 dry ingredients together thoroughly.   Corn starch helps to create layers and a more crispy crust.   

3.       Roll the raw pork chops in the flour/corn starch mixture, until well coated.  Set aside on a plate or other safe surface to rest.  This will let the flour stick to the meat better.  

4.       Place flour-coated chops in the hot skillet and allow to cook for 5 to 7 minutes.   Do not move or lift the chops during this time.   Some people believe it will prevent sticking, but this is not true.  Moving the chops too soon will cause the soft flour to peel away from the meat and stick to the pan.   You should allow the flour to turn into a crispy skin before you move the meat.  

5.       When edges of the chops are golden-brown, flip them over.  Cook an additional 5 to 7 minutes.  If additional cooking time is needed for a slightly different cut of chop (thicker, etc.), please do so.  Look for signs that the meat is done—both sides should be golden brown and NO pink or red juices (or under-cooked blood which looks thick and white/pale grey) should be seeping from the meat.  Center of meat should be firm.  Bottom should be golden brown.  

6.       When chops are done, remove from the pan and transfer to a paper towel to drain.   Serve with your favorite sides like:

Mashed Potatoes:

http://melissavalentineskitchen.blogspot.com/2014/01/creamy-mashed-potatoes-my-familys-way.html 

 

Milk Gravy: 

http://melissavalentineskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/12/dads-milk-gravy-recipe.html

Homemade Ice Cream - Two Ingredients

The best part about this recipe is that is so simple and versatile.   You can add a million things to it, to customize it to what you want it to be.   This honestly is just a simple base, and for those of you who like and easy, soft serve, this is wonderful on its own.   But for those of us who enjoy being creative, or want to let the kids have some fun, I have included some flavor ideas at the bottom of the page, just to get you started.   But I’m sure after reading those, you will be flooded with your own ideas.    The sky is the limit!  You can also put this recipe into an ice cream maker if you have one, but if you don’t, the container method works great too.   

Homemade Ice Cream - Two Ingredients

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream (600ml or 20 oz)

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk (400ml)

Directions:  

*  If using an ice cream machine, you do not need to whip the heavy cream.  Simply combine both liquids and place in the machine.  

1.        Pour the heavy cream into a large bowl.   Beat with an electric mixer on high speed, until stiff.  

2.        Add the sweeten condensed milk to the cream.   Fold everything together with a rubber spatula until well combined.   

3.        Transfer mixture into a Tupperware container with a tight sealing lid.  Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours, but overnight is best.   Serve.  
   

Flavor Ideas (after freezing): 

1.  Accessorize your ice cream with nuts, sprinkles, your favorite syrups, shell chocolate, etc.   
2.  Place between 2 cookies for an ice cream sandwich.

Other Flavor Ideas (before freezing): 

1.       Replace the sweetened condensed milk with the same amount of something else that is equally thick, sweet and flavorful-- like strawberry preserves, chocolate sundae topping (the kind in a jar is best), etc.  

2.       If making the chocolate version, dissolve some instant coffee crystals in a few tablespoons of hot milk and add to the ice cream mixture.   Toss in some chopped almonds, and you have “mocha almond fudge”!  Or skip the coffee and add marshmallows for “rocky road”. 

3.       Crumble in a bunch of Oreos for “cookies and cream”. 

4.       Chop up your favorite candy bar and mix it in.   Then partially fold in sundae topping caramel (the kind from a jar).  Only fold in until there are thick caramel swirls, then stop stirring and freeze.  
 

Be creative and have fun!

Dad's Fried Rice

My Dad not only spent some time on R&R traveling in Asian countries during his tour in Vietnam, where he learned a few things. But he also worked as a cook in a place called “The Straight” during his young adult years. That place served a little bit of everything, from traditional American favorites to Mexican food, to Chinese. He learned a lot of cooking basics there. So he actually knew how to make some tasty fried rice. One thing-- not everybody adds drained bamboo shoots or water chess nuts to fried rice, but Dad LOVED them and always put those in. That’s how he learned it. So I’m proud to share his recipe here:

Dad’s Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken, beef or pork, cut in small cubes and sautéed until done

4 cups cooked medium to long grain white rice (cold or leftover, DO NOT use freshly made)

Sweet peas 1 cup or 1 can, drained

Green onion 8 talks, thinly sliced

1 can (about 8oz) water chess nuts, drained

1 can (about 8oz) bamboo shoots, drained

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 large carrot cut in small cubes

Salt, pepper to taste (white pepper is traditional)

Garlic 2 cloves

3 eggs, whisked together

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions:

Use the largest pan or wok you own (12 to 14 inch is best), and do not over crowd it.

1.        Heat oil over high heat, swirl around in pan. 

2.        Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and onion. Stir, let it sweat about 15 to 30 seconds. Add carrots, cook until tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the other vegetables (except peas), fry for a few minutes.   

3.        Move all ingredients to one side of the pan.  Pour eggs into the cleared space in the pan and scramble them until they are almost completely cooked but slightly soggy, about 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Gently blend with vegetables.

4.        Add meat and peas, mix well, but gently. Followed by rice. Stir and toss everything together between each addition.  Use your spatula to break up rice clumps. 

      Add soy sauce, salt, pepper and stir. Be sure to stir everything quickly until the rice is well coated and colored (some bits of white here and there is fine). Everything should be heated through. This should take about 5 minutes.   Add extra oil if the pan is too dry.  But not too much, and reduce the heat so nothing will scorch. Taste while adding flavors, to make sure you have the right amount of seasonings to your liking.    

6.        Remove from heat. Serve hot.