By way of an explanation of the name of this blog, it's all my husband's doing. Anthony's nickname for me for a very long time has been "food witch". I'm meant to believe this is because I go into the kitchen, scrabble about with pots and pans and POOF out comes something delicious.
I just simply love to cook - I'm certainly no chef and I have no aspirations for a career in a kitchen somewhere. Cooking is a creative outlet and a major source of stress relief for me after a long day at work and being a mom/wife/daughter. My family is all from the Midwest of the US, and like so many cultures around the world, we use food to show love and care for people. Nothing like making someone a pie to show them you care. I have learned to source premium ingredients and to explore varied cuisines, but really I'm still just trying to show people my love for them when I cook.
A Grimoire is a witch's textbook...filled with spells. Anthony thinks I should write a cookbook with the same name...I debated long and hard about a cook book versus a blog - and obviously the blog won. I don't want all of the administrivia and blah blah work blah that is involved in trying to get published. So this blog will be the textbook of good cookery, and hopefully I will learn something about food as I write it. Hopefully as a minimum you'll get a good recipe for brownies out of this exercise.
I hope you are enjoying the blog...I'd really welcome feedback - the deathly silence makes me feel like I'm talking to myself. Maybe that's a good thing. But really - I want to hear what recipes are of interest, what you want to see more of, what you made and how it turned out. In return, I promise to try and figure out how to get pictures working on this damn thing!
To leave you today with a little morsel, here is my recipe for Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding - a British delight which I first discovered here in Australia. It is everything I enjoy in a dessert, and super delicious. Use the very best cocoa you can source, it is the big ticket flavor item in this dessert. Served with some thickened cream, this is comfort food at its finest. For those who use packet mixes, this should very easily replace them forever. It is no more difficult, and infinitely nicer tasting. I promise.
Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding
Cake:
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Method
For the cake, mix the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla and beat until smooth. Pour into an ungreased 8” casserole dish.
Topping:
Ingredients
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 ¼ cups hot water
Method
For topping stir together sugars and cocoa and sprinkle evenly on top of cake mix. Pour over hot water. Do NOT stir. Bake in a 160C oven for 35 – 40 minutes until center is almost set.
I feel terribly guilty as I have been the benefactor of a number of these delicious recipes but only lifted a hand to cook one (oh brownies how I love you!).
ReplyDeleteThis chocolate pudding should come with a warning: you will NEVER, EVER enjoy another chocolate (or perhaps any?) pudding after this one. Really. Absolutely perfect lightness in the cake and very gooey goo. Oh yummy. I would have licked the serving spoon from the sink if someone else hadn't...