Popcorn with Truffe Oil & Parmesan Cheese

One of my favorite restaurants is Blanca in Solana Beach, CA.  For a swanky atmosphere, delicious drinks, and tasteful appetizers this places Happy Hour can't be beat.  One of their offerings that I favor is the Popcorn with truffle salt and Parmesan.  I love popcorn so the addition of truffle oil to a great snack is fantastic. 

So tonight, I did my own take on this delicious appie.

I bought midnight black popcorn at Homegoods for pretty cheap and measured out 1/3 of a cup.

Next I measured out 1/8 of a cup of truffle oil/olive oil.  I didn't want to use all truffle oil because I just couldn't bare to part with that much for one snack, so I did about 1/16 truffle oil and 1/16 olive oil.

That went into a big pot set on high and I dropped in two popcorn kernels.  When the two kernels popped I knew that the oil was ready.

It only took a few minutes for the popcorn to start popping in the pan.  I was at least smart enough to put the cover on so all the kernels didn't pop right out of the pot. While the popcorn was in the pan I grated about 1/4 a cup of Parmesan cheese. 

When the popcorn was finished popping, I put it in a bowl, added some salt and pepper, then the cheese and tossed it around.

 

The popcorn was yummy, but the taste of the truffles was not easy to find.  I think using the dark popcorn masked the truffle flavor a bit.   All in all it was a good snack.



Truffle Oil Pizza

I was craving something crunchy and cheesy for dinner tonight so I decided on making myself a pizza.  I have a little pizza about once per week and they are super yummy.  However, it was even yummier this time because I used truffle oil!  

First, I cut in half whole wheat pita bread. I usually use pita or lavash for my pizzas. Then drizzled it with some truffle oil..yum!

I went into he fridge and grabbed cheeses that I thought would work well with the oil. I ended up using Parmesan, Romano, Feta, and Brie. I found at Trader Joe's mini single serving brie all in their own containers. Obviously I had to have them because they are MINI! Once assembled I sprinkled it with a little dill, salt, and lots of pepper.

I popped her in the oven for about 10 minutes on 350 and voila!

The warm cheeses and the truffle oil all went really well together. Another good supper featuring my new BFF truffle oil!

Truffle Cream Sauce

So last night I needed to make something for dinner, but because of the Holidays our cabinets and fridge were pretty bare.  I did have the ingredients to make a cream sauce so I figured why not make it a truffle one! Here is how I did it:

1. I grabbed my Mastering The Art Of French Cooking Vol. 1 and looked up how to make a roux.  Right there on  page 56 were the basic flour to liquid ratios.  Thanks Julia!

 

2. Then I grabbed the ingredients I figured I'd need.  

• 2 tbs and 1 tsp Flour
• 1 cup Light Cream (that's all I had, otherwise I would've used heavy)
• 2 tbs Truffle Oil
• 1 cup Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Garlic (I decided not to use Garlic because I was afraid it would mask the truffle flavor)
  2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste

 

3.  Next I put the light cream and butter in a sauce pan and melted it on med/low heat.  Once combined I added the flour.

4.  With the flour in there I kept stirring until completely mixed in.  Next I put the cheese, stirred until melted, and then finally the Truffle Oil, stirring all the while. 

5.  Lastly I added salt and pepper to taste and voila it was done!

Adventures in Truffle Oil

Every year for Christmas Chris tries to get me something to do with cooking or baking.  But not just anything, something slightly off the cuff, which  makes it fun and adds to our household collection of utensils, ingredients, and gadgets.  This year one of my food themed gifts was truffle oil.  Chris did A LOT of research on truffles and truffle oil to ensure that I got a quality product that wasn't a 'like' truffle oil sort.  He even got me a book on truffles.  While the book is interesting some of it is WAY over my head. 

With my piqued interest in Truffles I have decided that this month I am going to create 5 recipes that have truffle oil as its ingredient.  Obviously these won't be anything award winning, but it'll be my first attempt to really come up with something edible completely from the ground up.  Plus I'll get to enjoy the buttery taste of truffle oil! 

Wish me luck!

Kiley & the Chocolate Factory



The past three nights here at Doeviswood have been spent producing mass quantities of truffles.  I like to bring something to the people in the office I work closely with and other miscellaneous people (the guy who drives my work shuttle, mail-lady, security guy who lets me in the garage without a key card).  I knew that I had to get the truffles finished and boxed before my husband got home because he likes to sneak anything sweet that I make and then lie about it. 

I made a bunch of different kinds using the most fattening ingredients available.  I also refuse to use the wilton  melting chocolate because my mom trash talks it, so I struggle with chocolate bars, which are not for candy making.  Nonetheless they came out yummy.  I also did some with chocolate peppermint cookie centers a la Bakarella's cake balls. 



I wrapped them up in some boxes I got on super clearance last year and voila they are ready to go.



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Cute & Easy Christmas Craft

Cupcakes are super chic and have been for the past couple years.  This fits in nicely into my life because I love to bake and decorate them.  I saw this tutorial on one pretty thing by way of bake it pretty and had to try it.  I sent it over to Michelle and she had already seen it, printed it, and decided to make some for people on her list.  We decided we are going to have these be our activity for Friday's girls night.  When searching for the materials the full size cup cake papers just seemed a bit big for my taste so I decided to do mini ones.  I love anything miniature. 

I think this one came out pretty darn cute!

Getting back into the groove

Since we've gotten back from our honeymoon I've had a tough time getting into any projects. I've been looking online for something that strikes my fancy and so far nada. Today I was browsing on How About Orange and saw a few camera strap covers.  In the past this was on my 'to do list', but it never happened.  I decided tonight to whip up a quick one.  It took me all of 10 minutes start to finish.  The hardest part was getting the strap through the cover.  

Sofie doesn't really have demon eyes

Oh yeah...and I spent two hours tonight making a dress.  This was the second time I've tried to read and follow a pattern.  The dress is not done, but its about 80% there.