Taste, Creativity & Design.. that's what I love about food!

Wednesday

Chipotle Sauce


I can still smell the salt air and feel the mist of the ocean as the speed of the boat swept across the waves on our trip to Catalina. 

It was a beautiful weekend.. undoubtedly easy to come by on any day on the island! 
It started at the hotel Queen Mary, where we stayed for our Anniversary and then we head out for Catalina by a charter boat, looking forward to having some fun in the sun and eating our fare share of the local fish delicacies! I have to say, my husband is a sea food aficionado! As a young man he worked at the oyster bar in some of the best sea food restaurants like The Chart House and Bobby Mc Gee's. So on our quest for a light lunch we walked and walked till we were satisfied with the menu for a perfect fish taco.

The fish for taco's can be made in a myriad of ways. Many establishments bread and fry them, some use a batter and some cook them fresh on the grill. We really like to taste more fish then anything in our taco so we opted for no batter, just the simplicity of the grilled fish. 
In addition to the fish, we had our tacos with shredded cabbage, tomatoes, avocado's and Chipotle Sauce!! The sauce, in my opinion, makes it or breaks it when it comes to flavor! 

With the memory of those fish tacos, on the sweetest day and at the loveliest location, I set out to re create a chipotle sauce that would satisfy our desire to relive our Catalina weekend experience.

Chipotle Sauce


Ingredients
½ cup Mayonnaise
½ cup Greek Yogurt
2 large Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce (reserve sauce if needed)
Juice of ½ a Lemon (use more as desired)
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar
½ tsp. Honey
4 Sprigs Cilantro leaves 
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Tools
Food processor, blender or mortar and pestle. Strainer

Directions
Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender, adding salt and pepper to taste. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Keep in jar in refrigerator. 
Keeps for 2 weeks 








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Double Dark Chocolate Cake | Gluten and Grain Free



My tattered red checkered cookbook by Good Housekeeping has proved to be my baking companion even when transforming a cake from a gluten based to a grain free. You can't go wrong with the classics! 

I really only changed a few things here in this recipe, I used my special blend of all-purpose Paleo KUWL Flour, changed the sugars, added dark chocolate chips, and doused the cake on top with lots and lots of shaved dark chocolate. 


Double Dark Chocolate Cake | Gluten and Grain Free

Ingredients
2 c. all all-purpose paleo flour
1 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. Butter or Margarine, Softened
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. honey
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. low-fat buttermilk
¾ c. dark chocolate chips
Dark chocolate block for shaving


Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. 
Butter a Bundt pan and dust the inside with cocoa powder, set aside.

On a sheet of waxed paper, combine paleo flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. 
In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter, brown sugar and honey until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to medium-low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat just until batter is smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared Bundt pan. 
Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. 

Cool in pan on wire racks 10 minutes. 
Invert onto wire rack and let cool to room temperature, 
then dust with a generous amount of dark chocolate shavings.


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