Peacocks, Ponds and Iron Chef Cooking

Last Saturday my friends and I went to a beautiful outdoor location called La Vega to have and iron chef-like cookout. The place was gorgeous and I didn't even see half of it. The pond, the birds, the caimans (an alligator like creature), the huts. This is my first time to La Vega primarily because I've never wanted to make the drive, it's a long, long, looonnnnnnng drive and I have no sense of direction what-so-ever. I'm very glad I made the drive this time around though.

I will say though I cannot live in a time without indoor everything; plumbing, cooking, etc. I will make a horrible camper of the tent variety. I survived this day and had fun and this place had electrical outlets for us to use but having to walk to the wash area to wash up multiple times in preparing the meal was a hassle. I can live without a dishwasher, no problem but I like having a sink and everything else right there.

The cookout between our two teams each choosing their own secret ingredient from which we had to create three dishes and we had to incorporate the other teams secret ingredient in at least one dish. We created our own Iron Chef rule for equality sake and also easy shopping, we were outdoors and the only pantry is the stuff we brought. It was a friendly competition between friends so we had no problem sharing anything that was needed. Our team's secret ingredient plantains and the other team's ginger.

In true Iron Chef tradition the ice-cream makers came out. Yes we made plantain ice-cream.

 in the cup plantain ice-cream

I will confess it was not my idea but I do wish that it was, it tasted good. It had a slight figgy taste I would say, and was more savoury than sweet but I love it. The other team made ginger ice-cream which was also delicious. I love ice-cream and many of us myself included grew up with home-made ice as a regular addition to Sunday, I haven't had that in a long time so it was really good to enjoy it again (even if it was Saturday).

 getting ready for the judges

The other team made coo-coo, a ginger pork that was delicious and a ginger fish (coo-coo goes best with fish, one reason it is very popular for Good Friday). Our team made plantain tempura served with sorrel sauce on a bed of salad and moussaka (we switched out the eggplant for plantain), the was also a warm sauce to compliment the dishes.

 the plantain tempura

Everything was prepared on site so I can cross the cooking and baking over an open fire off my bucket list. There are no pictures of that since I was too busy cooking but I nearly burned of my eyebrows a couple times.

After the cooking it was a great day I got to hang out with a few friends I don't see that often and the whole place was beautiful. I kept trying to get pictures of the caiman but all I got were their air bubbles as they were going back down. I did get some of the peacocks though with their offspring.

Going to end this post with a photo dump.

I have no idea how I took this with my phone, the ripple in the middle was a caiman. The birds kept flying over

male and female look at their tails

trying to figure out presentaion

Tiramisu Brownies for a BBQ

Last Friday my friends and I had a night BBQ, I was asked to bring potato salad but I wanted to do a little extra so I decided to make brownies also since I had discovered a new brownie just a couple weeks before and have been looking for an excuse to make them.

Tiramisu brownies have a brownie bottom and a tiramisu top and is all round amazing. I made a few small changes in my recipe as opposed to the original for my own convenience. The brownie called for cake flour but I don't use a lot of cake flour and didn't want to have to go through the expense of buying a bag and having the rest waste. I measured out all purpose flour, sifted it a couple times and then measured it out again, I took 2 tablespoons out of the cup of AP flour and that is my substitution for cake flour.

The recipe also called for 8 oz mascarpone and 8 oz cream cheese. I have bought the 8 oz of mascarpone before but I couldn't find it that weekend only the 1 pound containers and bigger so I decided to go all mascarpone leaving out the cream cheese, tiramisu is mascarpone anyway. I would not suggest the opposite though, going all cream cheese although that could be cheesecake brownies, it anybody tries that I want to know about it.

I don't drink so I've had that flask of rum for a while so I wasn't sure it was good or not but it was. The rum is mixed with the coffee. The written recipe I used called for rum but the one I am sharing at the end doesn't, I just used couple tablespoons.

I melted my dark chocolate chips in the microwave at 10 seconds intervals, stirring in between I do not really have the patience for the double boiler technique for such a small amount.

My sister did not think the brownie was sweet enough although she loved it, so if you like super sweet feel free to add more sugar, or use your own brownie recipe that you love just add the filler.

 don't forget to leave some batter for the top

 I forgot to take a picture of plopping the brownie batter over the mascarpone batter and swirling it in.

 Do not leave in warm oven to avoid cracks.

The recipe is from Barista Prima coffee that I got from a friend and can be found on my baking addiction's blog.

Tiramisu Brownies

May 14th, 2013

YIELD: 24 servings

PREP TIME: 30 minutes

COOK TIME: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

For the Brownie Batter

12 oz. chocolate chips
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 cup cake flour

For the Mascarpone Topping

8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
4 egg whites
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 package soft ladyfingers
1 cup Barista Prima Coffeehouse Italian Roast coffee, brewed

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth and leave it to cool. Heat the oven to 350°F. Line a 13″ x 9″ baking pan with parchment paper. Add chocolate to a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment on. Beat in the butter followed by 1 cup of sugar and the 4 eggs and 4 egg whites. Add the flour and mix on low speed until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan minus 1 cup of the brownie batter. Lay the ladyfingers upside down on top of the batter, and push down slightly. Brew 1 Barista Prima Coffeehouse Italian Roast K-Cup pack. Using a pastry brush, carefully brush the Barista Prima Coffeehouse coffee over the ladyfingers until they are saturated.

2. In another bowl, combine the mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup of sugar, 4 egg whites and vanilla extract. Spread topping over ladyfingers over ladyfingers. Place spoonful of brownie batter on top of the creamy filling and swirl it lightly with a toothpick or knife.

3. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is almost set and brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in the pan before slicing it.

I'm linking up with Bobbi over at Revolution of Love for her Pinterest Party and Link-up, head on over and check it out.