How To Construct A Sorbet: Mango Salsa Sorbet

The antidote to too spicy food is diary. If you're mouth is burning off after biting into a pickled jalapeno, follow it with a chug of milk and you'll feel better. I love Tres Leche, a sweet moist cake soaked over night in a creamy milk sauce, to follow spicy dishes. We felt this would be a perfect dessert for Chili night, but needed something exiting to go with it to spice it up. I suggested garnishing it with a mango salsa and my sister immediately said make it a sorbet! The tart and spicy flavor of the sorbet would go wonderfully with the sweet creamy delicate cake.



For the cake, we used my sister's favorite Tres Leche Cake recipe from the Cooks Country magazine. As for the mango salsa recipe, I had to just wing it. I've never used an ice cream maker before, so I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. It seemed simple enough. We just looked up a mango sorbet recipe. From this recipe, we extrapolated a general sorbet recipe consists of:

General Sorbet Recipe

• 3 parts fruit puree
• 1 part simple syrup, chilled

The simple syrup needed to be chilled before making the sorbet, so I did this first and allowed it to chill for about 2 hours.

From the ratio above, I prepared my fruit puree but simply making a mango salsa and processing it in the food processor. The ingredients I used were

• 4 ripe mangoes
• 8 small kiwis (they were very small. I would suggest 4-6 regular sized ones)
• 2 jalapenos, chopped
• 2 green onions, green tops only, chopped
• 2 Tbs chopped cilantro (leaves only, no stems)
• 2 Tbs lime juice
• 1/4 tsp salt

I processed them all in the food processor to form a nice smooth puree. Then, in a ratio of 1:1 I mixed the fruit puree and the simple syrup and poured into the ice cream maker. My sister's ice cream maker says to mix for 90 minutes.



After the 90 minutes, the sorbet was not completely frozen yet. We had four hours before our guests arrived, so we just removed the motor from the ice cream maker and placed the sorbet and machine core into the freezer. We removed it every hour and mixed it with the paddle for a couple of minutes, and by the time of the event, the sorbet was ready to be served with the cake.

We served the sorbet with the Tres Leche cake and garnished each dish with a shaving of lime zest.



**Notes: My sister and I felt the sorbet had too strong of a cilantro taste, so in the ingredients given above, I have cut the suggested amount in half and suggested only using the leaves, as the stems can have a stronger flavor.

Also I linked to a simple syrup recipe which uses a 1:1 ratio of water to sugar which I think might work better. We made our simple syrup with a 2:1 ratio water to sugar and this might have lead to the sorbet not wanting to solidify.

Death Proof Chili

While meat may be a treat for some, for others its just plain icky yuk gross. When making a more traditional tomato based chili, who needs meat when you've got all the beans and veggies and deliciousness to fill up the bowl. So all you cows and chicken out there can breath a sigh of relief cause you've earned another week on the farm. Today we're directing our butcher knives the poblano pepper way. Watch out veggies, you're about to get cooked.



Vegetarian Chili with TVP

• 1 c. tvp
• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers chopped
• 1 Tbs lime juice
• 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1 12 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 2 large poblano peppers
• 1/4 raisins or dried cranberries
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 c. corn, fresh if possible, but frozen will do
• 1-2 oz of dark chocolate
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredient notes: Tvp or textured vegetable protein and nutritional yeast can be bought in the bulk dried foods section at your local health food store or at Whole Paycheck ahem, I mean our evil friend, the Walmart of green living, Whole Foods. I like to use Tvp in my chili because its cheap, easy to make and adds just a bit more texture and protein (especially good for vegans). The only problem with Tvp is, it doesn't taste like anything, so we have to spice it up.
I use nutritional yeast as well as other spices to infuse some flavor into the tvp. Nutritional yeast , a staple for any vegan pantry, comes in handy for making a lot of dishes like vegan mac and cheese. If you don't have nutritional yeast, you can use salt, but the nutritional yeast also supplies a nice nutty flavor.



Rehydrate TVP with a ratio of 1 part hot/boiling water: 1 part tvp. In a bowl, mix dried tvp with nutritional yeast, chili powder and cumin. As we said above, adding spices to the tvp helps give flavor. Boil 1 cup water on stove top or in microwave. Pour boiling water into bowl and stir into tvp. Allow to sit for 15 - 30 minutes until tvp is hydrated.

Saute tvp. Mix hydrated tvp with chopped onion and diced jalapeno. Saute in 1 Tbs of olive oil until crispy. Add lime juice and continue to cook for another minute until lime juice is basically evaporated.



Roast poblano peppers on gas stove top or under broiler until skin is charred. Peel charred skin away and roughly chop into 1/2" squares.



Add tomatoes and cook down. Combine tvp mixture with cans of tomato, chopped poblano peppers and raisins in a soup pot, bring to a boil and lower to simmer until tomatoes cook down about 20 minutes.

Quickly roast corn. If you are using frozen corn, char quickly under broiler while chili is cooking. Place frozen corn on a baking sheet and broil until charred and crispy about 15 minutes. You can skip this step if you want, but the corn will be mushy. Corn on the cob can be quickly roasted over gas burner.

Season chili to finish. Once tomatoes have cooked down, add corn, chocolate and remaining spices. Season to taste. I also add a bit of pomegranate syrup if I feel like the chili needs a bit more sweet.



I like to garnish with a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese and serve with corn bread. Fresh Jalapeno slices and cilantro make an excellent vegan garnish.

No animals where hurt during the making of this dish, except my dog who felt emotionally abused because I wouldn't let her chomp on the corn bread. Oh well.

White Chicken Chili with Coconut and Lime

Though I've heard of white chicken chili, I'd never had it before. It sounded like a good alternative to the tomato based kinds, so I decided to concoct something along these lines for my Chili Night. White chicken chili made me think of tom kha soup, a spicy Thai soup with a coconut lime broth. So instead of researching other recipes to find out what most people considered White Chicken Chili to be, I decided to Americanize tom kah into Tex-Mex. Here's what I came up with.



White Chicken Chili

• 1 large chicken breast, sliced
• 1 large red pepper, sliced
• 1 large green pepper, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced into wedges
• 4-5 limes juiced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1-2 tsp chili powder (depending on taste)
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can white beans
• 3/4 c. frozen corn
• 1 Tbs honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Marinate sliced chicken breast in 1/8 - 1/4 c. fresh squeezed lime juice (2-4 Tbs). Sprinkle with salt, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably 2-3.



In a large bowl mix peppers with onions, 1-2 Tbs olive oil and 2 Tbs freshly squeezed lime juice. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt (not too much) and 1/4 tsp pepper.

On burner, heat cast iron grill over high heat until smoking. Grill vegetables until charred and onions are clear. Remove from heat and set aside.




Grill chicken until just cooked, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.



Place frozen corn on a baking sheet under broiler until charred.

In a soup pot, place chicken with quart of chicken stock, 1 cup of uncooked rice, cumin and chili powder. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer until rice is cooked, approx. 30 minutes.



Add coconut milk, white beans, grilled vegetables and corn. Add 1/4 c. fresh squeezed lime juice and 1 Tbs honey. Season with salt and pepper to taste.



Many guests commented that although they were initially drawn to the lamb chili, the chicken was their favorite. Light and tart, the creamy coconut flavor compliments the acidic lime and a sweetness is brought out of grilled vegetables from the salty chicken base. The white beans and rice qualify this dish for official chili status.

Lamb and Black Bean Chili In Red WIne

As a kid, I always hated Chili. Until my Mom went on a diet. While reading through Cooking Light she came across a low fat recipe of stewing lamb and black beans in red wine and chili powder. My Mom's regular chili was always stuffed with huge gross mealy kidney beans, which I could not stomach. Kidney beans remain one of the few foods I never grew out of disliking. When she served us the new chili recipe, I LOVED it. I guess as a kid I thought kidney beans were what all beans tasted like, and I was surprised by how good the black beans were. This new chili had a thin tart broth with a rich lamb flavor so different from the thick gooey beany chili I hated.



When planning the courses for my supper club events, I always try to pick dishes which fit within the Forkable mindset of dressed up comfort food, made fast and cheap. Because in the cold winter weather, a bowl of hot chili is so relaxing, I thought chili would be a good theme for the next event. The lamb chili immediately popped into my head first because the of the more sophisticated ingredients, the simple and easy recipe and the total comfort and pleasure given from eating this dish.




Lamb and Black Bean Chili

• 1 1/2 lb ground lamb
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1 c. dry red wine
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained
• salt to taste
• hot sauce to taste

In cooking pot, saute lamb, onion and garlic.

Add tomatoes, red wine, and seasonings up to sugar and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for 2 hours.



Add black beans and allow to simmer for 30 more minutes.

Season with salt and hot sauce to taste. Done! Garnish with cilantro and fresh jalapenos.



Nutritional Information
Calories: 293 (22% from fat)
Fat: 7.2g (sat 2.4g,mono 2.8g,poly 0.8g)
Protein: 28.5g
Carbohydrate: 29.9g
Fiber: 4.6g
Cholesterol: 61mg
Iron: 4.3mg
Sodium: 400mg
Calcium: 90mg

Courtesy of: Cooking Light, APRIL 1997

**Murphy's Law of event planning is something always goes wrong. After preparing my lamb stew, I realized the lamb I had gotten was not particularly flavorful enough. The chili lacked the depth of flavor I wanted. I had some lamb bones in the freezer from a leg of lamb. I drained some liquid out of the chili and boiled it for an hour or two with the bones, to increase the flavor. This is the first time I've ever had to augment the flavor to the recipe, but it was a relatively painless fix.

Chili Night Appetizers: Jalapeno Poppers and Roquemole!

I"m super excited about my appetizers for chili night: Jalapeno Poppers and Roquamole! Its guacamole with blue cheese. Come on! Awesome right?


Jalapeno Poppers getting ready to be baked.

I was trying to find something to go along with the Poppers. I was afraid the poppers by themselves weren't enough and I wanted to add something which would make the vegetarians not feel excluded from the fattening decadence. I was asking my sister, who came up with Jalapeno Poppers recipe, for suggestions when she hit with this link.


Image by DC Digitial Photography

Bam. I was sold. Roquamole fits perfectly in with the theme, dressed up comfort food. The Blue cheese will be fancy and fattening with a musky flavor to compliment the smokey flavor of the bacon. (Or be an adequate substitute for the veggies).

My sister kneels at the alter of Nigella Lawson; a signed copy of Domestic Goddess is one of her prized possessions. I haven't made many of her recipes, but I can definitely appreciate her straightforward approach of using a few simple ingredients without a lot of pomp and frill.


Image by Dewet

I love blue cheese of any variety, Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola, Maytag. Its got such a deep salty musky flavor and great color and texture, I think its going to add an interesting dimension to a standard dish.

I can hardly wait to roq out! Can you?

Official Chili Night Menu

Here's the official menu for our next upcoming event on February 22. I totally forgot this night was the same night as the academy awards. No worries, in true Forkable fashion, we're serving comfort food, fancy enough for any red carpet event. We'll have our own Oscar pre-party! You can't get more high falutin' party food then guacamole with blue cheese!

Reserve your spot today!

Our Next Underground Supper Club Event: Chili Night

Chili courtesy of The Greasy Spoon

Its Oscar night, and we're rolling out the Red Carpet in true Forkable fashion with comfort food made fancy. Come drown away the winter blues with warm bowls of chili, interesting conversation and plenty of other fancy snacks. Check out the official menu.


Image by photographer Jim Hejl, Jr, via Allen Boot Blog

Forkable's Red Carpet Chili Night
Sunday, February 22. 6 p.m.

Chili night will include:
3 course prefix meal served family style.
This event is BYOB: Bring your own BOWL!
BYOB: alcohol as well.

Vegetarian Chili Option available.

Reserve your spot today!