Tagged with marx foods

Zucchini Bread

When my boyfriend was growing up, he had a neighbor that grew zucchini. Every year he would bring over a basket of zucchini and Dan’s mom would make some zucchini bread for him in return. This recipe for zucchini bread comes from his family and has been been tested and approved through all the years. This recipe makes two larger loaves, though sometimes I opt to make half in loaf format and half in muffins, or just halve the recipe to make one loaf. Sometimes I top the bread with a sugar glaze, granola, or nuts.

Last Sunday we went to Hollins Farm to pick fruits and vegetables, including zucchini. Truthfully, I picked five small zucchini (about the size of my finger) just for their squash blossoms. After harvesting the squash blossoms, I grated the zucchini and had just enough for one loaf of bread. Waste not, want not!

Update: This bread always go so fast, so I originally published this post with Instagram photos with the promise of updated pictures and an attempt at zucchini bread with pineapple or dried fruit in it to make this bread perform double duty. I’m happy to report that I was forced to improvise this version recently when I was short a ½ cup of zucchini and 1 egg. I added in ¼ cup pineapple, ¼ pineapple juice, and a couple handfuls of dried pineapples and walnuts. The batter was looking a little thin so I added a couple spoonfuls of Crunchy Biscoff Spread before popping them into muffin liners and topping with granola, banana chips, and chia seeds to make them “healthier”. I tasted one and they were incredibly moist and delicious even two days later. This version is great, but some people hate nuts or pineapple in their baked goods, so know your audience well.

French Silk Chile Chai Chocolate Pie

My dad is one of those people that says you’re supposed to eat hot foods when it’s hot outside. I think he just wants an excuse to eat hot bowls of noodles all year round! The weather in Washington DC has been sweltering recently, which I actually enjoy–I’m always cold so I love when I can finally wear dresses and shorts without goose bumps.

This recipe is a combination of cold and hot, as part of Marx Food’s Fire on Ice Chile Recipe Contest.

Update: I brought this pie in to work and everyone loved it — they actually liked it better without knowing there was chile powder in it since it was a surprise. They also were amazed I made my own chile powder! The contest is now open for voting, so if you like this recipe or wanted to see the other entries, please head over there now to vote. 

I recently was on vacation in Vancouver and Seattle where it was a balmy 50-70 degrees. At one of the many coffee and tea shops I stopped by, I got a house-made chai made with fresh ground ginger and cayenne. That unique and delicious drink is part of the inspiration of this recipe. This recipe for French Silk Pie has been in my boyfriend’s family for years and I thought it was time for a new twist. This pie is usually served for birthdays or holidays in a normal pie crust.

I used a combination of homemade chile powder and chile syrup to get the subtle heat I wanted in this cool, rich dessert. The chile powder is a combination of dried habanero, japone, ancho, guajillo,  pequin, and cascabel peppers. The peppers range from mild to hot and savory to slightly sweet, so I combined them all for a complex, multi-dimensional chile powder by following Marx Food’s directions on how to make your own chile powder. I only have a sesame seed grinder and food processor, so I used the processor since it’s used for my pie crust as well.

I added a ½ teaspoon chile powder to the crust and the chocolate filling and also added ½ teaspoon chai cocoa powder to temper the spice. If you don’t have chai cocoa powder, you can use regular cocoa powder or just decrease the amount of chile. If the heat is too much, omit the chile simple syrup (1 guajillo chile, rehydrated, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, simmered together) and add more whipped cream.

Go check out all the other entries in the Fire on Ice Contest over at Marx Foods! Thanks again to Marx Foods for the great Chiles, I have many more plans for them, including chili oil!


Note: I was given the chiles free of charge from Marx Foods, though all thoughts and recipes are my own.

Chai Chocolate & Coconut Cardamom Rice Pudding(s)

So you remember how I told you that one of my favorite foods is rice? Well one of my favorite things to do with rice is make rice pudding.

Growing up, we would take whatever rice was left in the rice cooker after dinner, add milk and sugar and nuke it in the microwave until it was nice and hot. For some, rice pudding can be polarizing. My dad thinks that it is blasphemous to make this meal staple sweet instead of savory; my boyfriend hates the consistency. I, on the other hand, love rice pudding so much that I visited a rice pudding restaurant with my sister when we visited New York City.

These two rice puddings combine some of my favorite flavors, especially with the crunchy, chewy topping. Since my family and friends are all lactose-sensitive, I opted to make this rice pudding dairy free. The flavor that the almond milk imparts onto the rice, blended with the warm spices of cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, chai, and chocolate make something really special. I also used a special chai-cocoa powder I picked up when I visited San Francisco a while ago to deliver the chocolate punch, so this pudding is full of memories for me.

Trust me when I say this this pudding is as fun to look at as it is to eat! It is lighter than most other puddings I’ve tried since it is non-dairy. Which just means you can have a bigger serving ^_^.

Again, thank you to Marx Foods for the delicious Italian Organic Integrale Rice, and thank you all who voted me in to Round 2 and made it possible for me to create this delicious dessert. Please check out the other entries in Round 2, they all look delicious! Good luck to The DelGrosso Food Blog, Cookistry, Girl in the Little Red Kitchen, Oh Cake, Chez What?, Food for Thought, The Upstart Kitchen, Great Outdoors Cooking, Creative Cooking Gluten Free, and me of course.

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Chinese Roast Pork Integrale Risotto

A few weeks ago I entered to be part of Marx Food‘s The Integrale Gauntlet. At first I was very intimidated by the title, but that’s probably because I’ve been watching a bit too much medieval-themed TV shows recently. The more I read about the “Gauntlet”, the more excited I became. This challenge is “all about rice”, one of my favorite foods!

After I entered the gauntlet, I was sent one kilo package of Italian Organic Integrale Rice — my mission was to make an original savory risotto.

Though rice is one of my favorite foods, I’ve only made brown rice a few times and risotto only once. Ashamedly, the one time I did make risotto was from one of those instant risotto packets back when I was in college. I’ve always been intimidated of risotto–the care and attention it takes, as well as the reputation it has for being so easy to “do poorly” or “just wrong.”

Luckily, Marx Foods has a good framework that broke down the process into general steps, noting when embellishments could be added. Using their steps as a guide, I formulated a recipe using some of my favorite flavors and inspired by a recent trip to a new dim sum restaurant nearby.

I chose to make a risotto with shiitake mushrooms, ginger, water chesnuts, pickled cucumbers, cilantro, scallions, and char siu (chinese roast pork). The end result was something that was creamy and rich with the taste of good memories though balanced with acidity and crunch from the vegetables.

For my first time making risotto from scratch, I was quite proud of myself. This is a great healthier version of risotto with it being organic and brown, and it has the added bonus of being a one pot meal!

This dish paired well with a deep red wine we picked up at the local store; the flavor of the wine helped cleanse between bites of the risotto since the char siu was quite fatty. I used about 2 cups (my rice cup measures 180ml) and had generous dinner and lunch portions the next day for two people.

Cast your vote!

This recipe has been deemed a "hit at home" and is one of the tastiest recipes on Hapa-tite!

A Salty Adventure

Hawaiian Sea Salts: Red & Pink

Last month I saw a tweet from Marx Foods about a photography challenge they were having for salt. I told them I was interested and I received 5 samples of cooking and finishing salts: Hawaiian Red Salt, Hawaiian Pink Salt, Ginger Salt, Espresso Salt & Flor de Sal. I was tasked to create two photographs: one of just salt, and the other of a finished dish that shows the salt well.

Immediately, the dish kālua pig popped into my head. I’m in the process of planning a vacation with my family and my sister’s Girl Scout troop to Hawai’i, so Hawai’i has been on my mind. We intend to have a “Hawai’i Day” next spring before going on the trip to expose the girls to the food and culture of Hawai’i so they don’t experience culture shock when they land on the island.

Kālua pig is one of the most popular dishes in Hawai’i, and is featured everywhere from the diner-style mix plate lunches locals eat midday, or the elaborate luau feasts held for special occasions (or tourists). It’s also one of the hardest dishes to find on the mainland, especially the east coast! We usually bring our kālua pig with us from Hawai’i on the plane, frozen, or have it shipped to us from the islands.

But, seeing the Hawaiian red & pink salt in the package from Marx Foods reminded me that the only ingredients in kālua pig are pig and Hawaiian sea salt. I then began to research how to recreate a mini imu in my oven at home. It seemed that all the recipes were for larger pieces of meat, and varied on temperature and time.

I settled on a 1.75 piece of pork butt and cooked it at 350 for  2 hours and 45 minutes. I cut 1/4 inch deep slices every inch and rubbed it with 2 tablespoons of a mixture of red and pink Hawaiian salt and 2 tablespoons of liquid smoke. I wrapped the pork with banana leaves secured with toothpicks and then wrapped with aluminum foil. I set it in a small baking dish and then put it in a larger dish. I added 2 cups water in the outer dish and set in the oven. I took the pork out after 2 hours to check on it, added 45 more minutes and 1 more cup of water around the dish. After 2:45 the pork was perfectly tender and easy to shred with 2 forks. I would suggest serving this dish hot and fresh. If you have leftovers, sprinkle with water before heating up or serve with a sauce to add some moisture back in. I ate some with rice and some red chile tortillas for lunch.

Flor de Sal, Ginger, and Espresso Salts with Milk Chocolate Caramels

In my excitement to make this dish, I forgot that all of the beautiful salt would dissolve when cooking! I then used the other three salts on some milk chocolate caramels and shared them with my friend Stephanie.

The ginger salt was surprisingly very strong and spicy flavored. After eating the caramels, the spice lingered in the back of our throats for a while. The espresso salt was a tad milder and sweeter than the ginger salt. The flor de sal was strong and straight-forward and paired perfectly with the sweet chocolate and gooey caramel.The salt granules were softer and smaller than the other two flavors, so the salt was easier to mix with the chocolate and caramel while tasting.

While we were tasting pork and caramels, we also decided to try the new Top Chef: Just Desserts truffles from Godiva that I had picked up over the weekend.

From top left, clockwise: Acai Berry – Dark chocolate ganache layered with acai, rose, and berry ganache in a dark chocolate shell decorated with a red heart; Passion Fruit – White chocolate and passion fruit ganache in a white chocolate shell; Chocolate Mendiant – Dark chocolate ganache between two dark chocolate disks, topped with bits of organic dried apricot, tart cherry, and sea salt; Green Tea – Matcha tea mousse center in a white chocolate shell decorated with green stringing.

The berry ganache tasted like alcohol or cough syrup, the passion fruit was bright, fresh, and smooth, the mendiant was rich but balanced with the salt, and the green tea was far too rich with the white chocolate and too much artificial green tea flavor in the center.