GCCC - Betterthanabox

[LPBeier]

Welcome to Golden Chef Challenge: Chocolate.
In this thread you will find a five course meal by Betterthanabox. Each course must contain a chocolate element. This entry will consist of pictures, recipes and a description of taste, texture, smell, etc. (Hopefully Goodweed will clarify this)

There will be two other entry threads for the other to contestants and poll threads for each of the voting categories (sorry to have so many polls but they will all be identified by GCCC (Golden Chef Challenge)

Voting can begin whenever you have gone over all three entries and feel ready to start. Polls will close February 12 at 9 pm PST.

 

[betterthanabox]

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my take on the secret ingredient. When I saw the ingredient for the challenge I automatically thought of ribs in a sticky and sweet sauce. I built the rest of my courses around that idea. My courses are simple, creating a home-style meal anyone can prepare.

My Menu


Sweet Potato Fritters with Sour Cream
BBQ Ribs with Spicy Sweet Corn
Chocolate Strawberry Lasagna
Chocolate Covered Cherry Fizz


I will be doing a separate post for each course. I hope you will give my recipes a try.

 

[betterthanabox]

Sweet Potato Fritters with Sour Cream


1 12 ounce can of yams
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cocoa
¼ cup pecans, finely chopped
1/8 cup coconut flakes
1 sheet of gram crackers, processed into crumbs


In a large bowl, mix yams, cocoa, and cinnamon until creamy.

In a food processor finely chop nuts and add to yam mixture.

Process gram crackers until they are crumbs.

Combine all ingredients.

Heat a large pan over medium heat. Pour about 1/8 inch of oil in the pan and heat.

To make the sweet potato fritters, roll tablespoons of batter into balls and press to ¼ inch thick. Fry until golden brown, flipping once.

Drain on paper towels, and serve warm with sour cream.


Critique


The fritters had a delicious cinnamon and cocoa flavor that went well with the chopped pecans and sweet coconut. They had a wonderful candied sweet potato flavor with the crunch of a traditional potato pancake. They filled my house with a wonderful cinnamon cocoa scent as they cooked. The sour cream provided creaminess and a tang to the sweetness of the coconut, yam, and cocoa.

 

[betterthanabox]

Kickin’ BBQ Sauce


[FONT=&quot][/FONT]1 jalapeño ½ onion
2 pieces of bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp celery seed
½ tsp course ground black pepper
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
8 oz tomato sauce
½ cup brown sugar
1tbsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp hickory syrup
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
½ Chuao Spicy Maya Chocolate bar

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
Chop jalapeño, onion, and bacon. Press garlic through garlic press. Add olive oil to a pot over medium heat, season ingredients with salt and sauté until soft.

Add Chili powder, celery seed, pepper, stirring for about 1 minute. Add Brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, hickory syrup and red pepper flakes. Cook on medium heat stirring frequently until mixture is hot and reduced, about 15 minutes.

Break chocolate into pieces and add to sauce, stirring until combined. Reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes.

Rib Rub



[FONT=&quot][/FONT]½ tbsp dried garlic ½ tbsp onion powder
1 tsp pepper
½ tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper

[FONT=&quot][/FONT] To Prepare Ribs (I cooked 5 thick country style ribs.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Rub Ribs with rub and place in a glass baking dish. Fill the dish with ¼ inch of pineapple juice, place ribs in juice. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes or until ribs reach temperature.

Remove ribs from pan, coat in bbq sauce and place on grill. Cook until sauce has caramelized.


Corn on the cob with chili and cocoa spice blend

Corn on the cob
Butter
Spice blend: 1 part chili powder to 1 part cocoa

Cook Corn on the cob, slather with butter and sprinkle with spice blend.

Critique

This bbq sauce was sweet and spicy the perfect combination for these ribs. By baking the ribs in the pineapple juice, it allowed the ribs to be tender, sweet and juicy on the inside. The ribs once grilled were caramelized and had a delicious smokey flavor. Pieces of bacon, jalapeño, garlic, and onion in the sauce adhered to the ribs providing an enjoyable experience through the whole rib. The chocolate imparted a sweet and spicy flavor to the sauce, and gave the sauce a beautiful color and a wonderful scent.

The spice blend paired well with the sweet corn and brought the whole bbq aspect of the course together. The combination of sweet corn with the spicy chili with the strong and dark cocoa gave the corn an almost fire roasted flavor that really added to the dining experience. The corn and spice blend also gave a pop of color on the plate.

 

[betterthanabox]

Chocolate Strawberry Lasagna- Makes 3 huge desserts

1 sheet of puff pastry, cut into 6ths
1 pint of strawberries
½ bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips melted with 3 tablespoons of heavy cream
Heavy cream, whipped

Place cut puffed pastry on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet. Place another cookie sheet on top and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Remove top cookie sheet, and return to oven allowing pastry to brown on top for about 5 minutes.

Remove pastry from the oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, hull and slice strawberries. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.

Once pastry has cooled, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. You can sweeten if you want, but I didn’t.

Melt chocolate with heavy cream in the microwave for 20 second increments until melted, stirring after each beep.

To Assemble 1 lasagna:
Place flat side of puff pastry on a plate, drizzle with chocolate and top with a layer of whipped cream, top with strawberries and another layer of whipped cream.

Layer another puff pastry flat side down, on top. Top with chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries, and more whipped cream. Drizzle with chocolate.


Critique

The puff pastry was light and flaky, the strawberries were lightly sweetened and very juicy, and the semi-sweet melted chocolate gave this dessert a nice dark chocolate flavor in each bite. Fresh unsweetened whipped cream helped to keep the dessert from being too sweet and kept it light and airy. Each bite brought in all of the flavors and textures of the dessert. The dessert smelled just like a chocolate covered strawberry. This is definitely a dessert to share as it is so mountainous. This desert finished the meal on a light note rather than bog you down as a rich and dense chocolate cake would. It also imparted a lot of farm fresh flavors with the fresh whipped cream, and juicy strawberries.

 

[betterthanabox]

Chocolate Covered Cherry Fizz


Black Cherry Concord Grape Juice
Dark Chocolate Syrup
Club Soda

Mix equal parts juice and club soda. Add Chocolate Syrup to taste. Garnish with a chocolate covered cherry.

Critique:

This is a refreshing drink that has a lovely black cherry and dark chocolate taste. The club soda provides a light and bubbly finish. This drink reminded me a little of a doctor pepper. Overall this is a drink I will make again and again when I am looking for an quick pick me up that has all the flavors of my favorite candy.

 

[betterthanabox]

That's all the posts, hope you enjoy!

 

[DaveSoMD]

Those all look and sound really good!

 

[FrankZ]

Looks good.. did you save enough to send for further review?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I need an order sent to Montana, please!

 

[Kathleen]

Your drink is one that I will definitely try. I love seltzers! Plus, it is pretty.

I love chocolate and strawberries. It reminds me of a wonderful strawberry shortcake. Yum!

The ribs and corn remind me of summertime. It's a perfect combo! I never thought to put chilis and cocoa for corn. I have to give it a try because it sounds awesome.

I love the take on sweet potatoes. An excellent idea!

Nice job!

 

[betterthanabox]

Thank you everyone!! I have boxed up all the orders and they are on their way! I love seltzers too! (and they are healthier than soda, but don't tell anyone!)

 

[chopper]

Oh my gosh this looks so good. Even my dh would eat almost everything. The only thing he wouldn't eat is the strawberries. He would pick those out for me. I may need to make your meal! YUM!

 

[betterthanabox]

My Husband is also a picky eater, and he enjoyed it as well.

 

[joesfolk]

Please forgive me but unless you are actually allergic to strawberries, if you just don't like them you must be ill. Just my humble totally unsolicited opinionated opinion. That food looks great!

 

[mollyanne]

Wow, betterthanabox...everything looks delicious! And I love the sweet potatoes, ribs, and corn combination . I'll have seconds of that strawberry lasagna.

 

[LindaZ]

Scrumptious!

 

[Josie1945]

Looks and sounds awesome!

Josie

 

[chopper]

Please forgive me but unless you are actually allergic to strawberries, if you just don't like them you must be ill. Just my humble totally unsolicited opinionated opinion. That food looks great!

He likes the flavor, just not the texture. I just LOVE strawberries. He is a great guy, I am not sure how he turned out so picky!

 

[betterthanabox]

Thank you for all of the comments! I'm glad you guys like it!