Hungry for the Hunger Games - Flourless chocolate cake

With the hysteria over the Hunger Games in full force at our house, I decided to surprise the troops with a 'Hunger Games' dessert.  A simple flourless chocolate cake (and I do mean simple....I can say this because I made it TWICE....the first one got overdone while I worked on the stencil for the mockingjay symbol), with a stencilled icing sugar mockingjay...voila!

The stencil was printed off the internet and then lovingly cut out with a exacto-knife.  While it generally turned out okay...lifting the final stencil off sent some powered sugar in a pouff onto the dark chocolate cake....a damp paper towel took off most of it.

A fitting 'tribute' to the newest teen craze!

Simple Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes one 8-inch cake

4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (I used 76% cocoa solids)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
confectioners sugar for dusting the stencil

Preheat oven to 375F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper and butter the paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces.  In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, melt chocolate with butter, stirring until smooth.  Be careful not to let the bowl touch the simmering water or the steam to escape the sides to touch the chocolate mixture.  Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into into chocolate mixture.  Add eggs and whisk well.  Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.  Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven for 25 minutes or until the top has formed a thin crust.  Cool cake in pan on a rack for 5 minutes and then invert onto a serving plate.

When the cake is completely cool, place stencil on top of cake and dust with confectioners sugar.  Be careful when removing the stencil so the extra sugar doesn't drop on the cake!  I lifted the stencil with the exacto-knife and removed with a butter knife for more support.  Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or sorbet.

Ne'er Fail Crisp Chicken Legs with Sweet Tomatoes

I've been delinquent...when I started doing this blog, I figured an entry a week would be appropriate.  It's been really busy at work, so I have kind of slowed down on the entries, but I am realizing that this is fun and creative and it is a wonderful outlet for the stresses of the day job...so a resolution to be better is in order!

In the spirit of simple, but very tasty recipes...here's a keeper.  My girlfriend Christina gave it to me in an email recipe exchange...although I'm not always good about participating in those...this recipe has become a staple in our house.  I love it because it is so simple, it has gorgeous colours and aromas, and if you were really in a jam, you could make it a one pot meal by adding halved baby potatoes or cannellini beans.   Otherwise, you can add a green vegetable and orzo or mashed potatoes for a very yummy, casual dinner.

4 - 6 chicken legs (the ones with the back attached)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
a big bunch of fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
2 big handfuls of red and yellow cherry tomatoes,halved and ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves
1 chili finely chopped (optional)
olive oil
Optional adds:  baby potatoes (halved) or 1 tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Season chicken pieces all over and put them into a snug fitting pan in one layer.  Throw in all the basil leaves and stalks, then sprinkle over with tomatoes.  Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chilli and drizzle the whole thing with olive oil.  Place in oven for 1.5 hours, or until chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone.  Voila!