There are a number of great names I wanted to title this post, such as 'Oh Fudge!', 'Finnicky Fudge', 'I'll Take You to the Candy Shop', etc...  but I promised myself I would stick to the actual name of the recipe for search engine friendly purposes.

Let me start by saying...fudge is hard!  Hard to make, that is.  Especially without a candy thermometer.

My first batch was based on a marshmallow-based recipe.  Everything about this turned out right, except that it was so grainy, the sugar crystals were crunching in my teeth.  It still tasted good, and I have to admit I ate a few pieces anyway.

The second batch I tried a more traditional recipe using milk and corn syrup.  I thought I was going about it right, but apparently my finger does not adequately function as a candy thermometer.  Plus, hot fudge burns!

So, unknowingly I poured it into the pan and waited...and waited.  I waited all night until this morning.  After I poked it with my finger, its gooey response convinced me to admit that I had failed.  My hub, eager to eat it, suggested that I bake it.  I laughed, since fudge isn't baked.  

I was about ready to make another batch and try again when I stumbled onto a Fudge Q & A online (believe me, there are a lot of these out there... fudge raises many questions).  Someone had asked if there was any way to salvage botched fudge.  

Turns out, there is!  I was delighted to learn that my fudge might get a second chance by reboiling it.  I was truly confused about the soft ball stage, which is quite common, so I feel better knowing it's not just me.  I had only boiled my fudge for a minute or two, when in fact, it takes anywhere from 5 to 12 minutes to reach soft ball stage.  

Without a candy thermometer, there is a way to know when it gets there.  It's called a cup of cold water.  Every minute or so, drop a bit of the boiling fudge into a glass of cold water.  If it clouds the water and spreads, it's not done.  If it drops to the bottom and disperses, it's not done.  The fudge itself will be thicker and gooier at this stage, and will ball up when it hits the cold water.  Now it's done!

Making fudge has been a really fun learning experience for me, as I do appreciate a good challenge.  I am tempted to try some more alcoholic fudges as well (such as Dessert wine, Amaretto or Kahlua), which might make it into my next book.  We'll see how the first one does.

The moral of this story is, fudge is hard to make.  It takes practice, and is very much about technique and timing.  But don't lose faith.

'Chicken Red Wine Cacciatore' over penne pasta.
Background: 'Spinach & Pine Nuts Sautéd in Wine'

Chicken Cacciatore is a pretty easy dish, and makes for a good, wholesome meal.  It's an Italian dish also referred to as "hunter's stew".  Although it is quite stew-like, I like to keep it in the entrée section, instead of the stew section.  I think this is because stews seems like cold-weather foods to me, which I always make in a pot.  Chicken Cacciatore is pretty versatile, and I make it in a large pan at any time of year.  It's a personal viewpoint, you don't have to understand.

The basics of Chicken Cacciatore include chicken (duh), mushrooms, onions, and spices.  There are variations on the additional "green" ingredient, which might be green pepper, green olives, or peas.  Traditional Chicken Cacciatore does not use tomatoes, but I do, because I like it that way.  Plus, it works great with a dry, Italian red wine like Chianti.

Other Italian reds to try in this dish might be Barolo, Barbaresco, or Brunello (or Rosso di Montalcino, the less expensive baby version, which is also quite good).  Most anything made with Sangiovese or the Nebbiolo grape should work well.  You could even substitute the red for a dry Italian white, like Pinot Grigio.

Also traditionally, the chicken is doused in flour and pre-fried.  I skip this step by adding some flour into the sauce as a thickening agent.  The result is a tasty dish that can be served over pasta, rice, or polenta, or even scooped up with slices of fresh Italian bread.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Here's my recipe:

Chicken Red Wine Cacciatore

Makes 6-8 servings.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced

8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 large onion, diced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Italian red wine, such as Chianti

2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• Warm oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

• Add garlic and sauté 1 minute, until golden.

• Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, just until no longer pink.

• Stir in the mushrooms, green pepper, and onions, sautéing until the onion is translucent.

• Stir in flour until chicken and vegetables are coated.

• Add wine and bring to a boil.

• Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes, oregano, salt, and black pepper.

• Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over cooked pasta, rice, or polenta.

ARGH!  I just wrote a great article on my Brandy Tiramisu, and my dumb software decided to time-out as I was saving it!  Dammit to heck!  I can't re-write it again now, since I need to get to working on my book.  But I will post a pretty picture, since a picture does speak a tousand words, as they say.

Soup in the summer.  Not the coolest thing to make.  My husband groaned when I told him I was making soup.  Actually, he whined "whyyyyyyyyyyy?"  And I said "YOU KNOW WHY!"

Why?  Because I need to finish my cookbook, that's why!  However, I did manage to convince him to try some, despite the intense heat and humidity outside.  He actually went back for seconds.  So did I.

I think it's tough to go wrong with Baked Potato Soup, but I wondered if the wine would actually work in it.  Of course it would, though, as wine in soup is like a pea in a pod.  Turns out, it integrated just perfectly.  I used my standard béchamel-style wine recipe as a base and built it up from there.

I didn't use a lot of fattening ingredients, thanks to the subtle flavor contributed by the wine.  I used a little low-fat butter and less than half of the liquid used in the soup was whole milk.  I even used turkey bacon (because that's all I had), but I would still suggest real bacon, if you can swing it.

The only thing I would change, however, is when to add the bacon.  I spent time making some nice, crispy bacon, which I don't always do, in lieu of real bacon pieces (bagged) to save time.  I forgot that adding crispy bacon to liquid would make it soggy again.  I somehow thought that adding the bacon at the end would prevent this from happening.  It turns out, it only takes a couple of minutes of swimming around in soup to turn soggy.  Not good.

So, for the future, I really don't see any reason to stir the bacon into the soup.  BUT, topping the bowl of soup with crumbly bacon, along with cheddar cheese is a different story!  This I would recommend highly.