Classic Chocolate Mousse from The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook

John Barricelli
the baker behind
this Classic Recipe 

         More often than not, when Andrew is baking I am dumbstruck by the effort he takes.  One recent project involved making three different cupcakes, getting up at 7:30 to do so and finishing the last of the icing with just enough time to hop in the car at 5:30 and take them to the party he made them for.  Phew.  But it’s not just the time, it’s the almost scientific way in which his desserts come together.  As a savory cook, my cooking times seem so much more fluid.  You can compensate for all kinds of kitchen screw-ups.  But when Andrew bakes, he does so with almost military precision.  So as I was in the second hour of cooking dinner recently, I was amazed to hear him say he’d decided he wanted to make a Classic Chocolate Mousse for dessert.  How earth could he do that? With a little help from a third generation baker named John Barricelli.

Chicken, Cashew and Spinach Stir-Fry adapted from Gourmet Magazine

         If I could teach one technique that is perfect for weeknight cooking, it would be the stir-fry.  It is the absolutely ideal last minute dinner when you’re not entirely sure when everyone’s getting home.  You put everything in place in advance.  Then, when whomever you are cooking for arrives at the door, you’re ready to have dinner on the table in moments.  In the case of this Asian inspired version of a stir-fry, the cooking time adds up to all of 12 minutes max. That’s kind of hard to beat.  And hard to beat too are the flavors and textures of this dish. The tender chicken, the crunch of the cashews and red pepper, a hint of spice from the red pepper flakes, the green of the spinach—they all come together in a silken sauce that’s better than any Chinese take-out. Come to think of it, if you ordered Chinese, it would probably take longer to get to you than this dinner does. You’ll notice that I served this dish without any sides.  The obvious choice would be a bed of fluffy white rice. But we sometimes skip the carbs and then of course, there’s the matter of Arsenic in Rice.