Hoppin' John

Long considered the staple of new year’s luck in the South, Hoppin’ John is always eaten on January 1st to ensure prosperity.  It’s made with black eyed peas and rice, sometimes a ham hock and sometimes giblets.  My recipe is simple in that it’s a one-pot meal…it goes from stovetop to table effortlessly, with little cleanup.  Perfect.  Just follow the cooking instructions on the box of rice and you’re good to go.  Pass it with freshly shredded cheddar cheese (for melting on top) and Texas Pete’s Pepper Sauce…and the strongest bloody mary’s you can make!  As your New Year's Eve hangover starts to fade and 2022 comes into focus, get ready…the best is yet to come!  :)

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mmmmmm...

WHAT TO BUY:

1 - 16 ounce can black eyed peas, drained
1 - 6 ounce box Long Grain and Wild Rice - not quick cooking (I use Uncle Ben's)
Hot Sauce (I use both Crystal and Texas Pete Pepper Sauce)
butter
cheddar cheese, freshly shredded

Follow the directions on the back of the rice box--that's all.  As you're putting the rice and seasoning packet into the water:  add 1 tablespoon butter, as much Crystal hot sauce as you'd like (I do 10 shakes of the bottle...lol) and the can of black eyed peas. Stir, then cover and heat as directed (my rice box says 20 min).

Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes.  Bring pot to the table.  Spoon into bowls, passing shredded cheddar cheese and Texas Pete Pepper Sauce on the side.

Now sit back and wait for your good luck to arrive...

Crockpot Chicken and Gravy

You're busy getting ready for the holidays:  shopping, menu planning, cooking, decorating, kids home on break.  It's a whirlwind of activity but you still have to eat.  Make something that cooks itself, like this dinner--it's crockpot sourcery I tell you.  Pure magic.  With gravy :)

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 envelope chicken gravy

chicken broth

salt/pepper/garlic powder

1 bag baby carrots

1 celery stalk, cut in large dice

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

2 or 3 fresh thyme sprigs

parsley

*Note:  serve with mashed potatoes

Place celery, onion, and carrots in crockpot.  Season chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and place on top of vegetables.  Open soup and spoon over chicken, covering the top.  Fill both empty soup cans with chicken broth and pour around the chicken.  Sprinkle gravy packet over and around the chicken, mixing in with spoon.  Add in thyme sprigs. Cover, and cook on low heat, 5 1/2 - 6 hours.  Chicken is done when it breaks apart easily with a fork..

When done, break chicken into large chunks with 2 forks, stir all together and cook another few minutes .  Take out thyme sprigs.  Ladle into bowls with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with parsley.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Hot Brown

 

A specialty of the Brown Hotel in Louisville, KY since the 1920's, and one of my all-time favorite lunches.  It's an unexpected way to use some of that leftover turkey on day 2 after Thanksgiving, and your family will think you're a genius.

The acid of the tomatoes is needed to cut through the richness of the decadent sauce, so make sure they are firm when you use them, and not overly ripe.

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

               serves 4

4 slices white bread, crusts cut off

4 large roma tomatoes, sliced

leftover turkey breast 

paprika

parsley (freshly chopped, or dried flakes)

8 slices cooked bacon

oven-safe individual dishes, buttered

for sauce:

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/2 - 3/4  cup freshly grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, plus a little more for the top

1/8 cup chicken broth

splash dry white wine

salt/pepper

First you need to prepare the hot browns in the dishes:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place a piece of bread in each buttered dish.  Top with turkey and lay tomato slices around the dish.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.  Place the dishes in the oven to toast while you make the sauce.

ready for the oven

Make the sauce:  melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in flour until it forms a roux--cook a few minutes until it browns, stirring often.  Whisk in cream and milk.  As it thickens, whisk in wine and broth. Continue whisking until it has thickened slightly.  Remove from heat and add in the cheese, whisk until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Take dishes out of the oven and pour sauce over each, covering the top completely.  Sprinkle  lightly with more grated cheese and paprika--place under heated broiler for approx 5 minutes, until they begin to bubble and brown nicely.

Remove from oven, cross 2 cooked bacon slices over the top, finish with parsley, and serve immediately with knife and fork.

Italian Beef

It's such a great time for sports right now:  football, baseball, and hockey, all at the same time. And one of my favorite things to eat on any game day is Italian Beef.

It’s hot, spicy, peppery, garlicky beef roast cooked with pepperoncini rings, on a (sorta) crusty but also chewy sub roll, and here are your choices:  HOT  - topped with Giardinera (Italian pickled vegetables with a bite) and pepperoncini rings …..SWEET – topped with Italian sweet peppers…WET (the roll dipped in the juice that the meat is cooked in)…or DRY (not dipped).  No surprise, I like mine SWEET, HOT, AND WET.

The best Italian Beef I ever had happened by accident.  I found myself at Streeter Tavern on Rush, in Chicago. They don't serve food but Downtown Dogs is next door and they let you order from there.  Awesome!  And they had Italian Beef.  Double yay!  It was the spiciest, pepperiest version I ever had and my lips were ON FIRE even while we were walking back to the hotel in the stinging cold.  Delicious.  This recipe is just like that. 

Chicago is a friendly city, and it loves its food and sports. So it's fitting that all the dishes it’s known for, especially this one, are meant to be shared.  So get your crockpot out and call your funnest friends.  The times I’ve spent in the city sharing friendship, food, love, and laughter are some of the best of my life—I wish the same for you :)

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WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

a crockpot

1    3.5--4.5 pound rump roast

1    12 ounce jar sliced pepperoncini rings (plus a little juice)

1 packet dry Italian Dressing packet (I use Good Seasons)

1 can beef consommé

1/2 - 1  teaspoon each:  salt, cracked black pepper, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder

1 small onion, peeled and quartered 

Sandwich rolls

Toppings:  sweet pepper rings, Giardiniera

Serve with chips or fries, and ice cold beer

The Goods:  sweet and hot

Trim roast of fat and place in crockpot.  Sprinkle seasonings and dressing packet over roast.  Pour consommé over and around the roast.   Add a splash of pepperoncini juice, then drain the reminder of the jar and pour pepperoncini over and around roast.   Add quartered onion.  Cover, and cook on low for 7.5 -- 8 hours.  Longer if your roast is bigger.  It's done when it can be shredded.

Remove meat to pan and shred with 2 forks. 

shredded, with the pepperoncini and onion that it cooked in

Place back into juice briefly for flavor, and then ladle meat back into pan. Save juices for dipping.

Sandwich rolls should be split, but not all the way through.  Place in microwave for a few seconds to warm.  Add meat and toppings.  Dip in juice if desired and eat immediately.

sweet, hot, and wet

Grilled Plum and Nectarine Salad

When I was growing up, my grandmother had a wooden bowl of plums and nectarines on the kitchen table every day in the summer.  The breeze would blow through the screen door in late afternoon and carry with it the smell of fresh ripe fruit that would permeate the house with its sweetness, heavenly!  

This salad is the perfect way to usher in Fall and use the last of the seasonal fruit.  It's a good light lunch on its own, or as a first course with grilled chicken or roasted pork.  And do I even need to tell you it's a natural pairing with a chilled glass of bubbly prosecco?  It is, just in case you’re wondering  :)

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Serves 4

(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

3 nectarines, halved and pitted (you can also use peaches or apricots)

4 plums, halved and pitted

1 ball fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-size pieces with your hands

1 container baby arugula

prosciutto di parma, torn into pieces 

balsamic glaze

olive oil

fresh lemon juice (maybe 1/2 of a lemon)

salt/pepper

pinch of brown sugar 

grill or grill pan

Brush cut sides of fruit with a very little bit of olive oil.  Grill on both sides until nice char marks form. Remove and sprinkle cut sides of fruit with a pinch of brown sugar.  If the halves are too big, cut into quarters.  Set aside and let cool for approx. 10 minutes.

Place arugula in a large bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil and a fresh squeeze of lemon juice, mix together.  Season with fresh salt and pepper.  Lay out on platter.

On top of arugula, place fruit, mozzarella, and pieces of prosciutto.

Drizzle all with balsamic glaze and serve immediately.

BBQ Sundae

                         

All your favorite barbecue foods in one place...on one fork...in every bite.  Heaven!  Creamy macaroni and cheese, tangy baked beans, spice-rubbed pulled pork, and vinegary coleslaw, piled on top of each other, and topped off with a dill pickle! 

The pork cooks itself in the crockpot, and you can buy the rest.  I serve mine in small mason jars, but if you're having a few friends over for Labor Day Weekend, you can assemble them in clear plastic cups and your guests can just throw them away when they're done--EASY!

Barbecue, cold beer, your closest friends, and no dishes to wash...it really doesn't get any better than this :)

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

your favorite macaroni and cheese

your favorite baked beans

your favorite coleslaw
your favorite barbecue sauce

small dill pickles

corn muffins or Texas Toast

For pulled pork:
crock pot
1 5-6 pound pork butt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard 
2 small onions, peeled and quartered

Put onions in bottom of crockpot.

Mix brown sugar, both paprikas, salt and pepper, and rub all over pork roast with your hands.  Place roast in crock pot on top of onions.

This is a Western Carolina sauce so it's a vinegar base, not a tomatoey one.
In large measuring cup, mix: vinegar, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and dry mustard. Stir well and pour approx. 1/3 - 1/2 of the mixture over the roast.  Save remaining sauce for later.  Cover and cook on low approx.  8-10 hours.

When pork is fork tender, remove to large pan and shred with 2 forks.  Add some more sauce to it and mix.

Cook macaroni and cheese and baked beans.  Get coleslaw ready and put out with the pulled pork.  Layer your sundae like this:  macaroni and cheese on the bottom, baked beans, pulled pork, some barbecue sauce if you think it needs it, top with coleslaw and a pickle.

Serve with corn muffins or Texas Toast.

barbecue heaven

Rum Punch

It's been my experience that all you need is a double batch of this punch, some solo cups, and someone special to watch the sunset with.  Memories will be made my friends, trust me  :)

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

1 64-oz can pineapple juice
1/2 cup coconut rum
1 cup dark rum

Make this the morning of the day that you want to serve it.  
Mix all ingredients together, and chill in the refrigerator.

Serve cold, over ice.

Italian Sausage and Red Pepper Hash with Fried Eggs

 

Such a great summer!  Little get-togethers abound again with graduation parties, birthdays, backyard barbecues, and small gatherings for drinks and nibbles with friends to catch up on what you missed last year.

I've made this dish at least 5 times this summer (for brunch, lunch, and dinner), and the one thing I discovered is this: a much-needed bubbly glass of prosecco cuts right through the richness of the egg yolk and the spiciness of the sausage. That's just a little tip from me to you, because I love you. You're welcome :)

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WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

(serves 4)

2 hot Italian sausages, casings removed

1 mild Italian sausage, casing removed

8 eggs (2 eggs per person)

4 potatoes, cut in bite size pieces

1 red bell pepper, cut in bite size pieces

1 small onion, cut into petals

fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

paprika

garlic powder

salt/pepper

olive oil

cookie sheet/sheet pan

* NOTE:  I like to serve this with grilled bread, that's been rubbed with a garlic clove

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place potatoes, onion, and peppers on large baking sheet.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil and mix with hands until all are coated.  Sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.

Next, drop sausage in little balls all over the sheet pan.  Sprinkle all over with garlic powder and paprika.  Bake for 1 hour.

ready for the oven

Approx 5 minutes before the sausage hash is done, fry your eggs.

out of the oven, ready for the eggs

Finely chop a handful of fresh parsley and sprinkle on top of hash.  Plate, and place fried eggs on top.  Serve with grilled bread, if desired.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Avocado Chimichurri

 

The Fourth of July is upon us, king of the grilling holidays.

As you ease back into the entertaining groove you haven't felt since late 2019, give this a try:  grilled skirt steak with a piquant, vibrant, chimichurri.  It's so easy that it'll leave you time to catch up with those friends you've only seen on zoom and facetime, and toast with your chilled rose' in person to the fabulous summer memories that lie ahead. 

Eight long weeks until Labor Day--enjoy every minute of it! :) 

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

Enough skirt steak for your guests

2 cups parsley leaves, packed (if you like cilantro, you can use half cilantro/half parsley)

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more if you like spice)

2 medium avocados, chopped

kosher salt/pepper

garlic powder

dried cumin

cuisinart

For Chimichurri:  add the parsley and chopped garlic to the cuisinart and pulse until fine.  Add vinegar, oil, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes--pulse until mixed together.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and chill in refrigerator  (I recommend only making it a few hours before eating)

Approx 1 hour before serving, add in the avocados and stir together gently, careful not to break them up.  Cover and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Grilled skirt steak:

rub lightly with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a JUST A LITTLE  dried cumin (a little cumin goes a long way, trust me.  You don't want it to taste like your moms Tuesday night hard-shell taco meat from 1976...not that there's anything wrong with that...but that's not this lol)

ready for the grill

Grill and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes before serving with chimichurri.

Chicken Corn Chowder

It's June and school is out.  That means one thing…summer!  Nothing says summer like the beach, and nothing says summer at the beach like chowder.

When my kids were little, we would rent a house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week every summer.  On the first day, while the kids were down by the water with their dad and grandmother, I would make a big pot of chicken corn chowder to have for dinner.  They would come up from the beach salty, sandy, sunburned...and hungry.  At dinner we'd eat and laugh and play games, and after dessert they'd fall asleep...HARD...until the sun and the roaring waves from the Atlantic would wake them up the next day.  And we'd do it all over again.

I’m happy to share my recipe with you here.  It’s hearty and satisfying but not too thick, and because of the ingredients, it’s a complete meal in itself.

Summer is the the best 9 weeks of the year. Enjoy every minute of it! :)

windblown, sunburned, showered, and ready for dinner, Summer 2004

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

** I serve this with biscuits.  Just buy or make your favorite kind

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 small onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups chicken broth

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 cups whole milk or cream

1 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup freshly shredded Monterey jack cheese

2 cups of fresh corn cut off the cob (approx 8 ears of corn) - or - 1 16-ounce can corn, drained

1 16-ounce can creamed corn

1 4.5-ounce can chopped green chilis, undrained

2 teaspoon hot sauce

1 large tomato, chopped

salt/pepper

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and brown in large dutch oven, with butter, onion and garlic.  Sprinkle cumin over chicken mixture and brown a few minutes more.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add chicken broth, corn, chilis, and hot sauce--simmer 10 minutes.  Stir.  Add milk and stir.  Add cheese and stir gently over low heat until melted.  Stir in tomato and heat together to mix flavors.  Serve in bowls with salt sprinkled on top (makes 2 quarts) 

Summer Luncheon: Grilled Shrimp Skewers, Charred Corn, and Caesar Salad

Memorial Day.  Up north, it’s the unofficial start of summer.  The weather’s warmed up nicely, restaurants and stores are open for business, and golf courses are full.  But here in Southwest Florida, it actually marks the end of our busy season--pretty soon, some of our restaurants and stores will close and nobody tees off after 10:30 because it’s far too hot.  The one thing we do both agree on, however, is that Memorial Day is the holiday for grilling.

This lunch looks so impressive but it can be made in half an hour.  Prepare your sauces and skewer your shrimp first, and while those are sitting in the refrigerator, wash and chop your lettuce and shuck the corn.  It’s the easiest meal you’ve made all year.  And with some cold drinks and a little music, it’s just like the season itself: laid back and fun.  So bring it, summer…we’ve been waiting for you :)

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WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

(serves 2, with leftovers)

24 peeled, deveined shrimp (16-18 count) - uncooked

4 ears corn

romaine lettuce

croutons

Your favorite caesar salad dressing 

Your favorite bottled barbecue sauce

1 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley, rinsed

2 tablespoons salted butter

juice of 1/2 lemon

parmesan cheese (to be shaved on corn and salad)

salt/pepper

cayenne pepper

garlic powder

To start:  shuck corn and set side. Wash & cut lettuce, and place shrimp on skewers--place both in refrigerator until ready to use.  Tear off and chop a few handfuls of parsley--set aside.

Make sauces:  Stir occasionally while heating

Spicy barbecue sauce--place some of the barbecue sauce and a few pinches of cayenne pepper in a small sauce pan and heat over med heat until warm.

Lemon garlic butter - In a different small pan, heat butter/lemon juice/a few pinches of garlic powder/and a little of the parsley until warm.

finished barbecue and butter sauces

Preheat grill

Grill corn: I do not oil my corn, I grill it naked because it gets a really nice charred, almost nutty flavor that way.  Turn while grilling until there are marks on all sides--it will begin to make a popping sound like popcorn and then you'll know it's ready to come off. 

It only takes a few minutes.  Shave some parmesan cheese over the top and cover.

Grill shrimp:  Before you place shrimp skewers on the grill, salt and pepper lightly. 

seasoned shrimp, ready for the grill

Place on grill and continually baste with sauces while cooking.  2 skewers will have barbecue sauce and 2 will have butter sauce--this way, you get one of each.  They are done when they are firm to the touch and are no longer translucent, maybe 3-5 minutes on each side (don't overcook or they will be rubbery).  Sprinkle with some more parsley.

finished shrimp

Now assemble your meal...

Cut corn off the cob and place in bowl.  Add salt/pepper to taste.  Mix

Place lettuce in another bowl. Add croutons, salad dressing, some shaved parmesan, and freshly ground pepper.  Mix

caesar salad

Bring all to the table with the shrimp skewers

Eat until you're full and happy

Pour some drinks until your even fuller and happier

Enjoy your holiday

Spaghetti Carbonara

 

 

It's so simple to make but difficult to get just right because, like with all good things, timing is everything. If you misjudge the heat or when to add the water, you could end up with scrambled eggs. Not terrible, but not ideal either.  So when done successfully, you end up with smoky, salty, silky, cheesy pasta perfection, that I happen to know is just as good with strong coffee and bloody mary's at breakfast as it with champagne for a late night dinner. 

 Bacon and eggs all day long...I told you it's perfect :)

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(WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

Serves 2, and can be easily doubled

1/2 pound spaghetti noodles

1 egg, and 1 egg yolk

approx 1/2 cup freshly grated cheese:  parmesan or pecorino romano

6 slices thick cut bacon, cut crosswise into pieces

fresh cracked pepper

• The cracked pepper is so essential to this dish that it's an ingredient on its own.  But never cream.  Never.
• This dish is made entirely in the time it takes to cook the pasta.  Another reason it's perfect.
• You can also make this with pancetta.  It wasn't readily available when I started making carbonara in the 90's so I used bacon and still do--I like the salty, smoky flavor it gives the sauce

Start your pasta.  In the meantime, cook your bacon.

While all this is happening, whisk your eggs together with a pinch of pepper and some cheese.  Set aside.

Now the tricky part.  All at once:

Drain grease from bacon and take the pan off the heat.

The pasta should be done so take a ladle full of hot pasta water and add it to the eggs to temper them.  Whisk together so that when you add the eggs to the pan they don't scramble.

Drain the pasta quickly and add it to the bacon in the pan that's off the heat.  Add the eggs and start mixing together.  Move the pan back to the burner you cooked it on and keep turning the pasta until its silky.  Though the burner is still off, the residual  heat will cook the eggs but not scramble them.

Serve in bowl with more grated cheese and cracked pepper.  Eat immediately.

 

Baked Atlantic Cod with Cherry Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, and Basil

 

There is no technique to this fish, it's just assembly--a few fresh ingredients put in a dish and baked together til delicious.  That's it.  Swear.  Save the tricky impressive stuff for Thanksgiving and Christmas when someone's watching  :)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

(Serves 2)

2 Fresh Atlantic Cod Filets

cherry tomatoes, halved

kalamata olives, halved

small white new potatoes

dry white wine

chicken broth

fresh basil, cut into ribbons

olive oil

salt/pepper

garlic powder

butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place fish in a baking dish.  Cover with cherry tomatoes and olives, and drizzle olive oil over all.  Pour some white wine (maybe count to 3) and a little chicken broth (again count to 3) around the fish--just enough so that it's not dry, but not too much that the fish will boil. Sprinkle all with salt/pepper/garlic powder.

Ummm...that's it.  Now bake it uncovered for 30-40 minutes, depending on how thick your filets are.  It is done when it pulls away cleanly with a fork and it is not like jelly inside.

In the meantime, boil potatoes whole until for tender.  Then drain, slice in half, put back in the same pan with some butter, salt, and pepper, and mix all together.  Though you've turned your stove off, the burner should still be warm--put the cover on the pan and let them sit on the warm burner until the fish is ready.  

When the fish comes out of the oven, place it on the plates.  What's left in the pan is your sauce--the tomatoes should have burst a little in the oven and mixed with your liquid.  Stir that all together with the olives so it's incorporated, and spoon over the fish.  Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve with buttered potatoes.

Silly Little Love Poem

A little love poem, written by me about a hundred years ago as a Valentine's Day/Birthday gift.  It's completely ridiculous and silly, and makes little sense...the way true love should be :) 

LOVE, LIKE POPCORN

If I could measure my heart in popcorn 

it would surely overflow

The way kernels do when popped with air--

that seem to grow and grow.

A little at first then suddenly,

as if without warning or care,

multiplying in size and number,

catching you surprised and unaware.

Trying to contain them, feelings and popcorn both,

is the hardest thing of all.

The longer you let them go unchecked

the more in love you fall.

Love, like popcorn.

Warm and fluffy, sometimes salty,

always hard to beat.

And both of them made possible only 

by friction and with heat.

Getting enough of either

is impossible to do.

Good when had by one;

delicious shared by two!

Chocolate Cobbler

On Valentines Day, showing you care about someone with an ooey gooey warm chocolate lava pudding cake says you mean business.  So pick your Valentine wisely, because they're about to fall in looooovvvee...  :)

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(WHAT TO BUY)

For the cake:

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup white sugar

 1/2 tablespoons cocoa (I use Hershey's)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

To pour on top:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 cup boiling water

Vanilla Ice Cream (I use Haagen Dazs)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a small casserole dish or 8 x 8 square baking dish

In a large bowl, mix the cake ingredients until smooth.  Pour into greased dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients (not the water).  Sprinkle evenly on top of the cake batter.  Do not stir, just let it sit on top.   Now, pour the boiling water over the top.  AGAIN, DO NOT STIR

Bake for 30-35 minutes in the oven.  It's a gooey chocolate cake so the bottom will be like pudding, that's okay.  Insert a toothpick into just the top--if it comes out clean, it's done.

Serve warm in a bowl with ice cream

Kiss your Valentine