Bliss Granola: Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth and Keep Your Resolution Intact

Bliss Granola: Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth and Keep Your Resolution Intact - Dara & Co. - January 2012 - Minnesota

Cross-post from Minnesota Monthly.

Film-loving candyphiles will certainly remember Willy Wonka, and his famous quote: “Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.” Butterscotch. Just the thought of it evokes memories of gooey blondie bars, creamy sundaes, and decadent puddings. The sweet and salty combination of brown sugar and butter makes butterscotch sundaes spectacular, and butterscotch chip cookies give chocolate chip cookies a run for their money. But how can I reconcile my enthusiasm for butterscotch with my New Year’s resolution to eat healthier? I found one answer at Golden Fig: Bliss Gourmet’s Butterscotch Pecan granola.

Bliss Gourmet Food’s granola is based on the muesli recipe that Australian-born Leslie Powers served at her restaurant in Australia, The Metro. Now living in St Paul with her husband, a St Paul native, and her family, Powers is making small batches of granola once per week in her incubator kitchen in St. Paul.

Powers uses organic whole grain oats, and many of her ingredients are sourced locally. She wants her granola to be “as Minnesotan as possible,” so she gets her grains and seeds from Whole Grain Milling Company in Welcome, MN, honey from Ames in Watertown, MN and Black Bear Honey in North Oaks, MN, and her maple syrup from Northern Lakes—tapped and processed in Minnesota.

Along with seasonal flavors such as pumpkin spice in the fall and pecan cinnamon in the winter, she makes a slightly sweeter “Sweet & Salty” line of granola, which includes butterscotch pecan and chocolate hazelnut. Among other ingredients, the oats, sunflower seeds, pecans, butterscotch chips, and sea salt give Bliss Gourmet’s Butterscotch Pecan granola a crunchy texture and sweet and salty flavor. With your first bite, you immediately taste the sweetness of the butterscotch, brown sugar, and Minnesota maple syrup, but by the end of the bite, the sea salt becomes more detectable, balancing the sweetness. As a bonus for those with gluten sensitivity, all of her flavors are available in certified, gluten-free versions as well.

Bliss Granola is available at the Mill City Market, Cooks of Crocus Hill, Kopplin’s, bibelot, Guse Green Grocer, Grassroots Gourmet at Midtown Global Market, and the Golden Fig in the Twin Cities. Bliss out your diet some by sprinkling it on your morning yogurt and fruit for a bit of crunch, or whipping up a deft dessert by topping some baked apples with it. Your sweet tooth will thank you.

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

FanFrikkinTastic Pulled Pork? Yes, Please.

FanFrikkinTastic Pulled Pork? Yes, Please. - Dara & Co. - January 2012 - Minnesota

Cross-post from Minnesota Monthly.

During a recent trip to the Seward Co-op, I sent the following text to some pals: “Pulled pork at our place tonight?” Their response: “Yes, please.” I had the pork covered—literally; aPastures A Plenty pork shoulder roast had been in the slow cooker all day, and would be falling off the bone by 6 p.m. I had all the fixins for red cabbage slaw at home. But I did not have time to get home and make my own BBQ sauce. I made a beeline for the condiments section, hoping to find a barbecue sauce that would work for a saucy, slaw-topped, pulled pork sandwich.

I spotted a new sauce bottle with a catchy name:FanFrikkinTastic Original Style Barbecue. The label told me it was sweet and spicy, all natural, made without preservatives, and gluten and dairy free. It also said it was made in Minneapolis. The sauce looked right in the bottle—not too thick, not too thin, and similar to a Piedmont or North Carolina barbecue sauce in appearance.

At home, I tasted the sauce. It was thin, tangy, slightly sweet, and just a bit spicy—a good match for the rich pulled pork. I pulled the pork and mixed in about 2/3 of the bottle of sauce, and I set aside the other 1/3 for serving with the pork. I served the pulled pork on toasted Minnesota-made Solomon Breads potato rosemary rolls, and topped the sandwiches with some spicy, creamy slaw that I made with red cabbage. The sandwiches were a hit. And the leftovers were even better, since the pulled pork had a chance to marinate in the sauce overnight.

Marie’s Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Serves 8-10

1 (~2 lbs.) pork shoulder roast
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bottle of sauce
4 tbsp. of your favorite rub seasoning

Trim the roast. In a hot pan, brown the roast on all sides. Remove the roast from the pan and set aside.

Using good broth (or beer), deglaze the pan. Rub the roast all over with your favorite rub seasoning. Place the onions and garlic in the bottom of your slow cooker. Pour the pan sauce over the onions and garlic. Place the rubbed roast on top of the onions. Cook on high for 5 hours. Turn down to low and cook for another 3 hours.

After letting it cool slightly, pull the bones out of the pork. They should simply slip out. Remove the roast from the slow cooker. In a bowl, pull the tender pork apart, incorporating about 1 cup of sauce and the onions and garlic from the bottom of the slow cooker. Serve on buns with cole slaw. Serve more sauce on the side.

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

The Chocolate Holiday

The Chocolate Holiday - Dara & Co. - February 2012

Cross-post from Minnesota Monthly.

Valentine’s Day—it’s the one day out of the year when red pumps, red roses, and everything heart-shaped goes out for a night on the town, and—of course—chocolate can’t be left behind.

I’ve shared my Valentine’s Day Legacy Truffles thrills before, and we can’t get enough of Mademoiselle Miel, BT McElrath, and Sweet Jules, but today I wanted to give a Valentine’s Day shout-out to Wisconsin-made Gail Ambrosius truffles.

Gail Ambrosius grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. After some traveling and eventual training in France with Valrhona and Cluizel in 2004, she began producing beautiful, decadent truffles in Madison, Wisc. An enthusiast of single origin, dark chocolate, Ambrosius sources chocolate from around the world—Hawaii, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. Single origin chocolate means the beans are all from the same growing region, sometimes an extremely specific one, and each has subtle differences. Ambrosius works with farmers and importers who understand her passion for single source chocolate and share her values of biodiversity and sustainable agricultural practices. She says, “that sense of mindfulness and respect, learned on my parents’ farm, is something I try to bring to my business every day.”

As for the truffles, whether it’s the classic raspberry truffle (pictured here) made with mouthwatering raspberry puree and crunchy cocoa nibs, or a more exotic lemongrass with ginger truffle that infuses dried organic lemongrass into coconut puree, you’re bound to find something that satisfies. Her “Beerific Taster’s Box” comes with seven truffles and six beer pairing suggestions. Her single-origin collections of truffles and bars offer a petite tour of single source chocolate from around the world, and for those sweethearts out there, a sweetly wrapped “Lover’s Box” includes a heart-shaped caramel, a brandied cherry cordial, and one each of the passionfruit, Lucille's vanilla, cinnamon/cayenne, and rose truffles.

Surdyk's started carrying Gail Ambrosius products last fall, and they’ve got the Lover’s Box, along with a small assortment of truffles, bars, and chocolate “tumbled” dried cherries on their shelves this week. For a bigger selection, shop online and have them shipped directly.

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]