Most Halloween monsters can’t stand candy! Vampires lust for blood. Zombies chomp at the brain. Ghouls fiendishly feast on fresh and funky corpses. The bright red paprika and meaty chunks in a Hungarian Ghoulash will satisfy the most distinguished demon panging for your vital vittles. Bubble and brew a large cauldronful for your next posthumous potluck.

Hungry Ghoul Hungarian Ghoulash

SERVES 6 GHOULS 

6 slices of bacon, chunks

3 onions, diced

1 potato, grated

1 glass of red or white wine

1L Tomato purée

600g Beef or pork, cubed

1 tsp Caraway seeds

2 Tbsp Hungarian (sweet) paprika

1 Tbsp Spanish (smoked)  paprika

2 cloves of garlic, grated

¼ cup curly parsley, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Sour cream, optional

INGREDIENTS

Get a large pot (preferably one that has a lid) on the stove over medium heat.

Pile in your bacon and cook it until it gets nice and crispy. Remove crispy bacon with a slotted spoon and put it on a papertowel lined plate. Make sure you leave as much fat in the pan as possible. Hide the bacon from wandering ghouls.

Chuck in the diced onion and cook until they are lovely and caramelized.

Add the grated potato and stir it all about.

Deglaze the pan with wine and use a good wooden spoon to scrape up all the crusty bits stuck to the pan.

Add the tomato purée, caraway seeds and garlic. Bring the pot to a bubble over high heat and then reduce the heat to very low. Pile in the meat and stir it all about.

It’s kind of unusual to add the meat in without browning it, but the results are a nice juicy tender meat.

Cover the pot and cook over low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

When it’s done and the meat is nice and tender and the paprika and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Let the stew rest off the heat for 30 minutes before you scoop out a sloppy bowlful of gruesome slop with some creamy sour cream and a scattering of parsley and crispy bacon.

Like most stews, this ghoulash improves overnight.

It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark… Evil Pumpkin Zombies!

EPZ are brought to life when an evil Halloween spirit enters a carved pumpkin and awakens an unnaturally evil appetite for candy. The pumpkins will roll around attacking anyone for their candy!

If you are threatened by an EPZ, you will need to destroy it or it will not stop until all your candy is eaten.

To ensure an EPZ is thoroughly destroyed or to prevent your pumpkin from becoming possessed here is a great soup recipe that will exorcize the evil spirits and give you something yummy to eat other than candy.

INGREDIENTS

Pumpkin (any size)

drizzle of oil

sprinkle of salt

1 onion, diced

salt to taste

pesto

2 cloves of garlic

10 sage leaves

1 bunch of parsley

½ cup of olive oil (or pumpkin seed oil if you can find some)

2 cups of toasted pumpkin seeds (store-bought or homemade)

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt to taste

PROCEDURE

SMASH your pumpkin into large chunks and place them in a large roasting pan. Use a baseball bat as needed or simply use your hands to feverishly tear it apart.

ROAST the pumpkin parts at 350˚F for an hour or until they are soft and golden around the edges. Put a cup of water in the pan to help things cook better.

PULVERIZE the pesto ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Scrape down the sides if needed. Add more oil if it is too chunky. This pesto will keep in the fridge for a couple weeks and is really good in pasta, mashed potatoes and on roasted squash of any kind.

SCRAPE the roasted pumpkin meat away from the skin and place into a bowl.  Discard the skin.

FIRE up a large pot on the stove and sweat your onion in a little cooking oil. Cook until tender and translucent.

PLOP the pumpkin into the pot with the onions.

DROWN the ingredients with enough water to cover.  Bring to violent boil.

BLITZ the heck out of the soup with a hand blender until totally smooth. Taste it and add more salt to taste.

GOBBLE down a big bowl full topped with a scoop of pesto smack dab in the middle.

Open your mind to a meal where Brussel Sprouts are not just a holiday obligation. Break through the tightly packed layers of negative feelings wrapped around a deep-rooted core of sulfurous mental anguish. Cut to the core of the problem and breakdown your sprout into leaves for faster cooking, which results in bright green colour and no sulfurous compound flavour development. It will blow your mind wide open to a whole new level of Brussel Sprout consciousness.

PS… maybe you saw this Brussels Sprout video on Breakfast TV on Thanksgiving.

Green ‘Curry’ Brussels sprouts

Serves 4 for dinner

10 brussel sprouts

600g of ground pork or turkey

1/2 can of canned coconut milk

2 big scoops of green curry paste*, or more to taste

3 green onions sliced

1 cup of short grain or Sushi rice

2 ½ cups water

pinch of salt 

* Curry Paste

2 Jalapeno peppers or 1 habanero (very spicy), stem and seeds removed

1 big chunk of ginger

1 bunch of mint, leaves only

1 bunch of cilantro, leaves and soft stems

1 bunch of basil, leaves and soft stems

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup rice wine vinegar

juice & zest of 2 limes

pinch of salt

Get the rice on. Pour the water into a small pot, add rice and salt and place over high heat, as soon as it comes to a bubble, reduce the heat to low and place a lid on top, cook for 15 minutes remove from the heat and let the rice rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This is not a traditional green curry recipe, but it’s super delicious and it will last in the fridge for 1 week. This makes a big batch, so you can use the leftovers to scoop into soup, mix into scrambled eggs or mixed with mayo and spread on a sandwich.

To make the curry you’ll probably want to use a food processor, if you use a blender you may have to add more oil to get the flow going. In the food processor start by blitzing together the zest & juice of the lime with the ginger, jalapeno, oil and vinegar. Blend until the ginger is nicely pureed. Add the mint, basil and cilantro. Blitz the mix, scraping down the sides as needed until the mixture is consistent but not totally smooth.

Get the rice on. Pour the water into a small pot, add rice and salt and place over high heat, as soon as it comes to a bubble, reduce the heat to low and place a lid on top, cook for 15 minutes remove from the heat and let the rice rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Use a pairing knife to prep your Brussels sprouts. Point the tip of your knife at an angle into the base of the sprout to cut out the cone shaped core. Check out the photo on the side. Once you’ve got the solid core removed you can pull the sprout apart and into individual leaves. Pile those leaves into a bowl and discard the cores. It takes a couple tries to get the whole core so you can pull it all apart, but finding spiritual enlightenment takes practice.

Get a very large pan or pot on medium high heat and leave it for 5 minutes to warm up.

When the pan is hot add the oil and immediately start putting in little quarter sized bits of ground meat. Space them out so they get a chance to brown, When the pork or turkey is brown on one side, stir it all up and add the Brussel Sprouts. Cook for 3-4 minutes, tossing everything occasionally. Aren’t they turning a lovely green colour?

Add the coconut milk and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the curry, stir to distribute the curry. Taste it. Does it need salt or more curry paste? Add some until it tastes perfect.

Serve a steamy scoop of rice in a bowl with a big scoop of saucy sprouts on top. Make sure you get enough of the creamy tangy sauce.

Life isn’t all peaches and cream, but sometimes it can be.

It’s the truly perfect peachy micro-moments of unquantifiable bliss that make life worth living. Don’t get caught up in trying to beat the monotony of life with canned peach-attempts at happiness, pick the perfect moments and savour the sweetness while it lasts. Enjoy those juicy bursts of peachy perfection that give us the real warm, fuzzy navel feeling inside.

Peaches and cream chilled soup perfection

6 very ripe peaches (can also be over ripe, or slightly bruised for this recipe)

1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 Tbsp runny honey

500 ml 2% or homogenized milk

250 ml of whipping cream

pinch of salt

honey as needed

Get a large pot of water on to boil.

Meanwhile fill a large bowl halfway with ice and add enough cold water to fill the rest of the bowl ¾ of the way up. Leaving enough room for the peaches to fit in the bowl.

When the water is boiling rapidly, drop all the peaches in at once. Careful not to get splashed with hot water.

Boil the peaches for 30-60 seconds to loosen the skin and then  scoop them out with a slotted spoon and dunk immediately into the ice bath to cool for 1 minute.

Use your fingers to peel away the loosened skin and discard. If the skin does not come away easily simply pop it in the boiling water for another 30 seconds and back into the ice bath to cool.

Now you can tear open the peaches using your fingers and discard the pits. Pile all the peaches in a medium pot and add the milk, honey, pinch of salt and fresh grated ginger. The whipping cream goes in much later.

Over medium heat bring the pot to a bare simmer. When you see little bubbles forming quickly around the edges of the pot and some steam rising from the middle you can remove it from the heat and get ready to purée the soup.

Using a stand up blender and blending while hot makes your soup super smooth, much better than a hand blender. However, puréeing hot soup in a stand up blender requires kitchen know-how so you don’t end up splatter painting your kitchen and face with the hard to colour match “peach explosion”.

Remove the little plastic thingy center hole from the lid of your stand up mixer, and cover the hole with a folded dry tea towel. (This stops it from being airtight, which would cause an ugly kick at the start—although the steam can sometimes get slightly warm on your hand.) Fill up your blender only half way and do batches. Start on low, and build up the speed incrementally.

When the soup is looking smooth, turn it off.

Pour the soup into a container, wrap the top tightly with plastic wrap and get it into the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.

When you are ready to serve get a large bowl and a big whisk and beat the whipping cream until it is nice and thick. Soft peaks if you want to get technical.

Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the peach purée and mix it in until smooth. Add another 1/3 of the whipping cream and mix in. Now add the last of the whipped cream and stir it all until smooth.

To serve, simply pour the thick creamy soup into lovely chilled bowls or teacups. You could also add a splash of champagne to each serving or dig out that bottle of peaches schnapps.

As seen in Swerve Magazine…

Here’s an article I recently wrote for Impact Magazine. For the complete article and more recipes pick up your copy at any of these places.

Hop back to the Paleolithic Stone Age and you’ll find that great-great-great-grandpa Grug was hunting and foraging for local, seasonal and organic food.

Since agriculture only became part of our existence 10,000 years ago the food we now produce and consume has been evolving at a faster pace than human evolution can keep up with. This food cannot be processed efficiently so we are not functioning properly. It’s not biologically appropriate to be snarffling all this nouveau cuisine.

The Paleolithic Diet, or Paleo, originated as a diet for athletes, offering peak performance through even energy access, reduced inflammation and faster recovery. It has gained traction through the growing legions of Crossfit athletes who strive for ‘constantly varied, high- intensity, functional movement’.

“It’s about getting leaner, meaner and more importantly healthier.” touts Crossfit Ramsay coach Ken Andrukow. His gym conducts 90-day Paleo Challenges to keep his athletes motivated and to help introduce new athletes to the diet. Andrukow offers recipe ideas, shopping guides, fitness tests and a body assessment to monitor results of the challenge. Andrukow admits “it takes guts to question the status quo and ask ‘Is there a better way?’”.

The Paleo principle is simple, eat the types of food we evolved for 2 million years to eat and avoid most of the stuff we started eating 10,000 years ago. Paleo concentrates on three big food groups to avoid: grains, dairy and legumes.

Say goodbye to grains like rice, wheat, corn and other refined starches. Dump out the dairy like skim milk, yogurt and cheese. Let go of the legumes like lentils, soy, beans and peanuts.

These foods cause inflammation of the gut and digestive system, which limit your cells from absorbing essential nutrients. Grains especially cause havoc on your glycemic levels, resulting in uneven energy and superfluous fat storage.

So what’s left to eat? Free-range meats, wild fish, seasonal vegetables, fresh herbs,  spices, seeds and nuts. But it doesn’t mean you can’t be a little more evolved than our foraging ancestors. Like all lovers of good food and grandpa Grug you can start foraging the markets for local, seasonal and organic food.

Some ingredients are not as black and white as say, the all-zebra diet. There are exceptions to the rules. Reading the Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf will sort out all the finer details and offer better understanding of the science.

With so many people out there eating Paleo, there are a growing number of recipe resources available to athletes looking for healthy and satisfyingly familiar foods that will help you perform optimally in a mammoth fur gonch.

Mammotherd’s pie

With any dietary adjustments, it’s the nostalgia of familiar comfort foods that will drag you back to your old ways of eating. Make this when you need a big batch of food for the week, when you need to feed people who don’t know what Paleo is or when you have a mammoth-sized appetite. It’s actually better than a classic Shepherd’s pie with more tasty flavours and the comforting warm-blanket mashed topper to make you feel all warm and wooly inside.

INGREDIENTS

500g ground lamb, beef, mammoth or any ground meat

2 onions, finely minced

2 ribs of celery, finely minced

1 butternut squash, peeled and grated or minced

1 Tbsp Worcestershire

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 glass red wine

250 ml vegetable stock

¼ cup fresh chopped assorted herbs (rosemary, mint, thyme, oregano)

zest of 1 lemon or orange

mashed topper

2 head of cauliflower, quartered

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered

olive oil and salt

PROCEDURE

Get two large pots on the stove.

Fill one with water and bring it to a boil for the mash. When the water comes to a boil drop in the peeled sweet potatoes and the cauliflower. Boil on a gentle simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are nice and tender. When the veg are tender remove from the water and leave them to release steam for 10 minutes out of the water.

To mash the cauliflower you can just use a potato masher. For a smooth topper transfer the cauliflower and sweet potato to a food processor and blitz until very smooth. You may need to do this in batches. Set aside in a bowl and adjust seasoning with salt to taste.

In the other pot brown the lamb over medium high heat. Toss in the grated squash, onions and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the tomato paste, Worcestershire, red wine and stock. Taste it and add salt as needed.

Preheat the oven to 425˚ F.

Bring the whole thing to a simmer. At the last minute, stir in the herbs and citrus (zest and juice) and pour the whole mess into an oven safe baking dish.

Spoon the mash onto the meaty filling and smooth out the top until evenly distributed. Use a fork to make lines and ridges that can get crispy on top. Drizzle the top with oil and sprinkle on some salt.

Blap the whole thing into the oven and bake until the veg are nice and golden and crispy on top.

When the mammotherd’s pie is done let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

To freeze, divide into small plastic containers and freeze in small packs.

Mammoth freezes really well for defrosting and eating later.

Here are some Paleo resources that will help you get started and keep going.

robbwolf.com

everydaypaleo.com

marksdailyapple.com

nomnompaleo.com

paleofood.com

The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov conditioned his pet dog to expect a treat every time the he rang a bell. Eventually all Ivan had to do was ring the bell to get the dog drooling.  We have been conditioned to think that Rhubarb is a fruit because we associate it with sweet desserts and just the mention of a rhubarb pavlova should be enough to get you drooling.

Drool-inducing rhubarb pavlova

4 egg whites at room temperature

pinch of salt

250g sugar

2 tsp of cornstarch

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste

250ml of whipping cream

1 cup of rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 Tbsp white sugar

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to a very low 180˚F.

Get a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Use some kind of electric beating device like a hand beater or ideally a standup mixer to beat the egg whites until they are slick and satiny. If they get dry and chunky you’ve mixed them too far.

Beat in the sugar ¼ at a time until incorporated.

Turn off the electric device and add the corn flour, vinegar and vanilla.

Usually folks use a rubber spatula to fold ingredients, but if you use the same gentle technique of scopping underneath the pile and bringing up through the middle using a whisk it will incorporate things much faster and deflate fewer bubbles.

Get a parchment paper lined baking sheet and using a large spoon scoop out and arrange even piles on the baking sheet. Once all the meringue are portioned out use the spoon to create a little divot in the center. It will look somewhat like a fly nest cloud.

As you put the pavlova into the oven, reduce the temperature to 150˚F. Bake for 45 minutes. Without opening the door, turn off the oven and let the meringues dry out and cool to room temperature.

If your oven does not go down as low as 150˚F, just bake at your lowest possible setting until they just start to get a little colour and then turn off the oven to let them dry out and cool to room temperature.

For the rhubarb. The more tender and young the stocks are the more they will want to fall apart. It’s okay if they do fall apart.

Get the sugar and water in to a small pot, bring to a simmer until the sugar dissolves. Add the rhubarb and vanilla cook for 1 minute. Reduce heat to a bare simmer, place a lid on top and cook until the rhubarb is just tender, 5-10 minutes. Let it rest and cool down to room temperature while you make the whipped cream.

Whip cream in a cold bowl until thickened but still kinda pourable.

To assemble. Place pavlova on a plate. Fill the nest area with a sloppy scoop of rhubarb and flop some whipped cream on top.

gets along with

Pavlovas get along smashingly with fresh fruit like kiwis, strawberries and oranges. Also try topping with citrus curds like lemon and passionfruit. Top with booze infused whipping cream and enjoy making a sweetly sticky mess.

fresh pick

Rhubarb is known as ‘the pie fruit’, even though it’s a vegetable. With Russian origins, it has taken the dessert world by storm with it’s tart flavour, prolific early growing season and adorable pink colour.

If you are picking from the garden, grab hold tight and tug each stalk individually out of the ground. When buying in the store, pick rhubarb that is nice and pink and about as thick as your thumb.

The leaves of the rhubarb plant are poisonous, so don’t eat your greens.

If you can dedicate a big patch of backyard to the prolific plant, then you can plant it and reap the bounty. Or buy it at local farmers’ markets or roadside fruit stands.

The concept of an immortality-inducing ‘golden apple’ has been woven into folklore since the ancient Greeks. When tomatoes first showed up in Europe they were small and yellow so the Italians called them golden apples (pomo d’oro) and since then they’ve been calling tomatoes of all shapes and sizes Pomodoro. Although these yellow tomatoes won’t make you live forever, your life will still be  longer and happier if you eat them. An apple a day, afterall…

Giallo (Yellow) risotto

risotto

6 cups chicken stock

large pinch of saffron

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 yellow pepper, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup white wine

2 Tbsp butter

4 oz Parmesa

tomato salad

4 yellow tomatoes, seeded and diced

juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp really good olive oil

1 clove garlic, grated

1 Tbsp grainy mustard

Good pinch of salt

fried egg

4 eggs, sunny side up

3 Tbsp of butter

Start by making the tomato salad dressing. In a medium bowl whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and Dijon mustard. Set aside for a bit.

Cut the tomatoes in half through the equator. Scoop out the seeds with your fingers being careful not to squeeze the flesh and turn it to mush. Dice the tomatoes and place it in the dressing, tossing to coat.

Get 2 large pots on the stove. Put the chicken stock and saffron in one and bring to a boil on high, then reduce to low heat so it stays warm.

Place the other pot over medium heat. Heat the oil, and sweat the onions, yellow peppers and garlic until soft and translucent, using a wooden spoon. Don’t let them caramelize and turn brown.

Add the arborio rice and stir to coat the individual grains with oil. Add the white wine, and stir until the boozy smell evaporates.

Add 1 ladleful of the hot stock and stir to distribute. When the liquid evaporates and the rice is no longer soupy you can ladle in more stock.

Continue this progression of ladling and stirring and ladling and stirring (about 35 minutes) until the rice is creamy and cooked through with just a little bite to it. Now add the rest of the stock so the risotto is quite soupy and pourable.

Finish the risotto by stirring in the butter and grated cheese. Remove it from the heat while you fry some eggs.

Get a large frying pan on the stove and let it preheat for 5 minutes over medium heat for the sunny side up eggs. If you have metal ring molds you can use them to make perfectly round eggs. Crack the eggs into bowls.

Add butter to the pan and once melted gently tip each egg into the pan, shaking the pan ever so slightly to make sure they don’t stick.

Season the eggs with salt and pepper and continue cooking until done to your desired egginess. Place a lid on top if you need to have you egg cooked more on top.

Serve the risotto in flat bowls or a large plate with an edge. Ideally, it should be runny enough to slowly spread out in the bowl. But if you prefer it thicker, that’s okay too.

Place an egg atop the risotto and arrange some of the lovely salad around the risotto. Swizzle around a little spoonful of the dressing.

* You can make this entire recipe using red peppers and red tomatoes.

Be extra careful when you are hopping around in the backyard this weekend looking for Easter eggs. Just because it’s brown and came from a bunny doesn’t mean it’s chocolate. Make this funny bunny creamy carrot soup with flavour-packed pickled raisins and carrot top pesto plopped on top. Silly rabbits…

Bunny poop soup

Pickled raisins

½ cup water

½ cup white vinegar

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp dried whole coriander

¾ cups of raisins

carrot top pesto

1 bunch of carrot tops, leaves only, no stems

1 bunch of parsley, leaves only, no stems

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup raw walnuts

juice of 1 lemon

soup

1 bunch (5-6 large carrots)

1 can of coconut milk + 1 can full of water

350ml of carrot juice

1 tsp turmeric

2 big Tbsp of freshly grated ginger

salt to taste

PROCEDURE

Start by sorting out your pickled raisins. Place the water, vinegar, honey, salt and coriander in a small pot. Bring it to a ripping boil them pour the hot liquid directly over the raisins in a medium sized bowl. Set aside to cool while you crack on with the recipe.

Sort out you carrots. Remove the greens, and set aside. Peel and roughly chop the carrots.

Plop the carrots in a medium sized pot and pour in the carrot juice, coconut milk and turmeric. Bring to the whole lot to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking for 15 minutes while you whip up some pesto.

Remove all the carrot and parsley leaves from the stems. Give them a good wash and shake off the excess water then pile them into the blender. Dump the nuts on top and pour in the olive oil. Drop the in the garlic cloves and lemon juice. Pop the lid on a take it for a highspeed spin. When the mix is nice and smooth pour it into a serving bowl and give the blender a really good rinse out.

After 15 minutes of cooking the carrots should be nice and tender. Turn off the heat, remove from the hot burner, and let it cool down for 5 minutes. Carefully pour all of it into a blender.

Again, be very careful. You need to blend it while it is hot to make it smooth, but you also have to be careful not to blast molten lava hot carrots all over your kitchen. Remove the little plastic thingy center hole from the lid, and cover the hole with a dry tea towel. (This stops it from being airtight, which would cause an ugly kick at the start—although the steam can sometimes get hot on your hand.) Start on low, and build up the speed incrementally.

When the soup is looking smooth, turn it off.

Pour the soup directly into bowls and serve with a nice big scoop of pesto in the middle and a cheeky scattering of plump tasty raisins.

Had another great night with the Soup Sisters here in Calgary at the Cookbook Co.

Since March 3, 2009 the Soup Sisters of Calgary have been getting together several times a year with the help of a crew of dedicated volunteers and supporters to bubble up a few large batches of soup. This time we had lots of help from Association of Women’s Lawyers.

The soups, are portioned out into glass tupperware containers and sent to the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter to help women and children who have been the victims of domestic violence. Our collective offering of 200 batches of soup will add to the monthly cross Canada sum  of 8000 batches a month. That’s a lot of soup for a really good cause!

Not in Calgary? There are plenty of Soup Sisters affilliates across Canada in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and loads of other cities across Canada. Check the Soup Sisters website for more info. And there are more popping up all the time.

And for the gentlemen there’s Broth Brothers who help support transitioning youth for youngsters trying to make a go at it on their own.

Thanks to everyone who gave their time, money and passion to pitching in with the soup.

Like, hey dudes, happy 4-20-2011.

Do you need to make something deliciously righteous? Just wrap your head around the concept of a brownie that you mix and bake in one pot. Did that just blow your mind?

Dude, just wait until you try this gooey, fudgy brownie with a sticky-icky centre like a molten chocolate cake. I guarantee your mooching buds will be rolling around looking for freebies when they catch a whiff of this righteous brownie.

Half baked pot brownies

excerpted from Kitchen Scraps: A Humourous Illustrated Cookbook

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, in pieces

2 large eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium-sized pot—with a metal handle, not plastic, so the whole thing can go into the oven—melt the chocolate over low heat. As soon as the chocolate melts, remove the pot from the heat.

Add the sugar, and mix with a wooden spoon until grainy but incorporated. Add the cold butter a bit at a time while you continue to mix.

Add 1 egg at a time and mix until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the dry mixture directly into the pot a third at a time, stirring after each addition. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the pot so nothing burns on the edges, and blap the whole thing into the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. It will still be nice and gooey in the middle. If you want it to be more firm, bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Let the brownies cool on the stovetop . . . Be careful not to let anyone touch the hot pot handle.

To serve you can either use a big spoon to scoop out individual servings, or if you got the major munchies you can clean out the pot all by yourself with a little spoon.