Porter Marshmallows with Dark Chocolate and Smoked Serrano Salt

We recently catered a wedding Since the groom was a home brewer, I thought it would be nice to reference that in the food. So, for one of the sweets, I came up with a recipe for porter marshmallows. I thought they would be be enhanced with dark chocolate. I added a little smoked serrano chili salt. That tiny wisp of smoke and heat accented everything well.

I love homemade marshmallows. They have a much better texture than commercial ones; firmer mouth feel, not so sticky. The porter cut the sweetness as well, and giving a great depth of flavor.

It helps to open the porter and let it get a little flat before working with it.

To cut the marshmallows, it is helpful to have a pitcher of hot water, deep enough to submerge your entire knife blade. Dip the knife between each cut, and wipe clean and dry with a clean towel. Rub a little of the dusting powder over the blade before each cut.

I got my smoked serrano salt from Souper Dip.

Porter Marshmallows

Dusting Powder:

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together corn starch and powdered sugar, set aside

Marshmallows:

.6 oz. powdered gelatin

8 oz. porter

12 oz. by wt. sugar

1 cup corn syrup

2 oz. by vol. water

1/4 tsp. salt

Stir together gelatin and 4 oz. porter. Let stand at least ten minutes.

Line a 8" x 12" pan with plastic wrap, and lightly spray with oil.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and 4 oz. porter, water, and salt in a small pot over medium low heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, to 238 F. Move to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add gelatin. Whip on high speed until fluffy and cooled to just warmer than room temperature. Transfer to pan. Dust with cornstarch mixture. Press into pan to level.

When cool, dust a cutting board with cornstarch mixture. Turn marshmallow onto board. Cut into 1" squares. Toss with more cornstarch mixture.

Makes about 60 marshmallows.

Let dry for 2 days.

Temper 1 pound of 60% dark chocolate. Brush tops of marshmallows with tempered chocolate. Before chocolate sets, sprinkle with a few grains of smoked serrano salt.

Happy Eating!

Fantasy Menus: part 2

For my second fantasy menu, I did an early spring menu. Again, the emphasis is on using seasonal flavors, and trying not to repeat flavors. Early spring is almost as difficult as late winter. Some of the berries have come in, but stone fruit is still a month or two away. I tried to bring in a few more exotic items, but not too odd.

Spring Dessert Menu

Chocolate Orange Cake with Tequila Orange Sherbet

Chocolate chiffon cake, Triple Sec buttercream, tequila orange sherbet, rolled pizelle with orange pastry cream, candied orange slice, chocolate Triple Sec sauce

Strawberry Shortcake with Greek Yogurt Gelato

Shortcake, macerated strawberries, Greek yogurt gelato, gewürztraminer rhubarb reduction sauce, crisp meringue chip, whipped cream, candied rhubarb twist.

Cherimoya Custard

Cherimoya custard, diced fresh mango, caramelized dried banana chip, lemongrass sauce, tangerine cotton candy

Sweet Lime Meringue Pie

Sweet lime Meringue pie with salty pretzel crust, candied lime peel, candied ginger brittle, ginger lime sauce

Chocolate Crepes with Dark Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate crepes, dark chocolate mousse, chocolate chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate tuile, chocolate tawny port sauce, chocolate curls

New York Style Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Lemon ricotta cheesecake with Graham cracker crust, almond brittle, candied green almonds, thyme sauce

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Fantasy Menus part 1

In my Advanced Baking class, our homework assignments were  to create two fantasy dessert menus. I thought you all might like to see them. It was quite a challenge. We had to create six desserts. We were to use seasonal flavors, avoid repeating flavors, and have both light and heavy desserts.

My first menu was a late winter menu. I kept to in season fruits and vegetables, and wanted to avoid holiday season flavor combinations.

Late Winter Dessert Menu

Chocolate Silk Meringue Pie

A chocolate silk pie with a chocolate Graham cracker crust, and a toasted meringue topping. Served with a tawny port reduction sauce and a dark chocolate curl garnish.

White Chiffon Cake with Kiwi Curd

Three layers of white chiffon cake with kiwi curd, and Gran Marnier buttercream frosting. Served with cashew brittle and coconut cream mango sauce.

Trio of Small Tastes

Three different small desserts. A chocolate lace cookie cup with a tangerine pastry cream and a twist of candied tangerine peel. A creampuff filled with a lemon mousse and dipped in white chocolate and topped with chopped pistaschios. A lavender custard tart with an elderberry tea shortbread crust. Served with basil sauce.

Warm Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

A warm chocolate chip bread pudding with Irish Creme ice cream, mint sauce, and a crisp whiskey meringue chip.

Guava Panna Cotta

Guava panna cotta, passion fruit sauce, cardamon tuile, pulled sugar garnish.

Butternut Squash Mousse and Mascarpone Crepes With Bourbon Raisin Ice Cream

Crepes filled with butternut squash mousse and mascarpone, with bourbon raisin ice cream, cinnamon orange sauce, and candied pecans.

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Grandma's Sugar Cookies

Christmas is, for me, probably above all other things, a time of comfort food.

My father abandoned my mother and me when I was seven, leaving us a mountain of debt and not much else. Doing what was necessary to survive, my mother became a real estate agent. The hours were long and uncertain, and there definitely were no vacations. Luckily, my grandparents were around, so the long breaks (summer and winter) were often spent with them.

Summer generally meant exploration, tooling around the country in a Dodge van converted to a camper. Summers I expanded my horizons, saw new things, and and learned. Summer was Indian fry bread at  various pueblos, carnitas in small cafes, and Canadian pizza.

Winter was about warmth, and comfort, and family. It was a time of deep, rich, satisfying flavors, like my grandfather's exquisite prime rib roast, or roast turkey with sage stuffing (my number one comfort food). And the desserts, oh the desserts! My grandmother's desserts were amazing. Pumpkin and apple pie, homemade mincemeat pie, Christmas steamed pudding, popcorn balls in red and green, date nut porcupines. But, the number one important ritual of the season was making sugar cookies.

And what a production it was! On sugar cookie day, we made enough for ourselves, for me to take home, to give to friends, take to holiday parties, gift to carolers, and otherwise spread around. I'm pretty sure Santa got a big plate set out for him every year. One batch of dough makes 4 - 5 dozen cookies; I bet grandma made four batches.

Grandma made the dough, rolled out and cut out the  cookies, and did the baking. I had two jobs. One was decorating the cookies. We generally had a wide variety of things to work with; green and read sugar, rainbow dots, chocolate sprinkles. silver balls, and cinnamon candies, I now understand part of my  grandma's frustration, having made a batch all by myself. I tended to treat each cookie as an individual work of art, my grandmother wanted me to just mass produce a tray and get on with it.

My other job was sorting the cooled cookies by shape. Long rows of Santas, trees, stars, reindeer, wreaths, and more.

Almost all of the bonding with my grandmother was over food, and no ritual was deeper or more fulfilling than the sugar cookie marathon.

This recipe is for thin crispy sugar cookies. They are light and crunchy, a perfect accompaniment to coffee, tea, or milk.

My grandmother used a pastry cloth to roll them out on. I use my marble slab. It is important that the surface be well floured, and flour the rolling pin as well. You want them just as thin as you can get them. I roll the dough out until it is translucent, and I can just see my marble through the dough.

Sugar Cookies

3 cups AP flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup vegetable shortening

1 tsp. vanilla bean paste

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream shortening. Add flour mixture a third at a time, creaming together.

While whisking eggs, slowly add sugar. Whisk until smooth, Add vanilla paste, and whisk in thoroughly.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Run mixer at medium speed until well combined. 

Form into a ball, and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Working with a small amount of dough at a time, roll out on a well floured surface until very thin.

Cut to desired shapes. Transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet.

Sprinkle cookies with granulated (white) sugar. Decorate as desired (colored sugar, jimmies, dots, etc.)

Bake for 5 - 8 minutes, until light brown.

Transfer to a cooling rack.

Happy Eating!

Sugar Class: Sweet Treats

Most of what we are doing in sugar class is decorative pieces. Yesterday, we had the one day where we made things you actually want to eat. We made lollipops, pillow candies, and making marshmallows. We then practiced making hard caramel decorations.

Lollipops are fairly easy. You cook sugar to hard crack stage. then add color and flavor. We used metal spring molds. You grease them lightly, then clip in the stick, and place it on a silicon baking sheet. Fill the molds with the hot sugar.









Pillow candy  is made by heating sugar to hard crack stage. Add flavor. Pour half on to a silicon pad, then  add color to the other half. At it cools, roll it up, and stretch it to add air and it becomes shiny. Roll out each color, and stick together. Stretch and fold to produce stripes. Stretch and twist, and cut into inch long pieces. Let harden on non-stick surface.

Marshmallows are fairly simple. Sugar is cooked to soft ball stage. Then place in a stand mixer with gelatin. Whip until fluffy and cooled to just warmer than room temperature. Add color and flavor, whip to incorporate. Transfer to an eight by eight pan that is lined with greased plastic wrap. Dust with a mixture of equal parts powdered sugar and corn starch. Press into pan. Let set, turn onto a cutting board and cut into squares. Toss with more powdered sugar and corn starch.

Recipes

Lollipops

7 oz. by wt. sugar

3 3/4 oz. by wt. corn syrup

4 oz. by vol. water

1 tsp. flavor extract

1 tsp. water

1/4 tsp. citric acid

artificial color

Combine 1 tsp. water, flavor extract, citric acid, and artificial color. Set aside.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a small pot over medium low heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, to 300 F. Remove from heat, add flavor mixture. Swirl to combine. Pour into prepared molds, allow to solidify before unmolding.

Ribbon Candy

14 oz. by wt. sugar

6 oz. by vol. water

3 oz. by wt. corn syrup

1 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. citric acid

1 tsp. flavor extract

Dissolve citric acid in 1 tsp. water. Add flavor extract. Set aside.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a small pot over medium low heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, to 300 F. Remove from heat, add citric acid mixture. Swirl to combine. 

Pour half of sugar mix onto a silicone mat. Add color to remaining half, swirl to combine. Pour onto a separate location on the mat.

As they cool, roll up. When cool enough, stretch until shiny and opaque. Roll into 12" rolls, stick together, fold and stretch to form stripes. Stretch and twist. Snip into one inch lengths. Let cool on a non-stick surface.

Marshmallows

Mix together equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar. Set aside.

3/10 oz. by wt. powdered gelatin

2 oz. by vol. water

Combine water and gelatin. Let stand at least ten minutes.

6 oz. by wt. sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

3 oz. by vol. water

1 tsp. flavor extract

1/8 tsp. salt

Line an 8" by 8" with plastic wrap. Lightly grease, set aside.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a small pot over medium low heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, to 238 F. Move to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add gelatin. Whip on high speed until fluffy and cooled to just warmer than room temperature. Add flavoring, salt, and color. Whip until well combined. Transfer to pan. Dust with cornstarch mixture. Press into pan to level.

When cool, dust a cutting board with cornstarch mixture. Turn marshmallow onto board. Cut into squares. Toss with more cornstarch mixture.

Happy eating!

Cake Decorating Class: S'mores Cupcakes

We had our first lab for our cake decorating class. The first half of the semester will be more focused on baking and construction, and the second half more on decoration.

We started off with something fairly easy. We started a cheesecake, which we will finish in the next class session. We also did S'mores cupcakes, that while fairly simple, looked and tasted great.

These cupcakes are a rich chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, graham cracker crumbs, Swiss meringue, and a little square of milk chocolate with smoked salt. We baked it in a square shape.

We torched the meringue to give it the toasted marshmallow flavor. The smoked salt was to give it a little taste of the campfire.

I really liked the look and taste of this cupcake. It manages to be both homey and elegant.

We did not explicitly cover the recipe for the ganache, but I expect it is probably the one here. For the chocolate, we tempered milk chocolate, and spread it thin on a sheet of acetate. It was sprinkled with smoked salt, and allowed to harden. It was then cut into squares.

S'mores Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

dry ingredients:

5 oz. by wt. all purpose flour

7 oz. by wt. sugar

1 1/2 oz. by wt. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

wet ingredients:

1 egg

2 oz. by vol. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 oz. by vol. brewed coffee

4 oz. by vol. buttermilk

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. 

Sift together dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix until well combined.

Scoop into lined cupcake pan. Bake 18 - 22 minutes. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Swiss Meringue

4 egg whites

8 oz. by wt. sugar

3/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/8 tsp. salt

Heat all ingredients in a double boiler over simmering water while whisking continuously. Heat to 165 F. Transfer to a stand mixer and whip on high until cooled to room temperature.

Happy Eating!

Slow Baked Pork Chili and Kirschwasser Strawberry Shortcake

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. The day before yesterday, I had pulled out a pork roast to defrost for dinner, and I had the strawberries from my CSA that I planned to make into strawberry shortcake. I did not have a plan for the roast. Then, I saw a post from a foodie friend on Facebook announcing that it was National Strawberry Day, and National Chili Day. I thought, OK, I have half of that covered. And, as the day was cold and rainy (by San Diego standards), it was a perfect day for chili.

I have fallen in love with doing my chili by slow baking it in an enameled cast iron dutch oven. I think it gets the best texture that way, and there is no danger of scorching the bottom. It also gets the flavors to meld  to perfection.

I had a two pound pork sirloin roast, It was very lean. I cut it into 3/4" cubes. I dredged it in flour seasoned with berbere (an Ethiopian spice mix) cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. I seared the pork pieces in small batches in a little vegetable oil in the bottom of my dutch oven.

After pulling out all the seared pork pieces,  I added diced onion and green and red bell peppers to the oil, and sweated them.  To that I added diced fresh tomatoes, a can of crushed tomatoes, and a little pinot noir. I brought that to a simmer, and let it cook for about 45 minutes, to reduce the liquid some.

I seasoned the chili with oregano, rosemary, dried cilantro, thyme, cumin, bay leaf, chili powder, pepper, and salt. I returned the pork to the pot, then put on the lid. I placed it into a 280 F oven, where it cooked slowly for three hours.

After three hours, the pork was tender, and just starting to fall apart. The flavors had melded beautifully.

Strawberry shortcake has always been a major comfort food for me. And, I mean real strawberry shortcake, not stale store bought sponge cake rounds. Proper shortcakes are scones or biscuits, maybe lightly sweetened.

It was a summer favorite my grandmother made. Sliced strawberries are macerated in a little sugar, to get them to release their own juices. The biscuits are soaked with lightly sweetened cream or half and half. It's a simple dessert, but one I adore.

In this case, I tried to elevate the dessert by adding a little kirschwasser to the strawberries and sugar as they macerated. I also added a little of the kirschwasser to the heavy cream, with a little sugar. I used a whisk to whip it until moderately thick, but stopped well before it reached even soft peaks.

For the biscuits, I used my basic scone recipe. The spouse had made them to take to work, and had more than she needed. She rolled them and cut them out, to the stage where they were ready to go into the oven. She then froze about half the batch. I pulled the frozen scones out, and placed them on an ungreased baking sheet. I baked them for 20 minutes in a 375 F oven, and they turned out just as nice as if they hadn't been frozen. This is actually good news for the business.

I thought the kirschwasser added a nice touch. We both enjoyed the dessert very much.

Slow Baked Pork Chili

Coating Flour:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. berbere powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

Chili:

2 lbs. pork sirloin roast, cut into 3/4" cubes

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

7 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced

1 28 oz. can peeled crushed tomatoes

1 cup pinot noir

1 Tbsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried cilantro

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Mix together all ingredients for coating flour.

Heat oil in a large enameled cast iron dutch oven over medium to medium high heat. Toss pork pieces in coating flour, shaking off excess. Sear pork pieces in the oil until brown on all sides. Remove from dutch oven, set aside.

Add onion and bell peppers to oil, cook until softened. Add fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, and wine. bring to a simmer, let cook for about 45 minutes, until somewhat reduced. Add herbs and spices, and return pork to the pot. Cover, place in a 280 F oven. Bake for three hours, until pork is tender.

Happy Eating!

Valentine's Day Food Fest

The spouse and I both had yesterday off in celebration of Lincoln's birthday (which was on Wednesday, but I guess school admins would rather have a four day weekend than be temporally correct.) This year that also happened to coincide with Valentine's Day. We don't usually do much about this holiday, but since we did have the opportunity to spend it together, I decided to make it all about the food.

I started by making breakfast in bed for the spouse. I made an omelet with caramelized onions and sauteed fresh mushrooms. It also had cheddar and Parmesan cheese. When I caramelized the onions, I added a little hot smoked paprika, as well as salt and pepper. I sauteed the mushrooms in olive oil, and added a little garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. I'm finding that if I make a dish with multiple components, I like to season the components separately. When spices are added subtly changes their flavor, and adding them into the components seems to provide more subtly and complexity of flavor.

To go with the omelets, I had some mixed red, white, and purple fingerling potatoes that I sliced on my mandolin and shallow fried until crispy.

After breakfast, we went to an early showing of The Lego Movie. We enjoyed it. I found it one of the most entertaining flicks I've seen  in a long time. Also, the more pages you've read at TV Tropes, the more jokes you will get. 

For lunch, I made club style BLT's. We had picked up some thick cut maple glazed bacon at Costco. We had some nice ripe cluster tomatoes, and bronze leaf lettuce. 

I slow cooked the bacon on a broiler pan in a 350 F oven. It took about half an hour, but this helped the bacon remain flat. This was a good quality bacon, as there was little shrinkage, and less grease run off than you would normally expect. 

I toasted whole wheat bread, and used just a little mayo on each section.

Dinner, however, was the star of the day. We went by the store, and found a nice rib eye (my favorite steak). They also had a nice deal on Maine lobster tails, just $4 each. We both love lobster, so We grabbed a couple. We had already picked up some lovely asparagus. 

If this seems a little deja vu-ish, that's because last year's Valentine's Day menu was also grilled steak and asparagus. I used the same rub (cocoa powder, cumin, salt, onion powder, and chili powder) as last year. 

I also grilled the lobster tails. I snipped off the little palps (legs), and used kitchen shears to split the underside of the shell. The lobster tails took about 3/4's as long to cook as the steak took to reach medium rare. I also grilled the asparagus, and finished it with a little fresh lemon juice and some smoked Serrano sea salt. For the starch, I made quinoa in the rice cooker with some garlic and kosher salt.

For dessert, I also sort of repeated myself from last year. I made a sabayon, though this year's was a spiced rum sabayon. 

To go with it, I made apple pumpkin butter galettes. Traditionally, galettes use frangipane or marzapane (almond paste) for the base. I did not have any, but I had a jar of maple pumpkin butter. The galette is a round of puff pastry, with a layer of the pumpkin butter in the center, and slices of pink lady apples. It came out really nice, and matched well with the sabayon.

To accompany the meal, I had a bottle of 2012 Bella Bolle' Moscato D'Asti. It is an Italian sparkling Muscato. It was sweet, with crisp green apple and citron notes, with a bold attack and a clean finish. It went surprisingly well with the meal. If you are every looking for a sparkling wine that is not brut(ally) dry champagne, I can heartily recommend this one.

Recipes

Spiced Rum Sabayon

6 egg yolks
 1/3 cup spiced rum
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar

Whip cream to medium stiff peaks. Set aside.

In a double boiler over barely simmering water, whisk together egg yolks. sugar, and rum until thick and smooth. Place bowl with egg mixture in an ice bath, continue to whisk until room temperature. Fold cream into egg mixture. Pour or spoon into serving containers. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Apple and Pumpkin Butter Galettes

1 pink lady apple, sliced

4 3" rounds puff pastry

4 Tbsp. pumpkin butter

2 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. simple syrup

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

Spread a tablespoon of pumpkin butter in the center of each round of puff pastry, leaving a rim of  1/4" clear. arrange apple slices to cover pumpkin butter. Brush pastries with butter. Sprinkle liberally with sugar.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake for 15 - 18 minutes, until pastry is brown and crisp. Remove to a cooling rack.

Let cool to room temperature. Brush with simple syrup.

Happy Eating!

A 16th Century Italian Dinner

I had the opportunity to cook for some friends. I looked through some of the recipes from a renaissance Italian cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi for inspiration. His Opera dell'arte del cucinare was the Joy of Cooking of the time, with over a thousand recipes, plus general cooking advice. Looking through it, one can see the start of the transition from medieval to modern cuisine.

I was surprised to find some very modern style cookery. Barbecued rack of beef ribs, with dry rub and a vinegar based sauce (no tomatoes, though) appears in Scappi. Like medieval cookbooks, he doesn't trust vegetables, and boils them to mush. He has very modern pastas, but they are served dusted with sugar and cinnamon, rather than with a cream or tomato sauce.

For the entrée, I was inspired to find a pork fat wrapped beef tenderloin in his cookbook. I found asparagus with sour orange sauce that looked interesting, and I wanted to try my hand at making pasta, and found a recipe with chard, spinach, and cheese that sounded good.

The fillet Mignon was first brushed with a mix of white wine, white wine vinegar, and rosewater. It was then seasoned with a rub of kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and coriander. I wrapped them in thick cut bacon. They were pan seared, then finished to medium rare in a hot oven. I removed the fillets from the pan to rest, and reduced the pan juices with a little white wine and white wine vinegar. That made a very nice dipping sauce for the fillet.

For the asparagus, I lightly steamed them in a pan with some homemade vegetable stock. Sour oranges have only a limited growing season in the winter, so I used regular oranges with lime juice, salt, and a little cane sugar. Scappi recommends cooking wild asparagus with raisins. Instead, I added some currants (small, intensely flavored, raisins) to the sauce. I reduced the juice to about one quarter the original volume. This produced an intensely acidic sauce, which the currants helped mellow. I think it was the best thing on the plate.

The pasta were tortetelli; tortellini on steroids. The pasta dough was based on this recipe by Tyler Flores. I've had a pasta roller for years, this was the first time I've actually played with it. For the filling, I sautéed spinach and Swiss chard in olive oil with fresh parsley, oregano, and thyme. I allowed that to cool, then drained the liquid off. The greens were then mixed with ricotta and a healthy amount of Parmesan. To make tortetelli, roll the dough very thin, and cut about a five inch diameter circle. Place about a tablespoon of filling in the center. Brush the edge with beaten egg, and fold in half, pressing to seal. Bring the two corners of the half circle together and overlap, using the egg wash to stick them together. Fold the excess rim of the half circle down, forming a ring. Dust with flour, and allow to dry a little. To serve, I simmered them in vegetable stock, then fished them out, dusted with a little cinnamon sugar, and topped them with grated Parmesan.


For dessert, I made a strawberry custard tart. I sautéed strawberries in butter until they were tender. I forced the strawberries through a strainer, to remove the seeds and fibrous material. The resulting puree was placed in a food processor with ricotta, biscotti crumbs, sugar, eggs, and Parmesan, and processed until smooth. The pastry is a dough of flour, butter, sugar, and rosewater, which Scappi calls 'royal dough'. I needed a garnish for the plate, so made a basil syrup. It worked really well with the strawberry, and brought out the rose in the pastry.

Overall, I think this was one of my best meals yet. The fillet was really good quality, and I think I enhanced it well with the spices, bacon, and sauce. I thought the sauce for the asparagus came out great. I think I under cooked the pasta a trifle, but I really liked the flavor of the filling. The tart filling had a wonderfully smooth and rich mouth feel, and the pastry was light and flaky. Then basil syrup added a nice note, though I had hoped to get a more intense green color. Will have to work on that.

Recipes

Bacon Wrapped Fillet Mignon

for the brushing liquid:

2 Tbsp. white wine
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 tsp. rosewater

for the rub:

2 Tbsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

for the sauce:

1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar

6 fillet Mignon's
6 strips thick cut bacon

Mix together brushing liquid ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together rub spices.

Brush lightly all surfaces of the fillets with the brushing liquid. Lightly coat all surfaces of the fillet with the rub. Wrap a bacon strip around of each fillet, overlapping, and securing to fillet with a toothpick of skewer. Refrigerate, covered, for three to six hours.

Pre-heat oven to 425 F. In a large heavy skillet over medium high heat, sear top and bottom of fillets. Transfer to oven, cook to medium rare, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, transfer fillets to a cutting board to rest.

Place pan with juices over medium high heat. Add wine and vinegar. Boil vigorously until volume is reduced by half. Transfer sauce to small cups for dipping.

Steamed Asparagus with Sour Orange Currant Sauce

1 bunch asparagus
2 oranges
2 limes
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup currants
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup vegetable stock

Wash asparagus, remove woody ends of the stems (keep and freeze to use for future stock). Juice oranges and limes. Place juice in a small saucepan with sugar, salt, and currants. Cook over medium to medium high heat until volume is reduce by 3/4.

Heat a non-stick heavy skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add stock and asparagus, cooking until asparagus is al dente.

Plate sauce, place asparagus on top.

Chard, Spinach, and Cheese Tortetelli

for the filling:

1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and rough chopped
1 bunch Swiss chard, washed and rough chopped
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup minced fresh oregano
1/4 cup minced fresh
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

for the pasta:

2 cups all purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
3 eggs, plus one for wash
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 quarts vegetable stock
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Place flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. While mixer is running, add three eggs, one at a time, allowing a little time between each addition. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, until dough forms a ball.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured board. Knead for ten minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.

In a large pot, heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add spinach, chard, and herbs. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Remove from heat, allow to cool. Strain off excess liquid.

Place greens in a bowl. Add ricotta and Parmesan, mix thoroughly.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Beat an egg to use as a wash for the pasta. Using a pasta machine, roll out a thin dough, keeping it well dusted with flour to prevent sticking. Cut out five inch diameter circles. Place about one tablespoon of filling on each circle. Wet edges with egg, fold circles in half and press to seal. Bring corners of the half circles together, overlapping and using the egg to stick together. Fold down top of half circle to form a ring with a bulge on one side.

Dust tortetelli with flour, place on a baking sheet to dry.

Mix together cinnamon and sugar, set aside.

Bring vegetable stock to a simmer. Add tortetelli, cook until tender, about 4 to 8 minutes.

Remove pasta from stock. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Plate, top with Parmesan cheese.

Strawberry Custard Tart

for the crust:

9 oz. by wt. all purpose flour
6 oz. by wt. cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 oz. by wt. sugar
3 oz. by volume ice cold rosewater
1 tsp. kosher salt.

for the filling:

1 lb. fresh strawberries
2 oz. by wt. butter
2 oz. by wt. biscotti crumbs
5 oz. by wt. ricotta
1 1/2 oz. by wt. Parmesan
3 oz. by wt. cane sugar, plus 1/4 cup for dusting
5 egg yolks
1 egg white

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles course crumbs. Slowly add rosewater one tablespoon at a time, mixing by hand, until dough just sticks together.

Form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to chill.

Wash, hull, and rough chop strawberries.

In a skillet over medium heat, melt two ounces of butter. Add strawberries, sautee until tender.

Remove from heat, cool. Force strawberries through a strainer to remove seeds and fibrous pulp.

Place strawberry puree in the bowl of a food processor with crumbs, ricotta, sugar, egg yolks, and Parmesan. Process until smooth.

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Lightly grease six small ceramic ramekins. Roll out dough thin, line ramekins. Cut out circles just big enough to cover. Cut out vent holes in top crusts.

Fill ramekins with custard mix. lightly wet lip of crust with water. Place top crusts on, pinch crusts together to seal. Dust top of tarts with egg white, and sprinkle with sugar.

Place in oven. bake 20 minutes. Turn oven temperature up to 425 F.  Cook another 5 - 8 minutes, until top is brown and custard is set.

Remove to a rack to cool.

Basil Syrup

3/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup whole fresh basil leaves

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until sugar is dissolve and basil leaves are soft, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a blender. Blend until basil is finely chopped. Strain, place in a squeeze bottle, and chill until time to plate.


Happy Eating!

 

 

Sour Apple Schnapps Cheesecake

Saturday we were invited to a gathering at the beach, and I wanted to take something to contribute. I had a five pound container of ricotta left over from the Renaissance Italian lunch, so thought cheesecake would be a good use. I decided to adapt the Greek style cheesecake I made for Gaslight Gathering.

I looked at what I had by way of flavorings, and decided I liked the idea of using sour apple schnapps. It's honestly not very good for drinking, but adds a nice flavor when cooked. I decided to make an almond crust, as I had plenty of them left over as well.

Because this style uses no egg yolks, and whips the whites into a meringue, it is a very light style, especially compared to the density of a New York style cheesecake. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

The sour apple flavor came through clearly. It is not overly sweet, rich enough to be satisfying without being heavy.

Sour Apple Schnapps Cheesecake

For the crust:
 4 oz. by wt. almonds
1/6 cup sugar
 8 oz. by wt. all purpose flour
 4 oz. by wt. butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a heavy skillet, toast almonds over medium heat. Transfer to a food processor. Pulse several times. Add flour, sugar, and salt, process until nuts are finely ground.

Transfer nut mixture to a mixing bowl. Add butter, egg, and vanilla. Work by hand until ingredients are well mixed. Form into a ball, wrap balls in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least ten minutes.

For the cheesecake:
4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
16 oz. by wt. ricotta cheese
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sour apple schnapps
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, mix together ricotta and schnapps, refrigerate.

In an ungreased ten inch spring form pan, press almond dough to form a 1/8 inch thick crust on the bottom, and about 3/4 inch up the sides of the pan.

 In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly beat in flour, sugar, and salt until eggs are medium stiff peaks. Beat in honey, until fully incorporated. Fold ricotta into egg whites until well blended, with no lumps of egg white or ricotta remaining.

 Pour batter into spring form pan, using a spatula to smooth to an even layer. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until cheesecake is resilient to the touch, and lightly browned. It should be a little jiggly in the center.

Remove from oven. Lightly dust with cinnamon powder. Place on cooling rack to cool. Refrigerate until serving time. Remove spring form ring when ready to serve.
Happy eating!

A Renaissance Italian Lunch

For a local SCA event, I was asked to provide a lunch. I wanted to do something based on late 16th century Venetian cookery. I did some searching online, and found out about Bartolomeo Scappi, who published an enormous cookbook in 1570. I found menus and recipes online at various places.

I will be the first to admit that the food I do is period inspired, not period accurate. My first concern is to provide a tasty, filling, and fulfilling meal that doesn't scream modern. I realize I am cooking modern ingredients for a modern palette, and first and foremost, must have happy customers. I do like to push the palette a little, making food that is familiar, but still different.

I decided on a menu of spiced chicken, salad of mixed greens and edible flowers with a simple vinaigrette, a cheese and herb pie, and Neapolitan pizza for dessert.

The recipe that I used for inspiration called for the chicken to be boiled, then have a mix of sugar and spices sprinkled on. This was an appropriate way to treat a 16th century chicken, but not a good approach to a modern bird. I decided to grill chicken breasts, and I made a mix of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and kosher salt to season them.

The salad was half a commercial spring mix, and half fresh lettuce, arugula, basil, and edible flowers from a friends garden. Salad dressings in the 16th century tend toward simple vinaigrette. The original recipe called for red wine vinegar. I didn't have any in my pantry, so used a mix of balsamic and white wine vinegars. That was combined with olive oil, salt, and black pepper.

The pies were a standard 3-2-1 pie crust with a filling of ricotta and fresh basil, oregano, thyme, and parsley. They were brushed with an egg wash, to get a nice color. Both the salad and pies were based on items mentioned in a lunch menu by Scappi.

The Neapolitan pizza, really a fruit tart, had a base of pie crust that was blind baked. The filling was a paste of almonds, pine nuts, fresh figs (from the garden of the friend that provided the greens), dried dates, raisins, cinnamon, sugar, and eggs. We spread that over the crust, and garnished it with slices of dates and pine nuts. We baked it until the filling set., then sprinkled them with rose water.

I think this lunch went well. It was simple, but balanced and filling. I was very happy with the pizza. It was rich and sweet, and had a great texture.

Recipes

Grilled Sugar and Spice Chicken

4 large chicken breasts
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix together sugar and spices.

Pat breasts dry. Liberally sprinkle both sides of breasts with sugar and spice mix. Place on a medium hot grill. Allow to cook 6 - 10 minutes, then turn over. Cook another 6 - 10 minutes, until a good color on both sides, and about 90% done. Move to top rack to finish, until breast is cooked through, but not dry.

Italian Vinaigrette

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a liquid tight container. Shake vigorously, until ingredients form an emulsion.

Ricotta and Herb Pies

For crust:
9 oz. by wt. flour
6 oz. by wt. butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and chilled
3 oz. by vol. ice water
1 tsp. kosher salt

Sift together flour and salt. Cut butter into flour, until it resembles course crumbs. Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough just clings together. Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.

For filling:
3 cups ricotta
1/2 cup chiffonaded fresh basil
1/2 cup rough chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp. kosher salt.

In a bowl, thoroughly mix together all ingredients.

For pies:
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cold water

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut two three inch circles per pie. Place one teaspoon of filling in the center of each bottom crust. With a finger, wet edge of bottom crust with water. Place on top crust. Use a fork to crimp edges together. Transfer to an ungreased sheet pan. brush each pie with beaten egg.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until crust is cooked and golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Neapolitan Pizza

1 1/2  recipes of above pie crust
9 oz. by wt. Almonds
6 oz. by wt. Pine nuts
4 1/2 oz. by wt. Dried dates
4 1/2 oz. by wt. Fresh figs
4 1/2 oz. by wt. Raisins
6 eggs, beaten

9 oz. by wt. Sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. rose water

Pre-heat oven to 350 F

Line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil. Spray lightly with oil. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to lined pan. Cover with wax paper, then press another half sheet pan onto dough. Bake for ten minutes. Remove from oven, and remove top pan and wax paper. Let cool slightly.

In a food processor, grind almonds to course crumbs. Transfer to a bowl. In the same processor, grind together figs, dates, and raisins. Stir into nuts. Add sugar, eggs, and cinnamon. Thoroughly mix together.

Spread filling in even layer over crust. Bake 20 minutes, or until filling is firm.

Remove from oven. With a pastry brush, lightly sprinkle pizza with rose water.

Happy Eating!

Chocolate Class: Final Project and Grade

Sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I've been crazy busy and sick since the middle of last month.

For our final project, we were to make molded chocolates with ganache filling. We could either use a recipe from class or our own. I made dark chocolate shells with a white chocolate chili-lime ganache filling. I ran a swipe of red cocoa butter on the inside of the mold, by way of decoration.

For the filling, I adapted the vanilla lemon ganache we made earlier. I replaced the vanilla with chili oil, and used key lime zest in the cream.

Overall, it went well. I got 19.5 out of 20 on the final. My shell was perfect, very thin and super shiny. The ganache had a nice, smooth mouth feel. The lime came through nicely, though I lost the half point because chef felt the chili wasn't strong enough. I was conservative, as chili oil can be aggressive.

I did finish with an A in the class.

Chili - Lime White Chocolate Ganache

5.4 oz. cream
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
 1 tsp. chili oil
zest of 4 key limes
.8 oz. by wt. cocoa butter, melted
 8 oz. by wt. white chocolate

Line an 8" x 8" pan with plastic wrap.

Combine chili oil and cocoa butter, set aside.

 In a small heavy saucepan over medium heat,  combine cream, corn syrup, and zest. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes. Return to heat, bring back just to a boil.

Strain liquid into chocolate. Let stand two minutes.

Whisk to combine. Whisk in cocoa butter mixture. When smooth, Pour into pan. Allow to cool. When thick, transfer to a pastry bag.
Happy Eating!

Chocolate Class: Another Molded Chocolate

Originally, the plan for last Thursday was to begin making our final project. We were supposed to make a chocolate box, decorate it, and make a dozen chocolates to go into the box. I spent the morning making a plan. I had a pattern I was going to pipe into the top of the box, and I had my recipes ready to make yellow modeling chocolate for a rose, and for the filling for my chocolates. I wrote out work schedules for both days.

When I go to class, I found that plans had changed. Chef was unhappy with the process on the day before, and felt we needed more practice before the practical. The practical was scaled back to just one day, and the box was eliminated, leaving only the molded chocolates for the final.

Instead, we made more molded chocolates. This time we made a passion fruit ganache to fill them. To decorate, the molds were flicked with brushes dipped into melted cocoa butter with red and yellow coloring. Once that was set, the molds were filled with dark chocolate, then emptied to create a shell.

They were then filled with the passion fruit ganache, then had a tempered chocolate foot added.

Once that set, the chocolates were unmolded.


Recipe courtesy of Chef James Foran.

Passion Fruit Vanilla Bean Ganache

1 vanilla bean, scraped
5 oz. passion fruit puree
3 oz. heavy cream
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
2 oz. salted butter, softened
21 oz. white chocolate

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine vanilla bean, puree, cream, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil. Strain over chocolate.

Let stand two minutes. Whisk gently to combine. When smooth, add butter and whisk until smooth again.

Cool until thick enough to pipe.

Happy eating!

Chocolate Class: Two Molded Chocolates

Our final lab was working with chocolate molds. You may have seen the flimsy thin plastic molds sold at crafts stores. We did not use those. Professional molds are hard, durable polycarbonate plastic. They are designed to get beat on the table to level fillings, and remove air bubbles.

The procedure is simple but exacting. The molds are filled with tempered chocolate. The chocolate is emptied out, and the chocolate allowed to harden. It is then filled with whatever relatively fluid ganache you want, leaving just enough space to add a thin layer of chocolate, the 'foot', to seal it. Once the foot sets, the chocolate can be unmolded.

The trick is to fill and empty the mold quickly, to get a thin shell with no air bubbles. Keeping the top of the mold clean and free of excess chocolate is a must.

We made two different fillings. The first was the white chocolate vanilla lemon ganache we made previously, intending to dip, but that did not set up thick enough. It has a strong vanilla taste, but more lemon on the nose. It had a good consistency, but was a little sticky getting it into the piping bag. It did pipe just fine, however.

By way of decoration, my lab partner splattered the mold with some tempered milk chocolate. This produced a marbled effect that I think looks very nice.

I like the contrast between the filling and the shell. The white chocolate filling is sweet compared to the shell, but the strong lemon and vanilla flavor cuts the sweetness some.


The other filling was a caramel milk chocolate hazelnut ganache. I really liked this one. Of course, you had me at caramel. We started by making a thin caramel, pouring it over the milk chocolate, blending everything together, then finishing by adding a little hazelnut liqueur.

This filling has a luscious mouth feel. Very smooth, and a little thinner than the lemon vanilla ganache.

For decoration, I painted one thin diagonal stripe of tempered milk chocolate. I wanted to keep it simple and elegant.

In some ways, making molded chocolates is both easier and more difficult than hand rolling or dipping. It is certainly faster to produce large quantities of chocolates. It is more exacting, however. While variation in the product is part of the charm of hand rolled truffles, molded chocolates are expected to be perfect, and without flaws. Bubbles, cracks, blooms, or thick or uneven shells are not acceptable.

All recipes courtesy of Chef James Foran.

Recipes

Vanilla Lemon Ganache

5.4 oz. cream
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
½ vanilla bean
zest of 1 lemon
8 oz. by wt. white chocolate

Line an 8" x 8" pan with plastic wrap.

Split and scrape vanilla bean.

In a small heavy saucepan over medium heat,  combine cream, corn syrup, vanilla bean and scrapings, and zest. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes. Return to heat, bring back just to a boil.

Strain liquid into chocolate. Let stand two minutes.

Whisk to combine. When smooth, Pour into pan. Allow to cool. When thick, transfer to a pastry bag.

Caramel Mill Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

13.5 oz. Milk chocolate – chopped fine
¾ oz. Cocoa butter
3 ¾ oz. sugar
1 ½ oz. water
9 oz. Cream
¾ oz. Corn syrup
½ tsp. Salt
1 ½ oz. butter – soft
1 ½ Tbsp. hazelnut liqueur

In a bowl, combine chocolate and cocoa butter, set aside.

In a small heavy saucepan over medium to medium high heat, dissolve sugar in water. Cook to a medium amber color. Remove from heat. Add cream carefully, in three stages, while continuously whisking.

When well combined, add corn syrup and salt. Return to heat, bring to a boil.

Pour over chocolate, let stand two minutes.  Whisk together until smooth. Add butter, whisk until smooth. Add liqueur, whisk until smooth. Allow to set until thick enough to pipe.

Happy Eating!

Chocolate Class: Homework

Our homework for my chocolate class was to make three homemade chocolates, either hand rolled truffles, dipped chocolates, or molded chocolates. Because the spouse and I will be out of town next week, I needed to turn my homework in early. That meant no molded chocolates, in that we will be covering that today, and today is the day I am handing in my homework.

I decided to make a hand rolled truffle. I wanted to try something different. I was inspired by a curry chocolate we tasted the first day of class. Yellow curry is becoming more common in sweets these days, but it is not my favorite curry. I like Thai green curry. I've never seen it used in a sweet before, so I thought it would be a novel idea.

I wanted a garnish that would go well with the curry. I chose dried mango, since mango is a common ingredient in Thai cuisine.

The photo doesn't show it well, but the ganache in the center of the truffle came out a very pale green color.

For the class, presentation counts. The spouse found a pattern online to make a triangular box. She made one out of blue corrugated tagboard. I like the color, I think it shows off the truffles well.

Overall, I am happy with these truffles. The curry flavor is subdued, but definitely there. I think the mango ends up making it a little sweet. I think next time I will try dried kiwi, which retains a little tartness.

One thing I learned; dried mango does not want to be diced. It has a leathery texture, making it resistant to slicing. It also leaves a sticky residue. I found it necessary to keep a bucket of hot water at hand, so I could clean my knife between each piece.

Green Curry White Chocolate Truffles with Dried Mango

For the ganache:

6 ½ oz. 24% white chocolate
2 ½ oz. Heavy cream
½ tsp. Thai green curry powder
½ oz. Salted butter, softened

Bring cream to a scald. Remove from heat. Stir in curry powder, cover and let sit fifteen minutes.

Return to heat, bring back to a scald. Pour cream through a strainer over white chocolate. Cover, let
sit 2 minutes.

Stir together until smooth. Add butter, and stir again until smooth.

Let sit until mixture is thick enough to pipe. Transfer to piping bag, pipe onto parchment lined baking
sheet.

Allow to dry until moldable. Roll into balls.

To finish truffles:

1 pound 24% white chocolate
½ lb. Dried mango
1 tsp. Corn starch

Dice mango. Toss with corn starch, set aside.

Melt and temper chocolate.

Dip truffles in tempered chocolate. Allow to harden. Dip again into tempered chocolate, then
immediately roll in diced mango. Place on parchment to dry.

Makes 16 – 18 truffles.

Happy Eating!

 

Chocolate Class: Two Dipped Chocolates

Yesterday we dipped two of the fillings we had prepared last Thursday. One of them, the lemon vanilla white chocolate praline, turned out too soft to dip. It is, however, the right consistency for filling molded chocolates, so we will see it next week.

So, the fillings we did dip were a caramel, and a milk chocolate raspberry ganache with a layer of raspberry pate de fruit. Pate de fruit (pronounced more like 'paw de fweee' (it's French)), is fruit jellies. It utilizes pectin, the jelling agent in most jams and jellies. You can use gelatin, but it results in a more rubbery texture than pectin.

The pate de fruit is fairly easy to produce. It involves cooking raspberry puree, sugar, and pectin. The sugar is divided in half; one half is mixed with the puree, the other half with the pectin. Pure pectin cannot just be added to hot liquid. It would just seize up immediately, and give you a rubbery ball. It is mixed with sugar to give it time to become incorporated. The puree and sugar mixture is brought to a boil, and then the pectin and sugar mixture is added. The whole thing is whisked vigorously for a minute and a half to two minutes, until it becomes fairly stiff. It must be spread quickly in a plastic wrap lined pan. It will cool and firm quickly.

The raspberry ganache has milk and dark chocolate, corn syrup, cream, raspberry puree, butter, and raspberry liqueur. The butter helps add back the fat lost when some of the cream is replace with fruit puree. The liqueur is added at the very end, to prevent cooking it out. This is poured over the pate de fruit, and smoothed flat. Let everything sit for several hours, or over night, to become firm.

The caramel involves cooking sugar and corn syrup to hard crack stage (300 F), then stirring in butter, cream, vanilla, and salt, then bringing it back to a boil, and cooking it to a very precise 246 F. The point of the precision is the texture of the caramel. If you cook it too long, it will be too chewy, and tend to stick to the teeth. If the temperature is too low, it will be too soft to hold its shape to be dipped. Once the caramel is at the correct temperature, it should be spread quickly over a pan lined with aluminum foil, and greased. Let stand several hours, or over night, to harden.

Once everything is set, it needs to be footed. This means a thin layer of tempered chocolate is spread over one side. Once hardened, this will provide a slick surface that will make it easier to slide the dipped chocolate off onto parchment paper.

Once the footing is set, the candy can be placed chocolate side down on a cutting board, and cut to size. We cut the raspberry candies to one inch squares, and the caramels to 1 inch by 1 1/4 inch rectangle.

At this point, you can arrange your dipping station. Place the cut candies on a tray on one side, your bowl of tempered chocolate in the middle, and a parchment lined pan on the other. You will want food handlers gloves on. As I am left handed, I placed the candies on my right, and the tray on my left. Similar to breading, you keep one hand away from the messy stuff. You pick up a candy, and drop it footed side up into the tempered chocolate. With the other hand, using a dipping fork, press down on the footed side to submerge the candy, then roll the fork to bring the candy to the surface on top of the fork. Tap the fork on the edge of the bowl to remove as much chocolate as possible, then wipe the bottom of the fork on the edge of the chocolate bowl. Gently slide the candy off the fork onto parchment.

At this point, you can do whatever manipulations you want. For the caramels, we pressed one tine of

a dipping fork into the chocolate to create a diagonal line, then garnished them. We experimented with a number of garnishes, including sea salt, hickory smoked salt, balsamic salt, and candied cocoa nibs. For the raspberry candies, we place a bit of chocolate transfer sheet on top. Transfer sheets are sheets of acetate with patterns printed in colored cocoa butter. They come in a bewildering variety of patterns. The transfer sheet is placed on the wet, unset chocolate, then gently pressed into place. It is let to sit until then chocolate is completely set. The acetate then can be peeled off, leaving a pattern embedded in the chocolate.

Both these candies came out really nice. The caramel is smoothly textured, and soft. The raspberry has a rich, silky mouth feel, with a lot of the tartness of the raspberry coming through.

On an unrelated note: I have yet to hear from anyone on the banner design contest. All y'all that repeatedly ask about me cooking for you, now is your chance. I will come to you with food, and cook it. All you need to do is create a cool banner for the top of the blog. Way too many of you are talented artists to let this go by.

All recipes courtesy of Chef James Foran.

Recipes

Caramel for Dipped Chocolates

9.5 oz. by wt. sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 oz. by wt. butter
2 cup cream
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Line a 9" x 13" pan with aluminum foil. Grease pan well.

Place sugar and corn syrup in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium to medium high heat. Using a clean pastry and plain water, wash down the inside of the pan twice, to remove any excess sugar crystals. Cook sugar mixture to hard crack stage (300 F).

Remove from heat, whisk in butter. Whisk in cream, salt, and vanilla. Return to heat, cook to 246 F. Remove from heat, spread caramel evenly in greased pan.

Raspberry Pate de Fruit

5 oz. by wt. raspberry puree
4.25 oz. by wt. Granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. pectin
Spray an 8" x 8" pan very lightly with oil. Use this to hold in place a lining of plastic wrap.

 Mix together half the sugar and the pectin.

 Place the puree and the other half of the sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium to medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Whisk in the sugar and pectin mixture. Bring to a full boil. When at a boil, whisk mixture for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes continuously, until mixture is very thick. Quickly spread evenly in lined pan.

Milk Chocolate Raspberry Ganache

6 oz.by wt. milk chocolate
1 oz. by wt. 58% chocolate
2 oz. heavy cream
1 tsp. corn syrup
2 1/2 Tbsp. raspberry puree
1/4 oz. by wt. butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. raspberry liqueur

Chop chocolates fine, and place together in a bowl.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, corn syrup, and puree. Bring just to a boil. Pour over chocolate, and cover. :Let stand two minutes. Whisk together chocolate and cream until smooth. Add butter, whisk in thoroughly. Whisk in liqueur. If  ganache feels grainy, or is not thick and smooth, use a immersion blender to emulsify chocolate and cream.

Spread over top of pate de fruit.

Happy eating!

Chocolate Class: Coffee Truffles

I'm a bit behind. Life has been crazy busy, haven't had a spare moment to blog.

In Wednesday's class, we learned how to make hand rolled truffles. The chocolate truffle is named after the fungus because of it's irregular roundish shape.

The simplest and traditional truffle is a thick ganache, rolled into a ball, and covered with a coat of tempered chocolate. The truffles we made are flavored with coffee, and garnished with some crushed coffee bean.

The procedure is fairly straight forward. The ganache is made by pouring hot cream over finely chopped chocolate, letting the heat of the cream melt the chocolate. That is whisked smooth, then a little butter is whisked in. The ganache needs to cool, and allow the fats to crystallize. That can be done by allowing the ganache to sit at room temperature for four to eight hours. The ganache can be cooled faster by tabling on marble in the manner of tempering chocolate. Place the thickened ganache into a piping bag with a large straight tip. Use the bag to pipe balls of chocolate about the diameter of a quarter onto parchment paper. Let solidify until stiff but moldable. This can be sped up by placing it is a refrigerator for a few minutes. While wearing food handlers gloves, roll the ganache pieces between your hands to make them closer to ball shaped. Do this quickly, the heat of your hands will melt, and possibly even break, the ganache. Have a towel handy to wipe your hands between truffles.

Once rounded, the tr8uffles can be let to stiffen completely. The truffles are finished by dipping twice in tempered chocolate. The procedure is reminiscent of the proper method of breading. One hand is kept clean, the other gets messy. You definitely want gloves for this.

With the dipping hand, pick up a little liquid tempered chocolate with the tips of the fingers. With the clean hand, pick up a truffle, and drop it into the dipping hand. Rub truffle with a thin coat of chocolate. Wipe any excess chocolate on the dipping hand off on the side of the bowl of chocolate, then carefully place the dipped truffle on clean parchment paper. Repeat for the rest of the chocolates. Once the first coat is set, repeat for a second coat. While second coat is still liquid, garnish with a few grains of crushed coffee bean.

All recipes courtesy of Chef James Foran.

Coffee Truffles

8 1.2 oz. heavy cream
1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh ground coffee beans
1 1/2 oz. corn syrup
1 oz. salted butter (softened)
14 oz. + 2 lbs. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup crushed roasted coffee beans

Finely chop 14 oz. chocolate, and place in a metal bowl.

Combine cream, coffee, and corn syrup in a sauce pan over medium  heat. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, let stand five minutes.

Return to heat, bring back to a boil. Remove from heat, strain mixture over chocolate. Cover chocolate, let stand for two minutes. Uncover, gently whisk until well combined. Gently whisk in butter until smooth. Allow to cool until thickened but pipeable.

Place ganache into a piping bag with a large straight tip. Pipe mounds of chocolate about the diameter of a quarter onto parchment paper. Let crystallize to stiff but moldable.

Wearing gloves, roll truffles quickly until round. Place on clean parchment paper. Allow to solidify completely.

Temper 2 lbs. of chocolate. Lightly coat truffles with chocolate, place on clean parchment paper to harden.

When hard, add a second coat of chocolate of tempered chocolate.  While second coat is still wet, garnish with a pinch of crushed coffee beans.

Happy eating!