Cooking with friends all things chocolate

Today's baking evening was to be based around chocolate of all strengths ranging from pure white to 5% cocao. We weren't limited to pure chocolate either and wanted to make these dishes that bit richer by adding chocolate biscuits....oreos, and then just to make them even more richer one dish had numerous packets of cream cheese, and the other a fudge sauce. If we were going to go all out, we were going to do it right.

My gorgeous friend Annabel wanted to cook with me and since our friendship started over a simple container of nutella, I though it was only appropriate to have a cook up based on such a glorious ingredient.

We sifted through numerous recipes and decided on two: a peanut butter cheesecake with a chocolate glaze, and an Oreo fudge bar.

I went at lunch to buy the ingredients but only left Coles with three things and none of those were chocolate. I have noticed recently that Coles has a much more limited selection of products to Woolworths or Franklins, especially when it comes to chocolate. I am quite particular with which brands I use for cooking as certain brands can taste bitter and make a ganache terrible. So I had to go again to Franklins after work to buy the remaining (nearly all) ingredients, and I arrived home happy that I got my Whittakers Dark Ghana (72%) and Lindt (85%).

The night started with the cheesecakes, something I had never name before, so it was lucky that Annabel was there as she, only a couple of weeks ago, made a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. She started making the base by crushing the biscuits with a rolling pin, adding the butter and then pushing them into the ramekins. I didn't do very much at all as the rest of the ingredients we just threw into the blender, including the jar of peanut butter so they would be strong and nutty.

Also gathered around was Phillip, my brother, and Tim, my Graphic Designer. At each stage of the cooking I got out teaspoons so we could all analyze the mixture. So far so good. It was ridiculously rich and creamy, but hey it's a cheesecake so it is supposed to be like that.

We spooned the mixture over the bases and then baked them during which we prepped the Oreo Fudge Bars. Again, Annabel the Queen of bases crushed the Oreos, leaving them a bit chunkier than the previous biscuits giving it a nice texture and making you feel like you are eating a huge Oreo.

We made the fudge sauce, which is similar to a ganache, although you use condensed milk rather than cream and it is a lot thicker. We poured it over the base and then decorated with milk chocolate Whitakers then baked.....so so far there are three layers of chocolate, only one more to go.

The cheesecakes came out and in went the oreo fudge bars. Eager as would be expected, we wanted to get straight into the cheesecakes but it was quite obvious they were too warm and should really cool completely. I quickly put one in the freezer to cheat a bit as we wanted to try it that night, not the next day, and within half an hour it was cooler and slightly more firm. Ok to flip out......so we thought.......

It turned out to be a moon crater, cracked all the way over too. I will admit I was a bit disappointed, even though it was abstract and did not matter in the slightest whether it was broken or not. I tried to make it look a bit prettier by plating it and drizzling with some dark chocolate ganache.

Lucky I did though as it was a necessary component to break down the richness of the cheesecake and strength of the peanut butter.

We only had a few spoonfuls each as it was so rich, but also because we HAD to leave room to try the Oreo fudge bar which I had just taken out of the oven. I cut it up and we drizzled it with the fourth and final type of pure chocolate.....white. It was pure gluttony. This is a chocoholic's dream and perfect comfort food. I think as it is so rich it would be fantastic with ice cream.....as crushed oreo's are. We all gave it the thumbs up and though it was the better dessert out of the two.

The next day when I visited Annabel at Cafe Giulia, she had brought a large cheesecake and I asked her if she brought the Oreo bar too. This was her response "When I got home I couldn't help myself........and ate half of it that night :P" I laughed and applauded her as that is a mighty effort. She would have to be the bigger chocoholic out of the two of us I think, but something I am happy to test out in the future.

Peanut Butter Cheesecakes

Ingredients

Base
1 packet Arnotts Shredded Wheatmeal biscuits
125g butter
2 tbsps sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Cheesecake Filling
3 packets Philadelphia cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsps lemon juice
1 tbsps vanilla essence
1 tub (375g) peanut butter, crunchy

Ganache
100mL Pure cream
200g Dark chocolate, at least 70%

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees in a fan forced oven.
2. Melt butter and mix with crushed biscuits and sugar to form the crust.
3. Line pan or ramekins, whichever you are using, with baking paper, or if using a spring form pan, grease.
4. Press base mixture into pans so it is about 1.5cm thick.
5. Mix Philadelphia and sugar in a bowl until smooth then add each egg one at a time.
6. Finally mix in cream, vanilla, lemon juice and then lastly add peanut butter.
7. Spoon mixture over base and then put the tins or ramekins in a large deep pan filled with boiling water (a water bath), which goes at least 3/4 of the way up the tins or ramekins.
8. Depending on what tin you are using and its size, the baking time will vary. The small ramekins only took 25 mins but then a larger tin would take up to 40 mins. You will have to monitor this as everyone's oven acts differently. You do not want them to brown on top. Just set enough.
9. Cool completely or fridge overnight. Once cool make the chocolate ganache topping by warming the cream and then stirring in the chocolate.
10. If you want to serve with warm sauce falling down the sides, use a knife to go around the edges and release the cheesecake from its tin, then plate up and pour sauce over the top. Otherwise pour sauce over the cheesecake and then refrigerate again until chocolate is cool. Then serve.


Oreo Fudge Bars

Ingredients

2 sleeves Oreos
125g butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt
1 condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
250g Whittakers Dark Ghana, 72%
100g, 85% Lindt chocolate
About 3 rows of Whittakers Milk chocolate
1/3 block White chocolate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Melt butter and mix with crushed oreos and salt. (Do not crush too finely, you want them to be a bit chunky)
3. Line a square tin with baking paper and press down oreo crust.
4. Heat condensed milk in a pot with vanilla, then mix in dark chocolates. Pour over base.
5. Decorate with individual blocks of milk chocolate and then bake for 20 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and then when ready to serve drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Gluten free experiment......with chocolate

A very dear friend of mine recently found out he was gluten intolerant which is a tragedy as nothing beats fresh bread with olive oil....especially when waiting for a main meal or to nibble on of an afternoon. Not to mention all the pastry, cakes, slices, biscuits etc. etc. etc. that can't be had. It really would be my worst nightmare, that is why I feel so bad for Andrew, especially since he is in the hospitality industry.

I know some would argue that he is lucky that now there is so much available which is gluten free, and I do agree but come on, nothing compares to the real thing.

Well last week Andrew and his lovely wife had a baby boy, and he is absolutely gorgeous. Of course when I visit I want to take some food to celebrate the occasion, but it took me a while to think of what to make. I can just imagine how much he would be missing bread so I decided to make some gluten free bread...........but that wasn't all. I also wanted to do something with chocolate (the next best thing of course).......flourless chocolate cake anyone? But how to spice it up? I decided to add a nut base by roasting some almonds and blending them with butter, not too much as they should still be course, you don't want a meal, but enough so you can mould them into the ramekin.


Once done I made the flourless chocolate cake and then spooned some mixture into the ramekins. I did not expect them to take long at all to cook, as fondant and souffle's are both under 20mins, so after about 22 mins they were done. I took them out and while hot I couldn't resist but had to break one open.

As soon as I did my eyes instantly went wider as I saw the soft, almost molten, chocolate centre collapse over the plate. The smell just wafted right into my face and that spoon somehow went from one side of the bench onto the plate. Ok so it was 9:30 at night, but really, who could resist. The only thing that would have made this dish better was some creamy vanilla bean ice cream.....

Mind you tonight was only the test. I will redo this recipe on Saturday to take over to Andrew.

The bread however, was not so successful. I used a gluten free plain flour and added yeast, sugar, milk and a little oil to it. It turned out extremely dense and rock hard on the outside. I'm sure it would be fine if you were to toast it, but definitely not up to my standard to give away.

I did also buy white rice flour, xantham gum, chickpea flour and millet flour today, so I will look up recipes which require these ingredients instead and try again on Saturday for some light and fluffy gluten free bread.....

If anyone can help me, or tell me where to find tapioca flour, I would greatly appreciate it.

View recipe here

Cooking for a Crowd

I was so excited when asked to prepare some desserts for a cocktail party I was attending. It was the opening of a friend of mine's fitness studio, Vital Lifestyle Experience in Rozelle and he hadn't arranged dessert, so three days before the party I got a phone call asking what would be an easy dessert. I told Dom, the director, that mini tarts would be the way to go especially if there were around 60 people, and that I was more than happy to make them for him.

But what type of tart? A simple custard tart? Rich chocolate tart? Lemon tart? Since I didn't have a lot of time after work to try out new things, I went with something I have made before and am confident with. The last thing I would have wanted to happen was that they burned or tasted terrible. The pressure was on. SO Mini Chocolate Ganache Caramel Tarts it was.

Of course I needed to test them out a couple of days before as I did use pre-made mini tart shells which are based on a shortcrust pastry. I got home from work on the Wednesday, at 8pm mind you, I started to bake. As I was only making one dozen I wasn't too fussed about the order of the operation, although this was a huge factor when the final baking day came along.

I started with the caramel by melting down the sugar mixture......NOTE TO SELF: Do not be talking on the phone whilst trying to make caramel......it WILL burn and you will have to start all over again.......which of course happened. But it was a good thing as I had actually forgotten to add the water to the sugar in the first place. No wonder it took such a short amount of time to make the toffee.

Second time round I added the water and waited for it to dissolve, then thicken into a syrup, then crystallize into a dry sugar rock, then melt again to obtain this clear golden toffee. QUICK....add the butter, cream and salt before that 5 second window passes (Another thing I have learn from previous attempts) otherwise it will taste badly burnt, then smellll the sweet aromas of the rich caramel in the pot while it cooks for just a few minutes more.

Taste? Perfect. Thick, buttery and smooth, just how it should be.

Ok. Phew the hardest part is over. Now the fun part....ganache. Something I can do whilst multitasking and doing other things. The only problem this particular effort was that when I went to buy the chocolate from the supermarket, their range of dark chocolate was very poor and dismal. I had to settle for Old Gold which I do not like at all. When I took it home and made the ganache I remembered why.....it tastes bitter and burnt, not smooth like a dark chocolate should be. It is chocolates like this which give dark chocolate a bad name and make people think it is well......gross. The other problem with this chocolate is that it did not give a nice smooth consistency that ganache should have and actually split so the oils were separated through the mixture. In an attempt to fix the taste and recombine the mixture I added a little bit of trusty nutella, which admittedly did make it taste slightly better, but not like how it should be. What can I do, bad ingredients scream disaster.

Ok so once the pastry shells were done from the oven it was time to assemble the tarts then fridge them.

The next day I took some to work, the cafe down the road from me which I love, Cafe Giulia, and to Reuben from Mecca Roastery, for their verdict on the tarts.......Three thumbs up :)

Ok great news. The next night I was buzzing and ready to make the tarts....however the one thing I was worried about was fridge space. See the number of tarts had actually jumped from 60 to 120......

The night started off well with my favourite chocolate to cook with being on special, Whittakers Dark Ghana which is 72% Cocao, smooth and not too sweet. Fantastic for cooking. I got home and first thing to do was start baking the tart shells. Each rack only took 15 and the took around 15 minutes to bake so it was going to take a good couple of hours for them.

Next thing to start was the caramel. I did not know how much to make so I just guessed and hope it would be enough, which it most definitely was. The only thing was that when you make a mass amount of caramel it takes a lot longer as the surface area to volume is less so to get it through each state, especially melting it down from the dried out rock, took a very long time and I needed to continually break the rock up so it would not cook unevenly.

This time my 100% attention was on the tarts, no phone calls, only music to keep me going through the night.

Now the Ganache.....The cream was warmed and I slowly added the chocolate one block at a time and mixed it so it combined. Two blocks. Three Blocks. Four Blocks. Now it was looking good, smooth and like silk. The texture was fantastic, and the taste.......incredibly rich and decadent. PERFECT.

Time to assemble....the hardest part was not dripping the caramel over the edges of the tart as I do not want to ruin the presentation at all. The need to look pristine. Once I had done all 120 I went back the the first ones I filled, which the caramel has slightly set and spooned over the ganache.

3 hours later, 120 tarts done and 3 fridges filled....but the job was done.

The day of the party I was worried about transporting them to the venue, that I would end up with a boot full of caramel and chocolate, but thankfully the alfoil over the top was enough to secure them in place.

Champage, wine and canapes were served.....then it was time for desserts.....and everyone loved them. What a relief!!!! Some even went back for seconds. Moorish I know but they tend to do that. And as for me....I couldn't devour even half.....I had had PLENTY of little teaspoons over the whole 3 hours I made them, and enjoyed every mouthful.

Mini Chocolate Ganache, Caramel Tarts
(to make 120 mini tarts)


Ingredients

12 packets of Pampas pre-made tart tins (available in the frozen section of your supermarket)

Caramel*
4 cups sugar
1 cup water
350mL pure cream
420g butter cut into small blocks
3tsps sea salt (can add more if you want salted caramel)

Ganache*
3 blocks Whittakers Dark Ghana
700mL pure cream

* I have slightly decreased these quantities as I ended up with a lot left over


Method

1. Preheat the oven and once warm start to bake the tart tins at 180 degrees until slightly brown around the edges.
2. Add the sugar and water to a pot over medium high heat until sugar dissolves.
3. Cook over high heat until the mixture thickens into a syrup, then once it starts to dry out, put it down to a medium heat. You will need to use a knife to break up the clump so it melts evenly.
4. Once it is melted and a golden brown take it off the heat and add the butter, cream and salt and mix well then put back onto a medium heat, still stirring until all combined then cook for another three minutes.
5. While the caramel cools, prepare the ganache. Heat the cream in a pot over medium heat, but don't take it to boiling point. Take off heat and mix in chocolate, in small pieces, one block at a time then mix until combine....Add next block and so on until you achieve a smooth, silky consistency which is thick and strong in taste.
6. Once the tart tins had cooled add two tbsps of caramel to each tin.
7. Go back to the first caramel filled tarts and add a heaped tsp of ganache and smooth evenly over the top of the caramel*
8. Refrigerate the tarts.
9. Take out an hour before serving so they warm up to room temperature.

*If you had more time, refrigerate the tarts before topping with ganache, for at least 3 hours so the set completely and so the ganache does not sink into the centre of the tarts.

Dark Chocolate Ganache, Roast Almond, Candied Orange Tart

It was Greek Easter last week and what better way to finish the feast than with a rick chocolatey tart to cap of a day full of eating where it is inevitable that you will feel stuffed to the brim by nightfall.

I love chocolate, but it has to be rich, dark and good quality. The darker for this particular recipe, the better, as the bitterness of the chocolate will be offset by the candied orange. Therefore I would say minimum 70%.

I did make this the previous week with a friend for his easter celebrations, but as I was fasting I was unable to even try the ganache, but I was told it was smooth, dark and delicious......and as I said in my brownies post, it is times like this which are the biggest tease for my fast, but I did not give in.

I prepared the tart base the night before and assembled it the morning of the feast. It was amazingly easy and looks so much harder than it actually is, which is always a bonus!!! I do warn youm it is soo hard not to roast a few extra almonds, nibble on some candied orange, or leave a few spoonfuls of ganache to nibble on while you are doing it, and once you assemble it you have to wait for it to set over a couple of hours so it cannot even be enjoyed straight away BUT it is sooo worth it as it is amazingly decadent and I enjoyed every single bite.

It is best served at room temperature so the intensity of the ganache can really shine.

So what was the feedback from my family? Well most enjoyed it, a few thought it was too bitter and Mum thought the pastry shouldn't also be chocolate, and maybe a hazelnut meal would work better to add another dimension on it. Well I was lucky that there were a few slices left I shared them with friends at work who I think enjoyed it a bit more than the family (but that could be due to our incredible fullness already by dessert on Easter Sunday).

The tart is rick, it is dark and it is addictive, but that is why I love it and want to play with the recipe a bit more and maybe go for some different combinations........any requests??? I'm thinking maybe going in a totally different direction and somehow incorporating salt, but if I tried to do this, the ganache would have to be much sweeter.....

Dark Chocolate Ganache, Roast Almond, Candied Orange Tart

Ingredients

Tart Shell

125g unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsps cocoa
1 1/4 cups plain flour

Candied Orange peel

1 orange
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water


Filling

2 cups almonds, roasted then chopped
2 tsps sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup pure cream
300g dark chocolate, at least 70%, but better if it was higher in cocoa
1/4 cup Galliano

Method

For base:

1) Beat together the butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt until well combined then add cocoa.
2)Add flour and mix until it forms clumps which are still quite moist (don't be afraid if you think it is too moist as it will harden in the fridge). Roll the dough into a ball and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1hr.

For candied orange:

1) Skin the oranges with a knife and cut into very thin strips then place into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and then cook for another minute and drain.
2) Rinse the saucepan and add the sugar, 1/2 cup of water and peel. Cook on medium heat until the sugar dissolves and then simmer until the sugar starts to caramelize and the peel is soft.
3) Transfer onto baking paper until you require them. They can be made ahead of time and stored in an air tight container.



Prepare the dough:

1) I would then take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out. Then put it over the base of the tart tin and press into walls so evenly distributed.
2) Pierce the dough all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes.



3) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
4) Bake dough for about 15 minutes until the edges are slightly dry and the bottom is bubbly.
5) Cool completely.

Prepare the ganache:

1) Put cream into a saucepan, bring to a simmer then remove from heat.
2) Add chocolate in small pieces to cream and pix until it melts and the mixture is smooth and silky.
3) Add the Galliano and stir well.

Assemble the tart:

1) Roast the almonds in a grill or oven until golden brown. Then once cooled crush with a mortar and pestle in large chunks.



2) Toss almonds with sugar and cinnamon.
3) Line the base of the tart with the candied orange, then sprinkle the almond mixture over the top.



4) Pour the ganache and cover the almonds well (but save some for garnish).
5) Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.
6) Once ready to serve take it out of the fridge and garnish with extra peel and nuts.
7) Cut the tart then let it stand for at least half an hour so it softens slightly as the chocolate flavour intensifies if you do this.

Rich Dark Chocolate Brownies

I wanted to bake something for a dear friend of mine who is leaving Sydney and moving back to New Caledonia. It had to be something chocolaty, something rich and something that does not require refrigeration. So I am left with slices, cookies, cake or brownies.

I was going to make my nutella slice which I usually do for such special occasions as I can spell out words with mnm's on top, but I did not have an nutella OR mnm's at home, and I think I wanted to try something different. Cookies......well I am yet to find a recipe that blows me away, and cake (or tarts) can be very impressive but I didn't have enough time after work, otherwise I would have.

SO brownies it is. Last time I baked brownies I was told they were nice, but as I was also fasting could not try them......however this time I had to be a bit more careful as I knocked a glass of water over the last lot as soon as they came out of the oven ans was only able to salvage half. It was quite a disappointment, so I had to try hard to not be clumsy like I always am.

So rich dark chocolate brownies it is, nuts were an option, but I opted against as I wanted a simple flavour which hits you with chocolaty goodness.

Epicure, which is the VIC version of Good Living, tested many brownie recipes in 2005 so I thought to base my recipe off one of these would be half decent. The recipe is from marie claire Flavours. I wanted to be greedy and make them richer and add even more chocolate.

See article here

You all know I enjoy baking and it wasn't really hard to resist eating some of the things I made whilst I was fasting, it its times like this when it is that much harder to say no...

.....licking the bowl clean :(



Ingredients

185g butter

250g dark chocolate (I used 76% Dark Chocolate)

50g very dark chocolate (85% Lindt or equivalent)

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

2/3 cup plain flour

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate bits (or chopped chocolate)

Method

1) Melt butter and both dark chocolates together.

2) Beat eggs with sugar until pale and thick.

3) Fold chocolate mixture into egg mixture.

4) Add flour and chocolate bits to mixture and stir until combined.

5) Bake in a lined square tin and cook for 35 minutes on 170 degrees.

6) Allow to cool for at least 2hrs (preferably overnight) then cut with a heated sharp knife and serve *

* If you cut it while it is warm it will crumble and break, you will not achieve straight smooth lines.

Being Inspired

After spending a beautiful Saturday in Wollongong with a friend of mine I hadn’t seen for ages, I suddenly had the urge to make gnocchi from scratch. Sonia’s mother was known for her gnocchi and we thought it would be a nice idea to surprise her and cook it for her one day.

On the Sunday I had planned to see another friend and cook at her house. Even when I had woken up that morning I was clueless as to what to cook. All I could see in my fridge was about half a kilo of ricotta. It was a gloomy day, clouds rolling in, so my mind was swaying towards some comfort food.......gnocchi.

I knew gnocchi was normally made with potatoes but it takes a bit longer doing it that way, so after a bit of research I discovered that by combining ricotta, spinach, flour and eggs, you can form the little dumplings just as successfully, and in a lot less time.

I arrived ready to cook just after 11:30. We jumped straight to it boiling the spinach ready to make the dumpling mixture. We combined everything together very quickly and put it in the fridge to get a bit stiffer. While we waited we thought about sauces. One of the best combinations with ricotta and spinach is a burnt butter sauce but I felt that it needed one more ingredient to give it a third dimension. Burnt butter sauces can use sage, but since I already had so much spinach I decided to use pine nuts instead to give it a bit of crunch. We melted the butter with the pine nuts int he pan and cooked it over low heat until it became slightly golden and burnt.

The heavenly smells were wafting through her house. It was a beautiful combination as her house overlooks Coogee, and watching it rain, just made it so much nicer to be inside cooking.

Once the ricotta mixture had stiffened a bit, we attempted to make the gnocchi, but having been our first time, they ended up a very broad range of sizes, but all of them were larger than normal gnocchi.

The test to if the worked would be if they rose. We waited, and waited, and when we thought we had made a mistake in the mixture or by making them a lot larger, they started to float to the top. Smiles grew on our face as we watched the green speckled blobs bob around the top of the pot. After 30 seconds they were done and laid to rest on some paper towel to soak up some f the excess water. Once they were all cooked, the sauce hot and ready to go, we plated our creations and then sprinkled freshly grated parmesan on top. Our plated looked and smelt delectable.

We took a bite and the were so nice. Very cheesy yes, but not like a cheddar, a lot lighter and mixed with the spinach they were perfectly balanced, especially with the addition of the pine nuts. A lot of people may not think I would eat something with butter poured over the top, but to be honest I don’t think a tomato sauce or a cream sauce would have worked as well, and I will say that I enjoyed EVERY SINGLE bite, butter and all. I will admit though, I could only get through three gnocchi as they were so large and heavy, but leaving us wanting more, however I .......needed to save room for dessert as well.

View Ricotta & Spinach Gnocchie Recipe

Dessert was a bit or a ‘Read Steady Cook’ episode as we had a few ingredients to start with......70% Lindt and a bowl full of fruit. I suppose we were also on a time limit as Kelly had to get to work within an hour, so my vision of doing a Kahlua, raisin, chocolate tart would not work. I wanted to show her something that was ridiculously easy yet still looked impressive to others. For that I needed puff pastry as it always seems to do this job.

The aim was to do a selection of tarts using these different fillings. The first tart I though would use the classic combination of apples, cinnamon, brown sugar and a little honey. The shape of this tart would end up like a little pillow to compensate for the mount of apples in the centre. The second ‘tart’ was more like a pastry twist. I filled it with the chocolate and would have liked to make a smoother chocolate sauce, like a ganache, to line the twists but time and ingredients available did not allow that. Not to worry though as I would still indulge in a line of 70% Lindt wrapped with pastry. Pure decadence!

View Pastry recipes

Once in the oven they don’t tale long at all, and even less time to devour in the couch watching dvd’s, especially while it was still pouring outside.

What a great way to spend a lazy Sunday with a friend cooking, and especially rewarding after trying a new dish which worked really well. Now I think Sonia will hold me to surprising her Mum with some beautiful gnocchi.

Cheese Room Christmas Lunch

After much organisation us Cheese Girls (well I can't really say that anymore now that we have Andy and Keppel) have organised a nice Christmas lunch. The way it will work is we each bring a dish or two and our trusty Sommilier will organise the drinks for us.

I have decided to start by whipping up two salads, as they are usually forgotten and are one of my favourite dishes, especially in the heat of the summer. The first will be a simple Panzanella Salad which consists of diced tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, Spanish onions, EV olive oil, a good balsamic and toasted sourdough croutons to soak up all the juices. After looking up many differenet versions of the Panzanella I decided simple is best. No need for capers, anchovies etc as I feel there is enough flavour if you get really good produce.



The second salad I made up was a shredded cabbage salad marinated in a lemon vinaigrette and served with shaved Reggiano. It is very simple but a nice light accompaniment to a main dish. I dressed the salad a couple of hours ahead of time so the cabbage wasn't so stiff and softened up slightly.



BUT the dish that impressed the most was the Chocolate Ganache Caramel Tart. I started this recipe on Satruday afternoon by making the sweet pastry, fridging it, blind baking then baking it. This time I didn't overcook the pastry as the first time I tried it I thought it was still too soft as I forgot it hardens as it cools. Well after the pastry was done it was time to attack the caramel.....this is where the fun begins.



Sugar goes through many stages before it turns into toffee and last time I did it I missed the window by only about 20 seconds to turn it into caramel (by adding cream, butter and salt) and it burnt so this time I was being very careful. It was going very well and starting to turn a light brown when I stirred it and it splat up and onto my hand, burning me quite badly.




When it processed that I needed to wash my hand the burn was quite bad and because I spent time washing my hand, of course the caramel burnt, so I had to to it all again although since I had used the plain stainless steel pot and couldn't wash it straight away (as it needed to be soaked) I needed to use a non-stick pot. This sounds good in theory as it will be easier to clean the caramel at the end, but it doesn't allow the sugar to heat up as much and go through all the stages it would normally go through.



It did work out in the end, although not as clear as when I previously have done it in a plain stainless steel pot, but I didn't care by this stage. I poured it into the pastry and put it in the fridge to set overnight. The next morning it was looking good and I was in brighter spirits to make the chocolate ganache topping. The key to making smooth ganache is to heat the cream before adding the chocolate. I melted my chocolate before combining them just so they blended completely. Once when I have done it with very cold chocolate and cold cream in the douvble boiler they didn't combine completely and the end result was slightly lumpy and not smooth like it should be. Once I had finished the ganache i poured it thickly over the tart and set it in the fridge again for at least 3hrs before serving it.






I will admit it is a very long process but SOOOOO worth it as I was told it was pure decidence, so at least my labour and pain was not a waste.