Adventures with Chocolate (minor food porn)

[susie_flo]

This morning I spent an hour flicking through this lovely book by Paul A Young... 

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't made a single thing out of it since I got it for my birthday last August, despite the fact that it's full of intriguing recipes that deserve to be made.  I'm going to plead lack of time and too many conflicting hobbies, but I suppose a contributing factor is that I'm not actually a proper chocoholic...  I'm one of those people who can co-exist for weeks with delicious truffles in the fridge and not feel inclined to eat them.  

However that's not to say I don't like chocolate - I like it rather a lot and enjoy the craft of playing with it once in a while.  So I thought I'd pop in and highlight a few of the fab-looking recipes in this book.  Perhaps by mentioning  them here they will actually find their way onto my to-make list...


Cocoa-nib and Madagascan Vanilla Smoothie.  

There are not words to describe how much I want to glug this.  I've been craving creamy drinks for the last few months and this would totally hit the spot.  Today I've gone as far as to order a bag of organic cocoa nibs from an online foodie shop in readiness...   

 
 

Aztec-style Hot Chocolate.  

This is a rich, dark hot chocolate, made with water, not milk, and spiced with cinnnamon, nutmeg, chilli or other spices of your choice.  It brings forth evocative images of Vianne Rocher stirring her pan in Joanne Harris's Chocolat.  I bet it's lovely on a winter's evening.

 

Hand-rolled Wild Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Truffles

These are summer truffles made using fresh strawberries.  Why have I never made these?  I love the pairing of white chocolate with strawberries... and the peppercorns ought to add a nice kick, 

 

Store Cupboard Tea Truffles

There is no pic for these, but from the recipe I can see that no cream is used, hence they will be dark and rich, tasting of your favourite tea (in my case Earl Grey).  I  wonder if they would make a nice little palate cleanser to offer at the end of a dinner party, when people are all puddinged out.

 

Apple Cider Punch Truffles

Again these have no pic - but it's another creamless recipe that uses lots of alcohol and autumn spices.  I bet they're lovely.

 

Wasabi and Green Apple Ganache.  

Idle curiosity might lead me to try this sometime...

  

Overall, I think this book is appealing to people with a fairly adventurous palate, using lots of herbal and spicy ganaches such as Basil & Lemon Thyme. Caramelised Red Onion & rosemary  - and the famous Marmite Ganache.   (I imagine that ought to be worth tasting at least once... no?)

But there are also plenty of accessible and crowd-pleasing flavour combos and recipes for cookies, truffles, cakey things and puddings.  The chapter at the end also has a range of savoury dishes, which goes a bit further than the usual mole-type stuff.

For me, one of the most intriguing bits is the way he describes tempering chocolate at the start of the book.  I always find tempering such a colossal faff that I can only be bothered to do it once a year.  Where most books give you fanatically strict instructions involving thermometers to achieve a range of exact temperatures, this book offers a more laid back method involving very slow melting and simply using the tip of your tongue and instincts to test each of the stages.  Having recently gone through a similar transition in de-complicating my approach to soap-making, I quite like the idea of doing likewise with chocolate.  (Realistically, though, I suspect it might now be YEARS before I get the time to mess about with such whimsy... so perhaps one of you LJ foodies can do it instead and report back?)
  
Well I hope those of you who bothered to click found something in here to appeal.  I can't technically recommend the book, given that I've not made any of the recipes yet, but I can well imagine some of you making good use of it.   (You know who you are).

 

Comments

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of cream-less truffles and if you have a minute to mail me the recipe I'll deffo give it a go, though I bet the kitchen will still end up looking like the Maize prison circa 1981....

As for wasabi and green apple ganache - that sounds utterly vile, I'm sure some of these foodie types just sit there and think 'ooh what mad things can I put together and how many idiots can I get to try it and say oh how marvellous and palate challenging it is' in a kind of emperors new clothes stylee.

I still haven't read Chocolat - I think it's because I went to a book reading thing she did and I just didn't warm to her.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Happy to send you a couple of non-cream truffle recipes (will do tomorrow)

I know what you mean about mad combos... I suspect it can't go on for much longer before fashion returns to classic flavours (and everyone will roll their eyes at the foodie insanity that characterised the noughties). Marmite and Wasabi don't really hit the spot when you're gagging for something classic and reliable like a lovely praline, but I do reckon it's worth trying things that are new and surprising now and then.

I quite liked Chocolat... I wouldn't say it rocked my world but it has some lovely evocative descriptions of the lead character creating chocolates and confections in her rural French kitchen.

[ms-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Cheers me dear :-)

I did have a marmite and chocolate cake at Cake Club the other month, it was surprisingly lovely even though it tasted kind of wrong it also tasted kind of right but then I love Marmite. I suspect if you didn't you'd hate it.

I've just finished reading Peter Hook's How Not To Run A Club and it was highly entertaining. Not that I was a Hacienda regular, I only went once and that was to see The Fall. Mark E Smith sang from a lecturn, in front of William Blake paintings back drops, got angry with the drummer and kicked the drumkit and there was no queue for the ladies :-) Good gig.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I have a bag of cocoa nibs in my cupboard at the moment, and have been wondering what to do with them; perhaps I should try that smoothie!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, go for it. At risk of being caught by the copyright police, I can email you the smoothie recipe tomorrow. (There are also a couple of recipes for cookies and cakes using nibs).

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Ooh, cookies would be even better; I'm not a _huge_ fan of smoothies (although if you add booze they're pretty much shocktails, of which i approve), but cookies, definitely!

BTW, I haven't forgotten that I owe you some crunchies, and I will get them made and sent at some point, I promise!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

*Homer Simpson noise* at the mention of crunchies. That will be a nice surprise through the post when you next get the urge :-)

(I'll mail you the cookie recipe in a bit)

[sarawarawoo.livejournal.com]

I think the marmite ganache would be gorgeous for the first few spoonfuls. My sis bought me a bar of marmite chocolate and I was surprised how delicious it was, but after a square or two it was a bit overwheling.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

That seems to be a popular view of the marmite choc... (ie it's fine up to a few mouthfuls)

Wasabi and Green Apple Ganache.

[lazy-hoor.livejournal.com]

Idle curiosity might lead me to try this sometime...
I have suffered so you don't have to. Had a wasabi chocolate dessert in Yamamori. It was vile. I felt sick for an hour afterwards.

I'd love to try everything else though. Especially Marmite and chocolate.

I have some cocoa nibs in the cupboard. I wonder how long they keep for? They are a few years old. Bought quite a lot but don't drink enough smoothies...

Re: Wasabi and Green Apple Ganache.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I did once try a horseradish jelly bean and it was gross... so I suppose wasabi chocolate might suffer a similar yuk factor.

I expect the cocoa nibs keep for ages if they're sealed. You can use them in cookies and according to Paul Y he sprinkes them on ice cream too.

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

The marmite ganache is actually pretty grim if you get it one molecule of marmite over... At a Clandestine Cake Club someone brought along a cake made with the ganache and a marmite buttercream and it was lovely for precisely one mouthful, and that was it.

BTW, tempering: use a microwave and a hairdryer, and only melt 70% of the chocolate, and just stir and stir and stir with the occasional blast from the hairdryer until the rest is melted. Tadah!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

I am going off the marmite idea with each response!

Thanks for the tempering tip. Once you've added and melted the rest of the choc, do you just use the hairdryer to raise the temp up to its final stage?