Chocolate salami

There are only a handful of things I'm willing to share. Most of these things have to do with food in some capacity. If it were up to me I'd gleefully share all my meals with loved ones (select ones at that), as I truly believe that entertainment should be a natural and pleasurable part of every one's existence. I like to define a theme, then let it run through the entire occasion. Even if I don't have the right set or props. Say, like nowadays. All my meals are concocted with much love and attention, custom tailored to each recipient's individual preferences. But try as I might, there are always some "glitches" here and there, like this one time, at band camp... I kid, I kid.
Long story short, I love to share my food. And my music. As well as my thoughts on matters of national concern. There's nothing I love more than a substantial, healthy argument.
What I'm not willing to share are my clothes ( just ask my girls:)), my books and the juiciest of bits and pics of my personal life. This is probably why I'm no friend of most types of social media. I do however enjoy my lil'old blog:)
So back to what I do like to share, here's a recipe from the archives: chocolate salami. The last time I had choco salami I was on a train heading to the Black Sea, with a bunch of friends, a backpack and a really old, crappy tent. Back then I thought that trip was somewhat of a disaster, but looking back I have to say it has changed my life to the core. For the better, of course. And I'm still reaping the benefits. See? No juicy stuff here!
Compared to that old version, this recipe has seen some major tweaking and is a summary of a bunch of different versions I found on the world wide web. So, without further ado here it goes:



Chocolate Salami

Ingredients:

40 g unsalted butter
100 g bittersweet chocolate
35 g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
40 g condensed milk
100 g butter biscuits (such as Leibniz)
20 g flaked almonds
20 g shredded coconut
40 g dried sour cherries
40 g pistachios
20 g blackberry cordial
25 g dessert wine
cocoa powder

Melt chocolate with butter over a pot of boiling water. Let it cool a little.In another bowl crush biscuits into small pieces, not crumbs. Add almonds, coconut, sour cherries and pistachios. Mix. Add cordial and dessert wine. Mix well and set aside. Take your melted chocolate, add icing sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and condensed milk. Place back over the pot of boiling water and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Add to biscuit mixture. Mix well. Let it cool. Shape into a salami shape using some aluminum foil.
Let it set for a few hours in the fridge. Remove foil and roll salami in cocoa powder. Slice and serve. Perfect picnic fare!

Chocolate and hazelnut baklava cigars

Summer hasn't been very nice to us this year. So far we've had rain, thunderstorms, cooler than usual days and everything in between. Longing for a hot summer afternoon spent on a porch, somewhere very quiet, with a slice of peach pie, some home made lemonade in hand and Billie Holiday tunes in the background seems foolish at this point.
August is usually my month of cold soups, iced drinks, grilled fish and salsas. This year it's a bit different. I had hot chocolate for breakfast this morning. That should explain a lot...
Last week however, I spent a lovely afternoon at home with my new favourite summer read and one of the best cook books I've ever owned: Postcards from Portugal by Tessa Kiros. This book will immediately make you want to jump on a plane bound for Portugal. Given the fact that Portugal is just a tad farther than my local green grocer's I decided to take a quick trip to the latter. I couldn't really find all the ingredients to make anyhting from the book, so I made the best of what I had at home. We had an Andalusian gazpacho, some corn on the cob with mint and feta butter and these yummy, albeit not so summery chocolate-hazelnut cigars to finish. By the end of the meal, we all felt like we just had a great day. A great day, indeed.

Chocolate and hazelnut baklava cigars





Ingredients:

130 g dark chocolate, chopped
250 g toasted hazelnuts
140 ml runny honey
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
6 sheets filo pastry
70 ml melted butter

Preheat oven to 390 F. Combine chocolate, hazelnuts and spices. Add to a food processor and coarsely chop. Add honey and pulse until mixture comes together. Lay one sheet of filo on a clean working surface. Brush with butter. Fold in half, then brush again with butter. Spread two big tablespoons of chocolate- hazelnut filling along the edge closest to you. Fold in the two sides, then roll up tightly. Place on a baking tray. Brush again with butter. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Bake until golden, about 8 minutes.
Serve with a vanilla ice cream affogato and you'll be in heaven.

Xococava-Chocolate heaven

You are reading the mumblings of a very happy gal. What's with all that happiness you ask? Well, I have just discovered the best place to go for chocolate and ice-cream in Toronto. This magical place is called Xoxocava (pronounced Shococava). Located in the Yonge/St Claire area, this gem of a place is a cross between a dessert tapas bar, ice-cream parlour and espresso bar. It is small and charming, decorated with marble counters and a wall covered with broken dishes, this place had me from the get go. The very knowledgeable staff (they make the best cafe con leche and hot xocolata) will help you choose to your heart's desire between ice creams (hazelnut, meyer lemon, licorice caramel, espresso etc), sorbets ( pina colada, madagascar chocolate, texas ruby grapefruit), truffles, pastries or barista drinks. they have wonderful brownies and different types of croissant. Sinfully buttery, yet not greasy and flat like at most other patisseries in the Midtown area (you know who you are!).
The selection of truffles and candies would require a whole new post. With flavours like fennel and chorizo(just try it) truffles, quince jellies, candied orange peel and nougat you're sure to find something to your liking. I know I'll be a regular customer.
Hurry, check it out before word gets out and you'll have to queue up for hours to get some ice-cream to cool you down on those soon to be here hot summer days.
Xococava
1560 Yonge Street
416 979-9916

Chocolate almond macaroons

I'm one of those people who thinks that food has an amazing ability to change one's bad mood to a cheerful disposition. This type of food would include chocolate, of course. This past week I met up with a friend who seemed a bit sad. Not too much, just a tad. Or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to make something sweet, something chocolatey. I had this great bittersweet Callebaut sitting in my cupboard that I'd had my eye on for a few days. So what is a girl to do with 100 grams of leftover quality dark chocolate? Macaroons of course. For the hundredth time. Somehow I always seem to think that the next batch will be even better than the previous one. This cookie is not the typical french version, but a denser, chewier one.
It has a delicious vanilla flavoured chocolate filling with just a pinch of sea salt. Salt just takes chocolate to the next level in my opinion. It has to be really good sea salt and just a pinch of it.
Over the years I have tested tons of macaroon recipes. Some of them great, some not so good. Chocolate, caramel and coffee
flavoured ones are favourites with my palate. The colourful ones, filled with butter cream tend too be a feast for the eyes rather than the taste buds. They're just sweet, and not much else. (This applies to all the" designer" macaroons that I had in Tokyo). That said I have never had Pierre Herme's world famous macaroons. I am heading to Paris soon, taking a taxi from the airport straight to the Pierre Herme store (no, just kidding:)). Will definitely let you know of any sudden change of heart that might occur during this ever so important visit.
Oh, almost forgot: it turns out my friend K. was not sad, or down or tired that day. I was all in my had:) But she loved the cookies and promised to be sad, down or tired a helluva lot more often from know on!


Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp sifted cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 tsp almond extract
75 g dark chocolate
10 gm butter
13 ml heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt


Preheat oven to 325F. Beat egg whites until stiff. Slowly add sugar, beating until egg whites are very thick. Mix in cocoa, almond meal and extract. Dampen hands and form about 1 teaspoonfuls of dough into balls. Pinch balls to form a teardrop shape. Place cookies on baking sheet (lined with parchment paper), bake for about 15 minutes until slightly cracked. Do not over bake, as they will end up very dry. Cool completely on a rack.
For filling, combine chocolate, butter and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Add vanilla extract and sea salt. Cool to room temperature. Spread half teaspoon of filling on flat side of cookies, then sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing lightly to seal. Store in an airtight container.

Black Forest Trifle (easy version)

It's January. The days are short and extremely cold at the moment. But that didn't stop my dear friends to come over to wish me Happy Birthday (from the other side of town, mind you). So what does a girl like me do in such instances? Prepare a delicious dinner with all the trimmings, of course. Or that's what I should have done, anyway. But it didn't happen. I wanted to make fondue (or a twist on the traditional one) with brie cheese and wild mushrooms. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, apparently not for yours truly. I managed to completely mess up a perfectly simple fondue recipe. It turned out thick and lumpy as hell. But my ever so gracious friends (because that's the kind of people they are) said it was delicious. It was not.
Oh, well at least we had dessert. Black Forest Trifle, namely.
I kept it simple and used store bought Belgian chocolate cake and custard. Those of you who cringe at the thought of store bought custard click here for a good home-made custard recipe.
I used cherries for decoration and only for decoration as they were tasteless. That will teach me never to disobey the cardinal rule of great cooking: always use seasonal ingredients!




Ingredients

Makes 4 to 6 servings, depending on the size of the glasses you use

1 chocolate cake loaf (about 500g)
2 1/2 cups vanilla custard
1 800 ml jar pitted sour cherries in light syrup, drained, 1/2 cup juice reserved
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup kirsch
1 cup heavy cream
chocolate shards and cocoa powder for decoration

Mix 2 tbsp sour cherry juice with the cornstarch. Add to rest of the sour cherry juice and bring to a boil in a medium sized sauce pan. Stir until thickened. Take mixture off the heat then add the cherries and kirsch. Set aside.
Cut chocolate cake into 1/2 inch thick slices. Whip heavy cream to soft peaks (you can add powdered sugar to taste, if desired).
Prepare 6 small water glasses. Start layering with cake slices, then sour cherry mixture, then custard. Repeat layering once more. Finally, top it off with whipped cream. Garnish with chocolate shavings and sifted cocoa.

Chai spiced truffles

When I started this blog I thought that I'd be posting every day with the Christmas season just around the corner. Well, life intervened and that didn't happen. Now, Christmas is almost here. And this is going to be my first "official" Christmas post.
For me Christmas is not Christmas without truffles. I usually make several different flavours to choose from. This year I'm going to stick with just one: Chai spiced truffles. I make a huge batch and send them (well, not all of them) to my sister every year.
Word is she enjoyed them a lot. I hope you enjoy them, too.






Ingredients:


1/2 cup heavy cream
6 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
3 black peppercorns
4 cloves
7 oz coarsely chopped milk chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Bring heavy cream to a boil, add all spices. Cover and let infuse for an hour.
After an hour strain into a clean pot and bring to a boil again. Discard spices.
Add chopped chocolate to the cream, mix well. Add vanilla and butter. Mix well to melt the butter.
Let the mixture cool, cover and refrigerate over night. The next day, line baking sheet with waxed paper. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheet. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
Place cocoa into bowl. Roll truffle between hands into rounds. Roll them into cocoa.
You can also roll them in melted chocolate, you'll need about 6 oz for this amount of truffles.
I used Callebaut chocolate, my chocolate of choice when a recipe asks for quality chocolate.

Sour cream coffee cake with chocolate pecan filling

As this wonderfully moist coffee cake was on the picture,(previous post) I thought it wouldn't hurt to post the recipe as well.
It's a great, easy to make alternative to more elaborate cakes or pastries that could be served with coffee. It makes quite a large cake, but no worries here, it keeps for 4 to 5 days under a cake dome.





Ingredients

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
5 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 1/2 oz superfine sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream


Filling:

1/4 cup toasted pecans
3 oz coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
3 tbs light brown sugar
1 1/2 tbs natural cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter a 9-inch bundt pan.
Make the filling: In a food processor, pulse pecans, sugar, chocolate and cocoa to combine and chop the pecans and chocolate.
For the cake: In a bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well blended. Blend in vanilla.
Next alternate adding the dry ingredients and the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Spoon half the batter into the bundt pan. Smooth with the back of a spoon, spreading out evenly. Sprinkle over the filling, then layer on the rest of the batter. Run a large wooden skewer around the pan for a few times to get the desired marbled effect. Smooth the top again.
Bake until golden brown and the wooden skewer inserted comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack and let cool before removing from the pan.
Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking magazine.

Hazelnut and mascarpone brownies for Santa

Made these brownies as an early bird snack for Santa(as he was in town yesterday).They turned out really well.
Next time I might try them out with fromage frais ( now available from Liberty) or even with creamy cottage cheese( also from Liberty, they make the best).
To roast hazelnuts, roast them in a 300 F oven until skins crack, about 15 to 20 min. Cool, rub with a paper towel to remove skins.





Filling:

250 gm mascarpone, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped roasted hazelnuts


Batter

135 gm chopped chocolate
4 tbsp butter
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts


Put cheese into a bowl. Combine eggs with sugar, beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add to mascarpone. Mix well.
Mix in all other ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.
For batter, melt butter with the chocolate in a bowl, set over a pan of simmering water on medium heat.Remove. Set asside.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Put sugar, eggs, vanilla into a mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Fold in chocolate mixture. Add baking powder, salt and cocoa. Mix well. Add flour and mix until smooth.Fold in hazelnuts. Spread batter into a baking paper lined 8" square cake pan. Spread filling over batter. Pull a large wooden skewer through layers to create a marbled effect.Bake until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean about 30 to 35 min. Do not over bake. Allow to cool before cutting.