Chocolate Soufflé Cake

Fallen Pound of Chocolate Soufflé Cake

(Flourless)

From David Waltuck’s “Staff Meals from Chanterelle”

Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen

This cake is almost completely flour-free, save for dusting the pan with flour. If you don’t use wheat, choose an alternative to flour, such as matzo cake meal (next Passover), or some rice flour (if you’re Sephardic or you're allergic to wheat). 

I used flour.

This cake is about the easiest and most 'unassuming' flourless chocolate cake I’ve made. I like that. It approaches perfection. There's no flavoring other than chocolate and butter. So, make sure you use excellent chocolate (try Jacques Torres’ baking disks, Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, Guittard, or your favorite chocolate). You'll need a pound of chocolate! And then, there’s the butter situation. You'll be using half a pound of butter. I use European style butter – Plugra. Whatever butter you use, be sure that it’s fresh. Taste it. If you wouldn't spread it on toast, don’t use it. Nine eggs. Size large, room temperature, separated. Make sure that your whites are without yolks.

For an excellent cake, use excellent ingredients and an excellent technique.

Your excellent technique: Make sure that no steam enters your melting chocolate. Take care that the melted chocolate and butter cools to room temperature. Achieve ‘ribbons’ with the yolks. Don’t beat the whites past ‘soft peak’ or they’ll dry out too much. Fold, but don’t ‘mix’ to assure that the batter is ‘lifted’.  Bake in the center of the oven. DON’T OVERBAKE.

Follow these simple steps, and you’ll be a rock star, even though all you did was melt chocolate and butter and beat some eggs.

Here’s the recipe for one 9-inch cake:

Ingredients:

1 pound best quality semi-sweet to dark chocolate

½ pound (two sticks), unsalted butter (European 83% butterfat recommended)

9 large eggs, room temperature, separated

¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Cocoa powder (I use Scharffen Berger, Valrhona or Guittard), for dusting the cake

Confectioners’ "10X" sugar, for dusting the cake

Procedure:

1.    Preheat oven to 300º F. Lightly butter and flour (see above note regarding flour, if this is Passover, you can use matzo cake meal) a 9-inch springform pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.

2.    Combine chocolate and butter in a bowl placed on top of a pot of barely simmering water. Melt, stirring occasionally. Be CAREFUL that NO STEAM enters the chocolate/butter mixture. When just about completely melted, remove bowl from the simmering pot and stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to room temperature. Don't rush. Bring it to room temperature.

3.    Combine egg yolks and ¾ cup of the sugar in the bowl of and electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix for about 4-5 minutes, until when the paddle is lifted, ribbons fall from the paddle.

4.    In another bowl (or, if you don’t have another bowl, transfer this mixture to a LARGE bowl and THOROUGHLY wash this bowl and attach the whisk to the electric mixer), whisk the egg whites with the 1 additional tablespoon of sugar until soft peaks are made when you lift the whites with the whisk. This should take about 3 or 4 minutes.

5.    Now you’re ready to fold!

6.    Fold 1/3 of the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg yolks. When fully incorporated, fold 1/3 of beaten egg whites, until fully incorporated. Repeat this procedure twice more, until you’ve completely folding all ingredients together, ending with the egg whites.

7.    Carefully pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. Don’t ‘pat it down’ much. Bake until the edges are firm and center is somewhat ‘puffy’, but still soft. The center will appear to be unbaked.  

8.    Cool on a rack, then release the springform.

9.    Dust with a layer of cocoa powder, followed by a layer of 10X (that’s industry talk for confectioner’s sugar), a second layer of cocoa and a final layer of 10X.

1.    Serve at room temperature. A thin slice will suffice (especially if there are 40 people at the table). You can serve ‘as is’, with a dollop of whipped cream, with some crème anglaise, or with a berry or two.

Passover "Mandel Bread"

As if you don't have this recipe (it's the Jewish equivalent to the "NY Times Plum Torte" that Craig Claiborne sighed and published every year.) I think it was first published in The Jewish Press. I credit it to my mother. Thanks, Mom!

I just learned that the pork roast and Molly Kugel seder I'm making dessert for this year has increased to over 40 guests. We'll have to slug it out over the single 9" flourless chocolate cake (wait for the post .. it's a winner!); and I do have about 12 dozen macaroons - many varieties!

But, it's time to pull out the matzo cake meal - akin pouring a little more water in the soup pot for the dessert table. As long as there's Rick's chrain, delicious pork, Molly's kugel and plenty of wine, I'll be content. And I'll enjoy watching everyone devour these desserts.

Oh... check the macaroon page for another variation, a macaroon that I dedicate to my friend, teacher and mentor, Suvir Saran, a self-proclaimed "Jindu", I call it a "Suviroon"!

peace and love,
jane

Passover Mandel Bread

(from Mom)

Blue Heron Kitchen

CREAM TOGETHER:           2 cups sugar

                                                ½ pound butter or margarine

ADD:                                       6 eggs, size large, one at a time, beating well after each egg

SIFT TOGETHER:                 2 ¾ c. matzo cake meal

                                                ½ tsp. kosher salt

                                                ¾ c. potato starch

Fold dry ingredients into egg, butter, sugar mixture

ADD:   1 cup chopped nuts and 6 oz. chocolate chips or chopped bar chocolate (or omit the nuts, as I do and just add 12 oz. of chocolate chips)

Form into 4 - 2” wide [about ½-3/4” high] loaves [two loaves per cookie sheet – width, not length] and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix.

Bake on cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 45 minutes [less], slice while warm into 1/2” pieces.

Yield:  4 loaves

Passover Meringoons (Nutty Macaroons!)

Meringue meets Macaroon

for Passover

“Meringoons”

Blue Heron Kitchen

Hazelnut Meringoons

The original recipe, from Joan Nathan’s “Jewish Cooking in America”, is called “Mississippi Praline Macaroons”. Passover begins at sundown tomorrow; and there’s no time to research what makes a macaroon a macaroon. These are not ones you’ll find at Ladurée, nor are they anything like the previous published recipes.

They’re nutty and delicious. And they’re dairy-free.

I add cream of tartar, but you don’t have to. Those who are not ‘strict’ during this holiday use it. But those who adhere to the rules, don’t. So, don’t use it. But be very careful that no trace of egg yolk gets into your egg white. Do make sure that your bowl and beater are both without a trace of fat or oil. If there’s a speck of fat, you won’t achieve lift-off.

Ingredients:

3  size ‘large” egg whites (room temperature)

1 cup dark brown sugar (be sure it’s fresh and moist and lump-free)

1 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts OR pecans OR nuts that you adore, plus additional whole or half nuts (2 ½ dozen) for the tops of each cookie

(truc: toast them first to release oils. Hazelnuts: you’ll need to toast and then rub them in a tea towel to remove the outer skins.)

pinch of salt

¼ tsp. cream of tartar (optional)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 275º F. and line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

1.     Beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add pinch of salt and, if using, cream of tartar. 

2.     Continue beating, gradually adding the dark brown sugar, one teaspoon at a time, until the whites are very stiff. (They will look shiny)

3.     Fold in the chopped nuts by hand.

4.     Using a teaspoon, or a 1 ½ inch round scoop, drop the batter with about and inch between each cookie. Press each cookie down, flattening it (slightly … don’t smash it all the way down!), and then place a whole hazelnut or a half a pecan on the top of each cookie.

5.     Bake in preheated 275º F. oven for about 20-30 minutes, depending on size of cookies, how much you’ve flattened them, and how accurate your oven temperature is. The cookies should be slightly firm but still shiny. They will firm up as they cool. Be careful they don’t get brown or really dried. This will render them, as my Grandpa would have said, “boint”.

Hope you find the Afikomen!

Peace, love and zei gezunt!!

jane

Yield: approximately 2 ½ dozen (parve!)

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Chips, Chocolate and Coconut Macaroons and Almond Macaroons, "Suviroons" and Chocolate Dipped

Coconut Macaroons with chocolate chips 

Chocolate  and Coconut Macaroons

Almond and Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Dipped

Suviroons 

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Chips

and

Almond and Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Dipped
and 
"Suviroons" (dedicated to Suvir Saran)

These macaroons aren’t the same kind that people queued up around the block for when Ladurée opened in New York a couple of months ago. After spending several hours winding up the bottoms of digestive biscuit and tea tins that played "God Save the Queen" and "How Much is That Doggie in the Window" at Fortnum and Mason's in London, (I bought them) a few weeks ago, we went across the street to a quiet table at Ladurée, and ate some macarons of memory ... pear and ginger, pistachio - and others. THOSE macarons aren’t the ones that make your fingers bleed when you open the round tin to release the foil top that keeps them gummy moist. They're the French ones. 

My Grandma Rae would've said, "what are you talking about, pear macaroons?". 

Two years ago, my son called me in a panic. He’d been invited to a seder (a Passover dinner that literally means 'order', but should mean 'I need a gentle laxative') in London and needed some recipes. Nowhere in Oxford or London could he find matzo cake meal. So, for the past two years, I’ve been sending it over to him so he can make the ‘famous’ Passover Mandel Bread (recipe forthcoming – but doesn’t everybody have it already?)

Subsequently, we went with macaroons. The Jewish ones.

I sent him Ina Garten’s and Martha Stewart’s recipes. They were all I could dig up. 

Here are a couple of easy and fool-proof recipes that rival the canned ones. They’re better more haimish than Ina’s or Martha’s (sorry, girls); and I promise they will be a lovely addition to a Passover, Easter, Persian New Year, April Fool’s, May Day, or your next festive meal.

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Chips

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk (about ½ of the can)

2 size large egg whites

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

12 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut (I like Bob’s Red Mill, and the bag is exactly 12 oz!)

¾ c. semisweet chocolate chips (I heart Guittard!)

for Chocolate Macaroons change quantity of coconut and add cocoa powder:

11 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut

1 oz. (1/2 c.) dark, good quality unsweetened cocoa

½ c. dark chocolate chips (Guittard or Ghiradelli)


for "Suviroons" (dedicated to my friend, teacher and mentor, Suvir Saran (whose most recent cookbook, Masala Farm was just nominated for a James Beard award for "American Cooking"!)
try this twist:
10 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut
3 oz. chopped pistachios (raw, but toast and cool them)
1/2 c. chopped candied ginger
1 to 2 Tbsp. rose water

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 325º

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Whisk together (you can use your Kitchen Aid!): sweetened condensed milk, egg white, extract and salt, until well combined

Add coconut and mix.

Remove from machine and fold in chips by hand.

Using a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop, or by tsp., drop onto the prepared sheets.

Bake until slightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Cool, then peel from parchment.

Store airtight. May be frozen until you’ve feathered the joint.

Yield: (with the 1 ½” cookie scoop you’ll get about 4 dozen. With a tsp., probably about 2 ½ to 3 dozen.)

ALMOND AND COCONUT MACAROONS

CHOCOLATE DIPPED (Variation)

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk (about ½ of the can)

2 size large egg whites

1 ½  tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

8 oz. shredded, unsweetened coconut (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

4 oz. finely ground almonds (I buy mine at Patel Brothers. If you're not lucky enough to live near this wonderful Indian supermarket, look for finely ground almond meal. Greek markets have it, French markets do, bien sur, and Bob's Red Mill produces it too.)

6 oz. (approx..) good quality dark chocolate, melted, for dipping the macaroons (I used Jacques Torres' dark chocolate discs. You can buy them online (click on this link) or at his shops in Chelsea Market or in Brooklyn on on the Upper West Side.) Or use any dark chocolate that you like! Here's a truc: add a little roasted almond oil .. or flavorless oil if you don't have nut oils handy to the melted chocolate. and add a touch of Boyajian's orange oil - but just a smidge. The oil will add a sheen and the orange will lift up the almond flavor. 

optional: anything decorative for the top of each macaroon (how about a candied icon of one of the ten plagues .. only I wouldn't recommend ‘boils’ or ‘slaying of the first born’ - or just some little sprinkles. they're very sweet.)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 325º

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Whisk together (you can use your Kitchen Aid!): sweetened condensed milk, egg white, extracts and salt, until well combined

Add coconut and almond meal and mix well.

Remove from machine.

Using a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop, or by tsp., drop onto the prepared sheets.

Bake until slightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure that you don’t burn these. The bottoms will get brown. Check that they’re not getting too dark on the bottom.

Cool, then peel from parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl on top of barely simmering water (or in a microwave). Take care that no water or steam gets into the chocolate. 

Dip the macaroons in the chocolate and place them on a rack that is set over waxed paper .. to catch any drips.

After they've set a bit, you can drip a little more on top and then put a little decoration on the top.

You can set them up quickly in the fridge. Serve immediately or keep them in a container, with waxed paper over the cookies, sealed and refrigerated, until you're ready to serve them.

Store airtight. May be frozen until you’ve feathered the joint.

Yield: (with the 1 ½” cookie scoop you’ll get about 4 dozen. With a tsp., probably about 2 ½ to 3 dozen.)

To those who celebrate Passover, have a sweet Passover. Many people wish that 'next year we celebrate in Jerusalem'. I'm not interested in any such thing. My wish for next year: (two, since there are two recipes here: the Unites States vacates Afghanistan; and  that health care becomes accesible to all Americans (that includes my darling daughter.)

Happy spring to everyone!

Peace and love,

Jane

Mushroom Soup with Tarragon

Mushroom Soup with crème fraîche.

Mushroom Soup with Tarragon

Blue Heron Kitchen

This soup was the first course of my "New Years M'eve"©. Mushrooms and tarragon, at first thought, seem an unlikely pairing. Mushrooms taste of the soil and tarragon, like flowers. But, they're two peas in a pod.  They merge like two clapping hands (maybe the Vermouth knocks some sense into both?)

I recommend David Waltuck’s mushroom stock from Chanterelle. But, if like me, you find you don't have any on hand, don't think twice about taking the low road and using the newly reintroduced Organic Better Than Bouillon Mushroom base. Cooking should be enjoyable and it should always taste really great. The last recipe someone sent me that they thought was their 'best' was a for a one pot dinner where you browned chopped meat, added a can of tomato sauce, marinated mushrooms, chopped green pepper and shredded mozzarella. We may all be in this together, but as the saying goes, chacun a son propre goût .

And I like it that way, don't you?

Quantities are approximate, but you’ll need:

1-2 carrots (organic preferred)

1-2 stalks celery (organic preferred)

1 large or 2 small leeks, white and palest green parts only

1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced (mixed variety, your choice)

fresh (or if you don’t have it… dried) thyme

bay leaf (fresh or dried)

fresh flat-leaf parsley

unsalted butter and extra virgin olive oil (about 2 - 3 Tbsp., combined)

dried mushrooms (your choice … read below)

mushroom or vegetable stock – about a quart

Dry vermouth (French is best)

Dried and/or fresh tarragon

Freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste (I used Maldon salt flakes from the UK!) 

Crème fraîche for serving (optional, but really good)

In a heavy saucepan with a lid, “sweat” a mirepoix, this one, a mixture of diced carrots, celery and leeks, (just the whites and very pale green part) in a small amount of good quality olive oil and butter (first uncovered, then covered). (I broke in my new All-Clad 3 ½ quart covered saucepan. It’s a winner!)

In a separate saucepan, have your stock going. You can use pre-made mushroom stock, vegetable stock, or get some Better Than Bouillon Mushroom base. Have about a quart of this going and to this, add dried mushrooms (I added Maitake and Hens of the Woods) to fortify the stock. (You’ll remove and discard compost the dried mushrooms before adding the stock.) Add a bay leaf, tarragon, thyme, parsley and any other aromatics you'd like in your stock.

To the mirepoix, add some aromatics, all wrapped up in cheesecloth: thyme, bay leaf, parsley, and continue to cook.

Add about a pound of sliced mushrooms. (I used cremini, portabella and shitake). Turn heat to medium/high and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms begin to lose liquid and no longer appear ‘raw’.  Add your vermouth or some white wine and allow the alcohol to cook off. Throw in a handful of fresh tarragon leaves!

Remove (or if they’re little, strain) the dried mushrooms from the stock and add your rich, hot stock to the mushrooms. Bring to a simmer, add dried tarragon, to taste, grated black pepper, to taste and salt, to taste. (If you’re using pre-made stock or Better Than Bouillon, be careful about salt addition – you’re probably fairly high in sodium already.)

Cook the soup for about an hour and a half – or until you feel it has ‘come together’. Remove aromatics and cool until at least lukewarm (you don’t want to put hot soup into a blender).

Purée the soup in a blender. Or, if you have a great one, use your immersion blender.

Thick and gorgeous mushroom soup.

Return to a clean saucepan and heat, gently. If the soup’s too thick, add some water until you like the consistency. If you want ‘cream of mushroom soup’, add some half and half – but heat it very gently, taking care that it doesn’t come to a boil.

Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche and if you have, some freshly chopped tarragon. (I didn't have any, so I chopped up some parsley.) 

Elegant, comforting, perfect for your own "mevening", dinner for two, the whole fam or as the first course for your next fabulous dinner party.

(Oh, be sure to scroll all the way down. I'm taking my own political poll and would love it if you'd be take part. Thanks.)

Peace and fungilove,

jane

Dal with Three Chiles, Thank You and Happy New Year

Thank You, India 

Thank you frailty, thank you consequence, thank you, 

thank you silence

Green chile, dried red chile

Cayenne

Pink lentils (split) "dhuli masoor dal"

Simple Gujarati Dal with Three Chiles

From Suvir Saran’s Indian Home Cooking, adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen

This is quick and simple and I think it tastes better then next day(s). Pink lentils (split), called dhuli masoor dal, can be purchased at any Indian market. I love Patel Brothers.  There are many of these markets in the NY City region. Go online and look for “Indian Grocery Stores” and type in your neighborhood. Or, if you live in a neighborhood where the 'ethnic aisle' means "Old El Paso", buy your dry goods online. Try, for example, "YourIndianShopUSA" at Amazon.com. You'll find a ton of Indian dry goods there.

I use slightly less oil than the original recipe calls for; and I mix canola and olive oils. You can use all canola oil or all olive oil. 

If you’re truly Gujarati, you won’t use the garlic. Garlic and onion are not part of the Gujarati diet. Add some Asafetida or "Hing" powder (use this sparingly) or some minced, fresh ginger instead.

A bowl of dal with a dollop of yogurt (I love Fage (pronounce it this way: “Fay-ah!”) brand 0%, Greek yogurt) or raita and some salad is a perfect meal. It’s hearty, healthy, low in fat, high in protein and quite satisfying. You can have it in a bowl or over plain or fragrant (with aromatic spices) basmati rice. Or, if you feel like ‘other’ grains, try it with your favorite grain such as farro (triticale wheat) or couscous.

Namaste

Happy, Healthy New Year

2012!

peace and love,

jane

Ingredients:

1 cup lentils, picked over, washed and drained

½ tsp. turmeric (a natural anti-inflammatory!)

1 tsp. salt (more or less, to taste)

4 cups water

For the tempering oil (which adds the distinctive flavor!)

1 Tbsp. Canola oil

1 Tbsp. Extra virgin Olive Oil

Black mustard seeds are da bomb
You can get them at your local
Indian market or try Penzeys.com

1 tsp. black mustard seeds                                    

½ tsp. cumin seeds

3 whole dried red chiles

1 fresh hot green chile, minced

8 fresh or 12 frozen curry leaves, torn into pieces (optional – but try to get them because they’re extraordinary!)

1 small garlic clove, minced (if you’re true Gujarati, no garlic, no onion  – try some Asafetida -also called "Hing" – or throw in some freshly minced ginger!)

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

 3 heaping Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Juice of ½ lime or lemon

 Procedure:

Put lentils in a large saucepan with water, turmeric and salt and bring to a boil. Skim well. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, cooking until the lentils are soft. If you’re using the pink lentils, this will take about 15 minutes. “Other” lentils will take up to half an hour. If necessary, add more water during cooking. Taste for salt and if needed, add more.

They don't stay pink, silly. Turmeric turns everything yellow.

When lentils are soft, remove a cup and put into a small bowl. Mash them with a spoon and return them to the pot. If you prefer your dal ‘thick’, continue cooking. ("DALert": Because it is starchy, dal thickens as it cools. Upon reheating, you may need to add some liquid to reach the desired consistency.)

For tempering the oil: heat the oil with the mustard seeds in a small frying pan, wok or (ideally) a kadai (I bought mine at Patel’s – they’re Indian woks that have gone to charm school. They have beautiful handles and have perfect posture: they don’t need that ‘ring’ to sit upon. The kadai sits perfectly straight and still on the stovetop – no ring needed! And so far, All-Clad hasn’t produced one, so they’re still wildly inexpensive.)  Do this over medium-high head, covered. When you hear the mustard seeds popping (after a minute or two), uncover and add the cumin. Stir a couple of time for about 30 seconds.  Next step: add the dried red chiles, the fresh green minced chile, the curry leaves and the minced garlic and cook, stirring for about 30 seconds. (NB: curry leaves ‘spit’, so stand back when you put them in – or better, assert yourself and spit back.)

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cayenne pepper. Add a few drops of water to stop the cooking. It’ll steam up and go all drama and gorgeous on you.

Stir half of the tempering oil, all of the lime or lemon juice; and half of the cilantro into the cooked dal (lentils). Simmer gently for a few minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and pour remaining tempering oil over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the cilantro.

(Or wait until you’re serving the dal, (dalink): reheat the remaining tempering oil and drizzle it over the reheated dal and garnish with freshly chopped cilantro. Or, if you’re like me, just add all the tempering oil, serve it tomorrow and c'est la guerre!)