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Cacao

January 22, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Having watched Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory on television recently, I was fascinated by the concept of these 100% cacao blocks – pure unsweetened chocolate with nothing else added to it.

They’re not available in Australia yet, so my friend Jo very kindly mailed me a couple of blocks, and they serendipitously arrived at the same time as the cookbook, which I’d ordered from Amazon in the UK.

The book is a great read – half autobiography and half recipes – although at £6 per 180g block, the cacao is an expensive ingredient to use regularly (even if I could buy it here).  It has a strong aroma of fine chocolate, and tastes as you imagine it would – dark and very bitter, without a hint of sweetness.

I couldn’t wait to try it, and began with a half sized version of Willie’s Tartuffo, which is basically solid ganache set in a loaf tin.  It needs to be refrigerated overnight before slicing, and it’s very rich, so a little goes a  long way.

  • 90g cacao, finely grated
  • 150ml heavy whipping cream
  • 75g pure icing sugar, sifted

1. Line a small loaf tin or bowl with cling film.

2. Melt the cacao in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.  I actually used a microwave for this, and I’m not sure it worked as well as it could have.

3. Whip the cream and 25g of the icing sugar together until it forms soft peaks.

4. Stir the remaining icing sugar into the cacao and leave to cool slightly.  My mix seized up when I did this, but I was able to loosen it up again with the whipped cream.

5. Stir a scoop of whipped cream into the cacao mixture  until softened, then gently and gradually fold the remainder of the cream and cacao together.  Pour into the lined tin or bowl, and refrigerate until firm.

. . . . .

Here’s my reworking of Le Chocolate Chaud recipe from David Lebovitz’ The Sweet Life in Paris, using the cacao.  It creates a very different drink to one made with dark chocolate.

  • 50g of Willie’s 100% Cacao, grated into a small saucepan
  • 20g white sugar
  • 375ml (1½ cups) milk
  • pinch of sea salt

Gently whisk all the ingredients together in the small saucepan over a medium heat – keep whisking until the chocolate and sugar are melted and the mixture comes to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low, and barely simmer the hot chocolate for three to five minutes until the liquid is thick and viscous, whisking regularly.  Pour into little demitasse cups to serve, and top with whipped cream if desired.

. . . . .

And with the last 30g of my first block, I made a scaled down version of Anna’s Jewel Bites, using cacao and tiny quantities (at least for my small batch) of cinnamon, dried fruits, nuts, vanilla, rum and a scant teaspoon of honey.  Very dark and delicious!

It’s amazing how many things I was able to make with a single block of cacao. Maybe it’s not such an expensive ingredient after all!

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments »

Ricotta Gnocchi

January 20, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

This wonderful recipe comes from Tessa Kiros’ gorgeous cookbook, Apples for Jam.  Despite the fact that it’s printed in a faint font and therefore hard to read, it’s a very  appealing book visually, and I was instantly drawn to the cover, with its embossed overlay of flowers.

This is the first recipe we’ve tried from the book, and it was an absolute winner – messy, but delicious, and very easy to make.  It fed three of us very well, with Small Man dining on a plate of beef tortellini – he’s not much of a ricotta fan at the best of times..

  • 500g fresh ricotta
  • 100g plain flour
  • 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
  • pinch of Malden salt

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and have your sauce ready to go, as the gnocchi need to be eaten as soon as they’re cooked.  We served ours with Pete’s tomato sauce, garnished with a dollop of homemade pesto.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix gently with a wooden or silicone spoon.  You might need to get a clean hand in to gingerly encourage it to come together.  Don’t overwork the dough.

3. With lightly floured hands (you want to add as little flour as possible, or the gnocchi will be tough), shape the dough into thin logs on a large sheet of parchment paper.  This is messy work!

4. With a sharp knife, cut the logs into small dumplings, and drop them into the boiling water.  Allow them to cook for about 45 seconds to a minute, or until they float to the surface.   Scoop them out with a slotted spoon, and serve immediately with the sauce and a dusting of grated parmesan.

Slicing up the logs was a bit fiddly, and I suspect you could simply drop spoonfuls of the dough into the boiling water, providing you worked quickly enough.

However you decide to make them, do try this recipe – it’s really very simple and the results are surprisingly tasty!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , | 12 Comments »

Joyous Figs

January 19, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

We were overjoyed to find a tray of figs at the back door – left by our wonderful neighbours who had harvested their tree that very morning!

When you’re given such gloriously fresh fruit, it has to be eaten straight away, while it’s at its peak.  So we had figs for lunch, sliced in half and grilled, then wrapped in St Agur blue cheese and San Daniele prosciutto..

…and made Jamie Oliver’s fig and mozzarella salad for dinner. Oliver refers to this as “The Easiest Sexiest Salad in the World”, and I think he may be right. My friend El describes it as “a party in your mouth“…

Fig and Mozzarella Salad
(adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef)

Cut a criss-cross into the top of the figs, then pinch the base of each fig to open it up like a tulip.  Place them on a large plate, and drape slices of really good prosciutto around them, allowing about one slice per fig.  Rip up balls of fresh mozzarella and scatter them, along with torn up basil leaves.

In a jar, combine 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons  of lemon juice, 1 – 2 tablespoons of a good, runny honey, salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Replace the lid and shake well to combine.  Taste and adjust seasonings, and then drizzle over the salad and serve.

Happy Days indeed!

 

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments »

Caramelised Garlic Bread

January 18, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Inspired by Dan Lepard’s garlic bread recipe in Exceptional Breads, and with an abundance of Di and Ian’s homegrown garlic on hand, I made the filling and incorporated it into a one kilo batch of  my spelt sourdough.  Dan revisits the recipe on his forum – well worth a look if you’re thinking of making this!

Garlic Filling

  • 3 heads garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 50ml water
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves (or 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped)

1. Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a saucepan and cover with boiling water.  Simmer for 3 – 4 minutes.

2. Drain well, and cover the cloves with cold water to cool, then peel them.

3. Heat the EVOO in a frypan over medium heat and gently brown the peeled cloves until lightly browned but not burnt.

4. Add the balsamic vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper and rosemary and simmer for 5 minutes until the syrup reduces to a sticky caramel.  Scrape the mixture into a small bowl to cool, then fold it into your prepared sourdough (or yeasted dough) as shown below.  Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , | 10 Comments »

Little Things

January 16, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

It’s the little things in life that make me happy…

…like having enough fresh cherries left over to bake a cake…

…or cooking with fresh eshallots from Maude’s garden…

…or scribbling on the kitchen whiteboard that Pete gave me for Christmas.  Or better still, watching Small Man trying to figure out the physics of a submarine on it…

…or teaching our boys to play 500 (a card game similar to Bridge) – does anyone else play?  It’s a great game, and one which comes with over twenty years of wonderful memories for Pete and I.  It’s so nice to be able to share all of these with our sons.  Small Man nearly wept with laughter when I looked at my cards and said, quoting his Uncle Kevin, “I have a hand like a foot!”

Posted in Food & Friends, In My Kitchen | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments »

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