Marquise au Chocolat : TWD

This week at Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD), we are making a French chocolate dessert, Marquise au Chocolat. According to Dorie, traditionally the marquise is packed into a loaf pan, frozen and then slice just before serving. Or can even be made in mini loaf pans or small ramekins. A practical dessert to make, which can be made weeks in advance, keeps well in the freezer.

This recipe uses egg yolks that are not cooked, Dorie has advised that it's important to use very fresh eggs, preferably organic and/or from a trusted local source. I do not like to use raw eggs in desserts, and was wondering on a good substitute for that. I've decided to use cream cheese, as that was what I have used before for making ice cream, and this marquise is a frozen chocolate mousse dessert, pretty close to ice cream to me!  

I made half a recipe as I wasn't sure how it would turn out by using cream cheese, and do not want to waste an expensive bar of dark chocolate, just in case it did not turn out well at all. I use four mini ramekins and ended up using an extra medium ramekin. 

This is how I made the Marquise au Chocolat :

Firstly, I line the base of the ramekins with cut-out plastic sheet, leaving the sides bare. 

Melt the chocolate with butter in a bowl over simmering water, just until both the butter and chocolate has melted and the mixture is thick and velvety. Transfer bowl to counter and let cool for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese (at room temperature) with the sugar until light and fluffy. I use 20 gram of cream cheese to substitute for each egg yolk. 

Stir the cream cheese mixture into the melted chocolate.

Stir to combine gently.

Whip the heavy cream with sugar until it holds firm soft peak. Spoon it into the choclate mixture and stir gently to combine. Spoon the mousse into the ramekins and cover the ramekins with plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 6 hours.

 

The frozen Marquise au Chocolat. It is very easy to unmould. Simply place the ramekin into a bowl of warm water for a few seconds, and turn the marquise out onto a serving plate. 

I tested one on the next day, and it was hard frozen solid! So I remove all the marquise out from the freezer and place them in the refrigerator to soften them a little. About forty minutes later, I tested one which seems to have softened slightly, but I would prefer them to be a little softer. I left the rest in the refrigerator overnight and the next day, the marquise has softened but this time with a soft but firm texture. 

My daughter loves it! It is a little too rich for me, and could only finished a small serving. It is very rich (butter, chocolate, cream and cream cheese!!!), and really, really chocolaty! The taste of the dark chocolate really shines through. This dessert keeps really well, chilled in the refrigerator for a few days. 

Drop by TWD to see other bakers take on this French frozen chocolate mousse.

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I'm sharing this post with Little Thumbs Up February 2015 : Cocoa, organized by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen of my little favourite D.I.Y and hosted by Grace of Life Can Be Simple.

Grissini with Rosemary, Cheddar and Garlic : Bake-Along #75

The theme for our Bake-Along #75 is Grissini. I have always wanted to make Grissini but I guess I needed that push to do just that! So I selected Grissini as our theme bake-along with Lena and Zoe. 

Grissini are pencil thin, crisp breadsticks and originally from Northern Italy, and is a popular accompaniment to many Italian meals. They make simple, tasty snacks and are often served as an appetizer with pre-dinner drinks. There are many variations with different flavours ; cheeses, herbs, spices, as your creativity seems fit.

Most of the cookbooks on my bookshelf, have a Grissini recipe, and with different variations. I picked two recipes to try, and this is one of them. Even before I make this Grissini, I already knew that I would love it. Thin, crispy and savoury, already sounds good in my books! 

This recipe requires a few extra steps, comparing to other recipes that I've read. The dough needs to be made the day before, as it is required to be refrigerated for at least 8 hours or overnight. 

I've used fresh rosemary leaves from my garden pot, and instead of Asiago cheese (not available in the area where I live), I have used Cheddar. And I have added in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (I love this stuff!), for that added garlic kick and fragrance. 

The dough is mixed in the stand mixer with the dough hook. Divide the dough into four round balls, the dough are really doughy (gummy) at this point, and I could not make them in smooth round balls. Place them in a container which is sprinkled with flour (photo above), cover, let rest for 15 minutes, and refrigerate the dough for at least 8 hours or overnight.

A note on the malt syrup : I have omitted it, as the book did indicate that malt syrup can be omitted for the recipes in the book, but would be a great addition if it is available. 

The next day, the container of dough is removed from the refrigerator and left on the kitchen counter for an hour or so, so that they loose their chill. But I have actually left them on my kitchen counter for about 3 hours, as I was pretty busy at that time! (yeah, should have made better plans on my baking day!).  Look at how they have doubled up. The dough have gone softer and very easy to work with.

I divided each round into two (recipe does not require this step), as I find it easier to roll it through the pasta machine with a smaller ball of dough. Flatten the dough, sprinkle some flour on both sides, and put them through the pasta machine at the highest setting. And place it once more at the pasta machine, this time using the setting for fettuccine at setting #5. 

There, my pasta machine finally gets to see the light of day! LOL! It has been hibernating in my kitchen cabinet for years! Now that it is finally out, I'll be using it for other "KIV projects", fingers crossed! 

Separate the strands and place them on lined-baking sheet, cutting them to fit the size of the tray, (and keeping in mind, about the size of the container that you are going to store them, even though you could break them up before storing, but it would be nice to have them as one whole piece!). Lightly brush the top of the strands with some olive oil, cover the tray with plastic wrap and keep aside for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven. Bake as directed.

I baked the grissini at 375F for 15-18 minutes, rotating the trays after the first 10 minutes of baking. They baked up really golden and crispy, and I can smell the aroma of the garlic! Very much like baking garlic bread!

These are really good and addictive! Really, really crispy and light, and fragrant from the garlic powder. Makes a wonderful, healthy snack to munch on, anytime of the day! Great with a glass of cold beer! Yes!

Grissini 
(adapted from "Artisan Breads", At Home with The Culinary Institute of America, Eric W. Kastel)
7gm fresh rosemary leaves
3/4 cup (187gm) milk, 78 degrees F
1 tbsp (14gm) olive oil
2 tsp (14gm) malt syrup (omitted)
3 cups (411gm) high-gluten flour
1-1/2 tsp (6gm) instant dry yeast
1-1/4 tsp (9gm) salt (a pinch of salt, as butter and cheese are already salty)
1/4 cup (62gm) butter, soft
1/4 cup (28gm) Asiago cheese, finely grated (I use grated Cheddar)
1-1/2 tsp garlic powder (my addition)

Garnishes :
olive oil, as needed
salt, as needed

1. Make the dough the day before you want to serve the grissini. Pick the rosemary leaves off the stems and roughly chop them.
2. Combine the milk, oil and malt in the bowl of a mixer. Combine the flour with the yeast, and then add them to the milk mixture. Next add the salt and butter. Place the bowl on a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix for 4 minutes on low speed, making sure to scrape down and flip the dough over twice during the mixing time. Increase the speed to medium and mix for an additional 3 minutes. At this point, the dough will be strong, with good gluten structure. Add the rosemary and cheese, and mix for 1 more minute on medium speed, making sure to scrape down and flip the dough over during this process.
3. Remove the dough from the mixer and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 6.5-oz pieces and round the pieces against the tabletop. Place each piece in a floured container and cover the container with plastic wrap.
4. Leave the dough at room temperature for 15 minutes, and then refrigerate it for a minimum of 8 hours or overnight.
5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for 60 minutes, until it has lost its chill.
6. Lightly flour and flatten each piece and place it in a pasta machine set at its widest setting. Roll the dough through and, lowering the setting in small increments, continue this process until the dough is as wide as the opening on the pasta machine. Then turn the dough a quarter turn and lightly flour and roll the piece through the machine in the opposite direction until it is 1/4 inch thick (setting #5). Lightly flour the dough, trim the edges with a pastry wheel to make a straight edge, and pass it through the pasta machine's fettuccini cutter. Lay the pieces of dough on parchment paper-lined baking trays, making sure to lay them out straight and separate (you can cut the ends if the pieces do not fit the tray). Lightly brush the dough pieces with oil, then cover the trays with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature, to relax.
7. Preheat the oven to 400F.
8. Uncover the dough, brush it again with oil, and lightly sprinkle it with salt.
9. Place the trays in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 375F. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the trays when the pieces start to take on colour, and turn the oven down to 350F. Continue to bake an additional 4-6 minutes, until the bread is a light golden brown and appears dried out.
10. Remove the baking trays from the oven and place them on a cooling rack. When completely cool, store in an airtight container.

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Do stop by Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

For our next Bake-Along, we will be baking "Salted Caramel Apple Pie", from Bake In The Day Bakery Cookbook, pg 118, or here. Please do join us, bake this selected apple pie, and link your post to our linky which will start on 5th till 14th March. Everyone is welcome to join us! Only current post please.

A friendly reminder when linking to our blog hop :

1. Please mention Bake-Along event in your own post linking direct to any of the hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)

2. Please link only new and current post, PLEASE FOLLOW THE BAKE OR THEME provided by us. Unrelated post will be deleted.

3. Feel free to display our Bake-Along badge in your post.

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I'm linking this post to :

Cook-Your-Books #21 @ kitchen flavours

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Succulent Pork Belly With Soy And Star Anise

"East Meets West", this week's theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). This week we are to cook one of Diana Henry's dishes with a global influence. I was looking through her cookbook, "Food From Plenty", as was surprised to find this Chinese recipe of braised pork. According to her, "A pot of eastern deliciousness that is irresistibly more-rish. It also takes very little effort. Mushrooms make a good addition if you want to extend the dish with vegetables. You can obviously tailor this to suit your palate; not everyone is a big fan of star anise, for example, but stick to eastern flavours." 

Where does '"East Meets West" fits in this dish? Eastern ingredients ; star anise, rice wine, rice vinegar, soy sauce. And for West....well, I'm picturing this pot is braising in Henry's western kitchen! Just realized when I was writing this post, that this is not a western dish with eastern influence, but a full eastern dish instead! 

Succulent Pork Belly with Soy and Star Anise

I cook this dish with some little changes. I've added mushrooms as Henry suggested, and also because we love mushrooms in braised meat dishes such as this. Dry shiitake mushrooms are soaked till soften, discard the stems and cut the caps into half if the mushrooms are big, leave them whole if they are small. 

Confusion comes in when it comes to soy sauce! Henry's recipe calls for 120ml of dark soy sauce. I have never used so much of dark soy sauce in a dish. Generally there are two types of soy sauce, which are dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. I was wondering whether she really meant light soy sauce, as dark soy sauce is not as salty as light soy sauce, and there's no salt used at all in her dish. Dark soy sauce is thicker and darker, with caramel or cornstarch added, and frequently used in marinades and sauces to add more flavour and colour. It is very much less salty than light soy sauce. Furthermore, in her recipe instructions, the pork is removed at the end of cooking time, and the braising sauce is further boiled until thickened but she advised that don't take it so far that it is unpalatably salty (but there's nothing in her ingredients that suggest anything salty!). I've decided to use light soy sauce, as it is one of the main ingredients I always used for Chinese braised meat dishes. And I do not use salt for my dishes either. (I really think she meant light soy sauce in the recipe and not dark soy sauce!)

I have only used about 1 tsp of sugar, as I prefer salty braised dishes to sweet. And have used only a teaspoon of vinegar too, as I do not like too much of vinegar in dishes like this. Taste as you cook, adjust to your preference. I have skipped the last part of thickening the braising sauce, as we like to have more gravy to eat with rice.

A tasty and nice dish. Fragrant from the star anise and the pork belly is really tender soft. Mushrooms always adds a wonderful flavour to braised dishes like this, and gets deliciously soft when braised for a couple of hours. Nice dish to eat with white rice, and a green stir-fried veggie on the side.

Succulent Pork Belly With Soy And Star Anise
(adapted from "Food From Plenty", Diana Henry)
Serves 6-8
1.5kg (3lb 5oz) pork belly, bones removed, rind left on
120ml (4fl oz) dark soy sauce (I use light soy sauce)
I use about 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
75ml (2-1/2fl oz) Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
25ml (spare 1fl oz) rice vinegar
2-1/2 tbsp soft light brown sugar (I use 1 tsp)
5cm (2in) square of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely sliced
3 star anise
10 dried shiitake mushrooms (my addition, soaked until softened, discard stems, cut caps into half)
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
12 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal

1. Cut the pork belly into chunks about 5cm (2in) square. Put these in a saucepan and add enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat so that the water is simmering and cook the pork for 5 minutes. Skim the surface of any scum that rises.
2. Strain the pork (discard the cooking water), rinse the pan and return the pork. Add about 1.4 litres (2-1/2 pints) water (or light chicken stock if you have it), plus all the other ingredients (using only half the spring onions), Bring this up to the boil, then immediately reduce to a gentle simmer, cover tightly with a lid and leave to cook very gently for about 2 hours, or until the pork is completely tender. Make sure it doesn't boil dry and add more water if needed.
3. Scoop the pork out of the cooking liquor with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reduce the cooking liquor by boiling it until you have a good, intensified flavour (but don't take it so far that it is unpalatably salty). Return the pork to the liquid and heat through. Serve in bowls over noodles, or with boiled rice, with the rest of the spring onions sprinkled over the top. Some kind of stir-fried greens - cabbage or bok choi - are good served on the side, too.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week "East Meets West"