7 Links of Lostpastremembered and Peach Jasmine Crepes

I read that in 12^th century Spain, Nachmanides, Rabbi and interpreter of the Kabbala (The Zohar),  explained the relevance of the number 7 by saying 7 is the number of the natural world  –– 7 days in a week, 7 notes on a scale, 7 directions.  There are 7 attributes of physicality (height, width, depth, top and bottom, front and back, left and right, plus connecting the other 6) – nothing exists in the physical world without these attributes… even a rainbow has 7 colors!  Never occurred to me that 7 was a special number.

Why am I so interested in 7???? The 7 LINKS MEME that’s going around is the reason.  My blog-pals, Trix and Lazaro tagged me for this so I thought I would give it a whirl.  The trick is to choose 7 "mosts" from your own blog: the most beautiful, the most overlooked, the most helpful, the most controversial, the most successful, the most popular, and the one you are most proud of –– 7 defining posts.  While I'm at it, I'd love to get David Solmonson at 12 Bottle Bar to have a go at his 7 mosts because I love his drinks, and Laura Kelly at Silk Road Gourmet because she's written about so many cool things!

This really put me into a spin.  I told Trix it was like picking your favorite child. The first thing I did was put myself on my favorites list so I could more easily look at 114 posts that I have done in the last 21 months (is there a better way to do this?).  114, can there be so many??

First Post

It has become a real personal voyage as I chart where I’ve been.  I see the evolution of the blog and the way it has moved from place to place, century to century.

Pumpion Pie 1st Picture that got on Tastespotting

I see how my photography has developed from pretty bad to a personal style that I am no longer embarrassed about (but still need to work on).

Hippocras

I see that my writing has gotten a little tighter and my research more on point.  There are a few easy quick posts that turned out well and some huge efforts that were, well, a bit long and convoluted.  With each I learn.

All and all, I’m grateful for the exercise and thank Trix and Lazaro for giving me the opportunity.  Why does this sound like some award’s speech???

The most beautiful, well, here comes that “pick your prettiest child moment” –– it’s tough and I will cheat and put in 3 that I love for different reasons.  One would be sea urchin pasta, I just love that picture for the color, the soft focus that feels vaguely marine and using that shell at the last minutes really made the photograph. It is also one of my most popular posts and one of the most delicious things I’ve made –– top 5. When I found a great supplier of uni –– that was when the dish started singing.  I could eat it every day. 

The other just might be the curried chicken from Olana… again the dish I used for it had so much to do with the way it looked.

The last would be the incredible eggs with asparagus, smoked salmon and Dutch Sauce that was a real moment in food porn and also incredibly good.  Dutch sauce with cream and elderflower vinegar instead of butter and lemon was incredibly good and ate as decadently as it looked!

The most overlooked? That would be my first Ambergris post.  Although the 2^nd ambergris post was only 2 weeks later, the title for that 2^nd one had chocolate in it and that was hugely popular.  I thought the ambergris post was so interesting… I for one knew so very little about it until I started researching. When I actually found I could get some from Ambergris Co. NZ, I was over the moon.  It is magical.

Sadly, it didn’t get a lot of visitors, too weird, I guess. And that’s a pity since it also had hot chocolate that was so good! I am also fond of the post because it introduced me to Mandy Aftel of Aftelier and all her spectacular essences which have made everything I make with them so incredibly good ( including the recipe for today).

The most helpful?  I don’t really do “how-to recipes”, that’s not my style or my audience.  Although most of my recipes aren’t killer difficult, some are.  I think I have 2 choices for this.  The first is grouse, because I had always wanted to make it and was afraid since I didn’t have a clue about how to best cook grouse.  I really asked around and researched a lot and found some great techniques that I use all the time now (frozen hazelnut oil under the skin, who knew?).  The result was one of the best things I ever stuck in my mouth.  My friends who shared the run-through bird felt the same way… they sucked every bit of flesh off the tiny bones and nearly licked the plate…and these are very proper guys!  

The other would probably be making real marshmallow from scratch.  I knew they once were made with real marshmallow root and wanted to see how it would be.  It took scads of research and dead ends and the first effort, although tasty, was more like marshmallow fluff.  As it turned out, it wasn’t a lost cause–– it was fabulous in hot chocolate!  I had trouble with gum tragacanth… there were no real instructions about how to use it.  Well, suffice to say all of my trials are listed and you can now make them if you so desire.  They are, as you would imagine, much more complexly flavored and the fluff was fabulous in hot chocolate!

The most controversial?  Dinner on Horseback.  

Why? It had nothing to do with the dish, which was simple trout and quite good.  It was about the event… I write about history too so food isn’t the only topic.  It was one of the only times I actually dumped a few comments (there are always one or 2 nutters once in a while that I ditch).  These were rather unpleasant comments about Billings being a pig,  asking why was I writing about such a disgusting display, etc.  Problem was, I’d contacted a grandson and just felt creepy about him reading that stuff so I took it out. 

Me personally, I had wanted to know more about The Dinner on Horseback since I first saw the picture as a teenager.  Thanks to the brilliance of fellow blogger, David Solmonson at 12 Bottle Bar and his awesome detective work, I finely found out what they ate… it had never been publicised, only hinted at.  David found it in a book on horses, of course!   And the reason that you never saw a copy of the menu was because it was on a silver horseshoe that was given to the guests… the menu David found was a copy of the original order for the dinner that was in the now defunct Sherry’s archives.  This trumped all issues I may have about celebrating conspicuous consumption.  And honestly, I write about food history… believe me when I say, the dinner on horseback is tame compared to monarchy breaking, treasury busting parties!!!

The most successful? Babette’s Feast.  I loved that movie, I really did.  And it took me a very long time to work up the courage to make the quail in puff pastry. I had no idea how to make quail and my last attempt at puff pastry had been a disaster.  For some reason the cooking gods were smiling on me when I made it and it all turned out perfectly and perfectly delicious.

The most popular? Kentucky Derby and Secretariat , hands down.  Of all the visitors to the blog, 1/3 have been there.  It had nothing to do with the food although Jenny Benedict's little cucumber sandwiches are awesome and so was her mayonnaise.  It had everything to do with Secretariat and the film coming out at just the right moment.

I was very proud of what I wrote since it came from the heart.  Watching Secretariat win Belmont was one of the greatest things I ever saw.  I never get tired of watching it.  I got 12,000 hits in one day as the movie came out which, well seems appropriate to Secretariat don’t you think?  No other post touches the record by a mile.  There was another spike when the DVD came out… love that horse.

The one you are most proud of?  There are 3, Hampton Court is the first.  I loved touring the palace with the cool kitchen historian, Marc Meltonville.  He shared incredible insights into the way the kitchen worked and what it took to feed a palace.

Picture of Chewetts at Hampton Court

It was thrilling and making little chewetts like the ones I saw at the palace was great fun.  I lost my fear of suet after I got some from my favorite beef guy.  Suet makes a very, very strong crust that really can stand on its own.  It was flaky and tasty, who knew?

The visit to Olana  was a fortunate one because I took a chance and wrote to the historian of the house and got a treasure of the recipes that were eaten there… even what cookbooks were on the shelves.  It was terribly exciting and I think the post gave you a good feeling of who Church was and how he ate, and the chicken was delicious and beautiful!

I was proud of Twain  because I did so many dishes to celebrate my 1^st year blogversary… it was a lot of work, research and too many pictures.  That said, I was proud of the result and the dishes were delicious.  It also gave me a real sense of the meal that was eaten.  I used old dishes, silver and my 1870 lace tablecloth that is one of my favorite things.

After reading through my walk down memory lane, I can't leave without sharing a recipe, can I? It's a dessert I made the other day from the spectacular peaches I had.  It takes no time at all to do and the result is... sensational. You can make them low calorie or go for the buttery creamy version.  Great peaches need only be warmed for a minute.  You will love them without the jasmine, but with it... well, they are sinful.  It would also be great with pears or berries, although for the berries I would use Aftelier Rose Essence.

Hazelnut Crepes with Jasmine Peaches for 2-3

1/3 c milk

1 egg

1/4 c  flour (3 T white and 1 T whole wheat is best)

1 T ground hazelnuts (or pecans or almonds)

1/8 t salt

1 t hazelnut oil

butter or hazelnut oil for pan

2 peaches, skinned and sliced

1 T butter or hazelnut oil

2-4 T maple syrup

2-3 drops of Aftelier Jasmine essence(it's best to taste

1/2 cup yogurt or lightly whipped cream if you'd like
mint or pennyroyal for garnish

Throw the milk, eggs, flour, hazelnuts and salt into the blender and let ‘er rip for a minute or 2.  Strain the mixture through a fine sieve, rubbing on the solids then dump the residue into the mix–– this really helps to blend it.  Stir it all together again and make sure you get a good mix with each crepe (ie, don't just spoon from the top... you'll miss the nutty goodness!).  This can be made in advance.

Coat your pan with butter or oil…be especially generous.

Use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter per crepe, pour in the pan, swirl and let set for a minute then flip and remove,
Keep warm.


Melt the butter in the pan,  toss the peaches in the pan and warm for a moment... if they are really good you shouldn't cook them.  Add the syrup and jasmine.


Fold each crepe into quarters and fling back the topmost flap.  Put your peaches in and pour the sauce over all.


Garnish with pennyroyal (again a reminder, do not eat too much pennyroyal, especially if you are pregnant) or mint.  Serve with cream or yogurt.

Thanks to Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday

Last, I want to send you over to my friend Deborah Chud from A Doctor's Kitchen.  She has a bang up new app for your Iphone or Ipad called Trufflehead.  Here you can get wonderful, healthful recipes and even shopping lists to send out when you've assigned a shopper for a meal (is that a great idea or what?).


The app is HERE on ITUNES or you can visit the Trufflehead Website HERE.  You can get a preview of how it all works on YouTube HERE.  You will be ever so happy you did.  There are even some Lostpastremembered recipes on it.  Since I do a lot of rich food for the blog... I love Deborah's recipes for the rest of my week.  They are smart and delicious!  


To promote it, she will giveaway 20 apps here... first come first serve... you need an Iphone or Ipad to make it work!  Just say you would like one in the comments, email me with your email address and I'll send you the info.  Good Luck!



Thanks for featuring my crepes on the kitchn

Food, Fragrance and Friends with Orange Scented Olive Oil Cake

Tear bottles or lacrymatories (tears of mourners were kept in a bottle and buried with the deceased), Roman, 2^nd -4^th century 

Unguentariums   

The word perfume comes from the Latin, per fumum, meaning by or through smoke and derived from the incense used in ancient religious rites.  I imagine the first perfume appreciated by our ancestors was that of wood smoke, meat and herbs burning in a campfire…  the scent heralded the promise of delicious flavor and a full stomach.

Ancient Greek perfume bottle (This was a very common shape for a perfume bottle… no fooling) 

At the dawn of civilization man created perfume –– as incense that wafted the scent of status and luxury through marble halls –– as perfumed oils to anoint the skin and hair and finally, with the discovery of distillation, as essences distilled from flowers and leaves and roots –– the pure, clear soul could be taken from the plant to serve the perfumer.

The recipe of Tapputi-Belatekallim, the perfumeress (*see it at the end of the post)

It makes sense, doesn’t it?  With civilization came perfume.  Paul Strathern, in his book on chemistry called Medeleyev’s Dream, said that the first named perfumer/chemist was in Mesopotamia ––Tapputi was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from 1200 BC, she (yes she… the original chemists were women!) distilled flowers, oil and calamus with cyperus, myrrh and balsam to make a perfume with early stills.

Excavation of 4000 year old perfume factory 

 Although it is believed the first perfumes were in Egypt, the oldest perfumes found to date came from a huge perfume factory in Pyrgos, Cyprus, and were 4000 years old.  The bottles contained Lavender, bay, rosemary, pine and coriander.  Distillation with steam and alcohol happened 3,000 years later thanks to the genius of polymath Ibn Sīnā or Avicenna in the West (who also invented the refrigerated coil).

 Greek perfume bottle, 600-550 BC

Back in early history, perfume and food were not divided disciplines as they are now –– there was a very flexible membrane between them. In fact, many substances were on both sides of the fence.  The ancient Egyptian incense Kyphi was made from raisins, cinnamon and honey as well as myrrh, frankincense and sandalwood (**Recipe at end of post). It was found in tombs opened in the 19^th century –– its ghostly scent still emanating from the pottery bowls and bottles after 3000 years.

 Lydian perfume jar, 600-500 BC

The ancient Greeks favored rose, saffron, frankincense, myrrh, violets, spikenard, cinnamon and cedar said David Pybus in The History of Aroma Chemistry.  Many of these were also used in food.  The Romans were particularly fond of roses and bathed in the scent as well as using roses in their cuisine.  In fact Pybus said,  “Rome succumbed to the barbarian hordes, the lights went out in all the incense burners in Europe, and the rose petals went out with the bathwater.”

Roman 1^st century perfume bottle 

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the dark ages began and the world contracted as the connection of Empire dissolved into hundreds of unrelated kingdoms without the benefit of shared knowledge and discoveries (until the Catholic church filled the gap).  David Rowe in Chemistry and Technology of Flavor and Fragrances said “The end result of this was the loss of raw materials and eventually, the knowledge of what to do with them.  The foundations of chemistry were lost into the mysticism of Alchemy.  Some techniques remained in use, especially distillation, but this also became a mystical affair.” Alchemy and perfumery were related crafts. The distillation process for perfume –– turning crude material into scent –– was in the alchemist’s arsenal of techniques used in the search for  the ever-elusive Philosopher’s Stone (Lapis Philosophorum) that turned metal to gold or provided an elixir for eternal life.  Distilling scent was a path from the mundane to the sublime.

 Etrusco-Corinthian 590-580 BC Alabastron Perfume bottle

By the late medieval period, spices and perfumes were used with abandon and scented courts and cathedrals with materials from all over the world… bodies, food, floors and even laundry (the word laundress came from lavenderess and their job of putting lavender to work in the clothes and rooms of their royal masters to scent their lives- Elizabeth I kept a dish of sugared lavender next to her at table and munched on them continually!).

I know this is really a massively simplified history of man and fragrance but I wanted to give you a little context for my next statement… food and scent are naturals together and alchemy and cooking are not such distant relatives – they have just been estranged from their formerly close and mutually beneficial relationship for far too long.

Ambergris

Last year I got it into my head that I needed to taste ambergris.  I saw it in so many antique recipes and I was so curious.  When I read about it, I felt it was a connection to the past through a substance that had been thought of as magic from the beginnings of civilization. First I contacted a brilliant perfume blogger, Elena at Perfume Shrine, to help me understand the properties of this ingredient, then I found the fabled gray stone at Ambergris NZ and fell in love the moment I opened the small black velvet bag.  

Elena, being a kind and generous guide to scent society went one step farther and introduced me to Mandy Aftel at Aftelier –– she had a feeling Mandy would be a wonderful resource since she had developed a line of fragrances for food. Elena was so right –– we met at a lecture Mandy was giving at NYC’s Museum of Natural History.  

Mandy is a true visionary and has opened a door, long closed, to the world of scent and food and drink.  Through her I was able to use incredible roses, jasmine… geranium…so many flowers as well as fantastic herbs and spices in as pure a form as can be found.  These essences have rocked my world.

Through Mandy I have met a great group of perfumers, a perfume blogger and another food blogger and we have taken to meeting once a month to share our interests and passions.  This group includes Lucy Raubertas of  Indie Perfumes, Julianne Zaleta of Herbal Alchemy, Maria McElroy of Aroma M and Rebecca Winzenried of Three Points Kitchen.

This weekend we met and shared sniffs of incredible perfume samples Lucy had brought along and cake… an orange olive oil cake that I had made from a recipe I found at Dennis's great site,  More than a Mountful .  It seemed like the perfect thing to bring for our gathering after making an Aftelier-inspired addition.  Added to the cake was a glaze of Aftelier Neroli essence and some ambergris I’d been brewing in alcohol… the result was sublime… and eating it… well it perfumes your mouth in the best way you can imagine.  For a group of scent hounds… this made up for the 1 ½ hour wait for M Wells in Long Island City.  We baled and went to Brooklyn and ate at the charming Belleville  restaurant in Park Slope.

We then had a dessert course at Julianne’s house consisting of scented prosecco and magical vodkas infused with honey-oatmeal (don't knock it... Dan Barber uses it and it's amazing!), chocolate mint, lemon verbena and angelica. Aside from being a master perfumer,  Julianne is a genius with infused vodkas so these were truly spectacular creations.

Aftelier Chef's Essences

I can’t say enough about what Aftelier chef’s essences  will do for your cooking and your cocktails.   I can tell you to vote for her perfumes for the Fifi Awards   for  her romantic Honey Blossom  perfume starting on the 25th to reward her perseverance in hunting out the very best ingredients to enrich her perfumes and your food and drink.    The alliance between food and fragrance has been re-established… long may it live and prosper!

Orange-Rosemary Olive oil Cake based on a cake from More than a Mountful

1 ½ c flour

1 cup sugar

1 t baking soda

½ t baking powder

½ t salt

3 large eggs

6 oz buttermilk or yogurt

½ extra virgin olive oil

1 T chopped rosemary

pinch of saffron

½ c powdered sugar, sifted

juice of 1 orange ( I used a blood orange–– but it turns dark on the cake like magic... perhaps stick with regular orange!)

1-3 drops neroli or petitgrain (optional)

a few gratings of ambergris -- from Ambergris Co NZ (optional)

 Take 2 T of the olive oil and warm, add the saffron and let soak for ½ an hour.  Sift the dry ingredients together.  Mix the liquid ingredients together thoroughly, adding the saffron oil and rosemary.  Combine the liquid and he dry gently and pour into a 9” olive oiled pan.

Cook at 350º for 25- 35 minutes… check frequently.  The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake and let it cool.  Remove gently from the pan.  Stick it with a toothpick many times.  Combine the glaze ingredients and pour over the cake, you can make extra and serve it with each slice… it’s that good… you’ll probably want to.

The texture is insanely good at this point, like an orange cloud.  It is best served shortly after cooking although it is great the next day too.  It will perfume your mouth in a remarkable way.

Making Lily Perfume

*Following is a description of  Tapputi-Belatekallim's preparation, from M. Levey's ""Early

Arabic Pharmacology".

"If you prepare flowers, oil, and calamus as a salve, and you have tested

the flowers [of the calamus and its green parts], you set up ... a

distillatory.  You put good potable water ... [into a hariu pot].  You heat

tabilu and put it in.  You put 1 qa (about half a litre) hamimu, 1 qa

iaruttu, 1 qa of good, filtered myrrh into the hariu pot.  Your standard in

this is the water taken and divided.  You operate at the end of the day and

the evening.  It remains overnight.  It becomes steeped.  You filter this

solution ... with a filter cloth into a hirsu pot at dawn, on the rising of

the sun.  You clarify from this hirsu pot into another hirsu pot.  You

discard the residue.

You use 3 qa of purified 'Cyperus' [species unknown] in the solution with

the aromatics.  Discard the inferior material.  You put 3 qa myrrh, 2 qa

pressed and filtered calamus in the solution with these aromatics in a

hirsu pot.  You measure 40 qa of this solution which remained overnight

with the aromatics ... 1 1/2 pure gullu ... two beakers ... small beakers

... You filter ... kanaktu in a sieve.  You decant oil in the hariu pot ...

in the solution.

[You rub that which was with the solution overnight.]  [You examine] the

comminuted material.  You remove [its bad part].  You filter this solution

which [you clarified into a distillatory] ... 3 qa ... [You throw] ...

balsam into this solution in [a hirsu pot].  [You kindle a fire].  When the

solution is heated for admixture, [you pour in the oil].  You agitate with

a stirrer.

[When the oil, solution, and aromatics] continue to dissolve, [you raise]

the fire... You cover the distillatory on top.  [You cool] with [water].

When the sun [rises], [you prepare] a [container for]the oil, solution, and

aromatics.  You allow the fire under the distillatory to die down.  You

remove the distilled and sublimed substances from [the trough of the

distillatory ...].

When the sun [rises], [if] they continue to dissolve in one another and

[the fire rises], you cover the [top] of the distillatory.  You cool.  You

prepare a flask for the calamus oil.  You put a filter cloth over the

flask.  You filter the oil with a filter cloth into the flask.  You remove

the dregs and residue left in the distillatory.

This is the preparation of flowers, oil, and calamus for [salve] for the

king according to the recipe of Tapputi-Belatekallim, the perfumeress.

The twentieth of Muhur-ilani, Limmu of Qatnu-gardu".

(This would be approx 1200 BCE).

Perfume Seller

Kyphi Recipes, cooked in honey

Papyrus Ebers 1500 BC
Honey
Frankincense (antiu)
Mastic
Genen (Sweet Flag)
Pine Kernels
Cyperus Grass
Camel Grass
Inektun
Cinnamon

Edfu Temple 100 BC
Raisins
Wine
Honey
Frankincense
Myrrh
Mastic
Pine Resin
Sweet Flag
Aspalathos
Camel Grass
Mint
Cyperus
Juniper Berries
Pine Kernels
Peker
Cinnamon

Thanks to Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday!!  

Chocolate Mousse with Szechuan Peppercorn Sabayon

Sometimes when you try to get to the bottom of things, you find you can’t!  Take chocolate mousse (not hard to take by any means), for example.

I decided to do a favorite recipe for chocolate mousse with a Szechwan peppercorn sabayon as part of the Marx Food’s Ridiculously Delicious Challenge (we were given a box of ingredients to use to make a dish with… I chose the peppercorns and coconut sugar…mmm).  Coming up with the recipe was easy… it’s based on my favorite Julia Child mousse recipe from her 1989 The Way to Cook.   Julia’s is a never-fail recipe… but not her first effort at chocolate mousse.  Her original in Mastering the Art of French Cooking was more in the style of a chocolate pot de crème -- without cream -- all rich eggy goodness with butter supplying the necessary oleaginous component for that luxurious mouth-feel we all crave.   As I whipped up my divine chocolate cloud I got to thinking -- who made the first chocolate mousse, where did it come from? 

Chocolate dessert only goes back to the mid 19^th century as far as I can see.  Originally, chocolate was a very hot spicy drink from the New World made with water and not milk.  This continued through the 18^th century with cream and other additives coming into the mix (like jasmine and ambergris!).

Mancerina

 Mancerina 1730-40 Spain

18^th c. Porcelain Mancerina (the cup that fits inside is called a jicara from the Aztec gourd vessels)

Mancerina

I found this gorgeous innovation for drinking hot chocolate called the mancerina on the blog Potsdecreme.  It was invented in the mid-17^th century by the Marques de Mancera,Viceroy of Peru from 1639-48 (said The Oxford Companion to Food).  The stationary cup holder kept the hot beverage from tipping over and scalding the guest. I can see why it was so popular for so long (you can see more chocolate cups and history HERE and HERE ) with such gorgeous vessels to carry your chocolate in... why mess with success? Aren't we glad they did??

The blog Extreme Chocolate  said “The first written record of chocolate mousse in the United States comes from a food Exposition held at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1892. A "Housekeeper's Column" in the Boston Daily Globe of 1897 published one of the first recipes for chocolate mousse. The recipe yielded a chocolate pudding-type dish, instead of today's stiff, but fluffy, mousse.”

The Art of Cuisine

I’d like to believe the legend that the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1854-1901) invented chocolate mousse.  He was a great cook and gourmet and after his untimely death at only 36, his boyhood friend, art dealer and tireless supporter, Maurice Joyant, collected his recipes in a cookbook in the early 20^th century (translated into English in a 1966 edition).  Included was ‘Mayonnaise au chocolat’*… evidently his creative take on the newly popular savory mousses of the day.  Luckily the name didn't stick even though the mousse went on to be nearly as famous as its creator (don’t worry, I will revisit this cookbook again).  It has been said that Lautrec created the chocolate mousse and the cocktail snack (he loved the American cocktail), now that is brilliant!

Toulouse- Lautrec with Absinthe

 Perhaps if he had stayed with food and away from absinthe, he might have stayed around longer.

Toulouse Lautrec, study for Loie Fuller (a favorite of mine)

Like Julia’s original, the first recipes had no cream (although hers is served with a creamy sauce).  I read Robert Carrier had the first cream version in the 1960’s and by the 1980’s chocolate mousse was ubiquitous, although often little more than chocolate flavored whipped cream.  My version is far more than that -- good chocolate is the key and the rum, coffee, star anise and orange add warm, spicy notes (and Aftelier’s Petitgrain or bitter orange essence if you are lucky!). The Szechuan peppercorn sabayon I’ve had for 20 years in my ratty handwritten recipe book so I can’t tell you where it came from.  I do recommend using good eggs... pasture raised are my favs (from my pals at Grazin Angus Acres.  Remember you don't cook them so the fresher the better

Chocolate Mousse with Coconut and Szechuan Peppercorn Sabayon

Chocolate Mousse inspired by Julia Child

8 oz bittersweet chocolate

2 T strong coffee

2 T dark rum

finely grated zest of 1 orange (microplane is best for this)*

1 star anise, crushed into pieces (from Marx Foods)

3 oz softened unsalted butter

3 egg yolks

1 c heavy cream

3 egg whites

¼ cup ground fine coconut sugar from Marx Foods

*for special flavor you could add a drop of Aftelier’s Petitgrain (from the leaves of bitter orange) or bitter orange essence 

Soak the star anise in the rum and coffee for a few hours till it has released its scent in the liquid then strain, reserving the liquid.  Melt the chocolate with the coffee, butter, rum and zest.  When chocolate is melted, add the yolks… whisking constantly (if you add the butter to the chocolate too soon it could separate).  Allow it to cool a little then beat. Whip the egg whites and when stiffened add the sugar slowly.  Fold this into the chocolate.  Whip the cream till stiff and fold into the mousse and add the drop of orange oil now if you wish.  Chill

 

Szechuan Sabayon

3 T water

1 T honey

4 egg yolks

16 toasted Szechuan peppercorns from Marx Foods

Whisk the yolks, water, honey and peppercorns (I used a hand mixer for maximum volume) over a low heat till creamy and foamy.  Add the cream and chill.  Strain the peppercorns after they have perfumed the sabayon if you would like, pressing on the solids.  If you really like the peppercorns, as I do, toast them and grind them in a spice grinder and add to the sauce… it leave a wonderful tingling sensation on your tongue that is delightful and a contrast to the richness.

Plate the mousse and spoon the sabayon around it… add extra orange zest if you would like… I love the bitter orange flavor!

*Toulouse-Lautrec's Mayonnaise au Chocolat

In a saucepan put 4 bars of chocolate with very little water and let them melt on a very gentle fire. 

Add 4 large spoons of granulated sugar, half a pound of good butter, 4 yolks of eggs and mix carefully.

Let cool and you will have a smooth paste.  Beat the whites of eggs to a snow and mix them, while stirring, into the paste

Thanks to Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday.... having an anniversary today!!!

Marx Food's The Ridiculously Delicious Challenge