Chocolate Souffle

The final dish for chocolate week is one that many may have heard is hard to make. In reality it involves relatively simple techniques with a few tricks to ensure success. The top three tips for a light and fluffy souffle are: when you add the first third of egg white mixture you can mix as hard as you need too, but the second two thirds you should fold very lightly. A good tip in relation to preparing the ramekins is to brush the sides with butter then chill for 5 minutes and reapply butter before coating the ramekins with cocoa or in this case, grated chocolate. The last tip is to make sure you have a whole one to yourself so you do not have to share. I served this one with chocolate mint ice cream and it was light, rich and absolutely delicious. If I had not run out of mixture and was able to fill right to the top, it would have risen higher out of the ramekin and looked more spectacular, but I was very happy with the result.

Carrot and White Chocolate Fondant with Dark Chocolate Sorbet

The second chocolate dish this week comes from Gordon Ramsey's "Three Star Chef" book. It is another interesting flavour combination combining carrot and chocolate. This dish was extremely labour intensive and I made it over a couple of days. The liquid centres were from what was basically an ice cube made from cream, white chocolate and a carrot puree. You place a spoonful of the pudding mixture into the dariole moulds and then carefully balance the ice cube in the middle and coat with more mixture. You need to work quickly so the cube doesn't melt and then when you cut it open after baking the gooey inside oozes out. I made the chocolate sorbet myself as well, churning the dark chocolate and cream mixture until the crystals were fine. It was a delicious dessert with the sweetness of the carrots mixing so well with the white chocolate and then balanced by the bitterness of the dark chocolate sorbet. I would definitely make this again despite the long preparation.

Roquefort with chocolate sponge

The first dish I have decided to make is somewhat of a taste experiment for me. The combination of blue cheese and chocolate is not one that would jump out at me ordinarily. Renowned Australian chef Shannon Bennett brought this combination to my attention initially, but he gives credit for it to molecular gastronomy pioneer, Heston Blumenthal. In Heston's kitchen chemistry series he explains that while the combination may seem strange, both chocolate and blue cheese contain many of the same flavour "notes" and so work well together.

After making the dish and tasting it, to be honest I am still not entirely convinced. It was an interesting combination and in your mouth you can taste some of the flavours that work together but overall it was still a little confronting.

Chocolate

This week's ingredient is CHOCOLATE. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree and was discovered by the Mayan's around 2000 years ago. They took the tree, growing wild in the rain forests of Mesoamerica, and grew it near their homes. They harvested the seeds and made them into a paste which they then mixed with chili and other ingredients to make a spicy chocolate drink. This form of chocolate however was vastly different to what we know as chocolate today, mainly because sugar was not available to the Mesoamericans. Chocolate was spread to Europe by the Spanish who recognized the potential for cacao, both as a delicacy and as a commodity, and shipped cacao seeds back to Spain. They added cinnamon and sugar and it stayed as a Spanish delicacy for a further 100 years before it eventually spread to the rest of Europe. Cacao and sugar were both expensive to buy, so chocolate became somewhat of a status symbol for the wealthy, however by the 1800's along with the industrial revolution chocolate had moved into mass production and become readily available to a broader public. Through further technological advance chocolate was also able to be made into a solid form for eating rather than just drinking chocolate. The first ever bar of chocolate was produced in England by Cadbury in 1842.

Chocolate today is consumed in large quantities around the world and while is a readily available affordable sweet it is also still a feature in fine dining as well. Chocolatiers across the world strive to bring together new flavours and perfect the balance in flavour and texture to excite the palette. I have been lucky to taste one fo the world's best chocolatiers product when I was in Brussels. Pierre Marcolini's chocolate is stunning and we had originally bought many square blocks as presents only to end up enjoying them all to ourselves. I would recommend it to anyone if you get a chance he has stores in several major cities.

Pan Fried Mushrooms on Toasted Brioche and Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Oil

I think for a lot of people mushrooms are either something you love or hate - and I am definitely a lover. In my opinion, the best way to eat mushrooms is to keep it simple and let the complex flavours of the mushrooms speak for themselves. You can of course use mushrooms in everything from soups to salads to stews and stuffing. They are very versatile, so if you don't like them one way keep trying and you will find a preparation that will take you fancy. I recently made a mushroom ragu with red wine served on a creamy mash. The mushrooms filled the place of meat in a ragu perfectly, making a rich and hearty dish. This week however I have chosen two very simple mushroom dishes that I love. The first dish is great for a Sunday mid-morning breakfast. I had paid a visit to the West End markets on Saturday and grabbed a variety of fresh mushrooms including Portobello, Swiss Brown, King Oyster and Enoki. I dropped past Black Pearl Epicure on the way home and picked up some dried Porcini and was going to get some Morels, however at $48.50 for a small handful this was a little too much for me today! They key to this for me is to use plenty of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Some people want to add a lot of garlic, but keeping it to a minimum stops it drowning out the mushroom flavours. The dish should really bring out the earthy flavours of the mushrooms and smell amazing.



The second dish I chose was a simple mushroom risotto. I have made this dish many, many times and when made well it never disappoints. The three keys to this dish's success is to make your own stock, and keeping it hot so when added it does not cool the dish down. Secondly, is to only add the mushrooms with the last amount of liquid This way they keep their texture but still impart their flavour. The third tip is to leave some texture in the rice, then add a few knobs of butter and parmesan at the end and cover for a few minutes. This finishes off the risotto beautifully and gives an added rich creaminess. One addition to this risotto from the usual was a light drizzle of truffle oil before serving. This really brought to life the mushroom flavours from all the different varieties. Be careful with this though as truffle oil can be overpowering. Of course a shaving of fresh truffles would be ideal but I had none lying around...

Mushrooms

Of the 120,000 species of mushrooms recorded only 1,841 are edible, with many being deadly. In Australia button mushrooms can be found nearly everywhere, with other varieties such as cup, swiss brown, portobello, enoki and oyster being available at markets and in some supermarkets. Other varieties such as shiitake, porcini and morels can also be found in their dried form as well. Mushrooms have been used for thousands of years across the world and to the Egyptians, according to hieroglyphics, were considered a plant of immortality. The Pharaohs loved mushrooms so much that they decreed them food for royalty not to be touched by the common man. Many civilizations considered mushrooms to have special qualities that could give one super human strength and bring them closer to God. There is a strong chance that they could have been eating something a little stronger than the common button mushroom! France was the leader in cultivation, growing mushrooms in special caves outside of Paris. Cultivation spread to England and later across the Atlantic to the US. Today, a relatively small variety of mushrooms are commercially produced with wild mushrooms still taking up a share of the market. Flavours of mushrooms vary greatly from the mild button to the stronger Asian varieties, such as shiitake. They can be used widely across many cuisines due to the variety of flavours and textures they offer. Perhaps the king of all edible fungi though is the truffle. Whilst not a mushroom, this highly prized fungi is a feature of haute cuisine and fetches a very high price. The highest price ever paid for a truffle was $330,000 - for a 1.5kg truffle.

Apple Parfait and Brownie topped with Granny Smith Granita

I had planned on making a classic apple pie but found that a little uninspiring. This dish has no real relation to the history of the apple, but one thing I do like about it is that it takes the humble apple pie and turns it into a very sexy dessert. The recipe comes from Gordon Ramsey's 3 Star Chef book. This book contains recipes from his three Michelin star restaurant in Chelsea. A lot of these recipes in the book are quite complex and are highly involved. This is no exception and perhaps I should have paid more attention to presentation, however late on a Sunday I just wanted to eat.

The parfait is a combination of apples, blended and reduced, and then mixed with a Pate a Bombe which is made from egg yolks and sugar syrup and folded with cream. To get a smooth texture you need to pass the apple through a fine sieve. I did it once, but I think a few times may be even better. The base of the parfait is a thin slice of rich dark chocolate brownie. The granita is made from Granny Smith apples which are frozen with their skins on before being blended and strained. Apparently freezing them helps keep their intense green flavour. This mixture is combined with a sugar and glucose syrup and then frozen. The granita tastes spectacular and really holds that granny smith tart flavour. The full recipe also includes honeycomb sheets and a champagne foam which I omitted due to not feeling like spending 6 hours in the kitchen making one dessert on a Sunday.

An interesting dessert indeed, combining different textures of the crystallized granita with the smooth parfait and the addition of a rich chocolate brownie was a combination I wouldn't normally put together but really worked. I think the tartness of the apples balanced well with the slight bitterness of the dark chocolate.

Roasted Pork Belly with Caramalized Root Vegetables, Blanched Green Beans served with Apple and Sichuan Pepper Relish and Parsnip Puree

So with a simple ingredient like apple as my starting point, it was hard to know where to begin. I thought back to the history of the apple and how it first appeared in Asia and then moved across the Middle East into continental Europe and to the British Isles. So what dish could I create that brought the flavours of Asia together with the British Isles using apple? One of the biggest links in cuisine between these two regions is pork. It is a meat widely used in Asian cuisine, as well as in classic British dishes like roast pork.

I decided to work on the roast pork theme but with a distinctly Asian twist. Instead of using a traditional cut of pork I went with pork belly, which is common in Chinese cookery and you will see it hung in Chinese restaurants alongside duck in the window. The second twist was the classic accompaniment to a roast pork dinner, apple sauce. I put together a relish blending apple with garlic, onion and spicy sichuan pepper, creating a sweet relish with a savoury spicy edge. I finished the plate with classic roasted vegetables and a smooth parsnip puree to add to the diversity of textures on the plate.

I did research quite a few techniques to cook pork belly and in the end the way I did it was a great success. The crackling was so crisp yet easy to chew and the pork meat underneath fell apart when touched. I left the pork belly uncovered in the fridge for 4 days uncovered to dry out. I then scored the skin at 1cm intervals and rubbed salt into the gaps. I had the oven up as high as it could go and blasted the pork with heat to crisp the skin for 30 mins. I then turned down the oven to 180 and cooked for a further 2 hours.

One of the great successes of this dish played upon my expectations of roast pork and apple sauce. When the spicy sichuan pepper and savoury flavours hit your tongue, you taste the apple as sweet as that is your expectation, even though it is quite savoury. Very enjoyable indeed and another dish planned for tomorrow night as I head into the land of desserts.

Apples

So the ingredient this week is...drum roll please...APPLE. Apples are an ancient fruit, although it is hard to pinpoint their exact origins. It is believed that apples originated in central Asia in the Tien Shan mountains near the border of Kazakhstan and China. In 8000 B.C. nomadic cultures started to use agriculture and settled along rivers and in fertile valleys in the Middle East. As trade started to flourish between these civilizations, so did the apples from the Tien Shan mountains. In 5000 B.C. a Chinese diplomat, yes apparently there were diplomats back then, started grafting apples, among other fruits. Apples spread widely across the Middle East with cultivation becoming more extensive.

It was the Romans however who really expanded the reach of the apple. As they expanded their empire they took on the cultivation skills learned by the Greeks and Persians and spread apple cultivation into continental Europe and the British Aisles. It was the colonists who brought the apple to America in the 1600's, with the first orchard said to have been in Boston in 1625. Perhaps the most famous of American apple icons is Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Appleseed was in fact a real person, John Chapman, who was a skilled cultivator who spread the apple tree across the US. Today, the largest producers of apples are the US and China with there being a total of 7,500 varieties worldwide.

Apples have been part of famous sayings including "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and "apple of my eye". They have also been involved in famous historical events including Issac Newton's run-in with a falling apple and William Tell's target practice. Perhaps the most famous though is Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. However, the bible never mentions apples, only fruit. There is so much more to this humble fruit and I will leave its place in cuisine until the cooking entries.

Chevre and Herb Tart with Shaved Pear and Fennel Salad with Goat's Curd

The two dishes that will wrap up this great week of goats cheese delights are both French influenced. However they come from two Australian-based chefs. The first dish was created by Philip Johnson, whose restaurant E'cco in Brisbane won the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year Award in 1997. E'cco has remained at the top of Brisbane dining elite since that time, winning numerous awards. This simple salad is a perfect balance of flavours and textures and is always a hit. A simple dressing balances the tartness of lemon juice and sharpness of seeded and Dijon mustards, rounded off with olive oil and the sweetness of honey. The salad itself combines crunchy fennel and pear with red onion and Italian parsley. The salad is then finished off with the smooth textured sour note of goats curd and a final drizzle of honey and cracked pepper.



The second dish comes from Sydney chef and restauranteur Damien Pignolet, who brought iconic restaurant Claude's to fame in the eighties and more recently, Bistro Moncur. This classic French dish of chevre and herb tart combines a crumbly short crust pastry base, which is the best recipe I have ever found, with a rich and soft cream and egg filling flavoured with a blend of herbs, baby spinach and the tartness of mature goats cheese. This tart is perfect for a late Sunday lunch and Pignolet suggests a glass of Pouilly Fume or Rose as the perfect match.

Ashed Chevre with Slow Roasted Beets and Red Beet Vinaigrette

My next dish is a variation on a recipe created by renowned chef Thomas Keller. Thomas Keller is responsible for two of the top restaurants in the US, Per Se and The French Laundry. This dish was taken from the French Laundry cook book, with a few minor variations. The original recipe calls for red and yellow beets, but I was only able to source red beets. The recipe also creates the vinaigrette from beet juice, but lacking juice or a juicer I pureed the beets instead. This recipe is very basic and is a simple illustration of how these two ingredients compliment and contrast each other.

The sharpness and creamy texture of the ashed chevre slides in perfectly alongside the subtle and slightly sweet flavour of the beets. The puree also has red wine vinegar and white sugar added to provide that sweet-sour balance, which really pulls the two ingredients together. The leaf you see in the photo is from the beets and is a nice addition with a similar flavour to baby spinach, with a slight hint of bitterness.

I love dishes like this that ooze class alongside simplicity. It reminds me of a dish I had at Taillevant in Paris which paired Forme Ambert ice cream alongside a stewed plum.