Darkest Chocolate Mousse

Components:
150g first-rate dark chocolate (85% cocoa fat), broken into pieces
15g unsalted cultured butter
1 free-range egg
30ml amaretto, brandy, cognac, rum etc or other liqueur
or espresso coffee (freshly brewed)
2 free-range egg whites
50g authentic vanilla sugar (or caster sugar)
250ml cream (35% fat)


Process:
Over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl you intend to serve the mousse. Do not allow the bowl to touch the hot water- chocolate is a very sensitive product and will burn if it becomes too warm.
Remove the bowl from the heat and blend in the egg and chosen liqueur or coffee.
In a separate bowl, pound the egg whites with a whisk until they form soft peaks.
Continue to whisk the egg whites, adding the vanilla sugar 1 tsp at a time, until all the sugar has been incorporated. The egg whites should be thick and glossy (i.e. meringue).
Fold a few spoonfuls of the meringue into the chocolate to soften the mixture, and then fold in the rest of the meringue using a large metal spoon.
Whip the cream in a separate bowl.
Fold the whipped cream very, very tenderly into the chocolate meringue. Do not overwork the mixture- the cream will turn to butter, if combined too aggressively.
Make even the surface of the mousse using a spoon or spatula, and wipe the edges of the bowl with a tissue.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Decorate the chocolate mousse as you wish. I like to adorn mine with excellent cocoa powder and rosettes of whipped cream. Serves four people.

Taglierini al Pomodoro (Food of the Angels)

It would only be natural to follow up yesterdays post with a recipe for fresh ”taglierini”. There is so much drama written about making fresh pasta, but the simple truth is that it is easy and a child could do it. In fact I helped my grandmother do it every Sunday of my childhood. Perhaps that is why it is not daunting to me. But lets face it, you mix flour and eggs, knead for a few minutes and pass the dough through a machine that does all the hard work for you. Its not rocket science. A little time consuming, but worth the effort. My partner and I enjoy making fresh pasta together, and without trying to sound too corny, it is a bonding experience and gives us both a sense of satisfaction that only gorgeous food can provide.
There are many formulas for fresh pasta. Ideally you should use fine Italian “00” flour, which is milled especially for home made pasta. It is available from supermarkets and specialists food stores. (Tip- buy it from the supermarket, they charge half the price for exactly the same brand). Some recipes use whole eggs, while others egg yolk only. I have also seen recipes that use only egg whites. I have never tried the egg white only method, but I think I may as I currently have about 10,000 egg whites in the deep freeze!
My preferred formula is with egg yolks. I find it has a better flavour and texture, and looks a prettier shade of yellow (like blonde angels hair!).

Ingredients
200g fine Italian flour (Tipo “00”)
6 egg yolks (the absolute freshest and best eggs you can afford)

Method
Put the flour and egg yolks in a bowl. Mix until it comes together, to form a dough. If it seems a bit dry, add a bit of water. Or you can add more egg yolk. For this amount of flour, I have read you can add up to a total of 10 egg yolks. Obviously the more egg yolk you add the richer your pasta will be. And if it seems too sticky, add a bit more flour. Let your eyes and hands be the judge.
Knead the dough on a flat surface, until it is smooth, like a babies bottom (about 10 minutes) Wrap in cling film and allow to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Cut it in half and keep the portion you are not using immediately wrapped in cling film to prevent it from drying out.
Clamp your pasta machine down to the bench and get someone to help you- one person can crank the handle and the other can feed the dough through the rollers.
Feed the dough through the thickest setting of the machine 10 times. Fold it into threes, each time, so it is easier to put through the machine. Add a bit of flour from time to time to prevent the dough from sticking.
Now you can reduce the machine settings and begin to thin out the dough. Don’t fold in threes this time though. You may need to cut the sheet in half as it gets longer and thinner, so it is easier to handle. I roll mine to the second last setting. Lay the pasta sheets on a well floured surface, and repeat the above rolling procedure with the remaining dough.
The pasta is ready to cut into “taglierini” once the edges have begun to dry a little. Trim the edges and ends of the dough with a sharp knife, so your pasta is nice and neat. Now feed it through the taglierini cutters (finer) or tagliatelle cutters (thicker). Roll the strands into little nests and leave them on a floured tea towel, until you are ready to cook.

Taglierini will only take 1 minute to cook in boiling water. Drain them and toss gently with butter and extra virgin olive. Serve this delicate pasta in a large serving dish dotted with tomato sugo and homemde ricotta . Sprinkle over basil leaves, parmagiano and black pepper. I like to keep all the elements whole and separate, rather than combined, so you can taste all the flavours individually and not mask the delicate nature of the fresh pasta. This is definitely food of the angels. This amount of pasta is enough for 2 people. The recipe can be easily multiplied.

Sunday Breakfast

This is my version of Ham and Eggs for breakfast. Duck eggs have richer tasting yolks and softer set whites. They are available from organic food stores. Teamed with prosciutto, organic cream, good butter and real bread, this makes for a very glamorous Sunday breakfast.

Prosciutto with baked Duck Eggs

Ingredients per person
1 duck egg
Butter
1 Tbsp organic cream (If you are going to buy duck eggs and prosciutto, you may as well splurge and get the cream as well)
Salt
Fresh white pepper
50 g thinly sliced prosciutto
Buttered toast, to serve with

Method
Set the oven to 180c. The temperature is important here. I use an oven thermometer. Too high and the eggs will turn into rubber.
Lightly butter a ramekin dish and break one egg into it.
Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Pour over a scant tablespoon of cream.
Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. Start checking after 8 minutes. Over cooked eggs would be a disaster (trust me I have done it before) They are ready when the whites have just set.
Serve on a plate with the prosciutto and toast.

Tortilla Espanola

Tortilla Espanola translates as Spanish omelette. It is not to be confused with Mexican tortilla, they are totally different. The Spanish variety consists of sautéed onion and fried potato and is bound together with egg and shallow fried on both sides. Olive oil is essential to its flavour. My mother made this often, when I was young. I love this, it is so simple and so delicious. This is great warm or cold and served for any meal- breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is also good after a night of drinking (like pizza). There are few ingredients here, and as always the success lies in the ingredients. As egg is central to this dish, I use organic and free range. They are expensive, but they are worth it. If the fabulous food writer Nigella Lawson, who lives in England, buys her eggs from Bologna in Italy, I can buy mine free range and organic from the local farm! The best potato to use here are the yellow waxy Nicola potatoes. I have also used red skinned potatoes from the supermarket with success. The following recipe is exactly how my mother taught me to make “tortilla” and so I dedicate this recipe to her.

Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
Vegetable oil
600g Nicola potatoes, peeled weight
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6 eggs, free range and organic
Salt
Fresh black pepper

Method
Cut the potatoes into 1 cm cubes.
In a pan large enough to fry the potatoes in a single layer, heat enough olive oil to deep fry the potatoes. This recipe requires quite a bit of oil. Do not despair, most of the oil is drained away. If that still bothers you, just do as I do and run 20 kms everyday (just kidding). Anyway, heat the oil over a medium heat, and when it is hot, fry the potato cubes. The idea here is to do this gently. Don’t use a fierce heat. It will take about 10 minutes. The potatoes will be crisp and tender, but still pale. Do not allow them to colour. Drain them, and add them to a bowl.
While the potato is frying, you can sauté the onion and garlic in another pan in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Again do this gently, so the onion becomes sweet- about 20 minutes. Do not allow the onion and garlic to colour either.
Mix the eggs together with salt and pepper.
Add the potato and onion and combine.
You need to choose an appropiate size pan to cook your “tortilla” I use my omelette pan, which I only ever use for omelettes. It is 20cm across and about 3 cm high. This size is perfect for this amount of eggs and potato.
Heat enough olive oil to cover the base of the pan. Do not be stingy-I use about 4 tablespoons. You need to be generous, otherwise your tortilla will stick to the pan and that is a disaster.
Heat the oil on a high flame. It has to be hot before you pour in the mixture.
Cook it like this for 1 minute and then adjust the flame to low, and cook it for about 10 minutes. Check that it is not browning too much. It should be golden brown.
Now, this is the tricky part. Take a large plate and place it upside down over the pan. Holding onto the handle with one hand, and the other hand on the plate, quickly flip it over so the half cooked tortilla lands reverse side on the plate. Now slide it back into the pan. Cook it for another 5 –10 minutes until cooked through. If you are not confident with the flipping, you can finish it off under the grill, but then it is no longer a Spanish “tortilla” and it becomes an Italian “frittata”.
Slide it out of the pan and on to a plate. Allow it to cool for about 10 minutes and eat, cut into wedges.

Serves 2 for dinner.

Serving suggestion- This is not traditionally Spanish, but I like to serve it with my Grilled marinated Chillies, minus the lime and my Lemon and Mint Yoghurt (recipes for these elsewhere in this blog).