A Chocolate Valentino

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's" blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.


It was suppose to be served on Valentines Day. We were going to have a aged beef tenderloin with blue cheese cream on top, a nice bottle of wine that we were saving, and a magnificent dessert. The Daring Bakers challenge was the perfect thing, for just this occasion.
Then Friday I started feeling not so good. I went to bed at four o'clock and slept till eight the next morning. Yes, you read that right. Four in the afternoon till eight the next morning. 16 hours of sleep! It was sweat pants and hot tea all weekend. No tempting tenderloin, no wonderful wine, and no daring dessert. In fact, it was a scrambled egg kind of valentines dinner. O.K. I threw in a little cheese to celebrate the night. Romantic huh? NOT!


So the next weekend I made the planned dinner. Complete with the Daring Bakers challenge which was a flourless chocolate cake and homemade ice cream. Dinner was glorious and the wine was perfect. I made individual little cakes in my rose shaped pan. There were beautiful little black specs in my vanilla bean ice cream. I lovingly plated my masterpiece of a dessert with one little rose cake, tiny little scoops of ice cream, a big ripe strawberry. A sweet swirl of chocolate sauce graced each perfect plate.

I draped a table with a satin red tablecloth. I adjusted my light to get that perfect picture and I loving did my photo shoot. It was a perfect evening, a tantalizing dinner, a wonderful wine, and a sweet ending. All was excellent and I was set to do my Daring Baker challenge post.

BUT!

The next week, as I was playing on Facebook, one of my favorite things to do, my computer froze. I tried rebooting, I did a couple of scans that popped up. I had the Hubby play around with it. The conclusion?

It crashed.

Then my Hubby found me curled up in the fetal position on the bed, sucking my thumb, crying WHY? WHY? I lost it all. My photos, my feeds, my bookmarks, My Daring Baker Challenge photos! It was all gone. The Hubby knew he had better call our computer guru.

So my beloved laptop is now at the computer hospital in what I pray is capable hands. We are hoping he can save a limb or a byte or a picture. I was hoping to know by the DB reveal day, but I haven't heard anything yet. I have been sitting on pins and needles for days now. It seems like weeks. I miss my laptop. I miss my friends on Facebook. I've barely Tweeted since the crash. Everything is not alright in my world. When did I become so addicted?


So my friends, I have nothing for you but a recipe to the fabulous dessert. No rosy cakes, no screaming ice cream, no little swirl of chocolate sauce. I did think about redoing the challenge, but, do you know how many calories I would have to consume again? I was going to take a hit for the team but my pants are just starting to fit better and that trumped the redo. But there are a thousand flourless chocolate cakes and ice cream to be had out there this week in the blogosphere. Go check out all the other Daring Bakers and get ready to drool. I had a preview of the showing and it was all delicious.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Chocolate Valentino

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C

9. Bake for 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.

Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time: 5 minutes

2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla(I used a vanilla bean, scraped, and the extract)

Mix all ingredients together
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.

Almond Nougat Semifreddo with Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

Torrino Classico

I'm headed to Bodega Bay again.

This time it's Family Party Time. It's the MIL's birthday and the whole family is getting together for a weekend of fun and food.

It kicks off with a casual dinner Friday night.

Saturday is filled with golf for the guys,

A nature walk for the kids,

and a big BBQ on the beach including a bohemian hunt.

The big celebration is Saturday night when we have the wine pairing dinner.

A different member of the family is responsible for a different course

and a wine to pair with it.

Here's a sample of the menu!

Appetizer

Bolinhos de Bacalhau with Molho Maionese

Mumm Napa NV Blanc de Noirs Champagne

Napa Valley

First Course

Grilled Prosciutto Wrapped Peaches with Baby Greens,

Macadamia Nuts, Goat Cheese and Wild Flower Honey Vinaigrette

Murphy Goode 2006 Fume Blanc

Sonoma County

Second Course

Cedar-Planked Salmon with Fresh Pineapple-Mango Salsa on Spiced Couscous

Belvedere 2005 Chardonnay

Healdsburg Ranches

Sonoma County

Third Course

Wild Boar Tortellini in Lemon-butter Sauce

Blackstone 2004 Pinot Noir

Sonoma Coast

Sonoma County

Finely chopped nougat lines the bottom of a loaf pan

That's a little peek at half the menu. There are six courses plus an Intermezzo.

Stay tuned and I'll bring you pictures of the dinner. So what is my contribution to the dinner?

I have the dessert!
And I'm using my Torrone classico to make an Almond Nougat Semifreddo.

Chopped Bittersweet Chocolate layer

The egg yolk mixture

The semifreddo consists of three components. The first is egg yolks and sugar mixed and tempered with warm milk. Then the custard is warmed to 165 degrees and then plunged into a an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Then more nougat and amaretto is mixed in.

Cooled custard poured on beaten egg whites

The second component is the egg whites. Beat till stiff peaks form. Then pour the custard over the top of the beaten egg whites and fold till combined.

Whipped Cream

Whip the cream till stiff peaks form. Theres alot of whipping going on here and many bowls have been used. Have you noticed all the bowls that I used? There is a different bowl in each picture but the results are worth the few dishes to wash!!!

The final product upside down

Pour mixture into a plastic wrap lined loaf pan.

After freezing for 6 hours or till firm, you just flip it over and slice.

Serve with chocolate sauce

Here is a feeble attempt at a slice of my semifreddo. Lets just call this bad photo Friday.I'll show you a better picture from the dinner party.
We're going partying! Stay Tuned.

.

Simple Low-Fat Strawberry Dessert.

The dog days of summer are here but there is no lounging poolside, drinking colorful cocktail with little umbrellas and a wedge of lime. The sunscreen SPF40 has been sitting idle on the side table just waiting to soak into some thirsty skin.
This is not the way it was suppose to be. What happen to my poolside cocktails? Instead we have air that is so smokey it looks like fog settling in the trees. The air is heavy and hot and you just don't want to breath it in. Outside activities have been cancelled including the 4th of July celebration and the firework show.
It's time for me to get out of Dodge, Vacation time! And I cant wait to breath some fresh foggy air and see some beautiful blue sky's. It's the Oregon and Washington coast for this family and a quick day trip to Victoria, Canada. Whoo-hoo!!!

This is home for the next two weeks. We're packing it up and pulling out on the 4th. I'm going to try to post while I'm on vacation. Show you some fabulous coastal pictures and yummy food. I know I'll have some Internet connections so I'll do a little blogging on the road.. Stick with me, This should be an adventure!

So on to this dessert. I made it twice. Once as the recipe was written and once low- fat! I thought the reduced calorie one was every bit as tasty as the full fat. The first time I made this dessert I thought I would be clever and put nice big slices of strawberries into the mixture, That doesn't work in less you have teeth of steel and like big frozen rocks in your dessert. I didn't! Second time I chopped them in the food processor. Much better!

First time I mixed a can of sweetened condensed milk and some lemon juice.
Second time I used fat free sweetened condensed milk and forgot the lemon juice. Oops! I didn't even realize I forgot it till I was just sitting here telling you about it.

Then it's time to mix in 2 cups of cool whip. Regular or light, It's your choice.

Then pour it in a lined loaf pan.

Sprinkle your butter coated cookie crumbs on top. I used reduced fat cookies but I used more then the recipe called for.

Freeze for the suggested 5 hours or overnight. I speak from experience when I say that, otherwise you get fluff soup. Enough said?

Now your ready to frost it.

Frost with more cool whip and decorate pretty.

Slice and drizzle with a little chocolate syrup. Enjoy!

Strawberry Whipped Sensation
Recipe from Cool Whip
Recipe Rating:
Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 6 hr 20 min
Makes: 12 servings

2 cups fresh strawberries, Chopped
1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk ( I used fat free)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I forgot it once, but use it if you have it)
1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
8 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely chopped (or more)
1 Tbsp. butter, melted

LINE 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 cups of the strawberries in large bowl. Add condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the whipped topping; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
MIX chopped cookies and butter. Spoon over whipped topping mixture. Cover with ends of foil and gently press cookie mixture into whipped topping mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.
INVERT dessert onto serving plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Spread remaining whipped topping onto top and sides of dessert. Decorate with more fresh strawberries or cookie crumbs, or even some fresh mint. Store leftovers in freezer.





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Merlot Sorbet for Dessert??! Oh yeah!

A refreshing change for these hot summer days!
Get out the ice cream makers, the rock salt, and a bottle of Merlot. Churn yourself up a batch of sorbet. I doubled this recipe. You will want to also. There's even a glass of wine left over for the cook! Stay cool these summer days with Merlot sorbet. Next time maybe I'll try a nice bottle of zinfandel.




Merlot Sorbet Recipe - from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins
3 cups water 1-1/2 cups sugar 1-1/4 cups Merlot or Beaujolais wine
1. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat to a simmer. Cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the wine, and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
Then refrigerate it, loosely covered, until chilled, a minimum of 2 hours.
2. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. (For a granite, free the mixture in your freezer. Place it in a shallow pan and freeze for 4 to 5 hours, checking the consistency and whisking, once every hour, until smooth.
When it is slush-like, transfer it to a serving bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes; then serve.) Makes 5 cups