Month: January 2010

My friend Don Dunsky sent me this photo with this note:

“Neither Peter Vadala, the appraiser and myself can identify the street. We know it is probably on Portugee hill somewhere.

(It could be a photo from 1951-1952 depending on the age of the dare devil in the front.)”

This gorgeous chocolate dessert is so simple to make and can be made ahead of time—hint hint—maybe the perfect ending to a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner if you are celebrating at home this year?

Let’s face it, it is pudding–a really really rich, delicious, luxurious, creamy, amazing chocolate pudding so don’t be put off by the fancy name.  And the pistachio bark?  It takes longer to shell the pistachios that it does to make the bark!  The recipe is below and here is the link on line to a contest that I have entered it into.

http://www.mixingbowl.com/message/recipe/view.castle?g=1537317&m=9882258

If you are Mixing Bowl member (it is a great recipe site!) you can vote daily until February 23rd.

For the Pots De Crème

6 oz finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
4 oz finely chopped semisweet chocolate
4 oz finely chopped milk chocolate
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 ¼ cup light cream
2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 teaspoon warm water

For the Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the White and Dark Pistachio Bark

4oz bittersweet chocolate, broken in to squares (I use Ghirardelli)
4oz white chocolate, broken in to squares
¾ cup shelled salted pistachios, roughly chopped

Directions:

For the Pots de Crème:

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl and set a fine meshed strainer over the bowl. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, vanilla, sugar and salt until completely combined. Whisk in heavy and light cream. Place saucepan on a medium low heat burner and cook mixture until custard thickens and reaches 175 to 180 degrees, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.

Pour custard over chopped chocolate through the strainer and allow mixture to stand for five minutes undisturbed. Dissolve espresso powder in water and set aside. After 5 minutes, whisk the custard and melted chopped chocolate gently until smooth. Add espresso and water mixture and whisk again to combine. Divide mixture evenly among 6-8 ramekins or dessert dishes and set desserts aside to cool to room temperature.

When cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours. Before serving, allow pots de crème to warm slightly at room temperature. Top with sweetened whipped cream and garnish with white and dark pistachio bark.

For the whipped cream:

In a large bowl beat together cream, sugar and vanilla using a hand mixer or the whisk attachment of a stand mixture until cream has doubled in volume and holds a soft peak.

For the White & Dark Pistachio Bark:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Break chocolate into squares. Arrange the white and dark chocolate squares into a checkerboard pattern on the prepared baking sheet. Place chocolate into preheated oven for 5-7 minutes until chocolate is very soft. With a knife or skewer, swirl the white and dark chocolate together as desired. Sprinkle swirled chocolate with pistachios and allow bark to cool completely at room temperature. When ready to serve pots de crème, break bark into large shards and stand one or two pieces up in the dessert.