“Do something you love and people will love you for it.”
Maneet Chauhan
’twas a great way to begin Monday morning. I almost fell off my twitter perch to see that Alice Medrich had followed me. She was one of my first baking inspirations. The author of an array of sinfully delicious cookbooks like Pure Dessert, Seriously Bitter Sweet, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy and of course Bittersweet {among many others}, never fails to amaze. Chocolate dessert chef, teacher, James Beard and IACP Cookbook of the Year Award winning author … one of my favourite dessert chefs!
My first window into her world was way back in 2008 when I was inspired to make her Olive Oil Orange Cake. The inspiration continues … Dark Chocolate, Craisin & Walnut scones, Nibby Buckwheat Butter Cookies, and one of our all time favourites, the Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Fallen Cake.
Talking of chefs, more specifically favourite chefs, I have a few more quite a few more on my list. These I have been fortunate enough to meet, they are large hearted, affable, poster boy chefs who are some of the nicest human beings I have met. Saby or Chef Sabyasachi Gorai was among the first I met in Delhi. He’s the sweetest ever. A chef who is a painter? Yes indeed! A chef with the midas touch as I always tell him. Down to earth, hugely talented, young, bursting with energy and ideas. As I write this, Saby is in Goa launching his first restaurant there today, Destination One!
Next on my list is one of my favourite chefs, Michelin star Chef Vikas Khanna. Down to earth, a crowd pleaser, uber talented, works 28 hours a day, feet firmly on the ground, bursting with stories not necessarily food related, passionate about India, passionate about America … words escape me.
We worked together on the Saffola Food Food TV series {episode 1 & episode 2}. All of us were blown away by his friendly nature, unfussy attitude and his side splitting humour. From Amritsar to America, he is possibly India’s best and most loved export to the west. .
More favourites … Aussie Masterchefs George and Gary who we had a chance to meet over breakfast when they were here, the heart of gold Chef Kunal Kapoor, the absolutely animated and entertaining Chef Vicky Ratnani, the sweet Chef Maurizio Raselli at the Hyatt…
…quiet and unassuming Chef Anahita at Soda Bottle Openerwala {restaurant pictured above}, the ever charming David Rocco…… I could go on forever but instead will leave you with a question and a holiday giveaway.
Who is the one chef that has left their impression on you? Who is your favourite chef?
Since we’re just ringing in the holiday season here.Zoutons have been sweet enough to sponsor a giveaway for one of my readers.
The giveaway is a gift voucher worth INR4000 from Flipkart.
To be included in the giveaway, there are 2 simple rules:
1. Name your favourite chef
2. At the end of your comment, you must mention “For the contest on “My Favourite Chef” sponsored by Zoutons.com“
Please ensure you leave a valid email address.
The contest is open worldwide.
The contest closes on the 15th of October. We will randomly pick a winner thereafter.
The contest winner is VJ Sharma . Congratulations. Please send me your email address so I can send you the coupon details.
“Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world’s perfect food.”
Michael Levine
Dark Chocolate & Kumquat Creme Pots … these were decadent. Delicious, bowl scraping good and soul satisfying. The season and the colours of the humble little kumquat, a sour citrus fruit that was until a few years ago just an ornamental plant, all inspire creativity. This dessert was the result of one such inspired moment!
We always referred to kumquats as Chinese oranges or tangerines. Food blogging threw up new names. So many references to a similar fruit by the name of kumquat, and then the Google Gods demystified it. These are round kumquats, the Asian cousins of the elliptical round ones that colour the web every now and then.The boughs are hanging heavy with fruit, ready for picking, and more buds and green kumquats are already showing up. My mothers shrub too is full with fruit too. This seems to be a good year for this tart citrus fruit.
I’ve done lots with these beauties this season … Kumquat & Strawberry Tiramisu Charlotte, Kumquat Marmalade, and No Bake Cheesecake Pots. My mind works overtime thinking of how much more we can do with kumquats.
I had serious dark chocolate and orange cravings one day. Two years ago I had made Dark chocolate & sour orange tartlets. My blog was hacked shortly after that and some posts disappeared. I didn’t have the time to check then. Recently when I looked for the tartlets high and low, I drew a blank on PAB.
The pictures are still firmly etched in my head. Googling led me to FoodGawker and I was relieved to see I had indeed made the tartlets, only that the recipe post has been lost forever. I have attempted to recreate it. I remember cooking the whole fruit then.If I wasn’t inspired enough by the fruit of the season, I was even more fortunate that day. Look at these beautiful little ceramic cups and single serve creamers that I got from Urban Dazzle. Adorable!! Love at first sight, it brought out the inner child in me. Took me back to when we were little girls, playing with miniature tea sets. How could I not be inspired?
There’s something about white ceramic bakeware. It holds so much promise. These little round ramekins are one of the best additions to my bursting bakeware collection. There is so much you can do in them … cream caramels, panna cotta, ice cream in summer, chocolate custard pots, lime possets. Do you have any more ideas dear readers? What would you make in these little beauties?
One look at them as I unpacked them, smooth ceramic, neat, clean edges, aesthetically designed and my imagination took wing. There was no time to bake so I took the fast track to dessert. A winning combination of sour orange and dark chocolate, topped with a light white chocolate cream sauce. We were back in business!Dark chocolate from Thorntonsmarried a bittersweet sour orange puree to make thick custard like pastry cream. A light cream chocolate sauce made with melt in the mouth white chocolate made it sublime. Candied kumquats tied the flavours together with some white chocolate garnishing. All we heard after dinner was ‘scrape, scrape, scrape’.
You cannot go wrong with good quality chocolate. The pots were bowl licking good as might be the case with the kids. They too fell in love with the little ‘baby’ creamers, so charming and so unreal in this world which is in so much of a hurry sometimes. It was wonderful to sit back and enjoy the petite servings.
In the days to come I will try and find more ways to use the bounty of nature, i.e. kumquats in full strength. Bitter Kumquat Marmaladehas been made; distributed too! I bottled some Kumquat Liqueur a few days ago in a decanter my Mum gave me. The colours are so pretty!
A few thoughts before I take you to the recipe. Do use good quality chocolate as that is what makes simple desserts like these absolutely shine! Also, if you prefer a smoother texture, you can always skip the almond meal. I just like to add ‘nuts’ in any form to my food.
This post is brought to you in conjunction with Thorntons.
[print_this]Recipe: Dark Chocolate & Kumquat Creme Pots
Summary: Delicious, bowl scraping good and soul satisfying, these no bake Dark Chocolate & Kumquat Creme Pots are inspired by fruit in season. The very tart and colourful kumquats lend deep ‘orangey’ flavour to the dark chocolate, and colour to the presentation.
Kumquat Puree {Your require a few tbsps. Store the ramainder in a jar in the fridge}
250g kumquats, halved, seeds removed
250g sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
Creme Pots
100g kumquat puree {recipe follows}
250g dark chocolate
25g raw sugar {or regular}
20g cornflour
200ml low fat cream
3 egg yolks
100ml milk 2%
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
25g almond meal
White chocolate cream
100ml low fat cream
25g white chocolate, grated
25g white chocolate for garnishing if desired
Candied Kumquats
100g kumquats, sliced, seeds removed
200g sugar
200ml water
Method:
Candied Kumquats
Place sugar, water and sliced kumqauts in a saucepan. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the kumquats become translucent Handle gently and strain the kumquats and reserve in a bowl.
Return the syrup to the pan and reduce to about 2/3rd amount. Return the sliced candied kumquats to the syrup, cool and refrigerate until required.
Kumquat puree
Thermomix:
Place all ingredients in bowl of TM, cook on 100, reverse speed 2 for 8 minutes. Blend until smooth.
Stove Top:
Place kumquats, sugar and vanilla bean in a saucepan. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the kumquat peel is soft. Remove bean {or leave in as I did}. Puree until smooth.
Place 100g kumquat puree with the dark chooclate and melt over a bain marie, or in the microwave.
White chocolate cream
Gently heat the cream, and pour over the white chocolate. Mix until smooth. Cool.
For the pastry cream:
Thermomix:
Place 100g kumquat puree with the dark chocolate in TM bowl and run at speed 4, 10 seconds.
Place remaining ingredients except almond meal. Cook at 90C, speed 4, 7 minutes. Add the almond meal and run at speed 6 for 30 seconds.
Stove Top:
Mix together the sugar, cornflour, cream and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Add the milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 10-12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. {If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer}
Fold in the dark chocolate-kumquat puree, and then uniformly stir in the almond meal.
Transfer the cream to serving bowls immediately, tap gently to level out, and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 2-3 hours before serving.
Assemble
Top each bowl with 1-2 tbsp of white chocolate cream, some candied kumquats and white chocolate scrolls. Serve immediately or chill until required.
