Chocolate Mousse and Eggs Bendict

I have had this nice little glass bowl in my cupboard since the beginning of March when Berrin gave me some home-made pate. In Turkey, they have a tradition of returning the container with somethig in it. So I finally got around to making chocolate mousse and now I can pass the little glass bowl back to her.

Before I could make the mousse, I needed to make Eggs Benedict for Kelani. That was what she has wanted for a while now, and I have had work to do (and still do, but work will have to wait, I need some creativity time).


Chocolate Mousse
Fondant Au Chocolat
from Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One, Alfred A. Knopf, 2001

For about 5 cups serving 6 to 8 people

Two 3 quart porcelain or stainless steel mixing bowls

A wire whisk or electric beater
4 egg yolks
¼ cup instant sugar (very finely granulated)  I put the sugar through the coffee grinder
¼ cup orange liqueur

A pan of not-quite-simmering water
A basin of cold water

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and falls back upon itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Beat in the orange liqueur. Then set mixing bowl over not-quite-simmering water and continue beating 3-4 minutes until the mixture is foamy and too hot for your finger. Then beat over cold water for 3 - 4 minutes until the mixture is cool and again forms the ribbon. It will have the consistency of mayonnaise.
6 ounces or squares semi sweet baking chocolate (175 grams)

4 tablespoons strong coffee
A small saucepan
6 ounces or 1 ½ sticks softened unsalted butter (175 grams)
Optional: 1.4 cup finely diced, glazed orange peel

Melt chocolate with coffee over hot water. Remove from heat and beat in the butter a bit at a tie, to make a smooth cream. Beat the chocolate into egg yolks and sugar, then beat in the optional orange peel.
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks are formed’ sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Stir one fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest.


Turn into serving dish, dessert cups. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.


2 cups lightly whipped cream sweetened with powdered sugar
Pass the whipped cream separately.

Lemon Chicken

I rarely have all the ingredients so I have my substitutions and I think it still tastes pretty good. I had the math department over for Chinese food last week and the lemon chicken was the first to disappear.


The recipe comes for the book The Food of China by Jason Lowe, Deh-Ta Hsiung and Nina Simonds. I highly recommend this book if you like Chinese food.


The marinade:
1 lb (500 grams) skinned boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine*
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger*
1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Cut the chicken into slices. Place in a bowl and add the marinade and toss lightly. Marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Note: I rarely have rice wine so I use a little rice vinegar and white wine. I also have found that this thick sweet soy something I have called KECAP MANIS (also says rasa mantaap) is a great substitute for the soy sauce. And I use more than one tablespoon of chopped ginger.

Lemon Sauce:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sesame seed oil
3 tablespoons chicken stock or water
½ teaspoon cornstarch

Combine the above to make the lemon sauce.


1 egg lightly beaten
¾ cup cornstarch
oil for deep frying

Add the egg to the chicken mixture and toss lightly to coat. Drain any excess egg and coat the chicken pieces with the cornstarch.

Fill a wok one quarter full of oil and heat to 375 F or 190C. (I use less oil and turn the chicken as it is frying, if you use a lot then you just keep stirring the chicken while it is frying) Add half the chicken (if you have room) one piece at a time and fry for about 2 minutes on both sides. Remove with wire strainer (or chopsticks) and drain. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

Drain the oil and reheat the wok over medium heat. Add the lemon sauce and stir constantly until thickened. Add the chicken and toss lightly in the sauce.

Ravioli

Kelani has become the official pasta maker. I do not know how you would make this without the little hand cranking machine to make the pasta.

the dough:
1egg
3/4 cup flour

Put the flour in a mound on the table. Put a hole (well) in the middle of the flour and add the egg. Blend the egg into the flour (Kelani uses a knife and then her hands) until you have a ball.

The ball then goes through the press on the number 1 setting. After it goes through fold the dough into thirds and repeat. Sometimes the dough will get holes in it, but that usually disappears on the next time through the machine. You pass the dough through the machine 5 times on the no 1 setting then change the setting to 2 and repeat again 5 times. Do this all the way up to through the no 5 setting. We then put the dough through the numer 6 setting just once.

Using a wine glass, cut circles out of the dough. Put about 1/2 a tablespoon of filling in and fold it over, seal the edges with a fork. We like to fill the circles with the spinach pesto.

To cook the ravioli boil water with some salt and a little olive oil. When it is boiling, add the raviolis, they will cook very quickly (about 3 minutes) and will float to the top when they are finished. If there is meat in your ravioli you may want to cook it longer or fry them.

Enjoy!