Chocolate Ganache

For many of our clientele, if it's not chocolate, it's not dessert. Perhaps its the same for you. If that's the case, here is a recipe that can come to your rescue in mere moments. One recipe can provide for at least 5 immediately gratified cravings of any self respecting chocoholic. A deep chocolate glaze, a rich tart filling, a creamy cake or cookie filling, a fluffy frosting or a soul soothing truffle, all created form the alchemy of Chocolate & Cream. Chocolate Ganache

Ganache is a French term referring to a smooth mixture of chocolate and cream. No one knows when ganache was invented exactly, but it seems to have been created around 1850. Some say it originated in Switzerland where it was used as a base for truffles. Others say it was invented in Paris at the Patisserie Siravdin. No matter, the important fact is that it WAS invented, and has been celebrated ever since.

Bittersweet, Semi-Sweet, Milk or White chocolate can be used though both milk and white chocolates tend to be less stable mixtures and require a certain amount of finesse. The ganache mixture can also be flavored with herbs, spices, alcohol or extracts. It's very common to stir in a Tablespoon of Cognac, Rum or Liqueur. Also a teaspoon of vanilla or smaller amount of extract wouldn't be amiss. If you want to be a little more adventurous, you can gently steep the heavy cream with cinnamon sticks, star anise, lemon peel or even dried chile, letting the cream warm until the flavor has infused it. Just remember to strain the cream as you add it to the chocolate.


Chef Daniel's Ganache

2 pounds bittersweet chocolate (72%) - room temperature
2 cups heavy cream
Optional flavorings as desired. See above.

Rough chop the chocolate and put into a bowl. Warm the heavy cream in a saucepan until steam begins to rise from the cream's surface. Pour the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Gently stir the mixture until completely smooth. Add flavorings as desired.

Glazing:
Allow the mixture to cool very slightly. Brush your cake free of any crumbs and set on a cake rack over a sheet pan. Slowly pour a thin stream of the ganache over the cake starting in the middle. As you pour the ganache, move in a spiral form, making sure the cake is completely covered. Allow the excess glaze to run off the sides of the cake and onto the sheet pan. Let cool completely. If you need to refrigerate, the shine on the glaze will dull slightly.

Tart Filling:
Lay pre-purchased mini tart shells on a sheet pan. Pour the warm ganache into the shell and allow to cool until set. Delicious as is, but no one would yell if you added a dot of whipped cream...

Cookie/Cake Filling:
Pour ganache into a bowl while still warm. Whisk the mixture until it stiffens to a spreadable consistency. Spread on the bottoms of cookies, meringues, shortbread, etc and add another cookie to form chocolate sandwich cookies. It can also be used as a cake filling at this stage.

Frosting:
Pour the ganache into a mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer until it lightens in color as air is mixed in. At this point it can be applied with a spatula or piped through a pastry bag.

Truffles:
Pour ganache into a shallow cake pan and set into a refrigerator to chill. When very firm, scoop out small knobs of ganache mix using a melon baller. With meticulously clean hands, roll the ganache mix into rough shaped balls. No need for perfection, they are called truffles because the resemble the knobby delicacy of France's famous black truffle which grows beneath oak trees. Once rolled they can be tossed in bowls of cocoa powder, confectioners sugar, chopped toasted nuts, toasted coconut, or any other dry coating your mind can wrap around. Store chilled, but allow to warm a bit before serving.

10 Best Things To Do With Capers

Sometimes our clients will ask us what to "do" with an ingredient. Often it's an herb or a spice, but several times we've all been asked about capers. What are they? And how do you use them? Well, we're here to tell you.

The caper bush (Capparis spinosa L.) is a perennial winter-deciduous species that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and big white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled immature bud of this plant.


Fresh caper buds are not especially flavorful, but their sharpness increases dramatically after sun-drying and brining in vinegar or packing in salt. The flavor of these processed capers are typically described as pungent and slightly astringent. We're not sure WHAT that means. Suffice it to say... a caper tastes like a caper... A little peppery, a touch of pickle and an earthy vegetal flavor.

The brined variety are the most common type sold in the US. They require a quick rinse and after that are ready to use. If you happen to come across a salted variety (almost always the larger variety of caper and from Italy) they require soaking and rinsing to get rid of the excess salt.

Capers are categorized and sold by their size, defined as follows, with the smallest sizes being the most desirable: Non-pareil (up to 7 mm), surfines (7–8 mm), capucines (8–9 mm), capotes (9–11 mm), fines (11–13 mm), and grusas (14+ mm). Typically you only see the non-pareil or capotes in stores.

If the immature blossoms are not selected to become pickled capers, after blooming they will sometimes turn into caper berries. Caper berries are not used in the same way as capers in recipes. They are more likely to be eaten as a snack or added to savory salads. After hours here at DM Cuisine they have been known to find their way into a Bloody Mary or Vodka Martini.

The Caper Bush is native to the Mediterranean region, so it's not surprising that its most often found in the cuisine of Spain, Italy, Greece and the Levant. Here are some of our favorite uses for capers. Recipes not included this time, but if you're reading this blog you've got Google...

10. Tartar Sauce or Remoulade - This classic mayonnaise based sauce for fried fish and seafood, often contains capers. Typically chopped dill pickles, onion and lemon juice join in the mix.

9. Tonnato Sauce - One of our favorite things, but not widely known outside of Italy. This is a thinly sliced veal roast, served cold, with a smooth sauce of pureed cooked tuna, mayonnaise, capers, lemon and anchovies. Don't knock it until you've tried it

8. Hallaca and Empanada Filling - Here's another dish you may not know, but Empanadas are probably familiar. An Hallaca can be thought of as a large Venezuelan style tamal, wrapped in banana leaves. Inside the corn "masa" is a stew of beef, pork and chicken, seasoned with capers, olives and raisins. Similarly the fillings for empanadas all over South and Central America typically include capers as part of their seasoning. We assume it's a reflection of the Spanish influence.

7. Pasta Salad - A generous spoonful of capers can add a bright note to any pasta salad, especially one featuring fresh or sun dried tomatoes. Capers also seem to have a naturally affinity for many herbs, especially basil, parsley and chives.

6. Smoked Salmon Bagels with Caper Cream Cheese - We always sprinkle a few capers over smoked salmon, and processing them right into the cream cheese for a bagel makes nothing but good sense.

5. Tapenade - Capers add the final fillip here to a French culinary classic. Black Olives, Anchovies, Garlic, Mustard and Olive Oil.

4. Roasted Cauliflower with Roasted Red Peppers and Capers - This has been a DM Cuisine stand by for many years. It's exactly what it says, garnished with some rough chopped flat parsley leaves.

3. Salmon Salad - Should you ever be blessed with some left over grilled or roasted salmon, mix up a fresh salmon salad and remember to add lots of fresh lemon juice, dill and capers.

2. Lemon Caper Sauce - Sometimes this bright light sauce is just what we want over a chicken paillard or simply sauteed piece of fish, say Branzino or Red Snapper. A little stock, splash of white wine, squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of capers, reduced in a saute pan over high heat. Salt, Pepper and a knob of butter swirled in off the heat.

1. Salsa Verde - This we are ready to spoon over anything.... Fish, Chicken, Steak, Grilled Vegetables, Ravioli, Shrimp, and on and on. Throw handfuls of parsley, some lemon zest, toasted pine nuts, garlic, capers, lemon juice and some olive oil in the food processor and whir it into a smooth paste. Drizzle in a tablespoon of water while processing and you'll have the cleanest, greenest, most flavorful deliciousness that's ALMOST too good to share.

Tomatillos

We just love the look of Tomatillos. Bright leaf green with papery husks like lamp shade covers. And the citrus vegetable flavor also makes it one of our favorites.
The only real use for these gems that we've discovered is in salsas, both raw and cooked, but that's enough because with one recipe we can give you three variations with dozens of applications.

Tomatillo Salsa

1 pound tomatillos - husked and washed
1 medium onion - peeled and quartered
1 medium jalapeno
2 large cloves fresh garlic
1/2 cup cilantro leaves - chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste

Option # 1
1/2 ripe avocado - peeled and pitted

Option # 2
1/2 cup cream

Directions
Place tomatillos, onion, garlic and whole jalapeno in a medium saucepan. Fill with water to generously cover the ingredients. Place over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. When boiling, lower heat, remove cover and continue to cook until tomatillos change hue and lose their bright green color. With a slotted spoon remove all items from the pan and discard water. Remove jalapeno and set aside, then put all the vegetables in a blender. Remove stem from jalapeno and cut it in half. Add one half to the blender. Pulse ingredients in the blender until mostly combined. Taste and add salt and pepper. If more jalapeno is desired, chop the remaining half jalapeno and add the desired amount. Continue to pulse the salsa in the blender until finely chopped but not pureed.
Add chopped cilantro right before serving.

This salsa can be chilled and served with fresh white and blue corn tortilla chips, or just used as a fresh salsa with tacos, burritos, tamales, etc.
It can also be served room temperature or warm with grilled vegetables, meats, fish or poultry. Also delicious over scrambled eggs.

Option #1
Add the half avocado halfway through the blending process. Add cilantro as above This adds a delicious richness to the dish. Delicious cold used as any other salsa, or for chips.

Option #2
When salsa is finished, before adding cilantro, pour salsa into a large skillet. Warm and stir in heavy cream. Simmer until sauce reduces slightly. Adjust seasoning. Add cilantro before serving. It's a little more refined version. Serve this warm over chicken breasts, fish fillets, or roast pork loin.

We hope you'll give Tomatillo Salsa a try. It's crazy good and about as easy as it comes.

"Finishing" Oils

Almost every chef has, stashed away, a bottle of their favorite Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to be drizzled sparingly, sprinkled judiciously and occasionally luxuriously spooned over the perfectly grilled bass, fragrant heirloom tomato salad, or maybe crackling crisp pizza, hot from the oven. Some chefs might have some cold pressed walnut oil. Even luckier ones might have some bright green pistachio oil. We at DM Cuisine have all those plus a few House Made Infused Oils, but we can get greedy that way. All of these prized oils are known in the kitchen as finishing oils, meaning they are not used for cooking, not usually heated, and rather used to provide a drizzle of additional unctuousness that "finishes" a dish.

Mediterranean cooks have known about the luxury of fine Extra Virgin Olive Oil (sometimes referred to as EVOO) for years. Each country and region produces oils with distinct flavor profiles ranging from robust, fruity & peppery to full bodied and grassy. Flavor and quality is primarily attributed to variety and freshness of the olives processed. Italy has even established a D.O.C. (Denominazione d'origine protetta) appellation for olive oils in the same manner as they have for wine.

Finishing oils might also be a fresh or toasted nut oil. French cooks love both walnut and hazelnut oils. We often use one or the other when tossing salads, especially in the fall and winter. It's especially delicious to add a handful of the same toasted nuts to double the effect of the oil. A little bit rarer and dearer in price, is pistachio oil. A beautiful liquid jade that has an exotic sexiness that is as surprising as it is enticing. It's delicious over a salad of tender greens, grilled fennel and orange. Just add a squeeze of lemon, coarse sea salt and cracked pepper.

Since the explosion of world cuisines in the 1980's and the growth of California Cuisine, many contemporary kitchens also employ infused oils as part of their Batterie de Cuisine. The process is generally the same for any sturdy herb such as thyme, rosemary, lemongrass. Warm a mildly flavored oil such as pure olive oil, canola or grape seed oil and then add lightly bruised herbs, garlic, spices, citrus peels... whatever flavor agents you wish to infuse into the oil. Maintain at a low temperature (below 150*) for 5- 10 minutes, cool, strain and refrigerate. For tender herbs such as chive, parsley, basil, etc, it's best to blanch and shock the herb leaves in boiling water and then ice water. Gently dry the leaves and then puree in a blender with your oil. This will yield a vivid green oil. You may strain or not, depending on your style.

Here at DM Cuisine, one of out old favorites is a Thyme Garlic Oil.

Thyme Garlic Oil
4 cups Pure Olive Oil (NOT Extra Virgin)
4 ounces fresh thyme sprigs (cleaned, dried and bruised*)
3 large cloves of garlic (cracked)
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Warm oil in a large saucepan. Keep temperature below 150 degrees. Add remaining ingredients and keep on heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Transfer to a container and store, covered in the refrigerator for 5 days. Strain and return to refrigerator. Will keep for several months.


* - to bruise the herbs, run over them with the back of a heavy knife. Just enough to begin to release their oils

Farmer's Market Bounty

Sorry we didn't get this to you before Labor Day. Our schedules just got away from us. But we're back, refreshed, re-inspired and as promised ready to provide you with more ideas of how to get the most out of your Farmer's Market Bounty. As the summer begins to wind down, it's easy to greedily stuff your basket with more and more of what seems like the last tomatoes, or peaches or berries. Here are a few of our standbys for using up "garden overflow"

Ratatouille, Capunta, and other Vegetable Stews
The great things about these dishes is that they are equally delicious warm or room temperature. Another big bonus it that you can vary the ingredients to work with what's on hand. The method is pretty much the same ... Cut up the vegetables in equal sizes. Anywhere from 2 inch to 1/2 inch, depending on whether you want a heartier stew or more of a condiment.
Saute or roast each vegetable separately with some olive oil, salt & pepper. Once everything is cooked combine, and add some tomato sauce or peeled, chopped tomato and any herbs you want. Cook together over high heat until the tomato breaks down a little and serve. Or chill and serve room temperature or cold.
Ratatouille is classically eggplant, zucchini, onion, tomato and basil.
Capunata is mostly eggplant, with celery, onion, zucchini, peppers, olives and raisins.
Any other combinations can be inspired as well. Maybe Butternut Squash, Apples, Peppers and Onions? or Fennel, Zucchini, Shallots and Black Olive. Whatever is left ...

Grilled Vegetable Salad
Always take the time to cook some extra veggies when you are grilling or roasting vegetables for dinner. You are minutes away from a great salad of chopped vegetables. Toss with Olive Oil and Herb Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar, maybe some Sun Dried Tomato, or Pine Nuts, Olives, or Almonds, and a healthy handful of fresh herbs. Brand new dish from yesterday's leftovers.

Salsa Cruda
Just a rough chop of extra tomatoes and you are half way to a delicious salsa. Chilies, Scallions, Peaches, Red-Green-Yellow Peppers, Apples, Berries, or even some of those leftover grilled veggies.... Salt, Pepper and maybe a squeeze of Lime.

Quick Pickles
Most firm veggies take well to a quick pickle. Some, like cucumbers, carrots or radishes work just great raw; others like green beans, fennel, mushrooms, asparagus or cauliflower will be more successful if blanched first.
All we do is combine some good vinegar and water (about 50% of the amount of vinegar), with garlic, herbs, whole peppercorns, salt and a few spoons of sugar (to taste). Bring to a simmer and pour over the vegetables in a non reactive bowl. Set a plate on top to keep the vegetables submerged and allow to cool. Refrigerate for a day or so and they are good to go.