Decadent Chocolate-Merengue Semifreddo With Caramelized Orangesauce

Dear all,
thank you so much my friends for your patience and support during the time my blog was "under construction" for a much needed facelift and solving some technical problems. You rock!
A special note to Amelia@ameliasdessert for offering me her support when my blog got, as she put it "the hick ups" and made it difficult for visitors to comment. Merci, Amelia :)
I was definitely missing blogging much more than I ever imagined.
Have I become addicted?
Addicted for sure to the interaction with my friends, readers and fellow bloggers..
Addicted to the Adrenalin rush when time is short and you need to publish your next post.
Addicted to read the new posts my fellow bloggers wrote meantime.
Anyhow, this is probably one of the most harmless addictions and I'm sure every blogger knows what I'm talking about..
During the time I was updating my blog, I was facing a true construction site and there were days when I thought this is never going to finish.
I should have known...many of you warned me that this is going to take time and patience.
We are nearly ready ( there are always small things to adjust) and if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate your comments very much.
Now it's time to celebrate the new season and I would like to share with you one of our favorites for this time of the year.
This rich, melt in your mouth semifreddo is a great treat for guests or to enjoy with your family during spring and summer days.
You need:
 225 g of 70% dark chocolate
180 g soft, non salted butter
7 egg yolks
112g dark, non sweetened cocoa
225g icing sugar
370g heavy cream
3 cups Meringue crumbs
For the orange sauce:
2 oranges
The zest of one orange
1 spoonful of butter
3 spoonful caster sugar
2 spoonful of Cointreau  (optional, can be replaced by freshly squeezed orange juice)

Instructions:
Whip egg yolks together with the icing sugar and soft butter until creamy and light in color.

Then fold in the cocoa, first with a rubber spatula ( to avoid the Cocoa dust) , then whip well until creamy.

Apart, melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
Take care that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
Beat in the melted chocolate in the mixture.

Apart, whip heavy cream to soft peaks.

Fold in the whipped cream with a rubber spatula, gently but thoroughly.

Pour mixture carefully into a loaf pan, the first layer chocolate mixture, the next meringue crumbs.

Continue to alternate the different layers until the mold is filled.
Cover with plastic foil and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Orange sauce
2 oranges
The zest of one orange
1 spoonful of butter
3 spoonful caster sugar
2 spoonful of Cointreau  (optional, can be replaced by freshly squeezed orange juice)

Instructions:
Zest the orange.

Cut off the top and the bottom of the other orange, then slice off the peel with a sharp knife. Make sure to remove all the white bits.
Then cut the individual slices of the orange along their thin skin.

Melt butter in a large, flat pan, add sugar and let cook at low heat for about 2 minutes or until sugar has dissolved and the mixture has slightly caramelized.

Add the Cointreau, Orange zest and fillets and simmer for 1 minute.
Then, remove from heat. Set apart.

To serve, remove the parfait from the freezer.

Place in a deep baking sheet filled with hot water (or place a hot, wet kitchen towel over the mold) until the outside of the parfait has softened.
Then place a serving plate upside down on top of the mold until the parfait slips out.

Remove the mold.

With a sharp knife , cut in slices (Rinse the knife with cold water from time to time to avoid that the parfait sticks to the knife).

Garnish with warm orange  sauce, zests, fillet and mint leaves.

Serve immediately.



Enjoy, see you next week.

Serves 8-10 p.

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Oriental Nights With A Savoury Hummus Trilogy

We spent 5 beautiful years living in Egypt and enjoyed traveling and discovering the incredible archeological, cultural and culinary treasures of this magic country.
One of the delicacies I enjoyed most were the delightful mezes (dips, small plates and salads) which are to be found all over the Middle East and some mediterranean countries.
Hummus has already conquered our tables a long time ago. We definitely prefer the home made one to the many offered ready made.
One of the virtues of this spread is it's fantastic versatility and how fun it is to play around a bit with different flavors and spices to add a multi-cultural touch.
Of course it's only half the fun when you don't add an oriental touch to your table as well when serving these delicacies.

We found this beautiful, handmade teapot holders in the Khan el Khalili Bazaar in Cairo

as well as this lovely tea glass

Hope this table setting serves as inspiration to awaken your creativity and try out different ways to give an interesting 1001 nights touch to accompany your Hummus Trilogy.
Have fun, I would be happy to know the results of your inventiveness :)

You need for the classic Hummus:

250g canned chickpeas, drained (keep the water apart)
2 tablespoon high quality Olive oil
2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
2 medium garlic cloves
2-3 tablespoon of the chickpeas water (or normal water)
1 tablespoon Tahini paste (optional)
Salt for seasoning

about 1/2 tablespoon olive oil for serving
Finley chopped tomatoes or Paprika to sprinkle on the basic Hummus
Chopped ,flat parsley to sprinkle on the Curry Hummus
some whole chick peas to decorate the avocado parsley Hummus

Method:
Combine the chick peas, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, garlic cloves, cayenne pepper and water in the bowl of a food processor and process until obtaining a smooth and creamy Hummus.
If necessary add some additional water or olive oil.

Classic Hummus

-for the Curry Hummus just add 1/2 tablespoon yellow curry to the basic hummus paste

for the avocado Hummus add 1/2 a ripe avocado and 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley to the basic Hummus and blend in the food processor.

Enjoy!

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Fall Delight: Easy Cheese Souflee

As you can see from my last post, I feel a bit cheese centric lately.
Probably it all started during our 8-year stay in Switzerland.
We lived 3 years in Geneva and 5 years in the country's capital, Bern.
From both places, we often made excursions to Gruyere, birthplace of the famous Gruyere Cheese.
There it's inevitable to visit the cheese factory which introduces visitors to the secrets of cheese manufacturing.
It's an experience for all senses, most of all for your sense of smell.
Either you love it or you hate it. 
I personally loved it but one of my boys hated cheese from this day on until now.
You never know!
This is how my interest in cheese started and I began to collect cheese-based recipes.
The different aromas and ingredients are amazing.
Cheese can be made of cows, goats,buffalo, sheep or camel milk (did I get all?)
It can range from mild, soft cheese to aged hard cheese and a huge variety of textures and flavors in between.

 My cheese soufflee is made from aged gouda but you can choose any shredded cheese of your liking and play a bit with the flavors.
I tried to keep the recipe very simple and easy. Preparing Souffle isn't as difficult as many people think.
The only trick is to serve it immediately if not it will sadly shrink to a Hobbit like appearance.

:(                                                                   :(                                                               :(                        

You need:

1/2 cup breadcrumbs
250 g  Quark light (or creamy cottage cheese)
4 egg yolks
80 g shredded aged Gouda
30 g corn starch
3 egg whites
Butter and breadcrumbs to grease the molds
Salt, freshly ground pepper and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Method:
Butter 4 soufflee dishes, than "dust" with breadcrumbs and remove the excess.

Heat oven at 160 C.
Put the forms in a large roasting tray, fill up to 2cm with hot water, enough to come up 1/3 way up their outside. 
Whisk the Quark with the egg yolks until creamy.

Add the cheese, mix well, then add the cornstarch, the bread crumbs,salt ,pepper and nutmeg.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites bit by bit into the cheese mixture.

Put the mixture in the molds.

Bake up to ...... or until puffed and golden. SERVE IMMEDIATELY.

As it tooked some time to take the picture, the souffle downsized already a bit. :)

Serves 4. Enjoy! See you next week.

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