Celebrating World Chocolate Day with three chocolate-based dessert recipes by Sarah Todd!
It's World Chocolate Day, and that means dedicating a day to one of the most loved and versatile ingredients to eat and cook with. Chocolate has been an ingredient that found its presence in almost every pastry chef's kitchen, and when all else failed, turning to chocolate never disappointed. Today, chocolate can be consumed in various forms, and quite frankly adding it to any dessert (and maybe even a savoury dish) instantly elevates the dish. Whether you prefer it as a bar, in a cake, in your coffee or even as ice cream, chocolate always makes us smile.
While chocolate has been a hero for many patissiers around the globe, how about channelling your inner Masterchef this year? If you are a Masterchef fan who follows the show season after season, then the name Sarah Todd will surely enliven you. Back in 2014 the chef showcased her passion for food and cooking (especially Indian cuisine) and put on display delicious sweet, savoury dishes. Shortly after Season 6, she moved to India from Australia, she started her restaurant, Antares, in Goa, and later launched The Wine Rack in Mumbai. Sarah has risen to the top of the culinary world. Her innovative cooking style showcases fresh, local produce combined with her signature flavours for simplicity and elegance. And to celebrate World Chocolate Day 2022, international chef, restaurateur, TV host, speaker and entrepreneur who earned recognition after her appearance in Masterchef in 2014, Sarah Todd shares three recipes.
From her coveted Masterchef Shattered Rose recipe that takes inspiration from Falooda to Sarah's Chocolate and Coffee Pannacotta, Blackberries and her Black Forest Triffle; this Chocolate Day let's give in to indulgence and try our hand at her signature recipes. Brace yourself.... because ahead are recipes from the food connoisseur herself.
Shattered Rose (this appeared on Masterchef)
Ingredients
Lychee Panna Cotta Insert
200g of lychee purée
67g of whipping cream
5g of gelatine
Raspberries
Soaked basil seeds
Raspberry Mousse
352g of chocolate, CALLEBAUT
38g of eggs
30g of egg yolk
74g of caster sugar
10g of gelatine
180g of raspberry purée
215g of whipping cream, whip soft peaks
Raspberry and Lychee Ice Cream
135g of raspberry purée
135g of lychee purée
135g of whole milk
135g of whipping cream
25g of ice cream stabiliser
13g of glycerine or corn syrup
108g of egg yolk
27g of caster sugar
1 g rosewater
Maple Vermecelli
50 g butter
50 g maple syrup
100 g Kataifi or vermicelli
20 g maple sugar or brown sugar
Velvet Spray
60% white chocolate
40% cocoa butter
Red food colouring
Melt to 45 degrees
(Dessert -18)
METHOD
LYCHEE PANNACOTTA
Place lychee purée in pan with whipping cream, bring to the boil then remove from the heat. Steep gelatine in cold water, strain and stir through hot lychee mixture until dissolved. Cool to blood temperature then pipe 15g into each silicone mini mould. Divide raspberries and soaked basil seeds evenly between and place in freezer to set. When ready, de-mould and lay onto a tray lined with silicone paper. Refrigerate until required.
RASPBERRY MOUSSE
Melt chocolate in microwave, stirring every minute until melted. Place whole eggs and yolks into a food mixer with a whisk attachment and whisk on a slow speed. Meanwhile, in clean saucepan, cook the sugar to 121°C. When the sugar reaches 105˚C, increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high. Once it reaches 121˚C, slowly pour hot sugar over the whisking eggs and continue to whisk until they reach 40°C and light and fluffy Soften the gelatine in cold water and warm the raspberry purée in a small saucepan until hot, but not boiling. Strain the water from the gelatine and dissolve in the hot purée. Allow the purée to cool slightly, add to egg mixture to make a pâte à bombe. Lastly, fold in the semi-whipped cream and place directly into a large piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle. To assemble, place the dome silicone moulds onto a tray and spray lightly with vegetable cooking spray. Fill mould 2/3 full with raspberry mousse and tap tray 3-4 times on work surface to remove air bubbles.
ICE-CREAM
Place raspberry purée in a pan and reduce on low heat until you are left with 40g. Remove from heat, allow to cool. Place lychee purée, milk, cream, stabiliser and glycerine in a pan and bring to boil. Whisk egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and fluffy Pour small amount of boiling lychee liquid over yolks while whisking to temper yolks. Add contents of the bowl back to pan to incorporate with the remaining lychee liquid. Cook over a moderate heat to form a crème anglaise, stirring continuously until the mixture reaches 83˚C. Pass crème anglaise through a fine chinoise and chill rapidly in a blast chiller. Churn in an ice cream maker. When almost set, ripple through the raspberry purée and place in the freezer to set.
While ice cream is churning, make the vermicelli. Preheat oven to 160˚C. Line a tray with a slip mat. Melt butter and maple syrup. Make 10g bundles of kataifi and drizzle and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake until golden, 10 minutes.
Chocolate and Coffee Pannacotta, Blackberries
Ingredients
200 ml milk
200 ml fresh cream
200 g dark chocolate
3 tbsp sugar
1 cup of espresso
2 sheets of gelatin
To serve: blackberries, chocolate shards, crushed hazelnuts
Method
Step 1 - Steep gelatin. In a pot, add milk, cream and sugar and bring to a simmer and pour
over chocolate, and add coffee and gelatin. Strain and pour into pannacotta moulds.
Step 2 - Allow it to be set in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours.
Step 3 - Demould by dipping mould into warm water for 15 seconds
Black Forest Triffle
Ingredients
1 kg sweet black cherries
100 g sugar
1 vanilla pod
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick, broken in 2 pieces
½ cup Kirsch
4 whole cloves
Whipped cream chantilly
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
50g of white chocolate, melted
50 ml cream
200 ml whipping cream, whipped
2 tsp kirsch
250 g chocolate sponge, pre made
75 g chocolate
300 g chocolate custard
150 g cherry compote
Method
Step 1- Using a sharp knife or a cherry pitter, pit the cherries. Discard stalks and pits. Sprinkle sugar over the prepared cherries; gently stir and cover and leave overnight in a cool place. Next day, strain cherries and set aside keeping the juices. Add juices into a saucepan and add spices and bring to a boil. Spoon the cherries into the sterilized preserving jar. Take the saucepan off the heat and leave for a few minutes before straining the juices into a jug through a fine-meshed sieve. Discard the spices.
Add 1 cup of water and ½ cup of kirsch to the juices, stir well and pour over the cherries. Ensure cherries are totally covered by adding more kirsch, if required. Store in a cool, dark place.
Step 2
Arrange the triffle. Put the sponge on the bottom and pour over some of the cherry liquid. Layer the rest of the ingredients. Make all components the day before and a few hours before the guests arrive assemble the triffle.
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