How to make a light dessert :Chocolate Jelly

I love chocolate. Dark Chocolate.And I love to make light desserts: after a nice meal dessert should be like an evanescent cloud just passing by, leaving a sweet memory .Some years ago I bought a book on agar-agar : I won't mention the author ,as I soon realised that she did not tested the recipes .But I found a new ingredient ,very interesting for its healthy properties so I searched for a milligram scale and began to test. Almost all the recipes containing agar-agar will tell you :a coffee spoon etc....but if you want be sure of results better to use a scale . One day I found here the recipe of a chocolate jelly and I immediately tried it . This was 3 years ago and this dessert has become one of my best-seller has a personal chef . Yes, I re-made the recipe to suit my taste , I tried differents proportions of agar-agar and this is the final result of all my experimentations . With a dessert like this you can indulge !And you can keep it some days in the fridge ,covered . Very useful when you have guests !

 

Ingredients for 6 big servings or 12 small ones 

200 gr of dark chocolate 70%

500 ml of  fresh milk

A  pinch of  fleur de sel

A  pinch of grounded ginger

2  gr  of agar-agar

200 gr of sugar ,200 ml of water  and 8 tonka beans a for the syrup or a spoon of  chopped fresh ginger

Cut the chocolate in small pieces, put all the other ingredients in a sauce pan  and bring to boil  , pay attention when milkc omes to boil you’ll have to stir for a minute . Then  turn off the fire and  pour the chocolate into the mixture .Wait  3/4   minutes and then you can mix it well till all the chocolate is dissolved . Pour in the silicon moulds  ( or in cups )and then in the fridge to cool . For the syrup : bring to boil water,sugar and the tonka beans ( or the ginger )and let cook slowly till the syrup thickens  and begin to make  bubbles You can taste it  for consistence , it should not be too liquid . Use the syrup to garnish the jelly . 

If you’d like  to make  also the white chocolate jelly you can use the same recipe but  instead than 2 gr of agar-agar you’ll use  2,2 gr (seems like nothing but it makes a difference) though if you want make both it’s better to divide the dose  in two  so  200 ml of milk ,50 ml of cream, 1 gr of agar-agar and 100 gr of dark chocolate . For the white one  1,1 gr of agar-agar.

A day in Provence : cooking class in Gordes

I work as personal chef in the Luberon and there's a house where I'm oftenly called . It's name is Fontblanche , just near the village of Gordes Last week I went there for a cooking class and even more : I organized a full day experience in Provence beginning with a café & croissant at the Café de la Poste in Goult the village where I live.

We met at 8:30 am and took the time for coffee.....then we left towards Isle sur la Sorgue
for shopping at the market ( on thurdays the market is smaller than on sundays when you  have also antiques but easier if you want to buy food )

We had not a fixed menu : everybody said that we'll improvise with what we'll find on the market ,so we bought :Zucchini ,salads, radishes,beans, potatoes,garlic, onions, fish,cheese,rhubarb and strawberries.

 Shooting at the market is not so easy : Veronique didn't want ,then I talked with her  and she explained me that so much people just takes pics and go , without buying nor caring of what she does . And she does magnificent pulp of fruits slowly cooked with raw cane sugar and much love .Then she  agreed to be photographed....if you go to the market look for her and try her products : they are absolutely marvellous . I bought some caramel au beurre salé that I used to make the icing for a chocolate cake .

Walking in Isle sur la sorgue

It was funny to see how they propose a typical venitian aperitif ! ( I come from Venice)

Then we went to the restaurant : I choose "Le vieux bistrot"  in Cabriéres d'Avignon , a charming village on the road to home . The owner , Vincent , is very agreeable and the rapport quality-price one of the best of Luberon . We had lunch under the pergola ,the light was amazing !

They brought us some delicatessen while waiting for the main course.

The presentation doesn't need to be commented , the flan of carrotes was very very good  (normally I don't eat flans as they have not much  taste and mostly too salted )

And then came dessert , a Café gourmand composed of various types but I succeed to shot only one ; they've been eaten in one bite . 

Happy moments.....

We left the reasturant at 3pm then I came home to prepare everything I needed for the cooking-class .We started at 5pm , the menu was :

Entrée : La tourte de courgettes ( an ancient recipe of Nice) and a green salad with radishes and fresh garlic

Plat : Poisson à la marseillase ( another typical recipe not very well known ) and a green beans , white beans and small potatoes salad

Dessert : Rhubarb and Strawberries crumble

Making the tourte

We cooked all together like a family , it was so funny!

 And finally everything was ready for dinner .

The night was sweet and warm....we had a wonderful dinner.

Farewell Provence : a cocktail in Goult

I live in Goult ,a small village in the South  of France where I work as a personal chef and I do cooking classes on demande . Last  year Erica & Irwin took a sabbatical period and came to Goult , to try how's life in the countryside and abroad at the same time ( they live in Sidney ) They stayed 9 month here and they're leaving next wednesday so they wanted to organize a cocktail to say goodbye to the friends they made here and asked me if I was available to do it : I was very pleased to accept ! Yesterday morning I went to the market in Apt for shopping : I wanted to prepare a very typical Provençal buffet for this special occasion . I found the first melons and they were simply delicious ,  abricots , lots of vegetables to serve with anchoiade and another sauce with mustard , I prepared a pissaladière , a focaccia with seeds and oregano, a cold tomatoes soup and a choice of  local goat's cheeses and some  amazing Brie . This morning I met them at the ' Café de la Poste' they were so happy for their Party yet a little bit sad for leaving...

Goult