Friday fun thread: Dessert evangelism

Here’s one I like, easy, fast, and so tasty. Definitely more affordable when strawberries are “in season” and you can get 2 lbs for 5 or 6 dollars at the grocery store:

Ingredients:
1. Fresh strawberries (as many as you want) cut in halves, quarters, or whole even. you can substitute any other fresh berries that you like.

2. Balsamic vinegar…as much as you want, this will be drizzled over your berries later.

3. Sugar. I haven’t tried sugar substitutes, something you might want to experiment with. You’ll be adding sugar to taste, so again, there isn’t a set amount.

4. Fresh or dried mint leaves, finely chopped.

Directions:

1. Cut strawberries in desired shapes and sizes. Chill.

2. Mix sugar and balsamic vinegar to taste with a wisk or fork. I prefer using a fork since I then use it later to eat and have less to wash :P Don’t worry too much about how much sugar you use, just add until it tastes tart/sweet in whatever proportion you desire. I sometimes like it less sweet, but most of the time I get it to a warm syrup consistency (not thick, but not as liquidy as the vinegar was to start).

3. Pour mixture over berries. Add mint or whatever other garnish you prefer. I like to chill them a bit and let the strawberries marinade for up to 30 minutes. Usually I can’t wait.

I’ve read Belle Waring, and you’re no Belle Waring.

Steve

5–
Pepin might be thinking “creme fraiche” when he writes “sour cream.”

The dessert recipe that any fool can make to wild applause

LEMON SPONGE CUSTARD

The recipe gives you two desserts in one dish: intensely lemony custard at the bottom, topped by a light sweet sponge. If that description doesn’t appeal to you, then make it and try it for yourself.

Preheat to 350º

Cream together

3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter (room temperature)
2 tsp grated lemon peel

until you get a light yellow batter just short of frothy. Add, one at a time, the

Yolks of 3 eggs, separated, naturally,

which will give you a more intensely yellow batter. Add, alternating, in one third installments,

3 tbsp flour
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup light cream or milk.

Now whip the egg whites with

1/8 tsp salt

until they are stiff but not dry. Fold the beaten whites into the mixture, then pour it into a

7″ oven proof dish

which you should rest in a larger dish containing one inch of hot water. Bake for an hour or so, or until done. The dish is delicious whether the custard is cooked until it is solid, which makes it a little harder to distinguish from the sponge above, or remains slightly runny.

Serve it hot or cold, with whipped cream (wretched excess) or without.

Stolen from the NY Times International Cookbook (1962), which Craig Claiborne no doubt stole from somewhere else if the Greek section is any guide.

The key to this, which can be prepared as either a mousse or a soufflé, is very, very good chocolate. I use Scharffenberger bittersweet (70%).

Chocolate Mousse/Soufflé

6 eggs (room temp)
9-10 oz. chocolate (one Scharffenberger baker’s bar is 9.7 oz.)
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
butter
fine granulated sugar
Melt the chocolate over very low heat; a double boiler is best. Set aside to cool.

Separate the eggs and gently stir the yolks into the chocolate. Beat the whites until foamy, add lemon juice, and continue beating until soft peaks begin to form.

Add maybe a quarter of the whites to the cool chocolate, mix gently, then add the chocolate mixture to the whites and very gently fold the whites into the chocolate.

For mousse, spoon the mixture into a serving dish and refrigerate (for at least a few hours). For soufflé, butter ramekins and dust with sugar, then spoon in the mixture. Wipe the inside rim clean; this helps the crust to move inward as it forms. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the crust is dry and just firm.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but gentle mixing and not over-beating the eggs is key to acheiving light, even texture. Otherwise, as you can see, it’s dead simple. In the summer I like to serve it with blackberry syrup (just the juice from crushing fresh berries in a chinoise; poke a hole in the soufflé crust and pour it in) with a small glass of Bonny Doon Framboise on the side. Intensely, outrageously delicious.

This is basically Jean-George Vongerichten’s recipe.