Comfort Food

Every now & then you just want a quick easy snack just to comfort yourself, or indulge. This is one of those recipes - & I use the term recipe loosely, as there is nothing precise or structured about it. It just sort of came together in the most unexpected way. I was thinking as to what to create for this months Paper Chef entry. The ingredients were Bread, Chocolate, Berries, & Lime. Simple, compatible. But leading to too many choices! With time running short I went with instinct & this was the result: Chocolate French Toast with Berry syrup & Lime Cream.

the combination of the slightly bitter chocolate (70%), sweet berry syrup & tangy Lime cream worked a treat, leaving me wanting more.

Ingredients:

white bread, slices about 1cm thick

dark chocolate (70%)

cinnamon

egg

cream

lime

frozen mixed berries

sugar

Strawberry liqueur (optional) or water

icing sugar

oil

butter

Method:

Beat the egg with some cream or milk & cinnamon.

Place a block or 2 (depending on size) between two slices of bread & soak in the egg mixture.

place about a tablespoon of sugar & a tablespoon of liqueur in a small saucepan & heat until the sugar is dissolved & starting to bubble, then add the frozen berries & turn the heat to low, & allow to warm through.

Gently heat the oil in a fry pan

Zest the lime into the cream, add a little sugar & whip.

turn up the heat & add some butter to the oil & allow to melt.
Fry the egg soaked chocolate bread sandwich until golden brown then carefully flip to fry the other side. The chocolate would have started to melt so be careful flipping it so that you don't dislodge the bread.

Place onto paper towel to absorb excess oil then onto a serving plate, dust with icing sugar, & serve with the berry syrup & lime cream.

Very comforting & moreish.

Paper Chef #44

"So many choices!!!!"
That was my first reaction to reading the ingredients for this months paper chef. The first three ingredients as selected by Deeba from Passionate about Baking were Ricotta, Ginger, and Chocolate. Pretty easy so far, but the fourth ingredient was actually a theme: Autumn. Hmmm might be Autumn on the wrong side of the world but we're heading into spring here, so its a bit hard to cook out of season but I tried.
The ingredients lend themselves to a dessert type dish. I did briefly think of doing something savoury with them, possibly ginger ricotta fritters with a chili chocolate sauce. Chili & chocolate go well together, try it sometime if you haven't already.
But I scuttled that idea and went with a sweet instead.
Ricotta fritters with a ginger chocolate sauce? Non!
Chocolate cannoli filled with ginger ricotta? Hmm maybe next time.
With time running out I settled for a Ginger Cheesecake with a Chocolate base.
The ginger I used was Baby Stem Ginger in syrup from an Australian company Budrim Ginger.

Ginger Cheesecake with a Chocolate base
Ingredients
Base
150g chocolate biscuits, crushed
40g dark chocolate, grated
80g melted butter
Filling
600g ricotta
150g castor sugar
40g preserved ginger, chopped
Ginger, shaved chocolate & mint leaves for decoration.

Method
Mix the crushed biscuits, chocolate & butter and press into the bottom of the dish. I used individual dishes, but the choice is yours.
Place in the fridge to set.
Beat the ricotta and sugar with a mixer until smooth. You can pass the ricotta through a tamis for a really smooth mixture if you wanted to.
Add the chopped ginger, more or less depending on taste and stir through the mixture.
Spoon into your prepared dish, smooth off the top, cover & refrigerate until ready to serve.
Decorate with shaved chocolate, ginger & mint leaves.

And the Autumn theme? The shaved chocolate represents the dried twigs & crushed fallen leaves, with a little sprout to celebrate Spring..........