Bitter Chocolate Tart

This is the dessert that I made when we hosted the in-laws for Christmas Eve dinner, and I've been meaning to post it ever since. It's from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook, which until Christmas had been my current favorite. Since I've received the Babbo cookbook, among others, for Christmas, I have to admit this one hasn't been feeling the love. However, there are a ton of great recipes and I would highly recommend the book to anyone. The recipe section of this book inspired me to buy a tart pan...in August. It sat in the closet unused until I decided to try this recipe out. I'm not very confident in the baking arena, and making my own crust seemed out my league. I was surprised by how easy it was, once I let go of my fear of butter and decided to bite the bullet - it WAS for Christmas after all! One thing though - this receipe says that it serves 8. There were 7 people are our dinner, and we barely ate 1/3 of this, it's so rich that a little goes a very long way.

Bitter Chocolate Tart
From Mario Batali's Molto Italiano
Serves 8

For the pastry
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
9 tbl. cold unsalted butter
1/4 vin santo (or other sweet dessert wine)

For the filling
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
10 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. crushed anise seeds
1 tbl. anise liquor (I used Sambuca)

For the glaze
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tsp. anise liquor
1 1/2 tbl. milk (or as needed)

To make the pastry, combine flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With the processor running, add the vin santo and process until the dough comes together. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten to a disk, wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Butter a 10-inch fluted (optional) tart pan. Roll out the chilled dough between sheets of plastic until you have a circle about 1/4 inch thick. Line the tart pan with the dough, trim off the excess and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick the bottom of the tart dough with a fork, and bake 12 minutes, or until just set. Set the shell aside, and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.

To make the filling, heat the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat and add chocolate, stirring to melt. Transfer the chocolate to a bowl and set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and yolk together with the cocoa, then whisk the egg mixture into the cooled melted chocolate. Add the crushed anise seeds and anise liquor, and stir to combine. Pour the filling into the tart and bake for 15 minutes, or until the filling forms a shiny skin and is slightly firm, but just a little loose in the middle (in my oven, this took 19 minutes). Cool the tart in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove the sides and cool completely.

To make the glaze, combine the sugar, anise liquor and milk, and whisk until you have a thin, pourable consistency; add a few drops more of milk if needed. Place the glaze into a small ziplock bag, and cut of just the tiniest piece of one corner. Pipe the glaze onto the cooled tart in whatever fashion you like. Allow the glaze to harden (about 5 minutes) before serving.

This tart is so amazingly delicious, and this is from someone who doesn't really love anything anise flavored. I made a "test version" of it and brought it to my office where there are people who claim to hate anise, and they didn't even know it was there. It doesn't flavor the tart, but I think it's one of those ingredients that you can't put your finger on but would miss if it weren't there. It's certainly enough on it's own, but to dress it up for Christmas Eve, we served it with a little homemade cinnamon whipped cream. It was definitely a perfect way to end the meal.

Pork Chops Milanese with Arugula Salad

Another night, another great recipe from Mario’s Babbo cookbook. My husband picked this one out, and said he knew I’d like it because it “only has one tablespoon of butter”. He’s so thoughtful! I am not usually a fan of anything breaded and pan fried, I just prefer to use other methods of cooking and make healthier meals for my husband and I. I wasn’t really looking forward to this one, and for me the breading was a little heavy, but the flavor was certainly delicious.

Pork Chops Milanese with Arugula Salad
Adapted from Mario Batali
Serves 4

4 center cut pork chops
Salt & pepper to taste
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
Olive oil cooking spray
1 tbls. butter
4-6 cups of arugula
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 tbls. lemon juice
1 tbls. olive oil
1 lemon, cut into quarters (optional)

Using a mallet or a small heavy pan, pound each pork chop to about ¼ inch thickness. Season pork chops liberally with salt and pepper. In a shallow bowl or plate combine the breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, garlic, basil and oregano (if you’re using Italian seasoned breadcrumbs you can skip this whole step). In another bowl beat eggs with a splash of water, salt and pepper. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat and spray with olive oil and add butter. When the pan is warm and the butter has melted, dip each pork chop first in the egg, then into the breadcrumbs, pressing the crumbs so they adhere to the pork. Place the chops in the pan (you may need to do this in two batches) and cook, turning once, until brown on both sides – about 10-12 minutes total.

In a large bowl, combine the arugula, tomatoes, salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. Be sure to add the lemon juice before the olive oil, or else the juice won’t be able to start breaking down the greens. On each plate place one pork chop and top with the salad. Serve each plate with a wedge of the lemon for squeezing over the pork, it really brightens up what is otherwise a pretty heavy breading.

Fennel and Orange Salad

This would have been infinitely easier and quicker with a mandolin, but given my track record of cuts, scrapes, burns and stabbings in the kitchen, my husband wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if there were a mandolin in the house – so, I had to do it the old fashioned way.

Fennel and Orange Salad
Adapted from Lidia Bastianich
Serves 4 as a side

1 large or 2 small bulbs fennel
3 oranges
¾ cup black olives (use your favorite – we like kalamata)
1 tsp. salt (plus more to taste)
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbl. olive oil

Cut fennel bulb(s) in half and cut out the hard inner core. Thinly slice fennel and place in a medium bowl. Cut the peel from the oranges, being sure to remove all of the bitter white part. Segment the oranges by cutting them into “supremes”, cutting the flesh away from the membrane that separates the segments. Cut each segment in half, and add to the bowl. Cut the black olives in half and add to the bowl. Add the salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil and toss to combine. We like to let this sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before eating to soften the fennel a bit and let the flavors combine, but it’s perfectly delicious right away too.

Pollo Con i Carciofi

This Christmas I really made out in the cookbook department!! I got books from two of my favorites, Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich, as well as another amazing country-style Italian cookbook and both volumes of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Let’s just say we better renew the gym memberships for 2010, because it’s going to be a year of eating very well!

I love Lidia’s book because it’s arranged with recipes by region instead of by course. This might be annoying to some, but I love it, since it means less work for me when it comes to the question of what to serve with what. And, since flavors from the same region tend to naturally go well together, she kind of makes creating an entire meal a no-brainer.

Last night’s dinner was from the Lazio region, which includes Rome. Romans are all about bold flavors, and letting their food speak for itself instead of “covering” it with seasoning and overloading it with fancy ingredients. Two staples of Roman cooking happen to be two of my favorite vegetables, artichokes and fennel, and what could be better than putting them together? The chicken was cooked perfectly, and we had some homemade bread on the side for mopping up all of the sauce, yum!

Pollo Con i Carciofi
Adapted from Lidia Bastianich
Serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of garlic (peeled and crushed)
4 artichokes (chokes removed and quartered) (or 8 baby artichokes, much easier!)
1 cup dry white wine
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 tsp. salt
1 large (48 oz.) can San Marzano tomatoes (with their juice)
1-2 cups water
2 tbls. parsley (finely chopped) for serving
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese for serving (optional)

To prepare the artichokes fill a bowl with a few cups of cold water and the juice of one lemon. Remove the tough bottom leaves of each artichoke until you reach the softer, pale inner leaves. Cut about ¼ inch off the bottom of the stem, and peel the remainder of the tough skin off the stalk. Cut the top 3rd off of the artichoke and cut it in half the long way (cutting the stem in half). If you’re using baby artichokes there is not usually a “choke”, and you can just place the halves into the acidulated water. If you’re using mature artichokes, you’ll need to remove the fuzzy “choke”. We’ve found the best way is to use spoon to scoop it out. Once you’ve removed the choke, cut each half into two pieces and place them all into the acidulated water.

In a large heavy-bottom pot (like my brand new 6.5 quart Le Cruset oval – thank-you in-laws!) heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Season chicken breasts with salt and place them in the pot, browning on both sides – about 8 minutes. Remove chicken and add the crushed garlic cloves. Remove the artichokes from the water with a slotted spoon and add them to the pot. Cook the artichokes and garlic about 4-5 minutes, or until the artichokes begin developing a golden brown color. Add the wine and crushed red pepper flakes, and cook until almost all of the liquid has reduced, about 5-6 minutes. Using your hands (this is the fun part!) crush the tomatoes into large pieces and add them to the pot. Depending on how juicy your tomatoes are slosh the 1-2 cups of water around the tomato can and add to the pot, along with the salt. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook 10-15 minutes, then remove lid and cook an additional 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick you’d like the sauce to be.

On the plate, spoon sauce and artichokes over chicken, sprinkle with parsley and cheese and enjoy!