Pots of Chocolate Cream--Amar​etto Flavored

Last year when I was in Paris, while shopping for food, one thing in particular had caught my attention: a huge variety of excellent ready-made desserts, chocolate including.

I tried many of them, including crème brûlée, white chocolate and raspberry mousse, and all the milk- and dark-chocolate choices. Not only were they beautifully served, often in ceramic or glass pots, but also tasted amazing. Honestly, if I lived in France I probably would not bother making any desserts and I am not sure I would have any culinary aspirations.

I usually prefer fruit or vanilla desserts, but those chocolate I discovered were irresistible. I got totally addicted to two of them. One was milk chocolate mousse, layered with thin flakes of dark chocolate. The other one was chocolate cream. It was something between a cream and custard, but more on a creamy side. So delicious that every single day during the week I spent in Paris I had at least two of them one after another. I even carefully washed the cute little pots they were served in and brought them back home to show how supermarket desserts are sold in France.

The memory of that chocolate cream was coming to my mind every time I looked at these pots and I looked everywhere for a recipe that would imitate this dessert, which reminded closely a very thick chocolate pudding, but much more rich in chocolate than a regular pudding. And I think I have finally found something almost as good and easy to make.

Chocolate Cream
(Serves six)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp granulated sugar,
1 tbsp all purpose flour,
1 and 1/3 cup whole milk,
4 oz( about 100 g) good quality milk or dark chocolate,
2 tbsp Amaretto liqueur,
1 tbsp unsalted butter,
1 tbsp roasted slivered almonds for decoration.

Preparation:
1. In a medium pot, using a whisker, mix until smooth sugar and flour with 3 tbsp milk. Heat it over medium heat until ingredients make a creamy, custard like mixture.
2. Whisking continuously add the rest of milk and follow with chopped chocolate. Mix until it thickens. At the last moment add butter and incorporate it into the mix.

3. Divide the mix among six small glass bowls and chill for a minimum of two hours.

4. Serve decorated with roasted almond slivers and amaretto biscuits.

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons--A Bit of Moroccan Flavor

There are three dishes that are most often made with preserved lemons: chicken, fish, and lamb. Lamb and chicken are usually made tagine style, that is slowly cooked in a special dish with a shallow bottom and a conical cover. So far I have tried chicken and have been making it from time to time. It is the most classical dish coming from the Moroccan cuisine tradition.

Before I made for the first time, I had been looking everywhere for a most complex and interesting recipe. All of them called for the same ingredients--chicken, preserved lemons, olives and spices. But when I read different reviews not everyone who tried this dish liked it. Most complaints concerned the sourness of it that overshadowed its other subtle tastes, particularly, when the dish was made with green olives, which seems to be the most popular recipe. And it seems that even the mildness of couscous that the chicken is served with did not help diminish its acidity. Many people who tried out this dish would never make it again.

I decided then to make this dish a bit differently. I added carrot and raisins, which I thought would help offset its sourness. Both ingredients are often used in the Moroccan cuisine and also sometimes in different type of tagine dishes. A typical tagine calls for a meat with bones, which gives out its flavor through long cooking, but I used chicken breast tenderloins. To make sure I get a maximum flavor from it I made sure the chicken was organic and free range. I cooked them much faster in a regular heavy bottom cookware, but I think the taste was similar to what it would be if I did it as a slowly cooked dish.

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts with bones or 8-10 breast tenderloins,
1 red onion,
6 carrots, peeled and sliced,
1/2 cup raisins,
2 preserved lemons,
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric,
4 anise star fruits,
1/2 tsp ground ginger,
2 inch long stick of cinnamon,
1/2 cumin,
1 tsp paprika,
pinch of saffron powder,
1/4 tsp black pepper,
1/2 tsp salt,
chopped fresh coriander and parsley,
olive oil for frying.

Preparation:
1. Mix 3 tbsp of olive oil with garlic, salt, and pepper. Rub the chicken in it and let marinate for about an hour.
2. Preheat a frying pan and fry chicken breasts until gold. Add sliced onion and carrot, and fry for about two minutes stirring from time to time. Add to the pan all the spices: turmeric, paprika, ginger, saffron, cumin. Let the chicken parts coat in spices.
4. Cut preserved lemons alongside into thin slices. Add to the pan with chicken.

5. Let it cook covered for about 40 minutes (about 30 will do if you use tenderloins) until the meat is tender.
6. Add chopped parsley and cilantro on top of the dish.
Serve with couscous and salads.

Preserved Lemons--How to Make Them

First time I made preserved lemons many years ago I was just intrigued by their look but I did not really know any good recipe to use them. So they just stood on my kitchen counter as decoration until eventually, after a year or so, I threw them away.

Only later I found in French magazines several recipes calling for preserved lemons. Most attractive were those coming from exotic cuisines. They inspired me to make another jar of preserved lemons to try some of these recipes. Ever since from time to time, when I buy a large bag of lemons, I make a jar of preserved lemons. I tried a couple of recipes calling for them and I already have found one favorite. I will share the recipe for this dish next time. But in order to make it you need to make preserved lemons first.

There are two method to preserve lemons. First uses only salt and water, the other salt and oil. I prefer the second as it is less salty and I can use the remaining oil, strongly infused with the lemon aroma, to make salads. Preserved lemons are usually good in a week and can stay in a jar from two to six months.

Preserved Lemons

Ingredients:
3 lemons preferably organic,
2 tbsp sea salt,
1 and 1/2 cup of olive oil,
2 bay leaves,
red peppercorns(optional).

Preparation:
1. Put whole lemons in a medium bowl and cover them for two minutes with boiling water. Drain.
2. Cut lemons in four. Place in a medium bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Cover and let marinate over night.

3. On the next day, drain lemons on a colander. Place them in a small vacuumed jar. Add bay leaves and pepper if you have. Cover completely with olive oil, close the jar and let marinate for a week.
4. Before using lemons you can just dry them a bit and use less oil for cooking or rinse them under the running water.