How to turn a plain dessert into an elegant, gourmelicious preparation!
ingredienti per 4 porzioni (costo circa 8€ con prodotti biologici)
For the strawberry coulis
- 250 g strawberries
- 40 g sugar (or more according to taste and the original sweetness of the strawberries)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (from about half lemon)
- scorza di mezzo limone
- 10-15 mint leaves
For the mint crème anglaise
- 200 ml di latte intero
- 2 egg yolks
- 20 g sugar
- 1 pizzico di sale
- 30 foglie di menta
- peel from half lemon
for the chocolate moelleux cakes
- 150 g couverture chocolate (70%)
- 120 g butter cut in cubes and softened (+ 5 g to grease the ramekins)
- 65 g di zucchero
- 150 (3 medium) eggs
- 30 g di farina 00
- 1 pinch of fleur de sel
- a few small mint leaves for the decoration
Sweet sauces play a key role to dessert making. They open the door to our creativeness and they help us offer character to simple desserts and turn them to extraordinary and gourmet.
In this case, I am using two of them to enrich single portion soft chocolate cakes.
Now, soft chocolate cakes (moelleux au chocolate in French) are very tasty and they can certainly be eaten on their own. But after the third bite they become a little boring.
The sauces should be made in advance and the dessert must be assembled the very last moment (a la minute, as the French say), just before serving.
And I assure you, all your guests will think that they are being served in an elegant gourmet restaurant.
So, the previous day we place the strawberries (already washed and with the stems removed), cut in two, with the sugar, the lemon zest and the mint leaves (already chopped) in a bowl, we mix, we cover with cling film and we keep in fridge overnight to macerate.
The next day, we take 2-3 big strawberries and we cut them in small dice. We keep aside. WE pour the rest of the macerated strawberries, with their liquids and the lemon juice in a blender and we turn them into a puree, then we pass through a sieve. We keep in the fridge, until serving time (max 24 hours), If we want to keep it longer we can make coulis ice cubes and put them it in the freezer.
For the crème anglaise we begin by placing the milk with the mint leaves and the lemon peels in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and bringing it to a gentle boil. Once it reaches the boiling point we immediately remove from the heat, we cover with cling film and we let infuse for about 30 minutes, then we strain the milk and we discard the aromatics.
In a heatproof bowl we whisk the yolks with the sugar and a pinch of salt, until pale white, then we pour in the milk little by little without stopping to stir.
We place the bowl over a warm water bath (double boiler – the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and we cook the cream gently until it thickens, stirring constantly (this should happen at around 83-85 o C). Once it thickens, we immediately remove from the bowl from the water bath and we pour the cream through a sieve inside another bowl, that we have already chilled in the fridge for several hours. We continue to stir until the cream cools (this will stop the cooking and ensure a velvety texture). We cover with cling film and we keep in the fridge till serving time.
To make the molten chocolate cakes, we melt the chocolate, already cut in pieces, in a water bath, then we add the already softened and also cut into pieces butter, little by little to temper the chocolate. We mix until the butter is well incorporated to the chocolate and we get a smooth chocolate cream.
Meanwhile, we whisk the eggs with the sugar and salt until they turn pale white.
We pour the the melted chocolate- butter little by little into the eggs -sugar mixture, mixing well to combine. We sieve over it the flour and we mix to incorporate.
We pour the mixture in 7-8 cm buttered and floured single-portion ramekins, we sprinkle the surface with a little fleur de sel and we place them in the fridge for at least 1 hour to chill.
We bake at a 240 o C preheated static oven (or 220 o for air function). If we want the center to remain to a liquid state, we bake for 5 minutes . If we want it to settle a little, for 7-8 min.
We remove from the oven, we let them cool for no more than 3-5 minutes, and we turn them immediately on to serving plates, where we have poured 2 tbsp of chilled mint crème anglaise. We top with plenty of strawberry coulis, as well as strawberry cubes and we decorate with small mint leaves.
We serve immediately.
We can also prepare the chocolate cakes in advance. We wait for them to cool, then we wrap them with cling film and we keep them at room temperature (max 3 days). When the serving time comes, we just have to rewarm each of them for a 10-15 seconds in the microwave over (at maximum heat), so that the chocolate heart re-melts. Then we proceed to the assembling, as already explained.
