I decided to make this particular combination of intense dessert items for an upcoming meme , which involves matching wine with chocolate. I'm ambivalent about the whole meme concept. On the one hand, it is interesting to read a lot of different takes on the same topic. On the other hand, it is something in the nature of an assignment. I am having a very good time writing about food in part because I don't have to do it.
Although the hostess for the event provided a perfectly good recipe for a very rich chocolate cake, I thought it might be more fun to play around a bit. I hope this combo stays within the designated area of rich, damp, dark chocolate; I think it does.
Also, given my complete lack of confidence in the wine matching/tasting/everything-like-that area, I felt it could help to make something calling for a red dessert wine as an ingredient, and use my very tentative wine choice. I thought this might contribute to an acceptable match. Hence, the torte. The sorbet was added due to my continuing fascination with my new ice cream maker. I do see that the combination of the two desserts is uh, a little over the top, but I thought the temperature/texture contrast would be neat. Also, I just love the wonderful, pure deep chocolate taste of this simple sorbet. Needless to say, it is more than sufficient as a dessert on its own.
The torte is a little more complicated than the sorbet. So while it is pictured here, with its companion, I won't try to cram the 2 recipes into the same post. I'll do the torte recipe with the wine on the occasion of wine blogging Wednesday (September 7th, or thereabouts) along with whatever gormless tasting notes I can come up with-assuming I don't lose my nerve. I might have to hurry up and find me a guest wine taster. (At first nibble and sip, it all seems to go together pretty well to me. I hope I can think of something more specific to say by then.)
The sorbet, which owes all to Patricia Wells, is made with these few, but lovely ingredients:
2 cups water
2/3 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
7 oz. best quality bittersweet chocolate, broken in pieces (I used Callebaut)
This is what you do:
Combine water and sugar in a saucepan. Over medium heat, stir until sugar is dissoved. Slowly whisk in cocoa, stirring until dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in chocolate, continuing until it is dissolved too. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Warning: Do not neglect sifting and sieving steps. Both are crucial. Chill mixture thoroughly. Freeze according to the way your ice cream machine does things. Place in freezer for several hours to chill more solidly.
Serve in small scoops; it is very intense. If you do not think it is too corny, you might like to eat this sorbet with a little demitasse spoon. I think I would.
And off I go to try to concentrate on tasting these goodies together with the wine.
I am a big fan of over the top, and no one should ever apologize for serving too much chocolate. (If that doesn't work for you, then pretend that I said that the sorbet recipe is relatively low in fat and that cocoa is a good source of dietary fiber; both of those claims are true, if completely irrelevant.) I'm not so sure about the wine pairing, though. I often (attempt to) match wine with the main course, but most of the dessert wines that I've had, I would prefer unaccompanied, as a final post-dessert treat. I'll be interested to see what you come up with, though. I can always use another reason to drink wine. Or eat chocolate.
Posted by: anapestic | September 01, 2005 at 10:25 AM
Sounds very rich and chocolatey. I agree with you about the foodie events. They are a good way to be noticed though.
Posted by: Ana | September 05, 2005 at 08:50 AM