This is a great Hors d’Oeuvres. In fact, for our dinner on Saturday, we will be serving these. I promise, we will take pictures. These are soooo tasty, my mouth is watering.
- 2 tbsp. butter, divided
- 2 shallots, chopped really fine
- 2 large, new baking potatoes, coarsely grated
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
Heat 1 tbsp. of butter in a skillet, add the shallots and cook until soft. Add the potatoes, stirring until the mixture becomes quite sticky. Set aside and cool.
Shape the cooled mixture into small rounds with wet fingers and flatten slightly. Melt the remaining butter and add the rounds, cooking until brown on both sides.
Serve warm with the Lemon cream.
Lemon Cream With Chives
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 2 tbsp. sour cream
- grated lemon rind
- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
Beat the cheese and cream until completely smooth. Add the grated rind, lemon juice and chives, mixing well. Place a dollop on each of the potato cakes. Serve warm.
in a word….YUMMY!
Making Chocolate Shards
Aha! Here is a great trick. When you want to bring the level of ‘haha, look at what I can do’, try this. Easy and almost too much fun.
- 6 – 8 oz. good quality dark chocolate
- waxed paper
How simple is that? Temper the chocolate as you normally would. Place the waxed paper on a hard work surface and pour the chocolate on it, spreading it thinly to about a 10 inch square.
While warm, spread another piece of waxed paper on top, carefully pressing out any air bubbles that may be showing.
Using a 3/4 inch wide cylinder, roll up the waxed paper and chill at least for 3 hours and as long as 5 days.
To get the shards for your dessert, unroll the waxed paper. The chocolate cracks causing the shards.
Peel back the top waxed paper and using a spatula, carefully lift off the shards.
Now, aren’t you clever? You bet…..people will want to know just how you did that. You gonna tell? I bet not. Just smile.
Thank you, no applause is necessary. Okay, just a little. Thank you.
Maple Pots De Creme
Next Saturday we are entertaining a couple in our neighbourhood and, after posting the salted maple sauce yesterday, I thought I would do the Pots de Creme for dessert. (They go together). This recipe has a praline that goes with it, so pour yourself a fresh coffee, and read this through. Then loudly proclaiming “Damn I can do this”, begin….
Praline
- 2 tbsp. sliced almonds
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. water
- 1 tsp. corn syrup
- pinch of coarse kosher salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread the almonds out and bake for about 2-3 minutes until golden. Remove from heat and, on parchment lined cookie sheet, bunch the almonds up into a square 4-5 inches.
Put the remaining ingredients into a heavy saucepan and with a low heat, cook until the sugar melts. Increase the temperature and simmer until it becomes a dark golden colour. DO NOT STIR. With a wet brush, brush down the sides of the pot so it won’t crystallize. This should take about 5 minutes.
Quickly pour the contents over the almonds until all are coated. Cool completely and let it get cold and hard for an hour. Break into pieces of chop coarsely. In an airtight container, let stand at room temperature up to 4 days.
Now onto the best part….
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup maple sugar
- 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/8 tsp. imitation maple extract
- pinch of coarse kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, and a little extra for garnish
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a deep sided baking pan, place 4 ramekin cups.
Whisk the egg yolks, sugars, extract and salt until well blended. Now whisk in the cream and equally divide the custard into the ramekin cups.
Place the pan in the oven and now add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the dishes. If you add the water then go to the oven…you could spill it, get water into the custard and spoil the dish completely or burn yourself.
Bake for about 35 minutes just until the center is set. Remove and let stand for 15 minutes. Chill uncovered for at least 2 hours. Now cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
To plate, heat the salted sauce and place a small pool in the center of the plate, invert the chilled custard and place on top of the sauce. Put a small dollop of whipped cream on top and sprinkle a generous amount of praline on top. OMG, you did it again. So, so yummy! Add a plate of Salted Chocolate Chunk cookies to cut some of the sweetness. A perfect match.