Flavor alchemy

Grilled pineapple is delicious: sweet, slightly acid, and full of the richness of caramel. For the blogging event TGRWT I tried matching it with sweet gorgonzola using chocolate and caramelized sugar for decoration and extra flavors. The tenth TGRWT is being hosted by David from Eat Foo. The idea of TGRWT is to combine two ingredients that share a few chemical compounds that can be smelt and it was started by Martin from Khymos.

This recipe was a good excuse for me to learn several new skills: how to temper chocolate, how to make butterscotch candy, and how to use a pastry bag.

Recipe

The recipe requires making the caramelized sugar, preparing the chocolate so it can be poured over the pineapple, and finally assembling the dish with some cheese. For one serving you will need

• 1 teaspoon of caramelized sugar (recipe below)
• 1 thin slice of pineapple
• sweet gorgonzola cheese
• 100g of semisweet chocolate, tempered (enough for six slices)

1. Remove the cheese from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Make sure the grate of the grill is clean and then pre-heat the grill.

2. While the grill is heating, peel the pineapple. Remove the crown by twisting, place the pineapple on its side and remove a slice from the bottom and a slice from the top. Stand the pineapple and remove the skin and then check it once more for any eyes that may have been missed. Lay the pineapple on its side and cut thin 1/2 inch slices.

3. Set the grill to a slow cooking mode. On my gas grill that is the lowest gas setting; on a charcoal grill make sure the grate is far enough from the coals, as if you were cooking fish. Place the pineapple slices on the grill and let them caramelize on one side before flipping, about seven minutes. Keep the grill cover and if you have a way of checking the internal temperature, it should be above 175˚C (350˚F).

4. Once the slices are done, spread a thin layer of gorgonzola on the pineapple, sprinkle some caramelized sugar on the cheese and flip, cheese side down, onto a quarter plate.

5. Decorate with chocolate by squeezing warm tempered chocolate from a pastry bag. Sprinkle some more sugar on the plate.

I noticed that people like or dislike the flavor combination depending on whether they like or dislike blue cheese. The first time I made this (the result in the first photo of the post) I used too much blue cheese. The peppery taste of the cheese just overwhelmed the sweet and juicy notes of the pineapple. I would either taste pineapple or cheese, but not both. In my second attempt I used a thin layer of gorgonzola, as if one where spreading butter on toast. This time one could detect the fat of the cheese combining with the pineapple and the result was eaten before its was photographed.

Caramel sugar

The idea for caramel sugar is to make a butterscotch hard candy and then grind the candy in a spice grinder. I am not an expert candy maker, but I was able to make this candy by using an instant read thermometer (the “laser” or infrared type).

You will need:

• 120g of white sugar (about 1/2 cup and two tablespoons)
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
• 30g (2 tablespoons) of cold butter
• 1/8 teaspoon of salt

1. Place a pan on the stove top on medium high. If possible, use a stainless steel pan or any other pan with a light colored inside, as that will help you judge the color of the sugar after it melts. Pour the sugar, salt, water, and lemon juice in the pan. Mix until the sugar is well dissolved and then stop mixing.

2. Watch the temperature of the liquid carefully. While it warms, clean any sugar that may have stuck to the sides of the pan’s wall with a wet pastry brush. This sugar may brown too much and impart a bitter taste. Once it starts to boil there is no need to stir.

3. Heat the pan until the liquid reaches 160°C (320°F) but don’t let it go above 170°C (338°F) or it will turn bitter. Below 160˚C the temperature tells you how much water is left in the sugar, above that temperature how brown the liquid sugar has turned. Remove from the heat and immediately add the butter, as this will stop the sugar from continuing to cook.

4. Whisk the mixture until all the butter melts. Pour the mixture over a silicone mat and let it cool. You now have butterscotch candy cooling on your mat.

5. Once the candy hardens and is cool enough to handle, you can place it in the freezer for 5 minutes to speed up the cooling process or just let it sit for half an hour on the counter. Break about a third of the candy disk into small bits and place them in a spice grinder. Grind for about 20 seconds to transform it into a powder. Save in the freezer in an airtight container. You may grind the other two-thirds or use them for decoration.

Umami, sweet, salty, and smokey. All tastes in one bite. In preparation for the TGRWT #9 I tried a simple appetizer where figs rolled in bacon are baked to melt the parmesan cheese and chocolate inside. The TGRWT is a blogging event where one has to develop a recipe using ingredients that theory predicts should go well together, but for which there may be few or no recipes. Round number nine is being hosted by Robert from La Mia Cucina (the photos on the his site are pure eye candy).

Parmesan has a strong umami flavor imparted by glutamic acid, one of the chemicals used to build all living things. The word umami may be new in English, but we have all enjoyed the sensation associated with it: in meats, in the pulp of tomatoes, and in parmesan cheese.

Recipe

This recipe is a variant of a traditional recipe using dates and bacon. The idea is to make little sandwiches, with the figs being the bread and the parmesan and chocolate being the filling. For the recipe you will need:

• dried figs
• parmesan cheese
• milk chocolate pieces or chips
• smoked bacon

1. Heat the oven to 450°F.

2. Cut off the top of the fig to remove the stem. Cut the fig in half along its longer dimension. Press into one half two chocolate chips. Use milk chocolate, as you will need the extra sweetness.

3. Slice the parmesan cheese into 2mm (1/16 inch) slices and then into strips that will fit over the fig halves. Be generous with the parmesan. The first time I tried this recipe I used grated parmesan and could not get enough of the cheese in a roll. Cover with the other fig half and wrap with a bacon strip at least one and half times around. Secure with a tooth pick making sure the two fig halves are pierced. The fat of the bacon will help soften the dried figs.

4. Arrange the figs on toothpicks on skewers placed between the rim of the baking pan or on a cooling rack inserted into the rimmed cookie sheet. You may want to line the bottom of the cookie sheet to help with clean up. Don’t place the rolled up figs directly on the sheet, or they will burn (I’ve done it, even while watching them).

What happens when you place the bacon directly on the cookie sheet.

5. Bake for ten minutes. Remove from oven and serve while warm.

I have made these twice. My daughter, who won’t eat figs, kept on munching them. The chocolate and parmesan blend in so well that most people do not notice there is chocolate in the rolls. I made a few with 70% chocolate and some with milk chocolate and I prefer the ones with milk chocolate (this from a no-milk-chocolate chocoholic).

Right after the deadline of the sixth TGRWT, the Washington Post, the local newspaper, published a recipe for apple risotto. I tried the recipe with lavender and a few small changes and it turned out really well. The day after I made the dish, my daughter ate the leftovers instead of the lasagna we had made for lunch.

For this recipe I used a larger amount of lavender than I did for my TGRWT #6 submission and it did not have the soapy taste I feared. I also followed Magnus’ suggestion and simmered the lavender. The credit for the recipe goes to Stephanie Witt Sedgwick from the Washington Post, who developed the original recipe as a part of a collection of recipes using apples.

For this recipe you will need:

• 3 cups of chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons of dried lavender flowers
• 2 mild Italian sausages (450 grams)
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 230g (1 and 1/4 cup) of Arborio rice
• 1 large onion (150g chopped)
• 1 tart apple (124g chopped)
• 1 sweet apple (124g chopped)
• 1 cup of apple cider
• 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (24 grams)
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts (34 grams)
• Chive tube leaves for decoration

I did not have the apple cider that Stephanie’s recipe called for so instead I made a thin apple sauce: one apple chopped in pieces boiled for 5 minutes with half a cup of water and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. For the chicken broth I used Better than Bouillon, which has a lot of salt. If you use a salt-free broth add between 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt to the dish right before you add the first cup of broth.

1. Heat the chicken broth with the lavender flowers until it boils. Remove from the heat.

2. Melt the butter on large sauté pan. Cut the casings of the sausages lengthwise and drop the filing into the sauté pan. Fry for 5 minutes, but do not brown. Crumble the sausage meat with a spoon while it fries. While the sausage cooks, dice the onions.

3. Add the onions and fry until they become translucent.

4. Add the rice, chopped apple, and the pine nuts. Mix until the grains are coated with oil. Pour about a cup of the chicken broth with lavender. Set the heat to low. Mix and cover the pan.

5. Set a timer for 30 minutes. As soon as the bottom of the pan appears dry, add about another half a cup of broth, mix, and cover. Repeat whenever the bottom dries out. Alternate between the broth and the apple cider after the first two cups of broth.

6. If you run out of broth and cider, make some more broth and continue the process just with the broth. After 30 minutes, try the rice. You may need to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes until it feels cooked. The dish will be creamy-looking.

7. Once cooked, remove from heat and mix in the Parmesan cheese. Put on a serving dish and sprinkle with finely chopped chives. You can also plate the risotto. Oil a small teacup, press the cooked risotto into the cup, invert onto a plate, and then sprinkle with the chopped chives.