Bella Cerise Apricot and Raspberry Frozen Mousse, Martha and Packing Our Bags

Last week was a whirlwind of events and travel. I packed my bags and my little M. and flew out to New York to attend the Martha Stewart Blogger party. It was so fantastic to finally meet editors and fellow bloggers in person and catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a while like Amy, Karen, Nole, Maria or Joanna.

One of the highlights was to finally meet Alice, Olga, Jordan and Matt who are also charter members of Martha's Circle. We were so lucky to have a private tour of their building and offices with access to their test kitchens, prop room (my goodness!!!) and photography studios. Martha herself came out to say hello and more than one shed a tear from sheer excitement.



It was so inspiring and overwhelming to be there with so many creative minds in one room. So many amazing people to meet and greet and express my love to. Yes, I did that. When I am in a room with such energy, I tend to spill my guts out. I was even able to bring M. to the party and she of course, loved all the attention.

I wasn't able to take any good photos for you, but you can check out Amy's, Alice's and Matt's posts.



We arrived home late Friday night. The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep. M. had crashed on the plane, so when I put her down for the night, I went down to the kitchen. My mind couldn't relax after all the excitement from the previous days. I started to recall the amazing lunch we had at ABC Kitchen or the caramel crunch doughnut I ate at Babycakes.

Then, I noticed the beautiful red apricots on the dining room table. Belle Cerise apricots. Bright pinkish red skin with bright orange flesh. I ate one and it was juicy like a plum, but tasted just like an apricot. "Perfect", I thought.



The next morning I woke up to a little boy standing right next to my bed, asking a million questions about my trip, the places I had seen and the people I had met. He remembered Amy and the bakugans. Don't ask... things only 4 year old boys know about. I peeled the apricots while I listened to the stories about the zoo, raccoons on the loose and all the sea shells gathered at the beach. Priceless.

We made this super creamy apricot and raspberry swirl frozen mousse that was perfect for the hot afternoon. The next day, we made a simple crumble that I flavored with lots of fresh lemon and lemon thyme. If you have not used herbs in your crumble topping yet, you should. Amazing.



This week we leave for Bilbao. I will be traveling with both kids alone. I actually should be packing or at least thinking about packing right now, but for some reason it seems like a daunting task.

We will be home for three weeks. I will be posting photos from our trip with lots of food, I promise. There is always food in the Basque Country. I will also be taping a show for Robin Food, so be sure to stay tuned for that one!

See you soon!

Bella Cerise and Raspberry Swirl Frozen Mousse

3 eggs
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
1/3 cup (100 grams) apricot puree
2 cups (450 ml) heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) raspberries
1 Tbs sugar

Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Puree the raspberries and the sugar and set aside.

Place the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Place the bowl over a water bath and whip the eggs and sugar mixture for about 5 minutes until it thickens. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and continue whipping in high speed until the eggs have cooled. It will be thick. Fold in the apricot puree, followed by the soft peak cream.

Transfer the cream to a glass or metal baking dish or small jars. Spoon in some of the raspberry puree and make swirls through the apricot cream with a spoon or wooden skewer.

Transfer to the freezer and serve frozen.

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Bella Cerise Apricot and Raspberry Frozen Mousse, Martha and Packing Our Bags

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Raspberries N' Cream Dessert Table

One of the best things about summer is probably the abundant fruit. When I was approached by Project Wedding to develop and photograph a summer dessert, I immediately envisioned something with berries, fresh and colorful. Here is the raspberries and cream themed dessert table with raspberry and yogurt mousse cakes, raspberries and cream macarons and raspberry meringue kisses.




You can get the recipes and read the rest of the story here.



Hope you like it!

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Raspberries N' Cream Dessert Table

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Milk Chocolate and Passion Fruit Cream Bars

When I had the idea to make these bars, I started browsing through my compilation of recipes. Then I realized that it will be three years next month that I stopped working in a professional kitchen. That thought paralyzed me momentarily and I felt like saying the same thing my mom always says "where did time go".




The passion fruit and milk chocolate cream recipes come from the last chef I worked for. He won several awards with an entremet he composed of tropical fruits, milk chocolate and caramel. It was definitely one of the most popular desserts we had and the one with most elements.

This is definitely a different version as it only contains two, passion fruit and milk chocolate cream with a base of milk chocolate sponge. I love the pairing of the two and I also applied that to the macaron filling with Pierre Herme's passion fruit and milk chocolate ganache recipe.



And the leftover mousse is also great in a mini cup. Just for when you need a little something. Have a great weekend!

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Milk Chocolate and Passion Fruit Cream Bars

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Meyer Lemon Semifreddo and Some Macarons

As you know, I had a bag full of meyer lemons that I received over the weekend. After reading all your suggestions, all I can say is that I wish I had a couple more bags. My brain was spinning with all of those ideas. Sometimes I wish certain fruits were available all year round but again, there is something so exciting about waiting. It makes us appreciate that moment even more.

I have been having fun lately playing around with different presentations of the same recipe and for some reason, I keep coming back to frozen desserts and macarons. It must be the Spring-like weather we are having.

Sometimes I think that I could really just spend my days making macarons. All colors and flavors, a la Pierre Herme or Stephane Glacier. Have the windows wide open, a cool breeze coming in and piping all day long while I listen to The Beatles' "White Album".



I decided to make a simple meyer lemon curd with all those lemons and turn that curd into a meyer lemon semifreddo. Some in ring molds and some in my over-used recycled yogurt containers. Yes, I know. Overused. But so lovely.

For the macarons, I used my regular macarons recipe but added yellow food coloring and some zest. For the filling, I mixed about two thirds vanilla buttercream with about a third of the lemon curd and some extra zest. So refreshing and colorful. Can you tell I love yellow?



Meyer Lemon Curd

100 grams eggs
35 grams sugar
100 grams meyer lemon juice
Zest of 1 meyer lemon
10 grams butter, room temperature

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, juice and zest. Cook this mixture in a double boiler until it thickens (84C).

Strain into a clean bowl and chill it over an ice bath until it is about body temperature. Add the room temperature butter and mix with a hand blender until an emulsion is form (it will turn a bit lighter in color). Refrigerate until ready to use.

Pate a Bombe

110 grams sugar
30 grams glucose
55 grams water
40 grams egg yolk

Place the egg yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer and start whipping until light and thick.

In the meantime, place the sugar, glucose and water in a small saucepan and cook to 240F. Add the sugar syrup to the whipped yolks in a slow and steady stream pouring on the side of the bowl. Continue whipping in high until egg yolks thick and cooled.

Meyer Lemon Semifreddo

110 grams pate a bombe (about the full recipe described above)
6 grams sheet gelatin
80 grams meyer lemon curd
Zest of 1 meyer lemon
220 grams heavy cream, soft peak

Soften the gelatin in ice water for 5 minutes. Add about 3 Tbs of the heavy cream to the softened gelatin and microwave for about 10 seconds until the gelatin melts into the cream. Add this gelatin into the rest of the soft peak heavy cream and whisk rapidly until the gelatin is incorporated.

Fold a third of the heavy cream into the pate a bombe and mix well. Fold in the rest gently.

Fold the meyer lemon zest and curd into the base leaving some streaks visible.

Pour into molds and let it set in the freezer.

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Meyer Lemon Semifreddo and Some Macarons

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Chocolate and Pistachio Mousse Cakes

My floors are scrubbed, lavender sachet under the pillow and my grocery list complete. My parents are arriving tonight and everything must be perfect. I impose the silliest things on myself when my mom comes to visit. I know none of this is important to her because she comes to see me, but deep inside, I still feel like the 10 year old girl who has to report to her parents. Some things never change.




So I made a little something for them. Little mousse cakes with chocolate genoise soaked in a kirsch syrup, with pistachio and chocolate mousse. You might be wondering what the red color is for. Well, I always add a bit of red coloring to chocolate spray to bring out the dark in the chocolate. Spraying chocolate is a messy, messy job in a small kitchen, that's why you might be interested in this.

Chocolate Genoise

6 whole eggs
180 grams sugar
80 grams cornstarch
80 grams flour
20 grams cocoa powder
20 grams butter, melted and cooled

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Place this bowl over a double boiler and continue whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the eggs feel hot to the touch. Transfer the bowl to the electric mixer and whip in high speed until the eggs triple in volume and they form a thick ribbon.

Sift the cornstarch, flour and cocoa powder together into a bowl. Add the sifted mixture to the whipped eggs in three batches folding each time slowly to avoid deflating the batter too much. Finally add the melted butter and fold so that the butter doesn't all fall to the bottom of the bowl.

Divide this batter into two half sheetpans that have been sprayed and lined with parchment paper. Spread the batter evenly and bake in a 375F oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cake cool. The cake can be wrapped in plastic and frozen.

Kirsch Simple Syrup

100 grams water
100 grams sugar
2 Tbs kirsch or to taste

Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Remove from heat as soon as sugar is dissolved. Let the syrup cool and add the kirsch.

Pistachio Mousse

55 grams pate a bombe
3 grams gelatin leaves
85 grams pistachio puree
225 ml heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Mix pate a bombe and pistachio paste together. Soften the gelatin in ice water. Melt the soften gelatin with a bit of whipped cream in the microwave for about 7 seconds. Whisk it and quickly whisk into the rest of the whipped cream. Fold the whipped cream and pate a bombe base together.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

55 grams pate a bombe
85 grams 70% chocolate
225 ml heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Add a third of the cream to the melted chocolate and whisk. Add the pate a bombe to this and fold. Add the rest of the cream and fold. If the mousse is a bit runny, place the bowl in the refrigerator so it has a chance to harden a bit so it is easier to pipe.

Assemble the Cakes

Line ring molds with acetate paper and place them on a sheetpan. Measure the circumference of the ring mold and cut a strip of cake accordingly. Place the strip of chocolate genoise around the ring mold and a disk on the bottom. Soak the cake with simple syrup. Pipe the pistachio mousse inside the ring mold almost to the top. Top with another disk of genoise. Soak the top disk of cake with some more syrup. Let the cake sit in the freezer until the pistachio mousse sets.

Place the chocolate mousse in a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe a rosette on top of the cake. Freeze the cakes overnight. For the velvet look, spray the cakes with chocolate spray when these are still frozen.

And if you are interested about reading about my favorite things, visit Joslyn at Simple Lovely. She is amazing.

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Chocolate and Pistachio Mousse Cakes

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Roasted Fig Frozen Mousse and Autumn Excitement

I have been daydreaming about autumn... leaves changing color, raspberry red coats, membrillo and figs. I cannot get to any of those at the moment except for the figs, so I have been indulging on them as much as I can, because I know the season is short.

I am going home back to Bilbao at the end of this month and I cannot wait to eat the figs when I get there. I have yet to find figs like those in my uncle's fig tree in his back yard. Pure sweetness.




I love how light and airy frozen mousses with a pâte à bombe base are. There is air incorporated from whipping the egg yolks and air incorporated from the whipped cream. They are lighter than ice cream or bavarian creams but still have a high fat content which makes them suitable for freezing without too many ice crystals. Just perfect.

When I make pâte à bombe, I always make extra and keep it in the refrigerator or even the freezer for the next time I want to make a quick mousse. This time I had figs that were a bit under ripe so I roasted them with a bit of sugar to make them tender and blended them in the food processor. I left the seeds and skin on because I like a bit of texture in the mousse and because it would take tons of fresh figs to get a small amount of fine puree.

I built the mousses in ring molds, froze them and then cut them in half for a different presentation. It is accompanied by a little quenelle of whipped mascarpone cream and some crumbled chocolate macarons.



Pâte à Bombe

4 oz sugar
1 oz corn syrup
2 oz water
3 egg yolks

Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to 240 degrees Farenheit. In the meantime, whip the yolks until they turn fluffy and pale. Add the cooked sugar to the yolks while the mixer is on low speed. Pour the sugar on the side of the bowl so you don't create spun sugar while doing this. Turn the mixer back to high and continue beating until light, thick and the bowl has cooled.

Roasted Figs

Pint of black mission figs

Cut the figs in half and place them on a sheetpan. Sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top if they seem not sweet enough. Bake at 325F for about 20 minutes. Puree them in a food processor or with a hand held mixer.

Roasted Fig Frozen Mousse

2 oz pâte à bombe
3 grams gelatin leaves (about 1 1/2)
3 oz roasted fig puree
8 oz heavy cream, soft peaks

Soften the gelatin in ice water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess water and mix it into the warm fig puree. Add the fig puree to the pâte à bombe and whisk until thoroughly combined. Fold in the whipped cream and pipe into the ring molds. Freeze the molds and serve the mousse slightly frozen.

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Roasted Fig Frozen Mousse and Autumn Excitement

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The Dairy Experiments: Mamia

After the fun we had with the petit suisse experiment, Helen and I decided to try another experiment together. When she asked me what I wanted to do this time, I instantly told her about mamia, a traditional Basque dessert, which Helen had tasted years ago in one of her trips to the French Basque Country. She mentioned she wanted to attempt to replicate her father's favorite cheese, faisselle, which she said is very similar to mamia.

These experiments are very much driven by childhood memories and nostalgia. Here she was wanting to make her father's favorite cheese and here I was, remembering the times my father used to take me up to the mountain of Gorbea to visit a sheep herder he knew.

Mamia, also known as gatzatua or cuajada in other parts of Spain, is a creamy dessert made from ewe's milk. Very similar to yogurt in texture, but completely different taste. Mamia is mild and not acidic. It used to be a very seasonal product since ewe's milk was only available during the spring months but nowadays, it is readily available in the yogurt aisle of many supermarkets. Although being able to eat mamia all year round is very convenient, I love the idea of waiting twelve months to enjoy something so precious. It was usually a neighbor or a close friend who brought us the ewe's milk and my mom would make the mamia for us. Always a treat, given and received with great love and appreciation.




In theory, mamia is one of the easiest desserts one can make. Ewe's milk is heated, cooled to body temperature, a few drops of rennet are added, then poured into clay jars and left to coagulate. When we decided to do the experiment, I really wanted to see if I could find sheep's milk so I could replicate the dessert just as I remember it. I looked online and even called a couple of places but no one was selling it, so I settled for goat's milk. But this meant that some adjustments had to be made because goat's milk has a smaller milk solid and fat content than sheep's milk. I wanted to start by using goat's milk and rennet alone. Once I saw the result, I would be able me to make the necessary adjustments to compensate for the lack of fat and solid matter in the goat's milk.

As I imagined, my first batch did not set properly. The milk was still fairly liquid after 12 hours, so I decided to add some dry milk and heavy cream to the goat's milk and proceeded as before. This time it worked and the milk set beautifully.



Mamia is usually sweetened with honey or a bit of sugar and served with fruit compotes and nuts. This is exactly how I like it, simple and rustic. However, I wanted to reserve some to turn it into a more complex plated dessert using these traditional components as a basis. Mamia mousse, vanilla bean and apricot jelly, walnut nougatine crust and acacia honey ice cream.

Mamia

500 ml goat's milk
50 grams heavy cream
30 grams dry milk powder
pinch of salt
liquid rennet

Place the goat's milk with the heavy cream, dry milk powder and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring it up to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let the milk come down in temperature to 37C, which is about body temperature.

Place 3 drops of liquid rennet into 4 ramekins or glass jars. Divide the milk amongst the jars. Do not stir or move the jars. Let the milk set for an hour at room temperature until it sets and then refrigerate. They will stay good in the refrigerator for about 3 days.

Mamia Mousse

2 egg yolks
35 grams sugar
250 grams mamia
2 grams gelatin sheets
100 grams heavy cream, soft peaks

Whip the yolks with an electric mixer. In the meantime, cook the sugar with a bit of water to reach 240F. Pour the cooked sugar into the yolks and keep whipping until it thickens and it is cool to the touch.Fold in the mamia into the yolks.

Soften the gelatin in ice water for about 5 minutes. Melt the gelatin over a double boiler and add it to the egg yolk mixture while whisking so it doesn't set right away. Fold in the soft peak heavy cream. Pipe the mixture into the molds and refrigerate until it sets.

Honey Ice Cream

750 grams milk
75 grams heavy cream
165 grams acacia honey (or any honey you have available)
75 grams sugar
8 egg yolks
pinch salt

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, heavy cream, salt and sugar to a boil. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks with the honey. temper the boiling milk into the egg yolks and whisk. Place the ice cream base back in the pan and cook until it thickens slightly or to 84C.

Strain through a fine sieve and chill over an ice bath. Refrigerate the ice cream base overnight and churn in an ice cream machine. Freeze.

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The Dairy Experiments: Mamia

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Pistachio, Cashew and Cherry Nougat Glace with Warm Chocolate Sauce

I dreamt I was in a room full of people. I stood up and said "Hi, my name is Aran and I am a nut addict". I looked over and there was my dad, my brothers, my friend Amaia... All nut addicts. And then I woke up.

I grew up in a household where there was always a basket of raw, unshelled nuts on the kitchen table. Walnuts all year round, hazelnuts mostly in the winter, pistachios... you name it. The nutcracker was always accesible next to the everyday flatware and kitchen knives.




During Christmas time, we always had a cupboard full of turron in our house. There were different varieties, some soft, some chocolate with rice puffs, some made exclusively out of yolks and sugar, but my favorite was always the teeth-breaking "turron duro" which is similar to nougat. Egg whites, honey and cooked sugar made into a stiff marshmallow with whole almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and many other combinations.

I was craving turron but it didn't seem very season appropriate so I remembered the frozen nougat parfait or nougat glace recipe we used to make at my previous job. I adapted it to my own taste but the technique is the same. It is basically, nuts that are cooked in a caramel and added to a meringue and whipped cream mousse. Very, very fresh, light and it has a perfect mouthfeel. Much "fluffier" than ice cream. I molded it into ring molds and also a terrine since I had extra that didn't fit into the rings. For the terrine, I used a small rectangular cake pan but you can use a round cake pan, pyramids, half spheres, anything.

To serve along side with it, I made chocolate sauce and pourred it over the nougat glace while still warm. It instantly dissolves the parfait. Just how I like it.



Pistachio, Cashew and Cherry Nougat Glace

100 grams sugar
30 grams raw pistachios
25 grams raw cashews
25 grams dried cherries, soaked in kirsch, drained and chopped
75 grams egg whites
75 grams honey (I used Acacia)
250 grams heavy cream, soft peaks

In a medium saucepan, sprinkle some of the sugar and turn the heat to medium high. When that sugar starts to melt and slightly caramelize, add some more and let that melt too. Proceed like this until all the sugar has been added and it starts to caramelize. You can stir with a wooden spatula to achieve an even caramelization. When the caramel is amber, add the room temperature nuts and stir until they are roasted. Stir constantly for about 2 minutes.

Spread the nougat over a silpat and let it cool completely. Be careful because this is very hot!

Once it has cooled, chop into small pieces. You can even chop it in the food processor but be careful not to completely pulverize it. Reserve.

Whip the cream to soft peaks and reserve in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the mousse.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites. In the meantime, place the honey in a small saucepan and bring it to a full boil. When the egg whites are whipped, turn the speed of the mixer to low and slowly add the boiled honey on the side of the bowl in a steady stream. When all the honey is in, turn the mixer back to full speed and whip the egg whites until fully whipped and the bowl cools down.

Add the meringue to the whipped cream. Fold gently. Add the chopped nougat and the drained and chopped dried cherries. Place the mousse in a pastry bag and pipe into your molds.

Chocolate Sauce

50 grams heavy cream
50 grams whole milk
15 grams sugar
2 tsp corn syrup
115 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped

In a small saucapan, bring the first four ingredients to a boil. Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and when the milk comes to a boil, pour over the chocolate and stir until completely melted.

Serve or store in the refrigerator.



On a different note, I just wanted to tell you about a little interview I had for the Basque Public Radio yesterday. The interview is in Basque therefore not many of you will understand it, but for my Basque readers (and I believe I have a few), you might want to just visit the EITB web and listen to Euskadi Irratia at 11:15am Continental European time (5:15am EST) today.

Eskerrik asko Arka!

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Pistachio, Cashew and Cherry Nougat Glace with Warm Chocolate Sauce

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