Valentine’s Day, for those who celebrate, is just a couple days away, when legal limits on chocolate-gobbling are temporarily suspended. In anticipation, and because chocolate just happens to be next up on my BIF (Best Ingredients Forever) List, let us now explore the fudgy wiles of the divine cacao bean.
Considering going a little dark this holiday? Then give serious thought to Yossy Arefi’s new recipe for chocolate cheesecake with raspberry swirl. This dense, rich cake, with a texture somewhere between a flan and a chocolate truffle, is crowned with puddles of fruity jam. You bake the cheesecake at a low temperature, so you can skip the usual water bath without worrying about cracks on the top. This dessert keeps well in the fridge, so avoid last-minute fussing and make it tonight or tomorrow to serve on Friday. Then snack languorously all weekend long.
Featured Recipe
Chocolate Cheesecake With Raspberry Swirl
Still more of Yossy’s bittersweet brilliance can be found in her chocolate pound cake with strawberry whipped cream. You often see this classic V-Day pairing in chocolate-covered strawberries (check out Eric “Big Dipper” Kim’s great recipe). But Yossy flips the script by baking the chocolate into a tender-crumbed pound cake, then covers it in a drift of strawberry-flavored whipped cream. Sliced fresh berries at the peak show you what you’re in for.
For a shareable treat that scales easily, Lidey Heuck’s brownies are simple-to-make paragons of the form. Their gooey-in-the-middle, crackling-on-top texture comes from dissolving the sugar in butter before adding the chocolate. Use semisweet, bittersweet or a mix to dial in the sweetness you like.
(Psst. The trick for cutting brownies neatly? Flip the pan onto a cutting board upside down, so the bottom is on top, and cut the brownies into squares before flipping them back over. Neat and clean! Then pass them out to your valentines and feel the love radiate back at you.)
Of course, unless you’re dining out for Valentine’s Day (not my thing, I’m afraid), you’ll need to make something to precede the chocolate. Oh right, like dinner.
I feel like classic and cozy is the way to go, particularly if you’re preceding that with oysters and Champagne (most definitely my thing). Perhaps a nice roast chicken and a salad? But not just any chicken — a romantic roast chicken, such as a recipe that a reader, Florence Chapgier, once sent me for her mother’s roast chicken. Stuffed with an entire bunch of tarragon and doused with Cognac, this chicken truly is one of the best birds I’ve ever roasted. Its lusciousness lies in the alchemy of the copious butter mixing with the caramelized chicken juices, the licorice-y fresh herbs and a heady dash of brandy added right at the end.
And let’s not do just any salad either, but “The Best Green Salad In The World,” as Via Carota’s insalata verde, adapted by Samin Nosrat, has been labeled. This Platonic ideal of a salad boasts a shallot-mustard vinaigrette so balanced and savory you’ll be tempted to slurp it straight. Save some for the lettuces though. There’s still a limit to drinking salad dressing.
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That’s all for now. I’ll see you on Monday.
