"out of the box."

I've been using this phrase, a lot, in a different context over the past few days. I'll be using it more, and stay tuned. If there's an interesting story to tell, I'll tell it.

For cooks, stepping out of the box can mean many things. A technique you're not familiar with, for example, or an odd ingredient, or one you're not familiar with. And , sometimes, it's just an ingredient you don't like.

For me, everytime I cook with chocolate, I step out of the box. Let me explain. I LOVE working with chocolate. It's one of the most interesting, complex ingredients you'll ever work with. If you think of it just as something thick and sweet, think again. There are a few ingredients that I think of as "chameleons." Play with them, and you can get them to do just about anything. Chocolate is actually one of those. And generally, if you don't do something careless like get chocolate wet, it will do anything you ask it too. Unlike people.

But I don't like the taste. I just don't get it. But cooking is about pleasing people, isn't it? And in the restaurant biz, as I'm sure you've seen at home, chocolate "sells." Interestingly though, amongst desserts, chocolate is the SECOND biggest seller. If you put chocolate up against an apple dessert, apples will win every time. Apple pie outsells chocolate cake, and so forth. Of course, as restaurants know, chocolate keeps better than apples, ultimately it is cheaper, so you won't see as many apple desserts as you will chocolate. And there it is.

So, unless I decide to be a snooty cook (or a snootier one, depending on your point of view), I have to cook with chocolate. And occasionally, I find a recipe that I really DO like. This is one of them. It's a recipe from Mary Ann Esposito, a television cook, and a true, true character.

I speak from experience. Years ago, our friend Steve gave us a gift of a cooking class that Mary Ann was giving. It was demo - or supposed to be. To make a long story short, during the demo, she called up this brutally attractive man sitting in front of me, and yours truly, to come up and make breadsticks with her. When we got on stage, she then announced that "this is why I don't bring my husband to the classes. I always ask the two most handsome men in the audience to help me."

Yup, I nearly wet my pants. And we baked grissini, and kissed and hugged and laughed (Mary Ann and I, NOT Alex - the other man - and I). And at the end of it, I made a friend.

This is her recipe, and the original is as idiosyncratic as she is. For example, it calls for mascarpone cheese "in case you have some leftovers in the fridge."

Uh, Maryann, I got some weird stuff in my fridge. All the time. But I don't EVER have mascarpone sitting around. So when I make it, I use ricotta, which she deems "an acceptable substitute."

This makes a BIG cake. She says it serves eight, and I guess if you're sitting down for coffee and cake, she's right. Or if you're having a small birthday party. But if you're putting this out at the end of a meal, probably 12 is a safer number. The recipe doubles in case you're making cake for a party, a brunch or something like that. It looks weird, but it tastes really, really good.

Maryann also calls for an eight inch cake pan. In my experience, that size pan is too small, and the cake overflows (incidentally, did you know that if you ask a woman how big an 8 inch pan is, she'll say six inches, and if you ask a man, he'll say 10? No, I made that up, but it's a good story isn't it?)

Ok, back to the cake. This is what you need for one. If you want to make two, just double it.

Mix these ingredients in a bowl: 2 cups of all purpose flour, and 2 cups of sugar, plus a teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt. That should take you all of about three minutes to do.


Now, melt a stick of butter, unsalted, in a BIG pot. Then, you need half a cup of coffee. STRONG coffee. This assumes that you have leftover coffee around. I never do. So I make a strong cup of espresso, using espresso powder and boiling water. Pour half of that into the butter. Then squeeze enough oranges, or tangerines, or blood oranges, whatever you have, to get half a cup. This is going to take more than you think - probably four or so. Add that juice to the pot. Put in 1/3 cup of good cocoa powder. NOT the cheap crap. Mix this all up together. You'll get a dark, scary looking liquid

Last step. Promise. Get half a cup of ricotta. If you have good quality stuff, you may need to blend it in the food processor to break up the curds. Add 2 large eggs and mix them up. Finally, add a scant tablespoon of almond extract (this is optional, or you could substitute something you like).

Now, you'll see the reason for the big pot. Pour the flour mixture in, and stir the two items together . Add the cheese and eggs and stir that together. Pour the whole mass into a VERY well greased nine inch pan. Get that into a 350 oven, and bake for 45 minutes. No less. At 45 minutes, you'll have a cake with a slightly soft center. If you like a firmer product, bake for anywhere from an additional 5 to 15 minutes.

Let this cool for about ten minutes and invert it onto a cooling rack. It's really important that you do this soon after the cake is finished, because the orange juice "carmelizes" and the cooler it gets, the harder it is to get the cake out of the pan. Trust me on this. I've had to make some really good trifles when the cake disintegrated during turn out.

Let it cool completely. You don't need to refrigerate this one. After you've cut into it, however, I suggest that you cover it to keep it fresh.

I actually like this cake. With a bit of ice cream on the side, or whipped cream, or something like that.

Thinking outside of the box. Wotta concept