Dessert without fears: tartuffo of paradise: chocolate

Ciao Ragazzi, and a happy holiday to all of you, whatever affiliation you adhere to. It's a time when many will be in the kitchen, working and resenting it, or saying "you know, I should be doing more of this." And indeed, some of you will indeed pick up the mantle and make more home cooked food. BUT...

you will continue to recoil at dessert, and baking.... Come on now, let's have a show of hands :how many of you are in the camp of "I like to cook, but baking... MEH" Danielle, you can put up both of your hands, I know you're there.

Well, by dint of circumstances, Annalena had to pull out one of her really good desserts that DOES NOT INVOLVE TURNING ON THE OVEN!!!! And it is a spectacular dessert.

See, ragazzi, last week, Annalena's oven began to make the sounds that a car does when its fan belt tore . Now those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, should check with your local handyperson and get an idea. You know the sound. You just may not know the analogy. In any event, it was clear that the oven was having issues and on Tuesday, it gave up.

Intrepidly, Annalena went to her favorite local applicances store, which has never let her down. Unfortunately, all of her magic could not waive the "out of stock" fact. The new oven will , with luck, be in Annalena's kitchen on Tuesday. Note "with luck." Any New Yorker who has waited for a delivery knows of what she speaks. And there are people coming to dinner on Wednesday. And so, adhering to a "better safe than sorry" philosophy, and of course, concluding that ice cream alone was insufficient for dessert, this one came out.

It is a recipe from one of the formative restaurants in Annalena's career: "Square One," which was the wonderful Joyce Goldstein's absolutely fabulous restaurant in San Francisco. She closed it, because she got tired of running a restaurant. GOOD FOR HER. But Annalena and the Guyman miss it to this day - 25 years later.

Well ,this dessert was on the menu as part of a dessert "sampler," which could easily have fed six, which the Guyman, the Queen Mother of the West Phil, and Annalena were to eat. There was one slice: maybe an ounce. Annalena does not eat chocolate and left it to her boys. They could not finish it. It is THAT rich. And it is THAT good. And it is in her cookbook. And you should make it. You WILL make it. Annalena insists.

Here are your ingredients: 3/4 pound of the best bittersweet chocolate you can afford. Half a cup EACH of whole milk, and heavy cream, and half a stick of unsalted butter. Two eggs. A splash of vanilla, and a third of a cup of sugar.

You will want a bread loaf pan: a smaller one, the 8x4 size, some parchment paper, something to oil the pan, a piece of plastic, and a mixer.

Here we go. Cut parchment paper to fit the inside of your pan. How precise you are, depends on you. It doesn't need to be to the 1/32 of an inch. Annalena uses an oil spray on the pan, and then puts the paper on the bottom and the sides, such that it will adhere.

Now, get your chocolate, and chop it up as finely as you can. Note that you can buy bakers discs of chocolate, which are about the size of a quarter. If you have these, your life will be much easier. Put the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer. Put it aside, while you combine the butter, the milk and the cream in a pan, and bring it to a boil, melting the butter along the way. This will be easier if you cut the butter into bits. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate, and start whisking until the thing melts. Use a lower speed, but if you find that the chocolate on the sides is not coming down into your mixture, speed it up to get it. Then whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and the sugar. Then the vanilla.

So much for your "cooking." Scrape it into that pan you prepared, cover it with plastic, and let it refrigerate, overnight.

The next day, you will have a block of chocolate indulgent decadence that... for those of you who want a dessert for next year's Passover, is flour free.

To get it out of the pan, get a large bowl, or pan, and put about an inch and a half of hot water in it. Put the pan into the water. You will see oozes of chocolate. Run a knife around the block, invert it onto a plate, pull away the paper... and now, it's time to get a wet knife and cut it. Cut small pieces, and let people go back for seconds, if they want them.

Go and read those ingredients again: chocolate, cream, eggs, sugar, milk. Yes, this is rich as can be. So small is better here. Have a second piece if you like, or perhaps put it back in the refrigerator to eat for another day. It does keep. Frozen... Does anyone remember the days of fudgesickles?

Happy holidays to all, and enjoy whatever sweets you are sharing.