Sunday, April 20, 2008

Tomato-Egg Florentine Casserole

This is a pretty simple dish that tastes like comfort food to me, and uses stuff I almost always have on hand. The recipe is a liberal adaptation of one I got from Orangette here, and which she credits as her take on a recipe published in the Splendid Table Weeknight Kitchen. The Splendid Table recipe, in turn, was adapted from a recipe by the great Jacques Pepin in his home cook's staple, Jacques Pepin Fast Food My Way. So this little dish took a convoluted route to my table. It's sort of like playing Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon with food. I'd like to see the original Pepin recipe now, since I'm betting my version in no way resembles his with this many sources between us.

Strange pedigree aside, the dish tastes good, and that's what's important, right? It works in a 'great tastes that go together great' kind of way. The classic Florentine combination of pasta, tomato, and spinach gets a pick-me-up from the flavour of egg and a crust of Gruyere. I haven't tried it this way yet, but I'd bet you could throw some gently sauted artichoke hearts in here too and it would be delicious. It's a forgiving kind of dish like that. Or, if you don't have the spinach, leave that out and it still works. That's how comfort food goes: it's for those days when the last thing you need is something going wrong in the kitchen.

Tomato-Egg Florentine Casserole

5 large eggs
2 handfuls (1-1 1/2 cups) short-cut pasta. I like rotini, but it doesn't really matter as long as you're not using spaghetti or something long like that.
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, roughly diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp dried thyme (don't get the fresh stuff, the spice-rack version works great)
1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, undrained
1/8 lb spinach (or half of the 1/4 bags my grocery carries)
1 cup grated gruyere
Salt
Pepper

Begin by putting the raw eggs in a pot, running enough water in the pot to cover them, then sitting them over medium-high heat until the water boils. When it boils, set a timer for 9 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat and carefully drain the hot water out. Run cold water over the eggs, drain that, run more cold water over the eggs, and throw in a handful of ice chips to cool the water further. Let the eggs sit there and cool while you work on the rest of the recipe.

While the eggs are coming to a boil, put another pot on to boil with water for the pasta. Salt the water, and when it boils (this should be approximately the same time as the eggs coming to boil) add the pasta. Cook the pasta for about five minutes, then drain it. You want the pasta slightly underdone, since it will absorb some juice when you bake the whole casserole.

While the pasta and eggs are cooking, set the oven to preheat to 400F.

Add the onions and olive oil to a large sauce pan, and cook over medium heat until the onions turn soft and translucent. Add the garlic and let that saute for about two minutes (I usually take the eggs and pasta off during this stage), then add the tomatoes and their juices. Use the side of your spatula or a wooden spoon to break apart the tomatoes into manageable pieces, and simmer the tomato-onion mixture for another two minutes. Add the thyme, and taste the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring the whole tomato mixture to a boil, then remove it from the heat. Gently fold in the spinach (you may need to do this in handfuls since the spinach takes up a lot of space before it wilts.

Now it's time to assemble the casserole. You should have the tomato-onion-spinach mixture, the cooled eggs, and the drained pasta. Grab the dish that you'll be using to bake the casserole. I use a souffle dish with tall sides, but a shorter and wider square casserole dish would probably work just as well. Slice the eggs into quarter wedges, and place them in the bottom of the dish. Pour the pasta into the same pan as the tomato-spinach mixture, and stir briefly to mix that all up. Pour the tomato-spinach-pasta mix over the eggs. On top of everything, sprinkle your cheese. I like to be generous with the cheese, and usually use more than the cup I've called for here.

Once the casserole is assembled, stick it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Next, crack the oven door and turn on the broiler on high for 4 minutes, to put a nice crust on the cheese. Serve immediately.

Servings: 6-8

Friday, April 18, 2008

Steamed Artichokes in Lemon Butter Sauce

I'm almost embarrassed to be posting this recipe, since it's not really even a recipe. It's just directions about how to cook an artichoke, which until recently I'd never done. But the last few weeks, I've been eating artichokes pretty frequently. They're just coming into season now: round and green and prickly. A single artichoke is more than enough for a meal for me, and it makes me feel like I'm being healthy (even though it's probably enough butter to negate any healthiness the artichoke may bring). They're also fun. I will always like veggies that I can eat with my fingers and not feel like I'm being uncouth. They're interactive food, and they're easier to interact with than, say, shrimp or oysters. All the fun, none of the hassle.

Steamed Artichokes in Lemon Butter Sauce

1 artichoke (pick your artichokes by how heavy they are, with tightly knit leaves)
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup white wine (just eyeball it)
Salt
Pepper

Steam the artichoke by cutting off the stem close as close to the artichoke as possible. Next, cut off the tip of the artichoke; the bits that are nothing but prickly and are at the end opposite the stem. This may be difficult; I usually use a serrated knife, and even then I may require kitchen shears to get the last few stubborn leaves off. A chef's knife (even a very sharp chef's knife) really doesn't cuts it when it comes to artichoke tips. Anyway, saw that off.

Boil a couple inches of water in a pot, and set a vegetable steamer on top of it. If you don't have a vegetable steamer (as I didn't for a long time), use an aluminum pie plate, turned upside down to sit in the water, and with lots of holes poked in the bottom to let the steam through. Set the artichoke tip-side down in the steamer, cover it, and let it steam over a low boil for 40 minutes or so. I wouldn't go over that, because over-steaming leaches out the flavours.

Towards the end of the steaming process, simmer the wine in a small saucepan, over medium heat, and melt the butter into it. Stir in the lemon juice, and let the whole thing simmer for a minute or so. Taste it, then add salt and pepper to taste. Mine always needs quite a bit of salt. I add a little more than I think it needs and it turns out perfect, because artichokes taste really good with salt.

Serve without utensils, and pull the artichoke leaves one by one off the artichoke. Dip them in the sauce, and eat the meat off the underside of the leaves. When you get to the heart, cut out the feathery bits to leave only the base of the heart. That too can be eaten with the sauce.

Servings: 1

(Also? 20th recipe, whoo!)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Potato-Pear Salad with Rosemary Vinaigrette Dressing

This recipe was designed to be served alongside pork tenderloin with pear glaze, and I'm pretty proud of it. It was a riff on something I saw on Top Chef, and it came out spectacularly well. The salad is a perfect combination of textures and flavours, and the dressing ties all of it together harmoniously, as well as going beautifully with the pork. I suppose I should expect it from a good chef, but this really is a beautifully balanced meal. I've been to fairly expensive restaurants that didn't show this much cohesiveness of flavour across a plate.

I recommend mixing the dressing first in this recipe, as it's something that can be done in advance then stuck in the fridge until it's needed. If you do this, microwave the dressing for 15-30 seconds to warm it a little before pouring it over the meat and salad; you don't want it to cool those down.

Potato-Pear Salad

3 medium russet potatoes, washed and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 red pears (use the other half of the pear you used to make the pear glaze)
1/2 lb green beans, rinsed and snapped into bite-sized pieces
1/2 medium red onion, sliced thinly
4 slices crispy bacon, pan fried then drained
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F. If you're doing this at the same time as the pork tenderloin, you can put them both in the oven at the same time.

In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper until all cubes are thoroughly coated. Spray a foil-lined baking sheet with non-stick spray, then spread the potatoes onto it in an even single layer. Roast at 350F for 20-25 minutes, or until the largest potato chunks are soft all the way through, and the potatoes have begin to take on a golden crispness.

Towards the end of when the potatoes are roasting, blanch the green beans in salted water for about 5 minutes. The goal is crisp, but not raw. Err on the crisper side here. Drain the pot of beans, and add a handful of ice to the beans, then run water over them. This will shock the beans, which both softens them further and stops them from cooking. Once the beans have cooled, drain the pot again and remove any remaining chunks of ice. Reserve the beans.

While the beans are blanching, get out a small sauce pan, add a splash of olive oil, and saute the onion over medium heat until the white part turns translucent. Don't saute too much, you want to keep the pretty purple color. The goal is just to take a little of the bite out of the flavour here.

Dice the pears into 1/2 inch chucks, about the same size as the potatoes.

When the potatoes are done, taste one for seasoning and add salt if appropriate. They should taste a little like french fries. Dump the still-hot potatoes into a serving bowl, and add the pear, onion, and green beans. Crumble the bacon slices over the other ingredients, and toss the whole thing. Serve immediately, with dressing.

Note: it's important that the salad be the last thing you finish before you plate and serve the meal. If it's allowed to sit for too long, the pear juices will soften the crisp roasted outside of the potatoes, which detracts from the contrasting textures of the salad.

Servings: 6-8


Rosemary Vinaigrette Dressing

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
About 1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp honey
1 1/2 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped as finely as you can get it. Use a spice grinder, if you've got one.
Salt
Pepper

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, egg yolks, and Dijon until homogeneous. Add olive oil slowly, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens a little. If in doubt, taste it. (Tasting constantly is good policy throughout making this dressing.)

Add the soy sauce, honey, and rosemary to the mixture, and whisk those in completely. Taste it, then add salt and pepper to season properly.

Refrigerate until needed, and whisk once more before drizzling over salad and meat just to make sure it's mixed.

Servings: I have no idea. It was plenty for 6-8 servings of meat and salad, though.

Pork Tenderloin with Pear Glaze

This is the first of two recipes that go together. There's pork tenderloins with pear glaze, and the side dish is a potato salad with pears and haricot vert. A splashy little sauce/dressing (which I've included with the salad recipe) ties it all together.

The idea for this dish is a riff on something I saw on Top Chef. Yes, I watch Top Chef. It is my weekly reality-show crack. I always sit there in the comfort of my living room, cat on my lap, popcorn by my side, and think, "Gosh, I could cook better than some of these people." But last week's top chef featured a recipe that was reputedly very good for pork tenderloins on the grill, and I found myself intrigued by the pear in the potato salad that the chef (Stephanie Izard) served alongside. So today I came up with this version, which needs no grill and includes a glaze for the pork loin. I am not a grill person, I loathe grills with a passion (so messy, so much cleanup, so finicky for the proper temperature!), so this is designed to grab the good flavors of the recipe in an oven.

Pork Tenderloin with Pear Glaze

Pork tenderloin:
1 pork tenderloin
1 tbsp olive oil

Pear Glaze:
1/2 red pear, core removed and very thinly sliced (save the other half to use in the salad)
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/4 large white onion, finely diced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 sprig rosemary, chopped very finely (use a spice grinder if you've got one)
Salt
Pepper

For the absolute best flavour, start a day early and salt the tenderloin. 1 tbsp salt for 4 lbs meat is a good rule of thumb. Let the tenderloin sit in the fridge overnight to absorb the salt.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Rinse the tenderloin and trim off any excess fat. Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan (I use non-stick, it makes things easier) over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated, drop in the tenderloin and brown it on all sides (less than 2 minutes per side is good). Transfer the browned tenderloin to a foil-lined roasting pan, and let it hang out there for a few minutes.

In the same saucepan that you used to brown the roast (there should still be a little olive oil in the bottom), add the diced onions. Cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent, then add the garlic. Give that 2 or 3 minutes, then add the finely sliced pear, the butter, and the rosemary. Cook all of this together for about five minutes, until the butter is just beginning to brown and the pears are falling apart. Salt it gently (Emphasis on the gently. You don't want this too salty). Pour this glaze over the tenderloin, spreading the pear-onion bits evenly along the top.

Cook the tenderloin for an hour or so, turning every 20 minutes to prevent the top from drying out. The inside should be white and not give off pink juice when poked with a knife. When the tenderloin is finished, slice it into medallions and serve over Potato-Pear salad, covered lightly with the rosemary dressing from that recipe.

Servings: 6-8

Friday, April 11, 2008

Zucchini Bread

Every summer, I plant a squash plant and a zucchini plant. One of each is plenty since it's just me and the cat at home, and then I have fresh veggies for most of the summer. The problem is that the plants often produce far more than I can reasonably use. My favorite solution to this problem is to grate the unused zucchinis or squash (Squashes? What's the plural of a squash?) in a food processor, then freeze them in 2 cup ziploc bags. This way I can make zucchini bread all winter long.

Recently, I realized that I have a lot of frozen zucchini left in my freezer, so I need to make batches of zucchini bread before the summer comes and I have fresh ones again. This is the recipe I've been using since I was about twelve, and found out what zucchini bread was. It produces a wonderfully moist loaf. I like to eat a slice with a nice cup of hot tea just before bed.

Zucchini Bread

Note: Zucchini turns out to be very wet when you grate it. When frozen, the water often leaches out during thawing, and you end up with a bunch of water and some zucchini matter at the bottom of the bag. It's fine, actually, it doesn't make a difference to the recipe, but I usually discard about half the water in the bag after thawing so that the batter doesn't get too thin. YMMV. With fresh zucchini, you don't need to worry about any of this.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (Or yellow squash. You can do substitutions within the squash family here)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 325F. Spray two 8x4 loaf pans with a non-stick baking spray (the kind that has flour in it as well as non stick spray). If you don't have a non-stick baking spray, use a regular non-stick spray, then flour the sprayed pans.

Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Beat these until they're mixed completely, then add them to the dry ingredient mixture and mix all of it until it forms a relatively smooth batter. Add in the zucchini, and stir until it gets incorporated. Add in the walnuts, and stir until those get incorporated evenly. Pour the batter into the loaf pans.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of a loaf comes out clean. For my oven, it takes about 55 minutes. Another test of doneness is how much a loaf falls in the center when you remove it from the oven: it may relax a little, but it shouldn't fall too much. Too much collapsing means it need a few more minutes.

When the loafs are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for ten or so minutes. Run a knife around the edges to separate the loaf from the pan, then invert them onto a plate and reinvert them onto a cooling rack (this process means you get a loaf sitting right-side up on the rack. You can do it with two cooling racks, if you don't want to dirty a plate). Let the loaf cool for another hour or so before cutting.

These loaves freeze well, and will last almost indefinitely in the freezer.

Servings: 2 loaves

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Scalloped Turnips

Starches are passe in the world of today's health-conscious diet. Most people eschew bread and the humble potato in favor of green veggies, fruits, and lean dairy. And this is as it should be. A girl can eat all the carrots she wants, and generally not gain a pound if she doesn't dip them in anything.

But sometimes, I long for the days before we knew what a calorie was. Back when classic French technique was the only way to go, and butter, cream, and pasta (starch! lovely starch!) were key ingredients in every self-respecting cook's repertoire. Before milk came in lowfat versions, and before margerine and "spreads" made their molecularly altered way into our refrigerators. This is a recipe for those days. It's pretty simple: boil some starches, make a roux, combine, add cheese. Presto! Scalloped potatoes, or turnips, or even pasta, if that's the starch that floats your boat.

I made it today with turnips, because I had one sad, neglected turnip sitting in my crisper waiting to be turned into something good. Turnips aren't what everyone thinks of when they make gratins or scallops, but I like it, because it's just enough of something different to add pizazz to a dish. If you've grown up with a child's aversion to turnips (because someone overboiled them, or didn't season them, or served them plain without any dressing, etc), give this one a try. It's like scalloped potatoes without the boring.

Scalloped Turnips

1 large turnip, or 2 medium ones, peeled
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (or more, if you like cheese as much as I do)
Optional: 3 slices bacon

Start by slicing the turnips very thinly. Fill a pot with salted water and boil the turnip slices for 15 or 20 minutes, until they're soft. Taste a turnip at this point, I think they're good just like this. But we'll be adding stuff to them. Pour the potatoes into a gratin dish (or a small baking dish).

Preheat the oven to 250F. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour one tbsp at a time, and whisk into a roux. Add the milk, turn the heat up to medium, and stir until the mixture has thickened into a simple white sauce. On my stove, this takes between 5 and 10 minutes. Taste the sauce, and add salt until it's properly seasoned. Keep a spare hand with the salt, it's easy to go overboard and end up with a salty sauce (ew!).

Pour the finished white sauce over the turnips. Sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the sauce has distributed itself throughout the dish.

If you're feeling extra industrious (or if you've just got a hankering for bacon), pan fry up some bacon while the dish is in the oven, then crumble it into bits and sprinkle those liberally on top. Yum!

Servings: 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Chocolate Truffles

After posting the cake recipe a few days ago, I thought I'd redeem myself by offering a recipe that is perhaps the polar dessert opposite of a stupidly easy cake. This is a dessert that uses pretty much only ingredients found in nature (no preservatives here, thanks); that takes a long time and much care to properly produce; and that is guaranteed to wow any audience to which you present it.

There's a certain mystique to truffles: Godiva sells them for exorbitant prices, people think of them usually around holidays, and most cooks are intimidated by the idea of trying to make them. There's a reason for that intimidation. These aren't easy, but they go easier if you've got a little knowledge of candy-making, especially chocolate tempering, under your belt already. I've found that the best way to make truffles is with a friend. That way, things go more quickly (an advantage when you're working with ingredients that can melt or deform when they get too cool or too warm), and the whole experience is more fun with two people. Plus, with a friend's help, you won't be tempted to eat all the truffles yourself, which is the biggest problem that I have when I make this recipe!

It's worth it, though, even if you go it alone. These little candies are the very height of decadence: a creamy, melt-on-your-tongue center surrounded by a crisp chocolate shell, and delicately -- but not overwhelmingly -- accented by the flavour of a liqueur. They are candies to be eaten in many bites, savoured for their rarity (how many truffle-makers have you known in your lifetime?) and for the impressive oomph of flavour that they can pack into a tiny, neat package. They are also very pretty, suitable to serve as a centerpiece during a meal and the dessert afterwards, especially if you pair them with pretty red berries and stripe them with white chocolate. In short, these truffles deserve their reputation both for divine taste and difficulty in the kitchen. Try them once, and you'll never go Godiva again, because they make store-bought truffles taste like cardboard in comparison (trust me, I've held taste tests!). These are what you whip up when you're cooking balls-out to impress.

Chocolate Truffles

Note: With any recipe, the quality of ingredients is crucial to the taste of the final product, but that's especially true here. Use only the very best chocolate that you can get your hands on for these. Be willing to spend a few extra dollars to get good chocolate. Ordinary Hershey's chocolate is NOT sufficient. My personal favorite is Scharffen-Berger's Antilles bar, but that particular brand can be hard to come by. Ghirardelli (which is much easier to come by) and Valrona are also very good. One note: I don't recommend Green & Black's, or any of the other organic bars. While they may be expensive, they have a strangely fudgey texture, and they tend to melt oddly. It's more difficult to get them to temper correctly, and they tend to make an uneven ganache, in my experience.

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (What particular percentage of chocolate you use is a matter of personal preference. I tend to go for Scharffen-Berger's Antilles bar, which is a 75% blend, or Ghirardelli's 60%.)
8 additional ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (You can use the same, or a different chocolate here)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (It's very important that the butter be unsalted. In fact, if you can find the unsalted, creamy European-style butter at your grocery, use that.)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 vanilla beans
1/4 cup brandy or your favourite liqueur (I've used everything from a good port wine to Chambord here. Just go with whatever floats your boat. If you're not into alcohol, leave it out completely, but honestly, it's worth it to add the hint of flavour you get here.)


Start by adding 10 ounces of chocolate and the butter to a microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds on full power. Remove and stir to help redistribute the chocolate, and repeat this process 1 more time. Stir again, and set aside. It's okay if all of the chocolate isn't completely melted, the residual heat in the bowl will help it continue melting for a few minutes afterwards.

Heat the heavy cream and corn syrup together in a small saucepan over medium heat until the mixture simmers (don't boil!). Slice the vanilla beans down the middle with a sharp knife, and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the beans to the cream mixture, and allow these to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring slowly. Remove the pan from the heat, fish out the bean halves, and pour the cream-corn syrup mixture over the melted chocolate and butter. Let this stand for about a minute, then use a rubber or silicone spatula (the idea is something flexible, but with a bit of stiffness to stir the thick chocolate) to stir the mixture in slow circles, until all the chocolate is melted and the whole thing is glossy and very smooth. Add the brandy or liqueur, and stir again (gently!) until the mixture is once more smooth and homogeneous. Congratulations, you've just made a chocolate ganache. Pour the mixture into an 8x8 baking dish and refrigerate for at least an hour. Longer is better with the refrigeration time, as the goal is to have a very, very hard ganache when it's finished chilling.

Once the mixture has been in the fridge a while, remove it and use a melon baller or two spoons to scoop out little balls of chocolate onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper. The key to this process is being relatively quick: don't let the ganache get too warm, or you'll have trouble because it tends to stick. I usually dip my melon baller into cocoa powder to keep the balls of ganache from sticking to it, then use my bare hands to shape the scooped balls into spheres. This process gets chocolate all over my hands, but if I'm very quick about the rolling (my hands are on the ganache balls for less than three seconds, usually), it produces a more uniform candy. When the ganache has all been rolled into balls, return the balls to the fridge for another hour or so to get them chilled back up and re-firmed.

After the ganache balls have chilled for an hour or so, place the remaining 8 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler, and bring the water under it to a bare simmer. Lower heat is better in this case, because the goal here is fairly fine temperature control. Position a candy thermometer in the bowl so that the end of the thermometer sits in the middle of the melting chocolate (not against the bowl, which may be hotter than the mixture itself). Stir the chocolate occasionally, and watch the thermometer. Heat until the mixture reaches 88F, then remove it from the double boiler. The actual goal is 90F or 92F, but removing the heat source before it reaches the goal temperature will keep the chocolate from getting too hot. DO NOT allow the chocolate to heat past 94F. If you do, your coating will not have the snap or shine to it that distinguishes a well-made truffle. You may need to adjust your heat occasionally to maintain this optimal 90-92F temperature. Just watch the thermometer carefully, and you should be fine

Remove the ganache balls from the fridge, and stick a toothpick in the top of one. Using the toothpick to hold the truffle, swipe it QUICKLY through the melted chocolate to coat it. The need for speed cannot be over-emphasized: if the truffle remains in the hot melted chocolate too long, the ganache will melt and contaminate your coating chocolate, preventing a smooth, shiny coat for future chocolates. It may also fall off the toothpick, which means that you must use a spoon to retrieve it, and its shape will get mangled. So do this quickly. Once the truffle has been coated, sit it back on a different baking sheet covered with parchment or waxed paper, and after fifteen or so seconds, remove the toothpick, leaving a coated candy with a small hole at the top.

Important notes for the dipping procedure: Observe your ganache balls carefully during this process: if they sit out too long, they will soften to room temperature, and you will have a more difficult time coating them. If your ganache balls seem to be getting too soft, just stick them back in the fridge for a while, then remove them and continue when they've re-firmed. It is advisable not to stick the coated truffles in the fridge for at least an hour, to give them time to set. Cooling them too quickly may shock their chocolate coating, and will make it look less shiny. It won't affect the taste or texture at all, but the appearance won't be as fine. This is a rather delicate process, as the melted chocolate must be monitored to keep it under 94F, the ganache balls must be monitored to keep from getting too warm, and the truffles must be swiped through the coating quickly yet carefully to get complete coverage while preventing them from melting. Nonetheless, a careful baker will find that it goes more smoothly than perhaps this recipe makes it sound. I'm simply warning for all contingencies; not all these situations may present themselves during your truffle-making attempts.

Once the truffles have all been coated, the remainder of the melted chocolate can be discarded. Allow the truffles to sit for an hour or so to set. Afterwards, if you wish to decorate them further, you can melt a little white chocolate and drizzle it over the candies with a spoon to give them white stripes. This technique can also be used to disguise the toothpick holes, if you're fussy. Other options for decoration include sifting cocoa or confectioner's sugar over the truffles immediately after they've been dipped, before the chocolate has a chance to set, or rolling the barely-set truffles in chopped nuts (Although this is a difficult and messy operation, and I don't necessarily recommend it).

Once set, the truffles should be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for up to two weeks. To serve, remove them from the fridge half an hour or so before service, to allow them to come to room temperature. The texture is good when they're cold, just out of the fridge, but the taste of the chocolate really displays its many dimensions best at room temperature.

Servings: About 35 truffles.