Since the Fancy Food Show was a treasure trove of good products, here is the remaining Best in Show.

Condiments

Molino Real
Best healthy Nutella: Chocolate Cream

This chocolate spread tastes so good it must be bad, but it’s just cocoa powder, milk, cinnamon and agave nectar. The sweetener is a natural derivation from the blue agave plant, the same plant that gives us tequila. It’s great for diabetics, vegans or people who want to venture beyond white sugar. Agave is similar to honey, except it is runnier and has a more neutral taste.
Photo: Molino Real

Barefoot Contessa
Best lemon curd

I usually do not buy dessert sauces because they are so easy and cheap to make (if you can dissolve sugar in hot liquid, you can make a sweet sauce), but the lemon curd from celebrity chef Ina Garten tastes like the real deal. It contains just sugar, eggs, butter, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt. Other brands were slimy (due to artificial gelling agents) or bitter (due to too much rind).
Photo: Straub’s Fine Grocers

Dalmatia
Best fig spread

If you could bottle up the freshest figs, this would be it. The Adriatic figs are hand picked on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia and then sun dried. The spread is not too sweet, not too sticky and not too fermented. The orange version took first place at the Fancy Food Show in 2004, but I like the plain one best.
Photo: FoodMatch Inc.

Elsa’s Story
Best orange preserves

Orange marmalade is often plagued with sour and bitter notes, but Elsa’s Story is delicious. Good preserves like this one taste like fruit, not corn syrup. Elsa’s Story also makes fine cookies.
Photo: Elsa’s Story

School House Kitchen
Best mustard

This mustard has remarkable smoothness and body, unlike French’s neon yellow variety. If you like the sweetness of honey mustard and the richness of Grey Poupon, School House Kitchen manages to put them together. They also donate 100% of their profits towards education.
Photo: School House Kitchen

34 Degrees
Best preserved fruit products

This Australian company has unusual, great tasting fruits. The dried muscats (floral flavored grapes) come still attached to their branches. They also have a selection of fruit pastes to spread on cheese, toast or ice cream. The most unique items are the Tasmanian spiced cherries. They are sweet, slightly acidic from the vinegar marinade, and peppery. Think of them as sweet versions of cured olives.
Photo: 34 Degrees

Miscellaneous

Luxe
Best tea: Traditional Japanese genmaicha

Green tea leaves are combined with toasted brown rice in this strong yet refreshing tea. It was so bold and rounded that I could not believe it came from a bag. The silken bags are completely biodegradable: no glue, no staples.
Photo: Luxe

Skotidakis Goat Farm
Best yogurt

Their Greek yogurt tastes just like sour cream, but it is healthier because it is only made from milk. Once you try the plain yogurt with a dollop of honey, you may never go back to the watery, grainy commercial brands. They may have distribution problems because they are a small farm from Canada, but do beg your supermarket to carry them.
Photo: Skotidakis Goat Farm

KIND Fruit + Nut
Best energy bar that tastes like candy: Sesame & peanuts with chocolate

KIND Fruit + Nut bars satisfy my sweet tooth, but they are healthier and more natural than most other energy bars. Other bars are laboratory engineered (mmm, textured vegetable protein and partially hydrogenated fat!) and taste like it. KIND is a mixture of toasted nuts, fruit and honey. My favorite is the sesame-chocolate bar, which tastes like halvah, but the macadamia-apricot is very good too. KIND lives up to its name, donating 5% of its proceeds to charity.

Keep in mind that these bars are nutrient and calorie dense. Sure there’s plenty of wholesome ingredients, but nuts are high in fat. Still, if you’re going to splurge, it’s much healthier and tastier (in my opinion) than a candy bar. Also, these bars are not meant to be meal replacements; they are low in complex carbohydrates.
Photo: KIND

Larabar
Best chocolate energy bar: Mayabar

These gooey chocolatey bars are even less processed than the KIND bars. They consist of dates, cocoa powder and chunks of nuts. There is no added sugar! Like the KIND bars, these are high in “good” calories. They are satisfying but will not keep you full for long: they have no grains (complex carbs).
Photo: Larabar

Bubbies
Best ice cream novelty: Mochi ice cream

Asians are the pioneers of chewy desserts. The Taiwanese brought bubble tea, a sweet drink accompanied by extra-large tapioca pearls. The Japanese and Chinese brought mochi, a sticky rice cake filled with sweetened beans, peanuts or sesame. In 2001, a genius in California replaced the traditional fillings with ice cream. My goodness! A drink that you eat? An ice cream that you chew? What is the world coming to?

Bubbies is an upscale (read: pricier) competitor to Mikawaya, the company that created this frozen treat. Although Mikawaya is ubiquitous in Chinatown and American supermarkets, Bubbies tastes more natural. You can’t beat their selection of unusual flavors: strawberry chocolate chip, lychee, passion fruit, guava and peanut butter.
Photo: Bubbies

Before food makes it to the supermarket, it’s displayed at the Fancy Food Show, an annual convention with endless tables of specialty foods. From July 9-11, the Jacob Javits Center in New York showcased 160,000 products from 2,200 exhibitors. An estimated 24,000 attendees, including retail store decision makers, distributors, caterers, chefs and media (yours truly) sought out the best gourmet products.

From the moment I saw the floorplan, I knew that this foodie’s paradise and dieter’s nightmare would be overwhelming. Booths are not grouped by category, so you can eat a chocolate truffle before you get a bowl of pasta and bump into a mascot handing out hot sauce. (For all of you who make meals out of Costco samples, you can can do the same here, but you’ll hear from your stomach later.) If you’re lucky, booths were organized by country and state, but most were randomly strewn throughout 300,000 square feet.

I don’t mean to stereotype, but Italy focused on olive oil, cured meat and cheese; Germany had sausage and bulky grain products; England had shortbread and greasy food; Texas had lots of beef and spices; China had dehydrated vegetables to make your own cup-o-Noodles; and middle Eastern countries had dates.

As for general food trends, there were lots of fruit pastes (like sliceable jam) with nuts, gourmet bake-at-home mixes for molten chocolate cake and creme brulee (It’s ironic that anyone who makes creme brulee needs a blow torch or a broiler. Anyone that serious about food probably wouldn’t bake with mixes.), alternative natural sweeteners (Mostly in the form of agave nectar and honey. I was disappointed that molasses, date sugar, evaporated cane juice, stevia, and fruit juice concentrate, etc. didn’t make a mark.)

In chocolate trends, cacao nibs were popular. Nibs are plain cacao beans; once sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla and lecithin are blended in, it becomes chocolate. In the words of chocolate expert David Lebovitz, “The term ‘cacao’ refers to the beans used to make chocolate, and ‘cocoa’ usually refers to the powder made from the beans after they’re roasted and pulverized.” Also, prominently labeled single-origin chocolate was abundant. It’s not enough to know about cocoa percentage anymore; the country of the beans can indicate their taste. To see how Venezuelan v. Santo Domingo beans taste different, check out my Michel Cluizel chocolate review.

There was a dismal attempt at whole-grain products. Most were rock hard and tasted like medicine that your doctor would prescribe. Others, like Milton’s multi-grain cracker squares, were tasty but relied on enriched wheat flour (a euphemism for bleached white flour—you don’t need to enrich something if its nutrients are intact) and had the same nutrition as Cheez-its. As a whole, the grains didn’t fall far from the tree. Familiar grains like whole-wheat flour, oats, corn, rice, sesame and flax were staples, but kamut, spelt, millet and quinoa were virtually non-existent from the show.

After sampling hundreds of products to the point where everything tasted the same and I could no longer talk in straight sentences, the best products became apparent. If you ever go, pace yourself and be selective before tasting the overabundant olive oils, olives, sauces, cheese, and preserves. It helps if you bring a friend or randomly bump into one, such as Gerald from Foodite.

Following 101 Cookbooks’ lead, here’s my personal Best in Show. Look for these products in specialty food stores like Whole Foods, Dean & Deluca, Zabar’s and Fairway.

Chocolate

I’m breaking products down by category, so why not start with my favorite food?

Photo: Foodite

Valrhona
Best chocolate

Every time I try a different brand of chocolate, I always come back to Valrhona. The flavor is unparalleled: complex, rich but never bitter. Out of all the flavors at the show, I liked the Manjari the best, which Valrhona describes as “A highly aromatic bouquet, 64% cocoa. Made from Criollos and Trinitarios beans from Madagascar. A distinctive chocolate flavour with an intense bouquet of red berries.” The 72% Araguani and 85% Abinao were perfectly palatable, but I prefer a little more sugar in my chocolate.

Dolfin
Best chocolate runner-up

Dolfin comes at a close second behind Valrhona. I usually associate Belgian chocolate with mildness. Pure Belgian chocolate, like Callebaut, has a weak aroma and bland taste. Begian-style truffles from Neuhaus and Leonida’s are heavy on the dairy. Dolfin, however, is wonderfully nuanced. I love their dark chocolate bars with crunchy cacao nibs.

Photo: Mademoiselle de Margaux

Mademoiselle de Margaux
Best shaped chocolate: Sarments du medoc

Elegant packaging and presentation aside, Mademoiselle de Margaux makes tasty chocolate twigs that are perfect for nibbling. They come in natural tasting dark chocolate, orange, lemon, mint, raspberry, coffee, toffee and hazelnut flavors.

Monbana
Best cocoa

When I visited France two years ago, I smuggled their hot cocoa mix so I could savor it back home. From the looks of it, the Chocolate Powder mix contains natural cocoa and raw sugar. Even if mixed with water instead of milk, it tastes as rich as hot chocolate. They had distribution problems in the U.S. before, but they plan to get off the ground soon.

Photo: Monbana

Chocolats Olivier
Most potential

The oldest chocolatier in France (open since in 1780 during King Louis XVI’s rein), Chocolats Olivier recently acquired new ownership. They feature single-origin chocolate and truffles. The chocolate in their chocolate-covered raspberry jelly was forgettable, but the jelly tasted fresh and was full of seeds. When they sort things out, I think they’ll be really promising.

Chocolat Moderne
Best truffles

Chocolat Moderne is a nouveau chocolatier that gets its flavors right. Even under the melting heat of the display, the chocolate-covered grapefruit caramels and lychee truffle with crunchy pralines tasted bright. These chocolates were just as delicious as they looked. They were much better than their more famous competitor, Vosges Haut Chocolate, whose chocolate didn’t taste anything like its advertised flavors of curry or pandan. However, it is with great reservation that I recommend Chocolat Moderne, since the gentleman at the booth snubbed me. He tried to convince me that he had no samples available, although I saw the people before and after me grab from the prominent tray of truffles. Later on, I discovered samples at the Focused Tasting area.

Photo: Chocolat Moderne

Dagoba
Outstanding organic chocolate

If you’re into conscientious eating, check out Dagoba’s certified organic chocolate. Other organic brands, like Divine Chocolate, are crumbly, and Endangered Species has a lingering malty sweetness. Dagoba chocolate doesn’t suffer from these pitfalls, and it comes in unique flavors such as xocolatl (with chilies, spices and cacao nibs). Having things labeled organic and fair trade is a plus, but I think they can be redundant if you already seek out artisan chocolate. Good cacao beans come from small farmers who care about the crop and already take care of their land. Some chocolate makers, such as El Rey and Jacques Torres, deliberately avoid becoming certified because they think the system is flawed. Big corporations can afford certification, which defeats the purpose of supporting the small artisans.

Dagoba also makes one of my favorite chocolate-covered cacao nibs. They resemble rice krispies in size and texture, and each one tastes slightly different, keeping your tastebuds guessing. There is actually one brand that makes better nibs, but I had such a bad personal experience with the owner that I want to boycott their products.

Photo: Dagoba

Blanxart
Best rustic chocolate

This Barcelona chocolatier leaves the cacao beans chunky and uses coarse sugar. The chocolate-covered hazelnut nougat is also very good.

Photo: Blanxart

Coming up in parts two and three: the remaining Best in Show and behind the scenes at the Fancy Food Show.

I know of no other food that is as versatile as soy. In its natural state above, it resembles green peas. It can also stand in for milk (as soy milk), custard (as silken tofu), cheese (as firm tofu), meat (as tofu or tempeh), flour (as okara), nuts (as roasted soy nuts) and salt (as soy sauce or miso). High in protein, fiber and antioxidants but relatively low in fat, soy is a staple in my kitchen.

Dried soybeans

For the monthly themed cooking events, Is My Blog Burning and Sugar-High Friday, Reid at ‘Ono Kine Grindz has asked bloggers to make soy cuisine.

After making soy-sauce candied walnuts, I decided to experiment more with soy sauce in desserts. Soy sauce essentially tastes like caramel-flavored salt, so the idea isn’t too far-fetched.

For my first creation, I made chocolate caramels with soy milk and soy sauce. Out of my two experiments, this one seemed like the safest bet. As the Kikkoman website says, “Kikkoman Soy Sauce…..In Chocolate? Absolutely! Naturally brewed soy sauce can enhance more than just savory flavors — its salty brewed flavor depresses the extra sweetness typical of chocolate syrups and enhances the richness of the cocoa powder. It also helps to blend dairy notes and highlights the fruit top notes of the cocoa. The result: a deep, nutty, roasted chocolate flavor with a rich color.”

These low-fat caramels were tasty for what they were, but they were slightly grainy. I don’t know whether it’s because I used homemade soy milk, which naturally has pulp. Or perhaps the granulated sugar crystallized, in which case more honey was needed. Also, soy milk curdles at the slightest introduction of acid, which was in the natural cocoa powder. You may fare better with commercially prepared soy milk, which is smoother and has thickeners.

My candy also did not set up, even in the freezer. I’ve clarified the instructions, so cook the candy until it reaches the softball stage–248 degrees F. I think these would have tasted better with plain old salt, but if you’re adventurous, add the soy sauce in the end, so you don’t cook out its delicate flavor.

Chocolate Caramels

Adapted from The Soy Dessert and Baking Book

This is a great way to sneak nutrients into candy.

Ingredients:
½ c sugar
1 c vanilla soy milk
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp honey
2 Tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp soy sauce or 1/4 tsp salt

Method:
Line a loaf pan with greased foil.

Over medium heat, melt sugar in a sauce pan, stirring until it has completely dissolved and is light golden in color. Gradually stir in soy milk and bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10-15 min., uncovered. Add butter, honey and cocoa and salt (if you’re not using soy sauce) and continue boiling and stirring for another 10-15 min., or until mixture thickens (about 248F) and shrinks away from the bottom and sides of the pan. Stir in soy sauce (if using). Pour into the greased pan and cool 10 min. While still warm, cut caramels into approximately 18 pieces. Wrap in individual candy wrappers. The leftovers freeze well.

Now, what could possibly be weirder than chocolate and soy sauce? How about a dessert where the soy sauce doesn’t have “milk” or chocolate to hide behind? A dessert with just three ingredients? (Two if you don’t count the orange zest, which I didn’t use. Or one if you don’t count the sugar, which is mandatory in dessert.) It’s soy sauce sorbet, which Kikkoman features on its website, along with soy sauce chocolate sauce and soy fruit charlotte.

At first bite, the sorbet has an off-putting fermented flavor, but it gets better as you eat it. It’s the easiest way to make a refreshing “caramel” sorbet without having to caramelize the sugar. Serving it with chocolate sauce does double duty. The chocolate sauce offsets the sorbet’s saltiness, while soy sauce brings out the chocolate flavor.
The sorbet is slightly icy, like a granita. You can add more sugar if you want it smoother.

Now that my experiments are done, I declare soy sauce too weird to put in desserts. At least I tried. If you like Sam Mason-style desserts (ancho caramel or miso ice cream, anyone?) from WD-50, these might be up your alley.

Soy Sauce Sorbet

Adapted from a recipe by Chef Michael Bloise, Wish at The Hotel at South Beach (Miami Beach, FL)

Yield: 6 cups

4 cups water
1 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce (or substitute 1/3 cup regular soy sauce plus 1/3 cup water)
4 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 Tbsp vodka (optional but recommended to keep the sorbet from freezing hard)

Stir together all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions. Serving suggestion: Chef Bloise serves a small scoop of Soy Sauce Sorbet with ginger carrot cake.

IMBB27 and SHF20 round-up.

If you’ve ever made strawberry shortcake, a trifle, or whipped cream frosting (all summery desserts, I might add), you’re bound to have leftover whipped cream. Instead of throwing it in the trash, you can make ice cream without a machine. In still freezing, you need don’t a special machine to churn the ice cream. The air is already incorporated via the whipped cream.

Having acquired excess whipped cream from a semi-illegal source (don’t ask, don’t tell), I adapted a chocolate ice cream recipe from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Would you take whipped topping from a Starbucks frappuccino, add lots of sugar and eat it by the spoonful? It’s essentially what ice cream is. That’s why I lightened the Ben & Jerry’s recipe by reducing the heavy cream by half and substituting thick, low-fat evaporated milk for the rest of the dairy. I also added some extra steps to ensure a delicious ice cream.

The first thing I did was heat the milk and egg. The simplest ice cream, Philadelphia style, contains no egg and is often not cooked over the stove. It’s the easiest method and comprises typical supermarket ice cream. However, store-bought ice cream contains stabilizers not readily available to the home cook. For homemade ice cream, custard style is best, because egg yolks contain emulsifiers that make everything creamy. Also, heating the proteins in the milk makes it freeze smoother. In this case, heating the liquid also makes the chocolate flavor bloom.

I also added vodka to lower the freezing point (so it won’t freeze rock hard). Rose Levy Beranbaum (author of The Cake Bible, The Pie & Pastry Bible and The Bread Bible) suggests 1 1/2 tsp of 80% proof liquor per cup of liquid. You can use flavored liquor, like Frangelico or rum, but vodka is versatile because it has a neutral flavor.

Lastly, a thorough chill gives time for the flavors to meld and makes it freeze faster, which means fewer sandy ice crsystals.

This ice cream isn’t as rich as Ben & Jerry’s, but it by no means tastes low-fat. It is creamy, flavorful and knocks the socks off of Edy’s!

Chocolate Ice Cream (lightened recipe)
adapted from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

Makes one scant quart

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 can (12 fl oz.) evaporated milk (fat-free is fine)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup lightly sweetened whipped cream (whipped from 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 Tbsp sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbsp vodka

Method
Put the cocoa and salt in a saucepan and add just enough milk to make a paste. Add the remaining milk and scald over medium heat.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Temper the eggs by gradually adding the hot milk mixture and whisking constantly.

Transfer the mixture back into the pan and cook over moderately low heat until a thermometer registers 170F, or until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Add the vanilla and vodka. Pour custard through a sieve into a metal bowl set in ice and cold water and cool. If necessary, use a hand blender to smooth out the custard. Cover and refrigerate until cold (preferably overnight).

Fold in the whipped cream and pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Unmold the cubes into a food processor and break up with a fork. Pulse until smooth. (If you don’t have a food processor, freeze in a shallow pan for three hours. After every hour, break up the mixture with a fork, whisk or hand blender. If you have an ice cream maker, add the cream to the milk in the first step. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.)

Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least three hours to harden. If it becomes difficult to scoop, thaw in the fridge for 10 minutes prior to serving.

Nutrition (serving size: 1/2 cup)

The new version: calories 203 (34% from fat); fat 8g (sat 5g); protein 7g; cholesterol 75mg; calcium 17%; fiber 3g; carbohydrate 30g

The original: calories 305 (57% from fat); fat 20g (sat 12g); protein 5g; cholesterol 104mg; calcium 8%; fiber 2g; carbohydrate 32g

In the past couple years, salt has taken on culinary heights as an accompaniment to chocolate, ice cream and caramel candies. The flavors work because salt contrasts sweetness. Fleur de sel and gray salt are the typical stars, but one form of sodium has been overlooked: soy sauce. Think about it: soy sauce is aged for months until malty/caramel flavors develop. It actually pairs very well with sugar.

For this candied walnut recipe, soy sauce and molasses are boiled down to create a robust glaze. These nuts are fantastic with broccoli, caramelized onions, ice cream or straight out of your hand. Be sure to drain the glaze well, or it will remain sticky and slightly messy. If that happens, store them in the fridge to harden.

Soy Sauce-Candied Walnuts

by Michel Nischan for O, The Oprah Magazine

Ingredients
2 cups walnut halves
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small saucepan, combine walnuts, molasses and tamari; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes; drain nuts well in a sieve set over a bowl. Spread walnuts on a baking rack coated with cooking spray set over a cookie sheet. Bake until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

I’m only 24 years old, but I’ve already inherited an heirloom. An heirloom recipe, that is. Last year, I praised my grandmother’s carrot cake as one of the best desserts ever. That’s saying a lot because chocolate is my favorite food. I have fond memories of that cake because it accompanied me since I was four, from birthdays to holidays to “every day.” Like I said before, it was the standard by which I compared all other carrot cakes. Sadly, my grandmother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and stopped cooking several years ago.

Up until that post, I was afraid that the cake would be a distant part of my memory. No one knew the recipe except for my grandmother. Thanks to my readers’ comments, I mustered enough courage to ask for the recipe. It seemed like such horrible timing; my grandmother was in and out of the hospital.

Finally, my aunt tracked down the recipe. My grandmother hid it in her purse for 15-20 years! Although she was frail, my grandmother laughed when she heard that I wanted the recipe. “I can still make the best carrot cake,” she said. About a month later, she fell into a coma and died.

When I made this cake, I was not disappointed. It was just spicy enough and had lots of carrot flavor. Trust me, I’ve exhausted all the variables for the best carrot cake (Nuts or no nuts? Pineapples or raisins? Cinnamon AND nutmeg? Coconut?), but this one is worth its weight in gold.

Here it is, as my mother translated it from Chinese.

Grandma’s Carrot Cake

This receipt is from Jessica Su’s Grandma. She used to bake this cake for the family and it’s enjoyed by everyone.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour
2 Teaspoons Banking Powder
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
2 Cups Sugar
1 ½ Cups Oil (may reduce a ¼ cup)
4 Eggs (in room temperature)
½ Cup Crashed Walnuts
3 Cups Shredded Carrots
1 Cup Minced Pineapple
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Direction:

1. Shift the flour, banking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
2. Beat the egg
3. Mix the dry ingredients, beaten egg, oil, carrot, pineapple, walnuts, and vanilla
4. Pour the mix in a bundt cake pan (don’t need to oil the pan)
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degree, and bake for 1 hour.

Notes/tips:

• For cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes. Yields about 2 dozen.
• I used 1/2 cup of oil and 1 cup of applesauce. It still yielded a moist and airy crumb. Actually, maybe a little too airy! I like carrot cakes that are denser. To combat this “problem,” I recommend using half whole-wheat flour. You may also use 100% whole-wheat pastry flour or white whole-wheat flour.

The term “culinary arts” is a misnomer, since cooking is as much science as it is creativity. One book that makes this clear is What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained. The “cookbook” debunks kitchen myths in several sections, like “The Salt of the Earth,” “Sweet Talk,” and “The Fat of the Land.”

There’s even a couple pages devoted to my favorite food, chocolate. Chocolate, the book explains, has a luxurious texture because its natural fat (cocoa butter) melts at body temperature. To show off the wonderful properties of chocolate, the book provides a recipe for dairyless mousse. Keep in mind that cream-free doesn’t mean low-fat or vegan. The recipe has raw eggs, but that should be the least of your worries: a generous addition of olive oil more than makes up for the missing butterfat. Don’t knock olive oil in dessert till you’ve tried Otto’s olive oil gelato, chocolate toast with olive oil, and chocolate-covered olive oil potato chips. Yes, olive oil and chocolate go together! Think about it: the words fruity, floral, musky, spicy or nutty are commonly used to describe both of these products.

The idea of this mousse sounded good, but tastewise, it resembled a science project. It was as “buttery” as chocolate frosting: delicious, but not something to eat by the cupful. I recommend doubling the egg whites and/or replacing half the oil with boiling water (cool the chocolate mixture before adding it to the whites, of course). Hot water brings out the chocolate’s flavor. Contrary to popular belief, water and chocolate do go together, so long as there’s LOTS of water (at least 1 tablespoon of liquid for two ounces of chocolate, according to Cocolat).

To cut the richness of the dessert, sprinkle it with coarse salt. BTW, What Einstein Told His Cook says that artisan salt (like $33/pound fleur de sel) is virutally identical to shaker salt. Both are 99% sodium chloride. Fancy sea salt “tastes” better because its irregularly shaped flakes are crunchy and provide sudden bursts of saltiness.

For another kitchen experiment, you can actually whip chocolate like you do cream. All you need is chocolate, water and some know how, courtesy of In Praise of Sardines.

Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse

No, it will not collapse. No, it does not taste oily. Basque chef Teresa Barrenechea makes this silky chocolate mousse at her Manhattan restaurant, Marichu. “More and more, people don’t want to eat so much cream,” she says. “I don’t tell guests this dessert contains olive oil when I serve it. I wait until I hear them murmuring, ‘Mmh-mmmh.’ ” The chocolate flavor is intense, and there’s a hint of berry, but in spite of the generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil, its flavor is subtle.

6 ounces very good dark chocolate (such as Valrhona, El Rey or Lindt), chopped
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted after measuring
1/4 cup double-strength espresso coffee or 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons Chambord or Cointreau (optional)
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave or in a saucepan over very low heat. Let cool to lukewarm.

In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the coffee and Chambord just to combine. Then stir in the melted chocolate. Add the olive oil and mix well.

Thoroughly wash the beaters so that they are free of grease. In another medium bowl, beat the egg whites until almost stiff. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and whisk until patches of white disappear. Repeat, whisking the remaining egg whites into the chocolate mixture, 1/3 at a time, until patches of white disappear. Do not overmix.

Transfer the mousse into a pretty bowl or individual dessert dishes, cover and refrigerate until ready to eat. Serve cold. Makes 6 servings.

My sweet tooth has convinced me that virtually any food can be dessert. Olive oil potato chips, for example, are excellent in chocolate fondue. The fruity/floral flavors go so well with chocolate that I’m surprised olive oil truffles aren’t out on the market. Nutella pizza from Pie (“pie” is New York-speak for a whole pizza) is a novel idea, although it can be replicated by spreading Nutella on any white pizza (with ricotta cheese and no tomato sauce).

So when I had a leftover zucchini, my immediate thought was to make it into something sweet. Zucchini bread is a well-known option, but I wanted something acceptable for breakfast. So I took a pancake recipe and added some zucchini and slightly reduced the liquid to compensate.

I also substituted the milk and eggs with vegan ingredients for health and environmental reasons. I generally avoid meat, dairy, and eggs because their plant-based counterparts have the same proteins but more antioxidants and fiber. However, the amount of animal products in baked goods is so negligible that I don’t obsess over them. I also make exceptions for treats, like ice cream/gelato and Shake Shack burgers.

Vegan Zucchini Pancakes

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

If five-grain flapjacks sound more like a five-pound rock in your stomach, don’t worry. You won’t taste the zucchini (just like you don’t taste carrots in carrot cake). Try these with grated carrots or apples, too.

Whisk together in a large bowl:

1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal, preferably stone ground
1/4 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking rolled oats
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
pinch of freshly grated or ground nutmeg

Whisk together in another bowl:

1 3/4 cups + 1 Tbsp plain soy milk
3 Tbsp oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup ground flax seeds

Add to the wet ingredients:

1 packed cup (about 1 large) grated zucchini

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently whisk them together, mixing just until combined. Spoon 1/4 cup batter onto a heated (medium heat or 350 F), greased griddle for each pancake, nudging the batter into rounds. Cook until the top of each bancake is speckled with bubbles and some bubbles have popped, then turn and cook until the underside is lightly browned. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 F oven while you finish cooking the rest. Serve with pure maple syrup or honey.

Makes about 24 4-inch pancakes.

Notes/tips:
The batter is thick, so it will puff up but not spread.

Soy milk and flax seed brown quickly, so turn down the heat if the insides are taking a relatively long time to cook.

For traditional pancakes, use 1 1/4 cup milk, 3 Tbsp melted unsalted butter, and 3 large eggs (instead of the flax seed).

To completely veganize the recipe, substitute the honey with an equal amount of agave nectar or golden syrup. Or, use a scant 1/3 cup of vegan granulated sugar and reduce the soy milk by 3/4 Tbsp.

Pancakes freeze beautifully. Wrap cooled pancakes in plastic and re-heat (no need to defrost) in a toaster. The edges will re-crisp, giving you a fresh-off-the-griddle sensation.

Vegan Resources:
The Post Punk Kitchen’s guide to veganizing baked goods

Vegan food pyramid-how to plan your diet accordingly

Why go vegan? Read The China Study for a compelling argument.

Pop quiz: what does Cinco de Mayo have to do with the French? First, it marks the Mexican victory over the French troops in the Battle of Puebla. (If you thought it was Mexican independence day, you were wrong.)

Second, and more relevant to this blog, Cinco de Mayo marks the day to eat a French-inspired dessert. Perhaps Mexico’s most famous pastry is the churro, a deep-fried, cinnamon-dusted dough. It is not a Mexican doughnut. It is an unfilled Mexican cream puff.

Doughnuts traditionally fall into two schools: yeast-raised (ie Krispy Kreme) or cake batter (ie Dunkin Donuts, which gets its leavening by baking powder or soda). Churros contain neither yeast nor baking powder/soda. Instead, they are leavened by eggs, and the dough is cooked on the stovetop before it’s shaped. Heating the liquid with the flour tricks the dough into abosorbing more moisture, and it makes it more gelatinous. This method is the same as the French dough, pate a choux. Pate a choux makes cream puffs and eclairs, but if it’s deep fried and unfilled, it makes churros.

Deep frying gets a bad rap because the food is “boiled” in fat. However, if the oil is at the correct temperature, it will not penetrate the food. Besides health reasons, frying seems dangerous, with the potential of splattered hot grease and exploding food. Just use some common sense, and it won’t be any scarier than a pot of boiling water. Don’t go “bombs away!” when dropping the food in. Plop it in gently and away from you. The oil won’t bite. I promise.

Churros
Sources: Recipe Gullet, Bon Appetit and Mexico One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless

Dough:
1 c milk
1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1 c all-purpose flour
2 eggs

Coating:
1/2 c sugar
1/2 T cinnamon

Canola oil for frying, about 3 cups

Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add flour; stir vigorously with wooden spoon until shiny dough mass forms, about 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl; cool 5 minutes. Using electric mixer, beat in eggs, 1 at a time; continue beating until smooth, shiny, sticky paste forms. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

Heat oil to a depth of at least 2 inches in a heavy large skillet over medium heat to 350°F (the oil will shimmer on the surface and give off that characteristic hot oil aroma). Working in batches, spoon batter into pastry bag fitted with large star tip. Pipe batter into hot oil in 3 1/2- to 4-inch-long ribbons (use knife if necessary to cut batter at end of star tip) and allow batter to slide into oil.

To test the oil temperature, cook one churro, turning occasionally, until it is deep golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove it to drain on paper towels and let it cool a minute, then break it open to check for doneness-it should be just a little soft inside, but not too doughy. Too low an oil temperature, and the churros will “boil” in the oil, absorbing grease but bursting apart before they’re brown; too high a temperature, and they’ll brown quickly but not cook enough.

Fry the rest of the churros, about 3 at a time. Transfer to paper towels and cool 5 minutes, then toss in cinnamon sugar while still warm. Best when eaten quickly. Makes about 12-16 churros.

Notes/tips:
If you’re inexperienced with frying, be sure to do a test churro. Otherwise, you may find out too late that the entire batch is either raw inside or overcooked.

You can safely re-use the oil after you let it cool, strain it through a cheesecloth (to get rid of burnt food particles) and refrigerate (oil doesn’t like heat or light). Keep in mind that every time you re-use oil, the smoke point goes down as much as 10 F. For example, canola oil has a smoke point of 400 F. Heat it any more, and it breaks down and becomes hazardous to your health. Canola oil that’s used a second time can safely be heated to 390 F. If your oil turns dark or smells funny, it’s bad.

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Photo: Lotus Head/Wikipedia

When the weather warms up, the ultimate comfort food is ice cream. A little lick, an instant melt, and a smooth slide down your throat provide a simple pleasure.

When I was in elementary school, eating ice cream was a celebrated weekly occurence. Fridays were my favorite day of the week, becuase my mom was able to get out of work early and pick me up from school. On the way home, we’d always stop for ice cream at Thrifty Drugstores (RiteAid bought them out in 1996). For 35 cents, I got my scoop of ice cream and quality time with Mom.

Then I had an epiphany two years ago. While visiting Italy, I tasted gelato for the first time. Technically, gelato is Italian for ice cream, but if you have real gelato, you will never confuse it with mere ice cream. Gelato tastes as strong as the flavor itself, and it has a silky smooth texture like soft-serve. Ironically, these qualities make gelato lower in fat than ice cream.

Gelato is made with whole milk instead of cream, as fat coats the tongue and mutes flavors. Super-premium ice cream, like Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen Daz, have 15-20% butter fat. By FDA standards, the cheapest plain ice cream can have 10% butter fat. Gelato, on the other hand, contains 3-10% fat.

The cheapest ice cream is half air, or 100% overrun. That’s why generic supermarket ice cream comes in large yet light containers. The overrun in gelato is much lower, around 20%. Because gelato is denser, it’s served at a higher temperature, which also intensifies the flavors.

In my quest to replicate the Italian experience, I’ve trekked all across Manhattan to find the best gelato and sorbet, another mainstay of gelaterias.

Il Laboratorio del Gelato
The gelato is shockingly flavorful, soft and smooth, just like it is in Italy. My favorite is the chocolate gelato, but creator Jon Snyder rotates exotic flavors, like black sesame and lavender. The sorbets are also super flavorful, but some, like the coconut, are icy and crumbly.
Verdict: Best gelato
photo: il Laboratorio del Gelato

Otto Pizzeria
Mario Batali’s restaurant serves mildly flavored gelato, up to three flavors in a cup. Their signature olive oil gelato is very subtle. It gets better as you finish it, because the flavors take time to accumulate. My favorite is the ricotta, which tastes like fresh cheesecake.
Verdict: Runner-up for best gelato
photo: Foodite

Ciao Bella Gelato
Despite its name, sorbet is Ciao Bella’s strongest point. The chocolate sorbet is so rich and creamy that you won’t believe it’s dairy-free and has one gram of fat per serving. The fruit sorbet is also very good. Blood orange and raspberry pair wonderfully with chocolate, but the mango and apple are delicious too. The gelato is high-quality ice cream, but not on par as gelato.
Verdict: Best chocolate sorbet, runner-up for best fruit sorbet
photo: Oyatsu

Ceci-Cela
This bakery serves divine fruit sorbet only in the summer, so take full advantage of their mango, raspberry and cassis flavors. The mango sorbet tastes like the ripest fruit imaginable, just like in Italy.
Verdict: Best fruit sorbet

Recipes:
il Laboratorio del Gelato’s bitter-chocolate sorbet
Ciao Bella’s mint gelato and blackberry-cabernet sorbet
Olive oil gelato
Otto’s lemon gelato

Locations:
il Laboratorio del Gelato
95 Orchard St. (between Broome & Delancey Sts)
New York, NY 10002
(212) 343 9922

Otto Pizzeria
1 5th Ave.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 995-9559
An outdoor cart is also in Washington Square Park (Waverly Pl. at MacDougal St.) from April to Nov.

Ciao Bella Gelato
various locations nationwide, including Grand Central Station, Mott St., 92 St. and the World Financial Center (opening soon)

Ceci-Cela
166 Chambers St.
New York, NY 10007
(212) 566-8933

55 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 274-9179

Resources:
Definition of ice cream
Ice cream v. gelato