Daring Bakers' Challenge Maggio 2011: Marquise al cioccolato

In questi giorni ho imparato una grande lezione: le meringhe non vanno d’accordo con la fretta! Se poi ci mettiamo che volevo provare a fare le meringhe al cioccolato, beh, con il senno di poi posso dire che forse ho voluto fare il passo più lungo della gamba!!

Come saprete, ormai me ne lamento da 3 post a questa parte, il mio tempo per cucinare ultimamente si è ridotto ai minimi termini! Non ho voluto però mancare all’appuntamento con la Daring Kitchen che questo mese era ospitata da Jenny, di Purple House Dirt, e da Emma,  di CookCraftGrow. Jenny ed Emma ci hanno sfidato a preparare una Marquise con meringa.

Devo dire che stavolta come non mai ho apportato numerose modifiche alla ricetta originale, soprattutto per ovviare al mio tempo limitato.

Così ho lasciato perdere la ricetta originale e ho optato per una variante più easy, trovata sul web.

Parliamo poi dello scottante argomento: la meringa. La ricetta di Emma e Jenny prevedeva di fare una meringa non cotta, ma, non essendo una grande fan di questa preparazione, ho scelto ti cuocerla. Nella mia mente mi ero già fatta il quadretto: una bella fetta di marquise al cioccolato, un generoso ciuffo di panna montata adagiata sopra, una meringa al cioccolato per completare l’opera. Come anticipato però non ho avuto fortuna, gli albumi non ne hanno voluto sapere di montarsi (anzi, lancio un appello, se avete una ricetta per le meringhe al cioccolato da suggerirmi, siete più che benvenute!! Quando avrò un po’ più di respiro ho intenzione di riprovare a farle!).

Ho ripiegato così sulle meringhe tradizionali, prendendo spunto dalla ricetta della meringa alla francese. Anche in questo caso però la fortuna non è stata dalla mia parte e le meringhe non mi sono venute benissimo, così ho dovuto sbriciolarle e cospargerle sopra la marquise per salvare almeno l’apparenza!!
Devo dire che il mio orgoglio deve ancora riprendersi, anche se la fetta gigante di marquise che vedete in foto mi ha aiutato molto a tirarmi su di morale!

Eccovi le ricette originali. Portate pazienza, non ce l’ho fatta a tradurle, mi perdonate???

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle. 

MARQUISE AL CIOCCOLATO

Ingredients: 

11 large egg yolks at room temperature

4 large whole eggs

2/3 cup (120 grams/ 4 oz.) sugar

1/3 cup (2.5 fluid oz./ 70 ml.) water

2 cups (16 fluid oz./ 500 ml.) heavy cream

2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder (for rolling)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Whip on high speed until very thick and pale, about 10 - 15 minutes.

When the eggs are getting close to finishing, make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan.

Bring the syrup to a boil and then cook to softball stage (235F/115C). If you have a cake tester with a metal loop for a handle, the right stage for the syrup is reached when you can blow a bubble through the loop (as seen in the following picture).

With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle the sugar syrup into the fluffy eggs, trying to hit that magic spot between the mixing bowl and the whisk.

When all of the syrup has been added (do it fairly quickly), turn the mixer back on high and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. This will take at least 10 minutes.

In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside.

When the egg mixture has cooled, add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Try to get it as consistent as possible without losing all of the air you've whipped into the eggs. We used the stand mixer for this, and it took about 1 minute.

Fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Pour into the prepared pans and cover with plastic wrap (directly touching the mixture so it doesn't allow in any air).

Freeze until very firm, at least 2 - 4 hours (preferably 6 – 8 hours).

When you're ready to plate, remove the marquise from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving.

While it's still hard, remove it from the pan by pulling on the parchment 'handles' or by flipping it over onto another piece of parchment.

Cut it into cubes and roll the cubes in cocoa powder. These will start to melt almost immediately, so don't do this step until all of your other plating components (meringue, caramel, spiced nuts, cocoa nibs) are ready. The cubes need to sit in the fridge to slowly thaw so plating components can be done during that time. They don’t need to be ready before the cubes are rolled in the cocoa powder.

MERINGA

Servings: Makes about 4 - 5 cups of meringue. If you aren't planning on serving *all* of the marquise at once, you might want to scale this recipe back a bit.

Ingredients:

11 large egg whites

1 ¾ cups (12 oz.) sugar

Splash of apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your (clean, washed) hand, reach in the bowl and stir the three together, making sure the sugar is moistened evenly by the egg whites and they make a homogeneous liquid.

Over a saucepan of simmering water, warm the egg white mixture. Use one hand to stir the mixture continuously, feeling for grains of sugar in the egg whites. As the liquid heats up, the sugar will slowly dissolve and the egg whites will thicken. This step is complete when you don't feel any more sugar crystals in the liquid and it is uniformly warm, nearly hot.

Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and return it to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

Whisk until you reach soft peaks. In the last 10 seconds of mixing, add the vanilla to the meringue and mix thoroughly.

When you're ready to plate the dessert, spoon the meringue onto a plate (or use a piping bag) and use a blowtorch to broil.