Chocolate Marquise with Peach and Basil Sauce

[paulraphael]

Chocolate Marquise with Peach and Basil Sauce

Serves 15 as Dessert.

This is my interpretation of the classic super-rich terrine, inspired in part by Chef Gilles Bajolle's refinements. His and the more traditional versions are somewhat less intensely flavored than this one. There are a handful of traditional sauces, including pistachio-infused creme anglaise and vanilla creme anglaise.

I came up with peach and basil as a sauce for summer; I like the way the bright, fresh flavors work with the dark chocolate.

Some other sauces I've concocted for other seasons: pear and clove, cognac and golden raisin, grand marnier, raspberry, and pear and lapsang souchong tea. Your imagination is the limit when it comes to creme anglaise flavors.

This dessert is all about chocolate, so make sure you use the best you can find. The recipe specifies my favorite blend. There's no need to feel bound by this, but do pay attention to the ratio of bittersweet to unsweetened chocolates.

I have friends who won't come over unless I promise to make this.

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The Marquise

• Chocolate--9oz, made up of:
  
• 3-1/2 oz Valrhona Guanaja bittersweet chocolate
  
• 2 oz Valrhona Manjari bittersweet chocolate
  
• 3-1/2 oz Valrhona Cacao pur Pate unsweetened chocolate
  
• 4-1/2 oz butter (1 stick plus 1 TB)
  
• 1-1/3 c heavy cream
  
• 6 large egg yolks
  
• 2 large whole eggs
  
• 7 T sugar (1/2 cup minus 1 T)
  
• 1/4 c cocoa
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  

The Sauce

• 3 T sugar
  
• 6 large egg yolks
  
• 1-3/4 c whole milk
  
• 6 T peach preserves
  
• 1 stem of basil leaves (intact)
  
• 2 stems of basil leaves (removed from stem and finely cut, ideally by hand or with scissors)
  

The Marquise:

Note: Make sure the eggs are very fresh, to discourage anyone from dying. If you're paranoid, you can beat them in a bowl over the same hot water used for melting the chocolate, to quasi-pasteurize them. Do not make scrambled eggs. Or you can buy pasteurized yolks.

-chill 1 qt. pan (ideally a 6" cheesecake or springform pan) in fridge while preparing the ingredients

-melt the chololate and butter in a bowl over hot water. ideally melt the chocolate, then stir in cool butter a bit at a time until smooth and glassy.

-whip the cream until stiff and set it aside, keeping it cold

-beat egg, yolks, sugar, and salt until smooth. do not incorporate enough air to significantly increase volume. for all mixing, use a stiff whisk, a hand mixer, or the flat beater of a stand mixer on medium speed.

-when chocolate has cooled a bit, beat it with the egg mxture for one minute

-beat in cocoa for 5 minutes by hand, or 3 minutes by machine. goal is smoothness and some thickening, not increased volume. final texture should be like a ganache icing. this is where you earn your dessert if you're not using a mixer.

-fold in cream, gently. make it homogenous, but work it as little as possible to keep it from deflating

-fill pan

-thump it hard on counter to remove air bubbles. cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours; preferably overnight.

-to remove from cheesecake pan, warm sides with hair dryer or a towel soaked in hot water. set bottom on a sturdy glass or bowl, and push sides down.

-to remove from a solid pan, partially immerse in warm water to loosen it. Wipe of all the water from the outside of the pan, and flip it over onto a plate. if you're lucky, it will come out. if you're like me, you will do a lot of pounding and yelling, and maybe even resort to running a knife around the outside edge (and repairing the damage later--think stucco)

The Sauce:

This is a light Creme Anglaise (no cream), since the marquise is so rich.

-simmer milk in saucepan. ideally use an evassee or windsor pan (with sloped sides).

-beat sugar and egg yolk in mixing bowl, until smooth and lightened

-lightly simmer stem of basil leaves in milk for 3 minutes, then remove

-turn off heat, and whisk preserves into milk until soluble parts are disolved

-pour 1/2 of the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture, mix it up, and pour it all back into the saucepan

-stir in the chopped basil leaves

-turn the heat to medium. start paying attention.

-stir constantly, using a wooden spatula, scraping the whole bottom of the pan, especially the corners

-the sauce will thicken at about 165 degrees, but you won't have time to measure, because as soon as it gets a bit hotter than that it will curdle, and you'll be screwed. so watch closely. when it seems to have thickened (you'll start seeing the bottom of the pan peek through the sauce), run your finger in a horizontal line through the sauce that's clinging to the spatula. If the horizontal line stays, without getting dripped over, the sauce is thick.

-keep stirring over heat for 10 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir an additional 30 seconds.

-strain through a fine strainer or chinois.

-the sauce is best if prepared right before serving. I like the non-traditional contrast of a warm creme anglaise on the coId marquise. if you do hold it, or chill it and reheat it, strain it again before serving.

To serve, slice the marquise. a round pan gives wedge shaped slices that i set upright like pieces of cake. This is much denser and richer than a mousse ... a little goes a long way. I like to ladle the sauce onto the plate first, and set the marquise slice in the middle of this.

The marquise and sauce last up to a week. Cover marquise tightly with plastic, with as little air space as possible. Sauce should be kept in a plastic container (like a sauce squeeze bottle) also with as little air space as possible. Both need to be kept in a very cold fridge.

Keywords: Dessert, French, Intermediate, Chocolate, Plated Dessert

( RG1993 )