SAINT VALENITNE'S DAY
Celebramos Dia de San Valentin


So this weekend we celebrate Saint Valentine's Day - Sunday should see us all lavishing affection and attention on our loved ones and hopefully being ra/lavished a bit ourselves in return.

To this end I've been making a few truffles, using some really good bitter chocolate 80% cocoa and I know I should be using some single estate chocolate but if I'm anyway successful I will go on to use...a finer chocolate next time.

Here follows the recipe I used which is a basic ganache - with some random (literally whatever I had to hand) flavourings added.

250g dark chocolate min 70% cocoa
250ml single cream

Method: I broke the chocolate into small squares into a large bowl and placed it over a pot of simmering water (not touching the water). This is stirred all the while until it was completely melted.

Separately I warmed the cream in a bowl over a pot of simmering water - stirring a little - bringing it to just above blood temperature.

Mix the cream into the melted chocolate with a whisk bringing it all together into a thickish creamy consistency. I divided this into 2 smaller bowls before adding flavourings.

Now for the flavourings:-

Mezcal and lime

The first mix I was pretty sure about, as I've been looking for ways to use up a Mezcal we've had about the house for a while now with 3 fat worms at the bottom - and the young man who gifted us the bottle is just itching to munch them and see....

As vivid green limes are the very essence of Mexico for me, I had to grate in a good tablespoon of zest and to this I added a good two teaspoons of Mezcal for a nice boozy punch. I probably should have gone for more but I was wary of making the mix too soft.

Chipotle Chile and Almond

Ok here I'm going again for a quintessential Mexican mix. Toasted ground Almonds about one teaspoonful. Then I toasted and deeseeded one Chipotle morita but left the veins in for heat. I chopped the chile finely and pounded it in a mortar and pestle with 2 teaspoons of dark muscavado sugar until it became a smooth but textured mush. And because I happened to be knocking back a yummy Lavatzza at the time I belted in a large pinch of espresso grounds just for the craic. All this was well mixed into the second bowl of ganache.

Both bowls covered in film and refrigerated for about 2 hours........let's see how they're doing? Ok the mix has firmed up nicely and I'm now rolling a teaspoon of each mixture into little balls, then into the dusting and onto a tray to firm up again.

So to finish them off I decided to roll the Chipotle truffles in ground almonds and the Mezcal and lime truffles in a mixture of lime zest and cocoa powder.

To display the Mezcal and lime truffles I put them into Mexican margarita glasses!
The chipotle and almond truffles looked great in little coffee cups! Even though these were made up as gifts there was plenty left over for me to taste.....yummy!

MARKET MATTERS - AT TEMPLE BAR IN CENTRAL DUBLIN THIS SATURDAY 13TH FEBRUARY

Staying with all things Dark and Luscious I've made a large pot of BLACK BEAN SOUP to sell at our market stall. I use small black TURTLE beans. I think they're called that because of their shape, they've got a squarish black bump, just like a mini version of a leatherback turtle's shell.

If you can get your hands on some epazote herb, add a sprig or two to the cooking water, this gives a fantastic dept of flavour to the cooked beans. The lovely Eric from Cultivate gave me some epazote seeds a few years ago and I've had successful small plants year round since. Epazote seeds should be available online, try them.

I always use a pressure cooker to cook my beans and never soak them at all. I cover the beans with double the dept of water to beans, seal the lid, put the weight on and bring to the boil fast. Then cook hissing for 20 minutes. Turn the heat to very low for 20 minutes more, if you use electric just turn off the heat and leave to sit there till cool or cold. Remove the lid. At this stage they should be soft when squeezed between you thumb and forefinger. Next the salt....see below.

If you don't have a pressure cooker just use a regular large saucepan. Rinse 250g Turtle beans under cold water and put them in a large pot with 3 liters of cold water and a couple of sprigs of epazote. Bring to the boil and leave on a rolling boil for about 10 minutes then reduce the heat and maintain a simmer for about 40 minutes. If the water looks like it is boiling off just add some more - but make sure it is HOT WATER from the kettle- you don't want to shock those beans with a blast of cold do you? At this stage they should be soft when squeezed between you thumb and forefinger.

NOW AND ONLY NOW do you add the salt. Add about 2/3 level teaspoons of salt and simmer again for about 5 minutes, this ensures that the salt flavours all the beans throughout the pot. Ok so your beans are ready for use in a dozen different recipes - re fried beans - frijoles charros - or Black Bean soup.

This particular recipe I've developed to satisfy my customers at the market who follow an Aruvedic diet and therefore I've not used any onion or garlic in the cooking - but you can include them if you like.
Serves 6

1 litre cooked Black Turtle Beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bell pepper green, diced small
1 bell pepper red, diced small
2 or more fresh green or red chile peppers diced
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 teaspoons cane sugar
4 tablespoons tomato puree
3 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried oregano for garnish when serving
1 small tub sour cream (optional)
1 litre vegetable stock made without using garlic or onion
half teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
2 teaspoons arrowroot mixed into a small glass of cold water

Method:- In a large soup pot warm the oil and stir fry the peppers for a few minutes, till softened. Add the vinegar, sugar, 3 tblsps oregano, puree and seasonings. Then add the beans and stock. Simmer the whole lot for about 30 minutes then with a slotted spoon remove about 250g of the mixture, reserve this to give texture to the finished soup. Now blend the soup in the pot with a hand blender until it is smooth and quite fine. Add the arrowroot and the reserved bean/peppers mix and return to the heat again - bring to the boil and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat as the soup is now ready to serve.

Serve into warmed bowls and garnish with a blob of cream and s sprinkle of oregano.