It's cold in them dere mountains

It's still pretty damn cold here in Montana...and rainy. Really, really rainy. We finally saw the sun yesterday but I've resorted to fall type stews and braises to keep everyone here warm from the inside out. It's amazing how something with such humble ingredients can be so satisfying to the soul. A hearty serving of Chicken Thighs braised with Prunes (recipe below) served over Whole Wheat Couscous speckled with Toasted Almonds and just a hint of fresh ground Cinnamon did a world of good.

Since the weather has been wet, lots of indoor activities have been required and one of my favorites is bread baking. This is a simple fougasse, topped with chopped nicoise olives, fresh garlic, parsley and thyme. Perfect for sopping up that last bit of juice from our chicken braise.


Dessert! Another warm dish, Raspberry Clafouti (recipe below). Delicious and fun to say, baked in individual ramekins and topped with Sour Cream Ice Cream (not in the picture). Hopefully we'll have better luck with the weather and we can set our sights on lighter fare and warmer weather.


Prune Braised Chicken
Yields-6 servings (can easily be doubled or tripled)

3 pounds of boneless, skinless Chicken Thighs, each thigh cut into 3-4 pieces (Feel free to use any boneless, skinless chicken parts you like, but dark meat holds up so much better in a braise. If you decide to use white meat, cut the cooking time dine by about 1/2.)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup (maybe less) all purpose flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick coins
2 onions, peeled and cut into large dice
2 stalks celery, peeled and cut into large dice
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 large stems thyme
1 large stem rosemary
1 cup prunes
1 cup white wine or brandy
4 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade or at the very least a "low sodium" store brand)
1/2 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

In a small bowl, soak the prunes in the white wine or brandy, 20-30 minutes. In a large bowl toss prepared chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Once coated evenly with S&P toss with enough flour to coat. Heat a large, deep saute pan or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, and when hot, brown the chicken pieces in batches, transferring the browned chicken to the side. Once all chicken in browned and set to the side, add the prepared vegetables to the pot. Reduce the heat to medium. You should have enough oil left from browning the chicken but if you need to add more, do it now. Cook the vegetables till just soft, keep them from browning if you can. Transfer the cooked veggies to the browned chicken pan with the slotted spoon. Drain any remaining oil from the pan. Remove the pan from heat, add the prunes with the brandy or white wine, return to the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. (It's VERY important to move the pan off the heat while adding the prunes-especially if they are in brandy-eyebrows are a very important part of your face-watch for flaming alcohol.) Add the chicken stock and herbs, bring to a boil and then add the chicken and veggies that were set to the side. Cook for 45 minutes at a slow simmer, covered. At the very end fold in the chopped parsley, taste for salt and pepper and serve hot over rice, noodles or couscous. Sliced, toasted almonds make for a great textural garnish! Need a little more flavor, try adding a teaspoon or two of Dijon or Whole Grain Mustard at the end to finish the sauce without extra salt.

Raspberry Pecan Clafouti
Yields-8 individual desserts

1/2 cup Pecans (don't like pecans, switch it out for any other nut-hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds etc.)
2 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
pinch Salt
1/2 cup granulated Sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 Cup Heavy Cream
2 pints Raspberries (again, don't like raspberries, try blues, blacks, currants, halved cherries even sliced stone fruits are delicious-apricots!)

In a food processor combine the pecans, flour, salt and sugar. Process till pecans are finely ground, but take care not to over process the nuts, they will eventually turn to paste. Once well ground, add the remaining wet ingredients and process till smooth. That's it! Really, this is a great, 5 minute prep time recipe. The best part is that the batter can be made up to 6 hours ahead. Great for a dinner party, when you serve your entree, pop these in the oven and by the time dinner is over you'll have a hot and delicious dessert.

About the cooking....to bake prepare 8, 4-6 ounce ramekins by lightly spraying with Pam and then dusting with sugar to coat. Place on a sheet pan. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, divide the fruit among the ramekins, divide the batter amongst the fruited ramekins and bake for 15-20 minutes. Top with whipped cream or ice cream to serve.

A Creole Tomato in Montana

Creole Tomatoes are one of the best things about summer in New Orleans. The best thing for me about the summers is spending them in Montana. What's a girl to do-torn between her tomatoes and her environment? The solution for me...packing 20 pounds of Creole Tomatoes between dresses, shirts, socks and nightgowns. While I was somewhat concerned with the stain resistance of my clothing, my need for Creoles outweighed any items that could have become speckled with tomato seeds and sweet tomato juice. Luckily I arrived, with my tomatoes, both of us unscathed. Only one lonely tomato was squished. I can just imagine the face of the bag inspector as he pillaged through my garments-finding more tomatoes than clothes. If he was smart he would have kept one for lunch.

Since I have been here now a few weeks, the tomatoes didn't last too long and the few that remained were looking a bit worse for wear. I decided to slow roast them (recipe below) and use them on a open face turkey sandwich that we enjoyed paired with a Tomato and Watermelon Salad (overdone I know, but delicious all the same). The sandwich was served on thick whole grain-seeded bread picked up at the local farmers market, oven roast turkey, the slow roast tomatoes, Napa Cabbage slaw and topped with Smoked Mozzarella. Yum!

Slow roasted Tomatoes are perfect for countless applications and they are a great way to savor the summer for months after its end. Great on Pizzas, chopped into relishes for Fish or Pork, used to make uber rich tomato sauce, or just kept marinated in olive oil in the fridge for the occasional sandwich made special.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

3-4 Tomatoes, cored and cut into fat 1/2 inch to inch thick slices
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Freshly ground Black Pepper
Herbs-fresh and chopped (use your favorite combination, I love parsley, lemon thyme and soft rosemary)

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Place the sliced tomatoes on a silpat lined sheet pan (you can use parchment paper as a substitute), drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil, sprinkle with the salt, pepper and your choice of fresh chopped herbs. Bake for 2-3 hours, even 4 if you want a drier result. Allow the tomatoes to cool before storing. If you are making a large batch and want to keep them marinated in the fridge, use gloved hands (the first aid kind, not the fuzzy mitten type) to place the roasted tomatoes in a tupperware container and cover them with olive oil. Press a piece of parchment paper directly on top and remove tomatoes as needed with a slotted spoon. DON'T use your dirty little paws, once you introduce bacteria into the batch they won't last long. And don't even think of tossing out the delicious oil when the tomatoes are gone. Use in vinaigrette's, as a marinade for a piece of fish or beef, or just used as a dip for some crusty bread. It's also great swirled into soups at the last minute, for making pesto or cooking eggs. The possibilities are endless!

Rocky Point Bee Project

The newest addition to The Point this year....Bees!!! Jessi-breakfast cook and Gardener extraordinaire has decided to add even more to her plate. I'll let her take it from here..."I have been interested in beekeeping for several years and have always hoped to have my own apiary when my husband and I finally build our home. This winter a friend came to me wondering if I wanted to take over some of her equipment to keep bees here on the point and in turn care for her bees when she moved to Utah. I dove in head first, attended a course put on by the Montana State horticulture department and began reading everything I could get my hands on.


I was pleased to discover that our little town here in Montana actually has a bee supply store. Western Bee is able to provide everything from instructional books to actual bees. The bees arrive in town once a year in early May. Orders for bee packets must be made by late February or early March. The bees come in a simple screened box with about three pounds of bees, a can of syrup, and a queen caged at the center. Bees should be installed either early morning or late in the day so that they will cluster together to protect their queen and keep her warm. The queen cage is blocked with a small cork that can be removed with a safety pin and replaced with a small marshmallow. The worker bees eat the marshmallow to release their queen, all the while adjusting to her scent and beginning to build comb for her to lay eggs in. I banded the queen cage to one of the frames and placed the open bee box inside the super. Two days later, I remove the bee box and filled the empty space with the remaining frames. The bees were busy drawing comb and collecting pollen.


Since installation our bees have suffered some tough times. Their queen was lame (wasn’t producing eggs quickly enough) so the colony killed her and attempted to build a new queen. I ended up ordering a new queen from Tate’s honey farm and installing her. Less than twenty-four hours after installing the new queen a bear attacked the hive. I was able to rescue about a third of the hive and locate the queen. After re-assembling the hive, I rushed off to procure and install an electric fence. I was able to find a solar powered system and pounded posts for a small square perimeter. Since the fence went up the bear has left the hive alone; but fellow beekeepers have warned that once a bear knows what is inside a hive they may be willing to take a hit from the electric fence. Today the bees are busy trying to re-establish their hive and draw out comb to build the colony. I am hopeful that they will be able to build up the brood and maybe make enough honey to last the winter; but I doubt we will be able to harvest at all this season. The friend whose hive I am caring for has invited us to harvest from her hive so we will have some fresh local honey for Kristen to make amazing things with." Thanks Jessi!

I've been so inspired by the bee project that I will be following in Jessi's footsteps when I return to New Orleans. We can do a taste test with Big City and Little City Honey next summer! Big thanks are also due to Mr. Fountain (a handsome picture of him below)-a true lover of bees and full of all kinds of amazing bee knowledge-who helped us both with all the questions that we had for him.

Summer 8 for me-Summer 100 for the town!

Summer eight...it hardly seems possible! Life has been very good to me and every summer it continues to get better and better! I arrived back in Montana on Monday afternoon and after a sprint thru the local Costco and Good Food Store we (Jessi and I) headed back to The Point.

I was relieved of my cooking duties for Monday evening so yesterday was my first meal of the summer season. Lunch was a beautiful bisque of Asparagus and Crab paired with a salad of Frissee, roasted Walnuts, French Green Lentils, crumbled Goat Cheese and Sherry Vinaigrette topped with a poached Egg. Dessert was a simple plate of sliced Pineapple topped with Strawberry Whipped Cream.

After a long, long nap, dinner prep started. We enjoyed Herb and Whole Grain Mustard crusted Rack of Lamb served with Bacon braised Cabbage and Garlic roast Yellow Potatoes, finished with a Rosemary Lamb Jus.

Our chilly weather (lows in the 40's...brrrrrr) paired perfectly with our dessert of hot from the oven Fiji Apple Crisp topped with Blue Cheese Caramel (recipe below) and sweet whipped Cream.
A few of the guests questioned my Blue Cheese Caramel, but the pairing of the sweet, thinly sliced apples with the salty bite of the caramel quickly reassured them that this pairing was a classic for a reason. Many a slice of Apple Pie has been graced with a slice of Cheddar, so the leap to Blue Cheese wasn't a long one.

Blue Cheese Caramel
Yields: about 1 1/2 cups

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Water
1 1/4 cups Heavy Cream
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2-3 ounces crumbled Blue Cheese

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix the water and sugar. Cover and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a medium brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Gradually, and with great caution, add the cream and the vanilla extract. Simmer until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth and thick, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the blue cheese. Serve warm, or add another 1/4 cup of heavy cream and serve room temperature.
**I like to transfer the warm, prepared caramel to a glass Pyrex measuring cup, and place it in a bain marie over low heat (see the first picture above). I place a paper towel in the bottom of the pot to protect the Pyrex cup and keep the caramel warm.

Hot Buns!

I've finally come back to these steamed pork buns that I made last week, they were a first time try and they did not disappoint. After our fourth of July celebrations I had a few racks of pecan smoked ribs leftover and seeing that they were mighty tasty I hated for them to go to waste. After shredding the leftover rib meat I folded it together with some finely diced green onions, garlic, ginger, hosin sauce, sesame seeds and a few drops of roast sesame oil. It only took a few tablespoons of the Asian flavored pork for each bun and after a week of hearty eating it was a perfect lunch.
After making the dough (see below for the recipe), proofing, filling, proofing again and then steaming them (albeit in my makeshift steamer of a large roasting pan and 1/4 sheet pan, topped with a 1/2 sheet pan) I served them with a sauce of equal parts orange juice and tamari, a few passes of orange zest, ginger, garlic and green onion tops thinly sliced. A salad of our lakefront garden greens pulled it all together!
I could have eaten 6 of them but stopped myself at 3. This recipe will definitely be making a comeback, not only were they fun to make but they proved to be a fantastic way to utilize those leftovers that I can never bare to leave un-utilized!

Steamed Bun Dough Recipe
Yields: Enough dough to form 12 buns, can easily be doubled

1/3 Cup warm water
1 teaspoon granulated Sugar
2 teaspoons active dry Yeast
2 Tablespoons granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons canola Oil
1/4 Cup boiling water
1 large egg, fork-beaten
Approximately 2 1/4 Cups bread Flour

In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the warm water and first amount of sugar until sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast over top and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast.

Stir second amount of sugar, salt and cooking oil in large bowl. Add the boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in egg and then add to the yeast mix. Add the flour to the work bowl and on low speed beat the mixture till a soft dough forms. Change the paddle attachment to the dough hook and knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a greased bowl (spray with pan spray), flipping the dough to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for 1 1/2 hours to rise. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and allow it to rest covered for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12 inch log. Cut the dough in to 12 even rounds. Roll the dough out to a 3-5 inch round with a lightly floured rolling pin. Place a few tablespoonfuls of filling in the center and then pull the sides of the dough up, twisting lightly to close. Place on a greased sheet pan and cover with a towel. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before steaming.

Steam for 10 minutes, serve warm.

*The best way to steam these buns is with a bamboo steamer set over a pan of lightly simmering water. Find one here.

Moonrise

I have a hard time adjusting to the amazingly long days here in Montana. The sunrises around 5:45 but it doesn't set until 9:30-10:00. It's wonderful to have such a long day ahead of you, and the full moon makes the evenings almost as bright. In the past, I've taken advantage of the full moon alone with a glass of wine on my porch, but this summer all that changed. The boys over at the local rafting company invited us to a full moon float. We left the lodge by 10:30 pm and by 11:30 pm we were on our way to the base of the local dam. After getting the raft to the shore and shuffling cars to our final destination we embarked on an hour long trip down the river. The cool air was tempered by the warm water and the rapids that we encountered balanced out the calm. It was a long, beautiful and very wet experience. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I hated the idea of sacrificing my camera to the river. We wrapped up around 3:30 am and headed back to the lodge.
Before I started my evening of rafting I prepared a "last supper" for our guests that were departing early the next day. The dessert turned out beautifully, a sweet-tart apricot galette encased in a cornmeal pate sucre and then topped with house made ice cream and a drizzle of apricot syrup.
The stone fruit available in this portion of the US is unbelievable. I think we must receive the riper fruit, considering these beauties wouldn't be able to a survive a cross country trip. In another few weeks we'll have local apricots and cherries galore! These Washington apricots were picked up from the local grocery, and after a quick blanch to remove their soft skin they were ready for the cornmeal crust (see the recipe at the bottom of the post).

Of course before dessert we enjoyed a dinner of fresh Sockeye Salmon, shipped in earlier that day from the Pacific Northwest, over truffled creamed corn, lightly wilted baby bok choy from our lakefront garden and then finished with a yellow tomato and crispy bacon vinaigrette. It was delicious and beautiful. The salmon was oven roasted and the vinaigrette was flecked with finely diced shallots, fresh thyme and parsley from our herb garden (pictures of the herb garden to come) and leftover bacon from breakfast that morning. (see below for the vinaigrette's recipe)

Cornmeal Pate Sucre
Yields: Enough pastry for 1-15 inch galette or 12 individual galettes

2 Cups all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
16 Tablespoons (8 ounces)butter, cold and cubed
6-8 Tablespoons cold water

Filling for Tart
3 #pounds of your favorite fruits, prepared (washed, sliced, blanched etc.)
1 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose Flour

For the dough; In the work bowl of a food processor combine the dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Add the cold, cubed butter to the dry ingredients and pulse 10-12 times till the butter is cut into the flour mix. Turn the butter/flour mix into a large bowl and slowly add the butter in, working the mix into a dough with your fingers. You want just enough water for the dough to come together when you press it into a disk. Too much water is a recipe for disaster, go slow-you may need less and you may need more than noted in the recipe. Gently form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour hour. Roll the disc of dough out into a large circle, about 1/4 inch thick. Place the dough onto a silpat lined sheet pan, fill with your fruit filling leaving about 2-3 inches of dough on the outside rim. Casually fold the sides of the dough over the filling, brush lightly with an egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time. Remove from the oven and allow the galette to rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Yellow Tomato and Crispy Bacon Vinaigrette
Yields: 2 Cups

1 pound Yellow tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly diced
1/4 cup diced shallot
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
3 Tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil
5-6 slices of cooked bacon, chopped (re-crisp in a saute pan if needed, you want it to be crispy!)

Easy enough, fold together all of the ingredients except the bacon. Taste for salt and pepper, then fold in the crispy bacon right before serving.

Summer Sweets!

I had the great pleasure of working with Chef Anne Kearney years ago (!) at one of New Orleans finest restaurants, Peristyle. I worked with Anne for almost five years and for the last year of my time spent there I was her Pastry Chef. I've never truly embraced my love for desserts, they are much to concise, but looking back I'm glad I had the chance to practice those skills in such a fine establishment. While I now practice a much more casual plan of attack, the desserts here at the lodge never fail to finish the meal and sate the sweet tooth that our guests would never admit to having. Here are some of examples of what we have enjoyed so far this summer.

Wally, otherwise known as "Boss Man" loves his chocolate! Above was one of the first chocolate desserts I made. This Chocolate Cake was baked in pop-over pans (recipe below) and then finished with a warm Salted Walnut Caramel. It was divine and the cake is an easy one bowl concoction made with coffee.

When we have smaller groups of guests (around 8-10) I have a few assorted individual molds that I use mainly for desserts. These porcelain cobbler dishes were filled with huckleberries, blueberries and rhubarb from our lake front garden. The crispy almond and oatmeal streusel is crispy enough to play off the texture of the soft fruit underneath, but not hard enough to prevent the signature juicy runoff that makes a crisp a crisp. Another one of my go to recipes (see below for the recipe) for all the beautiful fruit that we are able to get our hands on all summer long.

We are fortunate enough to have rhubarb all summer long. With a much cooler summer the rhubarb season starts in late March and if we are lucky it will take us through late August. Jessi plants the rhubarb on the perimeter of the lake front garden as a natural deer repellent, its leaves are toxic. Many more rhubarb desserts to come!

Last night I had a chocolate dessert request and went with this Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe. I topped this uncharacteristically moist cake with Ginger Mint Whipped Cream. Too often flourless chocolate cake tends to be very dense, I almost under bake mine so that the center remains moist but the signature crunchy crust remains. (recipe below)

Our fourth of July dessert featured the most delicious Alpine strawberries the local farmers market has to offer. These are honestly the most delicious strawberries ever! They are tiny, about the size of a dime but what they lack in size they more than make up for in flavor. Each berry packs a jolt of summer sweetness with just a tiny bit of tang at the end...absolutely luscious! Strawberries will hopefully be in our future for another few weeks. The season is never long enough, but I will do my best to procure as many as I can for as long as I can.

The napoleon above was quick and easy dessert. A basic crushed Almond Florentine cookie (recipe below) layered with unsweetened whipped cream, the Alpine beauties and finished with a snowfall of confectioners sugar made for an appropriate finish. Off to cook lunch....

One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Yields-16 individual cakes

1 Tablespoon Butter, melted
2 Cups all-purpose Flour
1 Cup granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa
6 Ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 egg
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups very hot Coffee

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and lightly spray 16 popover molds* with pan spray. In the work bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all of the dry ingredients and beat on low speed. Lightly whisk the eggs together with the vanilla and add to the mixing bowl, still working on low speed. Slowly, to keep yourself from splashing, add the hot coffee to the batter and mix for a few minutes, still on low speed, until all of the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time, for 25-30 minutes. The cakes should be slightly domed and should spring back lightly when cooked through. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Unmold the cakes onto a cooling rack. Frost, drizzle or sprinkle them with your favorite icings, sugars or sauces. Serve.

*You don't need popover pans to bake these cakes, try using cupcake pans (filling only halfway), 2-8 inch cake pans or even a 13 X 9 inch baking pan for a sheet cake. Alternatively you can find the popover pans that I use here.

Fruit Crisp Recipe
Yields enough for 1 large crisp or 12 individual crisps (you can also use this as a crumb topping for a pie)*

1/2 Cup all-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup granulated Sugar
1 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 cup toasted Nuts (use your favorite or a blend)
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 scratches of Nutmeg
1 (4 ounces) stick cold butter, cubed

2 Pounds fruit, chopped or berries
1 Cup granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup all-purpose Flour

In the work bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, oatmeal, nuts and spices. Pulse 2-3 times to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the cold, cubed butter to the work bowl and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal (forget all that nonsense about it looking like peas, I always thought that was a poor comparison).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large baking dish or your individual molds with pan spray and set to the side. In a large mixing bowl toss the fruit or berries (or a mix) with the flour and sugar. Place the flour/sugar tossed fruit into the prepared molds and then generously top with the crisp mixture. Place the dishes or dish on a sheet pan and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, remember you want your crisp to be golden brown and the fruit should be bubbly, if your lucky you'll get the all important juicy runoff down the sides). Allow the crisp to sit for up to 1/2 hour before serving,but it will be ready to go after 10 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or even better ice cream!

*The recipe for the crisp is easy to double or triple, keep it in a ziplock bag in the freezer and you'll always be ready for a quick dessert.

Flourless Chocolate Tart
Yields: 1-9inch spring form pan cake

10 Ounces dark chocolate, chopped
10 Tablespoons (5 ounces) butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated Sugar
7 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the inside and base of a spring form pan with pan spray and then generously dust with granulated sugar, tossing any extra. Over a double boiler (or in the microwave) melt the chocolate. Allow chocolate to cool slightly before proceeding. In the work bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar until pale yellow and airy. Add the vanilla extract followed by the melted chocolate. Lightly, by hand, whisk in the egg yolks and set to the side. Again, working in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the egg whites into the chocolate base, working in three batches. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. It is very important to not over bake this cake, when it is ready the top should be crispy looking, and when touched the cake below should have just a bit of jiggle left to it. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack and put it straight into the fridge. After 30-45 minutes, the cake will be ready to slice but not cold. Cut patiently, and serve with whipped cream or with a dusting of confectioners sugar.

Crushed Almond Florentine Cookie
Yields: about 3 dozen palm sized cookies.

1 Cup brown Sugar
8 Tablespoons (4 ounces) butter
1/2 Cup Corn Syrup
2/3 Cup all-purpose Flour
1 cup sliced Almonds

In a heavy bottomed sauce pot combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup, melt together over medium low heat. While that is melting together, combine the flour and almonds in the work bowl of the food processor and pulse on and off until the almonds are very well crushed. Add the flour/almond mix to the melted butter mix and stir.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with a silpat* and place 6 tablespoon sized globs of the dough. Bake for 8-9 minutes, rotating halfway through. The cookies will triple in size, will look lacy and be golden brown. Baking times on these cookies vary greatly with each oven so keep adding on the minutes, rotating the pans until they reach the perfect toasted brown color. Once the color is right, remove the sheet pan from the oven and using tongs pull the silpat off the sheet pan onto the counter. Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes then carefully remove them from the silpat by gently bending the silpat under the cookie and place them on a paper towel to remove any excess butter. When cool store them in an airtight container separated by small pieces of paper towel or parchment. Depending on humidity they will be crisp for 3-5 days.

* A silpat is a fantastic heat resistant (up to 500 degrees) baking sheet liner that is reusable. Never use them under the broiler or put in the dishwasher, hand wash and dry only! You can find one here.