Monthly Archives: January 2011

Olive Oil Bon Bon

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Olives
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O.K. I’m scaring myself now. I must have licked 1/2 a cup’s worth of olive oil ganache out of the bowl. I’ve been meaning to try this recipe for ages and I’m happy I finally did. It’s SO good! Basically you replace the cream for olive oil to make the ganache so it’s super rich but firmer than a normal ganache. I used my friend’s olive oil that his family makes in California and cut it with regular olive oil. Because it uses so much of his super high end olive oil, it would be an expensive little bon bon. I may put it in the display for special occasions only.

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California Dreaming

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I always look for a chocolate shop or two whenever I travel to a new city.  On our family trip to L.A. over the holidays, I had no luck getting inspired by the local chocolate scene.  The shops I did try to visit were either closed for the holidays or had moved to a new location.  You can’t always trust the internet to have accurate information.  I decided to switch my focus and try something that I knew I could only find in the southern part of the U.S. or in Mexico-Moles!

I tried 2 different ones in 2 different restaurants.  The first one I tried was at  Red O in L.A. which is a high end Mexican restaurant that’s somehow connected to Rick Bayless,  the famous chef at Topolobampo in Chicago.  I had the chicken with Mole sauce.  It was good, but I had nothing to compare it to so I really had no idea what I should be looking for.  The second one I tried was at a restaurant in San Diego called “El Agave”.  This was also a pretty nice restaurant with some pretty nice prices too.  They served excellent margaritas though,  which made the prices easier to swallow.

The waiter brought me a small dish of the Mole Poblano to have alongside the fish that I had ordered.  Mole Poblano is the most typical of Mexican moles and uses chocolate as an ingredient.  I tried it with some of my husband’s pork and I instantly fell in love.  The beauty of a mole I think(though I’m hardly an expert having only tried it twice in my life) is the complexity of the dish.  It contains over 20 ingredients including lots of different spices and chilies.   I loved it so much that I started spooning it into my mouth on its own.  Then an amazing thing happened.  The heat of the chilies started releasing and a slow warming sensation began building inside my mouth.  It was the perfect amount of fire and it spread through my entire mouth-not just in my throat or on my tongue.   It was a perfectly balanced heat.  I had never experienced such a sensation before and I instantly understood that Moles are at the heart of mexican cooking and they are Mexico’s soul food.