Sarotti No. 1 Papua Neuguinea

I must confess that I don't like candied orange peel, never have, hot crossed buns at Easter don't do it for me, because of the candied bits in them, so I viewed this version of Sarotti's No. 1 series, the fourth one I have reviewed, with a little trepidation. This bar contains cacao beans from Papua New Guinea, of Criollo and Forastero varietals, and has a cocoa content of 72%. Like the other bars in this series, the ingredient listing is short, just cocoa mass, sugar, candied orange peel (orange peel, sugar, dextrose), soya lecithin as an emulsifier, and vanilla flavour. When it came to tasting it, it broke very well, with a good snap, smelled fairly good, orangey, but the taste almost immediately when chewing it, was overwhelmingly orange, the chocolate disappeared into the background, and, eventually, I was down to chewing the bits I don't like, the candied peel. I must confess, that I could not finish this, I only ate four squares of the ten in the package, so I gave it a fair try, I think. I did give it to another lady at work who enjoys candied peel, but I would not buy this again, ever.

Duca Degli Abruzzi Hazelnut Gianduia Pure Chocolate Nougat

This Italian hazelnut chocolate nougat, in Italian called Torrone di Puro Cioccolato con Guanduia e Nocciole, made by Mangiami SCarl in Rome, I found in, of all places, Loblaws, for about $5. The pure chocolate, or Cioccolato in Italian, only has a cocoa content of 25.5%, and whole powdered milk, so it is at best pure milk chocolate. The toasted hazelnuts, or nocciole in Italian, which comprise 15% of the total, are large and unbroken, which is good. Too, it also contains hazelnut paste, or gianduia in Italian. The rest of the ingredients are sugar, first in the list, and, last in the list, soya lecithin as an emulsifier, and flavouring, presumably vanilla. The guanduia combined with the milk chocolate gives it a consistency of a nougat, though I think it would do better with a little higher concentration of chocolate. Overall, I would say that this nougat is okay, but not worth the price.

Dodol Durian Malaysian Cake

I've had a fascination for the exotic fruit called Durian ever since I've read about it being the King of fruits coupled with its off-putting smell, that I've wanted to try it in the various forms that come from the countries where it grows. One eats it plain, presumably quickly if one is put off by the smell, or dried, in chip form, much like banana chips, or in baked goods. This form, from Malaysia, is prepared from a traditional recipe, I found it in a Chinese supermarket. When one opens the plastic wrapping, a sweet smell of coconut and durian wafts from the thick dark jelly. And it tastes sweet, but not too sweet, the chewy jelly is creamy in texture. Its ingredients are durian, coconut flower water, coconut milk, palm sugar and glutinous flour. I imagine this would be even better freshly made, just as eating the durian fruit just picked ripe from the tree would be far more delicious.

Poulain Noir Café

Another chocolate bar I tried from the French chocolatier, Poulain, owned by Cadbury, is part of their line of special chocolate bars called 1848, so called because they have been in existence since 1848. This selection, containing 64% cocoa content, is called Noir Café, or Coffee Dark. Its ingredients listing is short, just dark chocolate (made of unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, sugar, soy lecithin and natural flavour), caramelized cocoa nibs and coffee. There is no indication as to the origin of the cacao beans. The chocolate has a good coffee flavour, if you like the pairing of the two, and the caramelized cocoa nibs add a good sharp taste to this bitter tasting chocolate, far better tasting than the Ultime Noir I tried earlier.

Ginger Chicken Bacon

I have liked the taste of ginger for a long while, and over the past couple of years have increased the number of dishes that I enjoy it in. My brother-in-law uses it in most of the dishes that he makes, it is part of a basic set of ingredients that he uses, along with garlic and scallions and star anise. I had a good chunk of bacon, too, that I know pairs well with the chicken, in this case thighs, that I had bought earlier this week. I heated some oil in a wok, till it was close to smoking, then added some sliced ginger and four sliced garlic cloves, which I stir-fried for a couple of minutes, before I then added the cut-up bacon pieces and the sliced chicken thighs. I stir-fried this all for about 10 minutes, covering occasionally for a minute or two, until the chicken was browned and the bacon was cooked through. I served this over some noodles I had cooked earlier. Quite tasty.

Golden Alps Praline

The only thing I can see that this chocolate bar has going for it, is that it is inexpensive. Even at room temperature, it was very soft. That could be due to the ingredients, third in the list, behind sugar and cocoa butter, is vegetable fat. I have always thought that good chocolate should only contain cocoa butter as its fat, and I read now that there is a call to change the definition of chocolate in the United States to include substitute fats, palm or coconut oil, among others, to replace the cocoa butter. Not a good trend. This is a cheap milk chocolate praline, that doesn't taste bad, though I doubt that I will be buying it again anytime soon.

Two more La Tourangelle Oils

Having enjoyed La Tourangelle's delicious Roasted Hazelnut Oil, I decided to try two more of their oils, Toasted Sesame Oil and Roasted Walnut Oil.

The Toasted Sesame Oil, which is used in many Asian recipes, is made in Japan following 270-year-old traditional methods, which involve slowly roasting the sesame seeds, then expeller pressing and lightly filtering the resulting oil. They even include a recipe for an Asian style dressing, for use in salads, stir-fry or BBQ marinades.

Japanese Style Sesame Dressing
4 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients together.

The Roasted Walnut Oil is manufactured in California following 150-year-old traditional French methods. Again, the walnuts are slow roasted to perfection, expeller pressed and lightly filtered. Use this oil on salad dressings, pasta, grilled meat or to dip with bread. They included a recipe for a French vinaigrette.

French Walnut Oil Vinaigrette
4 Tbsp Roasted Walnut Oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
dash of salt to taste

Blend all ingredients together.

Nong Shim Instant Udon Noodles

My beautiful Thai friend showed me this interesting variation on the instant noodle packages found everywhere; this one is Korea in flavour, though manufactured in China, and is quite spicy, and thus, in my opinion anyways, far better tasting. The package consists of three parts, the udon-style noodles, which are thicker than those found in other competitors, a Powder soup packet, which contains the spices that give it its zing, and the Vegetable soup packet, which contains dried seaweed, dried mussel, dried squid cake, dried chives and dried carrot. Much like any of the other versions, this is easy to make. Boil some water, add the contents of the package, and boil for 5 minutes. I added some frozen cooked shrimp that I had to give it a little protein, but you could add almost anything; she suggested I add tomatoes, something she likes.

Sarotti No. 1 Ecuador

The third chocolate bar from the Sarotti No. 1 series contains cacao beans from Ecuador. The bean varietals that this country is well known for are Arriba Superior, Navida and Epoca. I have liked other chocolate bars with beans from Ecuador, and this one is no exception. Again, the ingredients are pretty good, cocoa mass, sugar and soya lecithin as an emulsifier, with a minimum cocoa content of 72%. The bar, though, was a less smooth tasting than the other Ecuadoran bars that I have tasted, a little to the chalky side. Still good, I'm seeming to like the beans from this country.

Chocolate Hazelnut Honey Cake

This is another variation on the Devonshire Honey cake recipe, I decided to add some chocolate to the mix. Now, when I made this cake, I didn't add the cocoa powder to the flour, and thus it didn't turn out as chocolatey as I wanted. It still tasted quite good.

Chocolate Hazelnut Honey Cake
225 g sweet butter
250 g runny honey
100 g dark muscovado sugar
175 g good dark chocolate
3 large eggs
300 g (2-1/4 cups) self-rising flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
175 g (6 oz.) ground hazelnuts
2 Tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 300F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Line bottom with parchment paper.

Melt butter, honey, and sugar slowly in a saucepan. Boil for one minute. Leave to cool (caramel will thicken).

Add chocolate to hot caramel and stir till melted and mixed through.

Whisk flour and cocoa together till mixed.

Beat in eggs one at a time in the saucepan. Whisk in flour into egg caramel mixture in two batches. Whisk ground hazelnuts into batter.

Pour into the greased pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until cake is golden brown and spring back when pressed.

Turn out the cake onto a wire rack. Warm 2 Tbsp honey in a small saucepan and brush over the top of the cake to glaze. Leave to cool.