We celebrated Valentine's Day Saturday night and I cooked up a fantastic dinner! I didn't take pictures of anything except the dessert, though. A recap of the dinner?? I would love to!
(courtesy of Food Network and Sandra Lee)
Spring Salad with fruit and and orange-white chocolate vinaigrette
Cherry Chocolate Mexican Rice
Sirloin Steak with chocolate merlot sauce
This is a picture of all the chocolate I used tonight. TONS. lol I didn't use it all, though, just a few tablespoons here, a 1/4 cup there. I have so many bags in my freezer now, I'll be making chocolate recipes for the next 4 months.
Believe it or not, the chocolate in all these recipes was not strong, at all! It added a nice aroma and really helped kick up the tastes in the onion, garlic and spices used in everything. My least favorite was the mexican rice, but only because I'm not a huge fan of rice.
Dessert. Ooooohh dessert's recipe came courtesy of Williams-Sonoma. It. Was. HEAVENLY. (and totally fattening.) I made a Chocolate Bread Pudding (made with REAL milk!!) topped with vanilla ice cream (REAL vanilla ice cream. none of this fat free sugar free ice milk I've been buying lately!) Whipped cream (made with REAL whipping cream!!) and caramel sauce (this was fat free. gotta watch the calories somewhere, right?)
So, without further ado, i bring you Williams-Sonoma mouth watering, fattening, indulgent Chocolate Bread Pudding. Enjoy!!
(btw, all pictures were taken on my camera phone.... so, sorry if they're terrible!!)
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
5 eggs
Pinch of salt
5 day-old croissants, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Caramel sauce for serving
Lightly sweetened whipped cream for serving
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 2-quart oval au gratin dish.
Pour the milk and cream into a heavy saucepan. Place the vanilla bean on a work surface. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the bean in half lengthwise. Using the knife tip, scrape the seeds from the bean, then add the seeds and bean halves to the milk mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
Return the saucepan to medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the 5 oz. finely chopped chocolate until smooth.
In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs and salt until blended. Form a kitchen towel into a ring and place the bowl on top to prevent it from moving. Gradually pour the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Add the croissants and stir to combine. Let stand for 20 minutes, occasionally pressing the croissants into the custard.
2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
5 eggs
Pinch of salt
5 day-old croissants, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Caramel sauce for serving
Lightly sweetened whipped cream for serving
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 2-quart oval au gratin dish.
Pour the milk and cream into a heavy saucepan. Place the vanilla bean on a work surface. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the bean in half lengthwise. Using the knife tip, scrape the seeds from the bean, then add the seeds and bean halves to the milk mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
Return the saucepan to medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the 5 oz. finely chopped chocolate until smooth.
In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs and salt until blended. Form a kitchen towel into a ring and place the bowl on top to prevent it from moving. Gradually pour the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Add the croissants and stir to combine. Let stand for 20 minutes, occasionally pressing the croissants into the custard.
(this is it soaking in the custard. It was all I could do to keep from dipping my fingers into the warm chocolate custard!!)Stir 3 oz. of the chopped chocolate into the croissant mixture and transfer to the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining chopped chocolate on top. Bake until a knife inserted near the center of the pudding comes out almost clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Accompany each serving with a drizzle of caramel sauce and a dollop of whipped cream. Serves 8.
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