Paper Chef #15: Mighty Aphrodite

I wanted to spend the weekend making cheese sandwiches. Trouble is, every time Chopper sees the ingredient list for Paper Chef, his eyes light up like a puppy in a butcher shop. And this time? Beets, lime, pears, and aphrodisiacs, and us a couple blogging together? Ahem. How could we resist?

So, we hit the books. Or rather, the Google, and discovered all sorts of nifty lists and references to dozens of aphrodisiac foods, from the obvious (caviar) to the unexpected (coriander).

Now, I have a personal favorite aphrodisiac. It’s a combination of dark chocolate and Barry White. Gets me every time. But Chopper had other plans (or maybe he’s saving the dark chocolate and Barry White for later). See, he’d recently received a $25 gift certificate to our local grocery, and now he’d found the perfect excuse for some sensuous splurging.

So, to completely knock us out of contention for Paper Chef’s Super Saver category, we picked up three lusty participants for our lusty trio:

Caviar (Okay, black lumpfish roe, close enough for our purposes. Ah, mystical fish eggs, symbol of fertility…)
Truffles (They’re musky. Need we say more?)
Snails (I’m told it has something to do with their shape. What? It’s suggestive?)

Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you eat oysters?
Antoninus: When I have them, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you eat snails?
Antoninus: No, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral and the eating of snails to be immoral?
Antoninus: No, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn’t it?
Antoninus: Yes, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals.
Antoninus: It could be argued so, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: My robe, Antoninus. My taste includes both snails and oysters.

– Sparticus, 1960, Lawrence Olivier as Marcus Licinius Crassius; Tony Curtis as Antonius

Ahem. So, where was I?

Oh, yes, we weren’t done yet. Chopper had other ingredients in mind for our Lusty Trio, and surprisingly, we found that several of them were also included on various lists of aphrodisiacs. Here are six more:

Vanilla (Its powerful scent evokes strong and sensuous emotions.)
White wine (In moderation, of course, or the hot date ends badly.)
Wasabi (Nature’s Cialis, rumor has it.)
Red chiles (Hot, hot, hot.)
Coriander (According to The Arabian Nights, a coriander concoction once saved a merchant from 40 years of infertility!)
Agave nectar (Not fermented agave, like tequila or pulque, but still…)

In Aztec times, pulque was the highly esteemed drink of the elders, priests and warriors, a nectar that according to myth oozed from the 400 breasts of the goddess Mayahuel.
–source: Sign on San Diego

Four hundred???

Okay, I think that should do it for aphrodisiacs. Time for some recipes.

Snails in beet cups with truffle butter

Ingredients

1 very large red beet
Snails, as needed
Compound butter (see below), as needed
Red chiles
2 tsp coriander seed

For compound butter

1/4 lb European style butter
1 tablespoon red bosc pear, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
Zest of 1 baby lime, minced
1 small black truffle, minced
1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes

Take two tsp of butter and melt in a small sauté pan over low heat.
Add remaining ingredients and sweat over low heat for five minutes or until aroma is pungent. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Season to taste with salt.

When ingredients in pan are cool and remaining butter is soft, fold both together until thoroughly combined and roll into a log with parchment paper.

For beets

Fill a small pot with water, and add enough salt to make it taste briny. Then add a small handful of red chiles, and 2 teaspoons of coriander seed, and bring to a boil. Add the beet, skin on, to the boiling water and allow to come back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Cook the beet until it is tender but not mushy, about 30-45 minutes. Remove it from the boil and place in a bath of ice water until its cool enough to handle. Then peel the skin off by hand and cut into thick slices.

Cut rounds out of the slices with whatever tool you can find; a biscuit cutter, ring mold, etc. With a Parisian scoop (a.k.a melonballer) hollow out the rounds, making them into little cups.

Place a shelled snail into each cup and add a thin (1/8 inch) slice of the compound butter on top.

Place all the prepared cups onto a sheet pan lined with parchment, and roast in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes.

Serve hot. Olympic Rings configuration optional.

Salmon and beet mousse barquettes

For candied lime zest

Zest of 2 baby limes
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water

Combine water and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. When the mixture begins to get “frothy” add the zest strips.

Cook for 5 minutes, then strain. Place zest on a silpat, or parchment and into a 150 F oven and allow to dry.

For the mousse

4 ounces smoked salmon
2 ounces cooked red beet
4 tablespoons tofutti cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder
5 large sprigs of fresh dill

Place all ingredients into a food processor and puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt.

For barquettes

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bosc pear, peeled, cored, and pureed
1/4 cup water

Biscuit method

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together thoroughly.

Add butter and shortening, and “cut” into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Add the pureed pear and fold into the mixture, then add water as needed to bring the dough together.

Mold dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

When dough is properly chilled, roll portions into thin (1/8 inch) sheets and place in barquette molds, trimming away excess. Dock (poke holes in the bottom) as needed to keep the dough flat as it cooks.

Place molds in a 350 F oven until golden brown. Then remove and allow to cool.

Final assembly

Pipe finished mousse into cooled barquettes in whatever style you like. Garnish with a small dab of caviar (or in this case; black lumpfish roe) and candied lime zest.

Poached pears with agave caramel sauce

Ingredients

2 Bosc pears
4 cups sweet white wine
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 vanilla beans
Beet powder for garnish

Poaching method:

Combine wine and lime juice in a two quart saucepan over low heat.

Split and scrape vanilla beans and add both the seeds and the hulls to the liquid.

When the liquid reached between 160 and 180 F peel the pears, leaving them whole, and place in the poaching liquid.

Cover the pan, and poach the pears for at least two hours, three would be better.

When pears are cooked through, remove from the liquid.

For sauce:

Ladle off 2/3 of a cup of the poaching liquid and add to another pan over medium-high heat.

Add the agave nectar and bring to a boil. Reduce until the mixture is thick, dark, and caramelized.

Plating:

Make six cuts along the length of the pear, being careful not to cut through the stem end. Push down onto a plate, giving a slight twist, allowing the pear to “fan out.” Spoon the sauce over top, and garnish with a vanilla bean hull, and a sprinkling of beet powder.

Now, I should note that I neglected to include smoked salmon on my list of nine (nine!) aphrodisiacs, above, but whether documented or not, as far as I’m concerned, in my book the combo of smoked salmon and Peter Gabriel is right up there next to dark chocolate and Barry White. (Follow all that up with a glass of port and Alan Rickman, and I’m done.)

Oh, I could go on, but never mind that. Our Lusty Trio turned out quite delicious and so rich that just the smallest helping did me in for the evening. In fact, the both of us have been in recovery for three days, so it’s a wonder we’ve gotten any blogging done at all!

Tagged with: Paper Chef

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cookiecrumb Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 3:58 pm

Chopper, you get *too* excited about Paper Chef! This is verging seriously close to Ideas in Food (you know about those guys?).
“Snails, as needed”
No! Not needed! (sorry, Sir Larry)
However.
I am very, very impressed. And humbled.
As for me, I just had a massive failure with beet juice and an unnamed bivalve-ish aphrodesiac. Shoulda gone with my initial pears ‘n’ snails idea. :D

Mrs D: Barry White is a Hot Seat on the Bus of Love.

Sylvie Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 4:41 pm

How do you think of these things? Looks great even though I’m not into eating snails.

mrs D Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 4:51 pm

Cookie: Woah. I just looked up Ideas in Food. I’m almost afraid to show that site to Chopper. It’s like what he would do if we had a budget. It’s like what he might start doing despite our budget. I mean… giant squid noodles with sake cured king salmon roe? ::dies::

Hey Sylvie. This was all Chopper’s crazy brain this time. (And I’ll admit, I’m not into snails either. The truffle butter masked their taste quite a bit, which was just fine with me!)

cookiecrumb Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 4:58 pm

Snails is like chewing on buttered garden hose. [Flicks hands together dismissively.]
Yeah. Ideas in Food. OMG. Show Chopper! Show Chopper! They do tinker with less-spendy food items. It’s the ideation that’s fun but oh, so over the top.
So my question: Where do you get beet powder? Probably at my local Whole Foods. :P

Tricia Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 7:13 pm

Gorgeous photography and amazingly creative, as usual! Especially the beet cups. Our CSA sometimes goes overboard with beets, maybe this summer I’ll come back to this Paper Chef round-up for ideas. (I never ate them growing up, and so far the only sure-fire winner preparation method is one told to us by an octagenarian Greek neighbor!)

Magictofu Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 8:35 pm

Ahhhh… why do all of you guys make judging so difficult!

This is a very nice entry! And unlike some of you, I love snails! The trick is not to overcook them (same as everything I guess).

You have to explain me one thing… what is beet root?

And cookiecrumb, if you read this, you should post about your experiments… even if they fail… i also worked on beet juice and failed… I’ll find time to write about it soon.

B'gina Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 10:58 pm

Once again, you guys have come up with amazing stuff. After tossing and turning for a full night of nightmares about this PC, all I could remember when I woke up was beets cut in heart shapes and something else cut in daisies. WTH? I couldn’t stand the thought of actually trying to put something together.

Better be careful you don’t win again. Heh.

ilva Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 11:52 pm

Oh, wonderful! Beautiful pics and greatgreat ideas!! You just crushed my even tiniest hope to be a runner up for the Paper Chef title! And I like snails too, mmmm

Gracianne Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 1:17 am

I love the little barquettes, they really look like they are about to sail.

Pille Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 6:35 am

Impressive entry! I don’t do snails either, but the top beetroot picture is gorgeous. And those salmon and beet mousse barquettes are absolutely fab!

Chopper Dave Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 9:18 am

Thank you everyone! I knew there would be a contraversy over the snails ;-)

Cookie: Thank you for showing me Ideas in Food! I now have a plce to point too when Mrs. D says I’m getting too weird, hehe.

Tofu: Beetroot is just a more technical name for the part of the plant that’s more commonly eaten. But, the greens and stems are also edible (and quite tasty actually).

tankeduptaco Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 1:07 pm

You guys have so made me want to get a digital camera, great shots of some very sexy food. Yes Chopper, it’s a shame more people aren’t into what is really quite traditional food, pass me a beetroot cup and I’ll swap you some tongue.

Magictofu Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 7:51 pm

Oops… I just realized that one word was missing in my question… I wanted to know what beet root powder was…

what a dumb question otherwise! ;-)

mrs D Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 9:03 pm

Hey! I’m the only one who gets to swap tongue with Chopper! :-P

Completely irrelevant to everything: MagicTofu just posted the 1000th comment to this blog! Wooohooo!

Chopper’s at work, and when he returns I’ll see if he can’t explain beet root powder. (Also, maybe he can tell cookie where he gets it, other than “from work.”)

Chopper Dave Says:
February 16th, 2006 at 11:25 pm

Ahha! Beet powder is basically made by drying a beet very thoroughly then grinding it down to a fine powder. As for where one can get it, I’m not exactly sure about retail, I get it through a restaurant purveyor that my work buys from.