A noir desire

A great feeling of pleasure is immediately released when you have a bite. It's like the same effect you feel when you are in love, the mood change for the best with stimulant properties.

So how can I not love a chocolate cake. Every time I am under a stressed situation this is my Noir desire, a bite of chocolate. This is one of my favorite recipe that I love.

This tempting  delight was made  by my daughter Laura, an adaptation recipe from  Nigella's book  "How to be a domestic goddess" 

If you love Nutella, this is the one! It's has hazelnut, Nutella and the chocolate we used is Chapon chocolatier D' origen Venezuelan 75% cacao

Love it after dinner to leave your guests completely satisfied. Could be a midnight bite with a glass of  wine milk. I mean just a spoon bite......

Ingredients: 

6 eggs

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

14 ounces of Nutella 

1 tablespoon of Rum  ( we used Venezuelan rum)

1/2 cup ground hazelnuts

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate melted ( we used chocolate noir 75% cacao)

pinch of salt

9 inch cake pan greased and lined with parchment

For the icing:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 tablespoon of rum

1/2 cup heavy cream

Whisk the egg whites and salt until slightly stiff, in an other bowl beat the Nutella, butter, egg yolks, ground hazelnuts and the rum. Incorporate the the melted chocolate already cooled then add to the mixture a large dollop of the egg white, mix it and incorporate the rest a third at the time. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes at 350º F.

Icing preparation:

In a sauce pan heat gently the cream, rum and chopped chocolate. Once it is melted remove from heat and whisk until reach consistency to ice the top of the cake.

(It's very easy to make and extremely delicious to eat)

Vintage cake stand 
http://shop.lolalobato.com/products/Vintage-Cake-stand-with-a-10%22-Pedestal.html

Tart  slicer

http://shop.lolalobato.com/products/Old-Fashioned-Tart-Slicer.html

The uncertain visit of Irene

It's been a crazy week in Florida with all kinds of disruptions. First, on Monday they announced a hurricane coming to Florida so I have been preparing for the worst with a positive attitude, hoping that nothing dangerous may come. With that in mind,  I prepared my house for the hurricane and secured the office regarding floodings or strong winds. Of course I got ready with supplies buying the right food, water, batteries, flash lights, candles etc.. I am still deciding whether or not to close completely the house with shutters, just because we have big glass windows everywhere. Not only did I have to worry about that, but to complicate things even more, the earthquake that was felt in NY caught my attention since my son who works on Wall Street was evacuated from his office thinking that it was a terrorist attack. Add to all this the revolving news of TIboli, my mind hasn't been thinking at all around taking pictures of food nor have I even written my Tuesday post. I just hope Irene doesn't cause any destruction and no living life will be affected. 

I had my lunch from Chipotle yesterday while I was running from one place to another.  It is one of the decent food chains and a bit healthier option of fast food. Today the information regarding Irene threats is pointing only towards North East Coast, I think we all have to be prepared and I pray that nothing happens anywhere. 

Summer tea time mini sandwiches

These are some of my favorites tea time little sandwiches to have  at home, take it to a picnic or just to find an excuse to have a get together with my friends. These are turkey sandwiches with mango chutney, I just spread one slice of bread with mayo and in the other mango chutney and added slices of smoked turkey.

I always love the cucumber sandwiches, the secret is to peel and thinly slice the cucumbers, usually I do it with a potato peeler and  sprinkle them  with salt and little vinegar and leave to drain for a while about half an hour and place it on a sieve to remove any excess of juices from the cucumber. Spread the butter on thin bread slices, add layers of cucumber and close it  by pressing with your hands. Cover them with a lightly wet tea towel until you are ready to serve them.

I have many recipes for tuna sandwiches, but this one is very nice. I chopped a shallot in to very small dices, chopped a small bunch of parsley and grated a lemon peel. In a bowl I mixed the tuna all ready drained with  all the ingredients chopped and one spoon of  the tiny capers. In an other bowl I mixed mayo with a little olive tapenade ( you could make it or buy it already made) and  added salt and pepper. Now I mixed both mixture and placed it into the refrigerator until it's ready to use it.

For the egg salad sandwiches I also have many recipes that I keep changing depending in what I have when I am going to make it , yesterday a friend of mine called me from a tea room telling me what she was eating and how much she was enjoying it and thinking about the time she was living in England as I did while I was a student. So immediately after the telephone conversation I started preparing little sandwiches for a late snack follow with a cup of tea.

I boiled four eggs, chopped the shallot into tiny dices. The egg yolk I mixed with a little dijon mustard, olive oil, few drops of worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. I chop  very small the white of the boiled  egg  and mixed it with the chopped shallot, I added half a pickle and one cornichon  diced very small and added a few spoons of mayonnaise to mix  it all together. I spread onto thinly sliced buttered white bread and pressed the slices removing the crust. Everybody loves them! 

For the chicken sandwiches I cut in small cubes from a chicken breast all ready cooked and tossed with a thinly sliced celery and chopped walnuts. In an other bowl I stirred mayonnaise with a teaspoon of curry power, salt and pepper. I combined all and spreaded it on sliced  butted white bread, trimmed off  the crust and cut into triangles.

I just need to have scones with Devon cream & jam to remember the afternoon teas on summer at Brighton country side...

Vintage cake stand

http://shop.lolalobato.com/products/Vintage-Cake-stand-with-a-6%22-Pedestal.html

Meet me in Paris

Meet me in Paris, meet me in London... online we could meet anywhere,  but this time you could meet me at  http://shop.lolalobato.com/ for tabletop mixing & matching to all my food lover friends. I hand selected products that offer a cultural blend of food, fashion and art. Just by adding a few items to your existing decor you should be able to help transform your everyday dining table into a truly celebratory experience. I know that like me, you all feel that the table and food should be a central gathering for family and friends and that there is no better way to share and be together then around the table..

I would love to hear your feed back and opinions. xoxo 

Oxley's Carvery

Located in NoLita is a traditional British carvery take- out in Manhattan.

Everybody is very  friendly with a good attitude to help in your request, they serve from Northern England, a Yorkshire flavor of fresh roasted carved meats.

For the meat lover they have juicy and tender roasted meats: beef, pork, turkey, lamb, ham, sausages, corned beef, ribs...... Perfect to take to a picnic or to take home for a lazy weekend, they also do local deliveries for the neighborhood. They have veggies sides that they call Prince Edward Vegetables, roasted potatoes, broccoli, carrots and corn on the cob. For gravies: cranberry sauce, homemade stuffing even harissa. And of course Yorkshire pudding.

Their sandwiches are great, any cannibal man would be happy having them. They are substantial & delicious, unless you are vegetarian of course. They offer combinations like pork with apple and garlic aioli, lamb with mint sauce, beef with horseradish cream and turkey with cranberry sauce.

The shop is the one on the left with the blue and white striped shade, just by walking in front you just can feel the aromas of the herbs, meats and juices a kind of early thanksgiving flavor  in the air. There are no places to sit, just a bench outside in case you just want to bite a slice of Britain in Nolita.

PS

Next time you go to Central Park for a picnic, this will be a good option to fill your basket.