Thanksgiving: A Memorable Feast with Charlotte Shay

27 Nov 2008 by Charlotte Mutesha, No Comments »

Thanksgiving: A Memorable Feast. That’s the theme for this year.

Turkey Day (or Tofurkey Day, depending on your eating persuasion) is right around the corner! Every year I enjoy cooking and baking for the holidays, with the exception of last year, when I was in lovely Rochechouart, France. Nancy’s parents are both gourmet chefs and they took some serious care of us while we visited them for 15 days over the Thanksgiving 2007 holiday. They invited 11 of their wonderful friends to their home and cooked up a memorable feast for all. I helped with the prep, naturally, but Les and Connie did most of the work. All the detail that even went into the place settings, presentation, and fun cracker gifts (hence the paper crowns!) was fantastic.

Well this year, Thanksgiving is at my boyfriend Shane’s house. I often cook with his sister and mum (and he, occasionally), and T-Day will be no different. This past weekend, we all were discussing the recipes in store when Shane said, “Are we gonna have any chocolate?” He’s a chocolate man. I’m partial to vanilla (hmm, makes sense, ey? No wonder we like each other). His main concerns this year are that we have something chocolatey and “all the mushrooms in the world,” but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Anyhow, I’m sure we’ll be working in the kitchen all day Thursday, so I prepared a deluxe dessert (sure to please my man’s palate) ahead of time to bring with me and serve after the memorable feast. I’m no Rachael Ray, but you can call me Charlotte Shay over the next couple days if you wish.

You, too can make this delectable chocolate delight in under an hour, and I’m sharing this fairly simple recipe for…

Chocolate Hazelnut Terrine with Raspberry Sauce

This little piece of chocolatey heaven (and no, I don’t mean myself) has two rich layers of chocolate and is served in a pool of raspberry sauce.

For this, you will need the following:

Dark chocolate layer:
* 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (I chose
Ghirardelli because their quality is obviously superior to Nestle)
* 1/3 cup butter
* 1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur (you can also use
Kahlua, Frangelico, or any similar substitute)
* 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Milk chocolate layer:
* 1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) Milk Chocolate Morsels
* 1/3 cup butter

Raspberry sauce:
* 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen raspberries in syrup, thawed and puréed
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Directions:

Line 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap or foil.

FOR DARK CHOCOLATE LAYER:
Microwave semi-sweet morsels and 1/3 cup butter in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; STIR.

Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Stir in liqueur; cool to room temperature.

Note: For this next step, be sure to use whipping cream,

as opposed to whipped cream,

which should be reserved for licking off of your lover’s body.

Back to the cooking. Whip cream in small mixer bowl. It’ll get nice and thick.

Fold 2 cups whipped cream into chocolate mixture, and spoon it into the prepared loaf pan.

Refrigerate the remaining whipped whipping cream. Again, save the actual whipped cream licking for your lover later…Don’t be tempted to lick the whipped whipping cream like I was; it tastes like nothing.

FOR MILK CHOCOLATE LAYER:
Repeat the process above, except with the milk chocolate morsels.

Nuke the chocolate/butter mix, stir remaining whipped cream into chocolate mixture and blend.