Chocolate and raspberries are a classic, indulgent and tasty combination. In this recipe, Dorie freezes them together in a delicious ice cream cake that appeals to the over 10 set!

Chocolate “Ganache”
The chocolate part of the dessert is basically an unbaked flourless chocolate cake: chocolate, butter, sugar, and eggs. Although it’s called a ganache in the cookbook, technically a ganache is just cream and chocolate (no eggs or butter).

{Warning: This dessert contains raw eggs, so you should be careful since there’s a chance the egg may be contaminated with Salmonella, a bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Use only properly refrigerated, clean, sound-shelled, fresh, grade AA or A eggs.}

As for the chocolate, I used Bernard Callebaut, who is internationally recognized for producing the best chocolate in Canada and throughout the world. When I was in Saskatchewan, I was able to pick up some Callebaut chocolate at one of his locations. After returning to Ottawa, I found out that my favorite local chocolatier, Truffle Treasures, uses Callebaut chocolate in her truffles, and I can buy Callebaut at her store too.

To make the chocolate ganache, first I melted the chocolate and butter and then added the sugar. After this mixture had cooled a bit, I added the eggs one at a time. {You don’t want the mixture to be too hot when you add the eggs or it will coagulate and you’ll have bits of scrambled eggs in the chocolate.}

Ice Cream
The ice cream step is easy. Using my food processor, I puréed raspberries and added my favorite vanilla ice cream. Then, I threw in a splash of framboise.

Playing Around
I tried freezing this dessert in popsicle molds, but I think it would be better to dip them in the chocolate after freezing the ice cream in the molds so that you have a bite of chocolate with each bite of raspberry ice cream.

Recipe: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

You can find the recipe for Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! 

Yield: This recipe made 10 popsicles and one 7-inch springform pan.


Tasting Notes
The reviews on this one were mixed from the under 10 set: one daughter liked the chocolate but not the raspberry ice cream, another liked the raspberry ice cream but not the chocolate, and the third liked both together. The adult set thought it was delicious!

Recipe for Next Week (September 2)
Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters on page 73 chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Even though I live across the river from French Canada where pea soup (soupe aux pois) is a national dish, I've never ordered pea soup in a restaurant or tasted split peas before, so I wasn't too thrilled to make this soup, and neither was my family in Saskatchewan! My sister suggested I make it when I return to Ottawa, but she wasn't so lucky with the Whisk Wednesdays' schedule. The kids passed on having a bowl, but the others bravely accepted a small bowl of this funny-colored soup. We were all pleasantly surprised. In fact, my sister declared it the best split pea soup she's ever tasted!

Pease porridge is what we call split pea soup today.

Split Peas

Peas are an ancient vegetable, mentioned in the Bible and prized by the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Apicius, who was one of the first cookbook authors in the 4th or 5th century has nine recipes for cooking Ospreos (peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas).

Peas belong to the legume family, like beans and lentils, but they are spherical. A common name for this type of fruit is a "pod". Certain varieties are grown specifically for drying. When the yellow or green peapods are fully mature, they're harvested and dried in the pod. The skin around the pea dries and falls off, and they split naturally (like a peanut). After peas have been dried, they can survive the long, cold winter months. When puréed, they are a natural thickening agent in soups and stews. Vegies
After soaking the split peas overnight {although some websites suggest split peas don't need to be soaked overnight}, I tasted both the green and yellow ones and enjoyed their taste. The green ones were milder than the yellow ones, which had a more earthy flavor.

Then, I cooked the vegetables (carrot, onion, leek, and garlic) in some butter along with the bacon. After the vegetables were soft and translucent, I added the drained split peas and chicken stock. I brought the mixture to a boil, reduced the heat, and added the bouquet garni and let the flavors blend for about 40 minutes.

Rice
In a separate pot, I made a small batch of rice. I used basmati, since that's all we had in the pantry, but the recipe calls for short-grain rice. {I actually had to make it twice since the first time I added too much salt!} The rice gives this puréed soup a bit of texture.

Purée
Next, I puréed the soup in the blender. {Why did I so carefully cut the vegetables into a fine dice?! I guess "chopped fine" is different from "fine dice".} Then, I added the cream and brought the temperature of the soup back up. {I added some extra whole milk to make the soup more soupy and less thick.}

Garnish
The soup calls for a garnish of wilted sorrel and lettuce. I couldn't find sorrel anywhere, so, after looking it up online, decided to substitute baby spinach. I wilted both in some butter before serving the soup in a tortilla bowl.

Links
The Old Foodie has some insight into pease porridge that I found interesting. As well, you can watch a video on how to make French Canadian Pea Soup.

"Mess of Pottage"
The curriculum that I'm following called for Potage Esau, which is a very old soup that's mentioned in the Bible. It's in the story of Jacob and Esau, twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Although the boys were twins, Esau was the first-born. One day, when the boys were young, Esau returned from hunting very hungry. Jacob seized this opportunity and offered to give his brother some lentil soup if Esau would, in exchange, give up his birthright. Esau, faint with hunger, agreed and the deal was made. (Genesis 25:29-34)

Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook didn't contain a recipe for Potage Esau (lentil soup), so I substituted a split pea soup instead since split peas are in the same family as lentils.

Recipe: Potage Ambassadeur (Split Pea Soup with Bacon, Sorrel, and Lettuce)

You can find the recipe for Potage Ambassadeur (Split Pea Soup with Bacon, Sorrel, and Lettuce) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link) or here. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with this week's recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
This soup has a smooth, mild gentle flavor with a hint of a smoky bacon taste. Delicious {even though the color of the soup is unappealing}! Next time, I would like to add more ham or bacon or even some curry for extra flavor. I also used half green and half yellow split peas and wonder if using just green split peas would be more flavorful. I think I'll stick with fresh peas from the pod. That's still my favorite way to eat peas. However, I intend to try a taste test of fresh pea soup versus split pea soup, so stay tuned…

Update: Split Pea versus Fresh Pea Soup

Today I made both versions of this soup: one using split peas (only the green kind) and one using fresh peas. I preferred the taste of the soup made with fresh peas. It had a smoother, mellow taste. The one made with split peas had a more starchy, grainy, but brighter taste. My husband liked the split pea version, and I liked the fresh pea version, but we both agreed that they needed more ham or bacon flavor!


Soup Summary
This is the last in a series of soups. We've covered

• chunky vegetable soup (Potage cultivateur/Cut vegetable soup)
• puréed fresh vegetable soup (Julienne Darblay/Creamed Leek and Potato Soup with Julienned Vegetables)
• soup made with a liaison of cream and egg yolks (Velouté Agnès Sorel/Cream of Chicken Soup)
• shellfish bisque (Bisque de Homard/Lobster Bisque)
• cold consommé (Consommé Madrilène/Chilled Consommé with Red Peppers and Tomatoes)
• two regional soups (Billy Bi/Mussel Soup and Soupe à l'oignon gratinée/Onion soup)
• puréed soup of dried vegetables

I'm ready for an entrée now!

Next Week (August 27)
• Steak Mirabeau (Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Anchovy Butter) page 426-427

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $639.39 + $21.11 (chicken stock) + $8.88 = $669.38

Butter used so far: 7 pounds, 1 tablespoon

A healthy cookie that tastes good. I thought this would be impossible, but Dorie comes through again. I even had to stop my health-nut Dad from grabbing the cookie dough before it was even baked! He was excited to have something healthy to eat instead of all the chocolate desserts and pies I’ve been making lately.

To make them a little more fun, I baked them in the bottom part of an ice cream cone and topped them with a dollop of ice cream and sprinkles.

We were enjoying these outside on the front porch and the local squirrel must have smelled the peanuts and came within an arm’s reach hoping for his own cookie, I imagine!

Recipe: Granola Grabbers

You can find the recipe for Granola Grabbers in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! 

Jacque over at Daisy Lane Cakes gave me this adorable award. Jacque has a great tutorial on how to cover a cake with ganache! Check it out! As well, you can check out her professional cakes, including an amazing purse cake! I feel honored and flattered that she has given me an award! {Emila of Emila’s Illustrated Blog started this cute award.}

According to Emila, the participation rules are simple:

1. If you get tagged (and want to play along), write a post with links to blogs that you love.
2. Link to Emila’s post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

I’m giving out this award to the first five bloggers who joined me in working through a culinary school curriculum (Whisk Wednesdays). It’s so fun to read all your posts each week and compare our experiences! Thanks so much for joining me on this fun culinary ride:

Thanks, Jacque. You’re a sweetie!

I love the smell of onions cooking; it's one of my favorite smells. And French Onion Soup is one of my favorite foods. Although I made it earlier this year, this time I followed the recipe in Le Cordon Bleu at Home which calls for water as the base instead of stock. I found this intriguing since I thought the best onion soup was made with veal or beef stock. In the first taste test, we preferred the French Onion Soup made with beef stock, so I was curious to see if I liked this version.

"Only the pure of heart can make good soup." - Beethoven

"No More Tears" Onions
Getting the onions prepped without tears is hard for some. With my contacts protecting me, I was fine, but my daughter who was my sous chef was crying from the sulfuric compounds in the onion hitting the liquid in her eyes causing sulfuric acid. A tearless onion may be in our future!

After caramelizing the onions in butter for 20 minutes, I added a bit of flour to help thicken the soup a touch. Then, I added the wine, brought it to a boil and simmered for a bit. Finally, I added the water, the Bouquet Garni, and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then, I left it alone to simmer for awhile.

The Onion Bowl
I had also been wondering if I could make the soup bowl out of an onion, and wouldn't you know it a fellow food blogger did it just this past weekend and blogged about it! I went to the store looking for the largest onions they had, and found big ones, but not huge ones. After scooping out the inside with a grapefruit spoon, I ladled a small amount of warm soup in each onion bowl. I topped each with some toasted bread and cheese. Next, I needed to find out if this onion bowl would hold up under a broiler! And it did!

Links
I found these links helpful:
• a bit of history about French Onion Soup
• a video showing how to make French Onion Soup

Recipe: Soupe à l'oignon gratinée (Onion soup)

You can find the recipe for Soupe à l'oignon gratinée (Onion soup) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with this week's recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
Using an onion as a bowl boosted the flavor of the soup. Although it was more work than using a traditional crock, it was novel, fun, and the perfect size for a small appetizer. It's worth the trouble to impress your guests!

This soup was very flavorful and my favorite of all the French Onion Soup variations I've tried so far. And no stock is required!

Next Week (August 20)
• Potage Ambassadeur (Split Pea Soup with Bacon, Sorrel, and Lettuce) page 462

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $633.48 + $5.91 = $639.39

Butter used so far: 6 pounds, 29 tablespoons

. . . . . . . . . .

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

In my polls, I've determined that most of you prefer ice cream over whipped cream on pie and cake. And this week, we're making a sour cream ice cream flavored with fruit for Tuesdays with Dorie. Unlike the ice creams I made earlier this year, this ice cream is dead easy to make since it doesn't require cooking a custard first.

To begin, you essentially make a jam. Purée it a little and then finish by gradually adding heavy cream and sour cream. {I'm going to have to try turning some of the jars of jam in my pantry into ice cream soon!} Pop it into your ice cream maker, and you're done.

Homemade ice cream gets harder than commercial ice cream in the freezer. David Lebovitz has some great tips about making homemade ice cream softer. As well, fellow TWD-er, Steph from a whisk and a spoon, has a great tip this week as well. {Ice cream is difficult to photograph so I was glad it didn't melt too fast!}

Fruity Options

I tried making this ice cream with saskatoons, since they have such a distinctive taste, and are currently at the local farmers' markets in Saskatchewan. Someone asked me what they taste like, but after asking several people, no one has a great way of describing them. "Sweet-tart” someone said. Another said "almondy”.
A Neapolitan Twist
To compare, I made this ice cream with blueberries (as called for in the recipe), saskatoons, and raspberries. Then, I gave it a "Neapolitan” twist by freezing all three kinds in half a watermelon.

Neapolitan ice cream, which dates back to the 19th century, typically refers to a block of ice cream that contains three different flavors, usually chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. It's named after the ice cream makers of Naples, Italy who were famous for creating layered ice cream cakes.

I don't think Homer from The Simpsons would like my fruity twist on Neapolitan ice cream…

Scene from The Simpsons
[Homer grabs a box of Neapolitan ice cream] Mmmm, chocolate... [opens box to reveal that the chocolate section is empty and all the others untouched] D'oh! [throws the box away and grabs another] Mmmm, chocolate... [same result] D'OH! Marge, we need some more chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream!

A grown-up ice cream float

I was inspired by Zoë from Zoë Bakes to try this ice cream with champagne and turn it into a grown-up ice cream float. Just add a scoop to your favorite champagne, and you have a wonderful way to end a dinner party (or start one!).

Recipe: Blueberry {Saskatoon/Raspberry} Sour Cream Ice Cream

You can find the recipe for Blueberry {Saskatoon/Raspberry} Sour Cream Ice Cream in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity who chose the recipe for this week.

Tasting Notes
All three ice creams were delicious, but everyone's favorite was the raspberry version. The blueberry came in second, and third was the saskatoon one. It was more tangy than the other two. If you like frozen yogurt, you'll love this ice cream because the tanginess of the sour cream is similar to frozen yogurt. Not too sweet, yummy, fruity, tangy, smooth, delicious. And easy!

Recipe for Next Week (August 19)
Granola Grabbers on page 82.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Consommé Madrilène is a crystal-clear soup that is pure and clean-tasting, typically flavored with tomato, and served chilled. But getting this crystal-clear liquid requires fat-free stock and hamburger patties!

I remember eating Campbell’s Consommé, made famous by Andy Warhol, for dinner when my mom was on her Weight Watcher’s kick. I actually enjoyed it with egg noodles, but I wonder if she knew how much sodium was in a small serving of this soup: 890 mg or 37%! Homemade consommé is definitely the way to go to avoid all that sodium, and it’s not as hard to make as its reputation suggests.

Consommé, which means "to consume", is a classic soup and "one of the most highly regarded and appreciated soups in the world" (Wikipedia). In fact, Consommé Olga was served as a second course to the first class customers the night the Titanic sunk.

The Base: Stock

The first step is to make the stock. Again, since I'm not in my own kitchen with access to all the stock in my freezer that I made for previous lessons, I had to make a new batch of chicken stock. By making this a day before the consommé, I was able to skim off the layer of fat that congealed on top after it cooled in the refrigerator. The less fat in the stock, the clearer the consommé.

The next day, it was time for consommé. I seasoned the stock with salt, which I found perplexing since most seasoning is done to taste after simmering and just before serving. After seasoning, I brought it to a boil.

The clarifier and flavor booster: Raft

The mixture of egg whites, lean ground beef {the less fat the better}, and aromatics to flavor the consommé such as leek, celery, carrots, and herbs is known as clearmeat. It slowly coagulates and rises to the top and forms a crust that’s known as the "raft".

The purpose of the raft is to clarify the stock. The fresh blood in the ground beef and the egg whites both contain albumin, an important protein that transports lots of things to various parts of the body, and in a raft for a consommé it acts like a natural filter or net, collecting all the impurities in the liquid as it coagulates. The egg yolks contain fat, which you don’t want in the consommé, and the egg whites contain proteins. Some chefs use just egg shells in the raft since they contain albumin. {I would love to know who came up with the idea that fresh blood and albumin clear a stock!}

I cut the vegetables in the clearmeat in a fine dice, practicing my brunoise skills, so that more flavor gets extracted in a short amount of time. However, the addition of vegetables is controversial.

Leaving Escoffier behind, and getting back to Le Cordon Bleu at Home, I chopped the tomatoes. Tomatoes give the consommé its rich color and the acidity in them helps form the raft (similar to adding vinegar when poaching eggs) and makes the clear soup look shiny.

To the clearmeat, I added some water and hot stock to bring the temperature of it up. Then, I added the clearmeat to the hot stock and stirred it around. Before the mixture came to a boil, I stirred the consommé so that the egg whites didn’t stick to the pot and burn and to ensure the protein was distributed evenly. After it started to boil, I turned the heat down to a simmer and left it alone to do its magic (making sure everyone in the house knew not to touch the pot or burner!), since stirring would make the consommé cloudy and boiling causes any fat in the mixture to emulsify. As well, I kept checking the pot to make sure the raft had a chimney so that the liquid could bubble through.

After an hour, the raft had done its important jobs: flavoring and clarifying the consommé.

The result
To remove the consommé from underneath the raft is difficult to do. I used a trick from my homemade-wine-making days. I picked up a piece of tubing from the hardware store, and I siphoned the clear consommé from one pot on the table to a cheesecloth-lined strainer in a pot sitting on the floor. It worked like a charm. I had a pot full of clear consommé.


How much time will it take
Some people might be intimidated by this recipe since it seems to require a lot of time. However, most of the time the stock or consommé is simmering on the stove and requires little of your time.

The stock required about 30 minutes of preparation time. Cooking time was 3 hours (but required only a little babysitting.)

The consommé required about 45 minutes of preparation time. Cooking time was 1 hour (but again only required a little babysitting). And to finish the consommé, the garnish required about 30 minutes.

Total time: about 6 hours, but only 1½ hours of hands-on time since the rest was just babysitting.

Links
Here’s a video of how to make consommé. Here’s a great article on how to make consommé. And here's one on the history of consommé.

Recipe: Consommé Madrilène (Chilled Consommé with Red Peppers and Tomatoes)

You can find the recipe for Consommé Madrilène (Chilled Consommé with Red Peppers and Tomatoes) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link). To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with this week's recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
The consommé had a mild but flavorful taste with a subtle herbal hint. The garnish of tomatoes and red pepper cut into a brunoise added color and bite to this refreshing soup. It was cool, clean, and light for a hot, summer day.

Next Week (August 13)
• Soupe à l'oignon gratinée (Onion soup) pages 48-49

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $604.24 + $21.11 (chicken stock) + $8.13 (consommé) = $633.48

Butter used so far: 6 pounds, 26 tablespoons
. . . . . . . . . .

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Bananas, a touch of rum and lemon, and chocolate combine in this delicious banana loaf.

A while ago I saw a blog post about zebra cake. Farida, from Farida's Azerbaijani Cookbook posted about a zebra cake she carefully made by adding a tablespoonful at a time of white batter and chocolate batter. When I went to make this Black-and-White Banana Loaf for Tuesdays with Dorie, it seemed like the right time to try it out. However, I failed to double-check the method and just did layers of white and chocolate batter instead. Although this gave me a neat-looking striped cake, I’d love to try making it again using Farida’s technique. Here’s another person who gave zebra cake a try and put her results and method on Flickr.

This recipe made 12 cupcakes using Square Shaped Cupcake Liners by Wilton. I also baked half in white party cups. Since these party cups had straight sides, they worked better for showing off the stripes because the stripes were more even. I baked them for 30 minutes.

Campfire Banana Splits
We’ve been spending a lot of time around a campfire this summer. And although s’mores are the most popular, my personal favorite is campfire banana splits, another take on bananas and chocolate.

1 large banana, unpeeled, stems removed
chocolate pieces (use your favorite)
mini marshmallows
whatever else you’d like (crushed Oreos, coconut, Smarties, nuts)

Spray aluminum foil.

Slice the peel of the banana from one end to the other, and slice the banana inside into chunks. Stuff the banana with chocolate, marshmallows, and whatever else you want. Wrap with the aluminum foil.

Place on the grill or right in the coals of the fire.

Leave in long enough to melt the chips and the marshmallows.

Recipe

You can find the recipe for Black-and-White Banana Loaf in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Ashlee from A Year In The Kitchen who chose the recipe for this week.
Tasting Notes
These were delicious with the chocolate and banana flavor in each bite. We took these camping and enjoyed them as part of our breakfast. I'll definitely be making these again!

Recipe for Next Week (August 12)
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream on page 434 chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Since the goal of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group is to bake through the complete cookbook of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours (a five-year project!), I thought I should start catching up with the recipes I missed before I joined.

In the beginning, the group was one: Laurie of quirky cupcake who came up with this brilliant idea. The first recipe she tackled was the Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies. On the dedication page in Dorie's cookbook, these cookies are shown in the picture as a favorite of her son's, so it seems a fitting start to such a project.

I’ve always loved shortbread, especially at Christmas, and have a recipe I always make, but it was nice to try someone else’s for a change.

Recipe: Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies

You can find the recipe for Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Another Shortbread Recipe
Here is my recipe for shortbread that I’ve used without fail every Christmas:

8 ounces cold butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup sugar
pinch salt
2 cups flour

Combine butter and sugar in mixer. Add salt and just enough flour to combine so that the dough comes together.

Place dough on lightly floured work surface. Knead a bit to smooth edges.

Roll to ⅜-inch thickness and cut into desired shape. Return to refrigerator to chill 20 minutes before baking in a preheating even at 300°F for 20-30 minutes.

Tasting Notes
This was a tasty shortbread with the pecan crunch and hint of cloves. Chilling the dough after rolling is key in this recipe since it tends to spread when baking if you don’t. Also, use cold, unsalted butter. Work dough as little as possible, but just enough to hold its shape. Bake at a low temperatures. Bake only until cookies begin to brown. The paler the color, the better.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

I'm home on the prairie and enjoying the big, expansive blue sky and the field grasses. I wish there were more hours in the day to do everything I want to do {online}, but I've been enjoying a good book, sitting by the beach, watching the kids play in the water, and catching up with everyone. While I've been visiting family and friends, the food blogging community continues to inspire me.

Chriesi from Almond Corner, who is a blogger I admire and check regularly to see what’s cookin’ in her kitchen, has given me the Kreativ Blogger award. I’m honored to get an award from a blogger I so respect and admire. The originator of the Kreative Award is a very talented Danish woman named, Hulda Verden.

Now I get to pass this award along to a few of my favorite bloggers:

Luscious: amazing and creative food photography by a duo of a cook and a photographer

Bittersweet: beautiful photography, plus Hannah has a published cookbook

Aaplemint: Kate has stunning photography in every post

Thanks, Chriesi!

Also, Andreea from Glorious Food and Wine has given me the "E for Excellent" award. Based in Brussels, Andreea has an amazing list of food photography links and a wonderful food blog dedicated to gourmet food and restaurant reviews. Since I’ve already passed along this award, I’ll just say thanks, Andreea! You’re a sweetie!