Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

I am a good eater. I really am. I don’t need to be hungry to eat and enjoy my food and I will eat (or at least try) just about anything and everything. “Eww, that’s gross” is not in my vocabulary.

I was trained to eat when I don’t necessarily need or want to. There was no such thing as leaving food uneaten when I was little. All food on all plates had to be consumed, none thrown out, none wasted. Neither my cousin nor I were allowed to leave the table till our plates were clean. One day, desperate to get away from the table, my cousin stuffed everything left on her plate into her mouth… and kept it there. For hours. But her plate was clean! Do you see the brilliance of that approach? She was a clever 6 year-old. Now she is a very very clever 21 year old, but that’s a different story (she shares my love of piercing. It must be genetic. She rocks).

This eating boot camp made me able to eat whatever, whenever. It’s never too early or too late for me to eat. Like I said, I am a good eater. Quantity and timing of food consumption aside, I hold no preconceived notions of what should or should not be eaten. Thinking about what I am eating has never got into the way of my eating it… insides and outsides of various creatures alike. I can play the “what’s the weirdest thing you have ever eaten” game for hours.

This weekend I made a dessert that is fit only for adventurous, non-prejudiced eaters such as myself: chocolate ganache with fruity olive oil and flaky salt, inspired by a recipe off my new favorite website, Chowhound. Chocolate, olive oil and salt. Weird, right? Maybe not entirely. The combination of sweet and savory is the trendiest thing. Salted caramel and salted chocolate are appearing on menus all over town and in every shop. Food blogs are screaming about sweet and savory combinations and the Boston Globe even ran a huge story on the subject a few months ago. The trendy person that I am, I had to jump on the salty bandwagon and try it for myself.

The chocolate/olive oil dessert is the simplest combination of four ingredients imaginable, which is why all four have to be of the highest quality. I used Valrhona Manjari chocolate to make the ganache, topped it with red Hawaiian sea salt and poured my favorite olive oil around the chocolate island.

So what did it taste like? Puzzling and a little shocking. It was so out of the norm, so far outside what I am used to eating that I really didn’t know how to process it. It made me pause and think, staring at my dessert, trying to put the taste experience words. Hmmm...

Let me begin with the texture. The crunch of the salt crystals served to break up the richness and creaminess of the ganache and oil. The thin and runny olive oil coated each bite of the smooth, soft chocolate, simulating a chocolate truffle with a warm liquid shell and cool solid center.

And the taste… surprisingly harmonious, with each component heightening the flavors of the others. The salt took the sticky sweet edge off the chocolate, allowing the chocolate flavor to deepen and stand out with all its subtleties. The oil stood its own ground with a completely separate flavor from the chocolate – in harmony, not in combination. In other words, each component of the dessert remained distinct yet enhanced the flavor of the others. Neat and thought provoking. Should you consider yourself a good eater, try it. Tell me what you think.



Chocolate ganache with flaky salt and olive oil (for good eaters only)

3 ounces chopped Valrhona Manjari chocolate, or any top quality chocolate, ~70% cocoa content
1/3 cup heavy cream
olive oil
Red Hawaiian sea salt, or any flaky salt of your choosing

1) Heat cream till almost at a boil
2) Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate, let stand for 2-3 minutes
3) Mix chocolate and cream till all the chocolate is melted. Rap the bowl on the countertop to rid the ganache of any air bubbles that may have become trapped during the mixing.
4) Place plastic wrap on the surface of the chocolate and refrigerate for about 2 hours or until set
5) Scoop out a modest hill of ganache, top with salt and surround with olive oil.
6) Set aside five quiet minutes.
7) Taste slowly and thoroughly.
8) Sit and think.


* It just occurred to me that Hawaiian salt really isn't flaky. It's more granular or crystal-like. Somehow, chocolate ganache with granular salt doesn't sound nearly as appealing. For the sake of aesthetics, I will stand by the misnomer.