Orange Chocolate Souffle
Slicing these soufflés releases a small tide of melted chocolate; do this at the last second, as the dish is placed before the diner. Chef Da Silva uses an orange-flavored white Swiss chocolate that is also bright orange in color for this dessert. However, as this particular product is hard to come by for the home cook, the dessert may be made with dark or white chocolate flavored with orange. Instructions are given for infusing chocolate with orange flavor following the recipe; once your infused chocolate is made, proceed with the recipe as written.
Ingredients
- Wild Fruit Sauce
- wild fruit (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, currants, or a mixture) - 1-1/2 cups
- sugar - 1/4 cup
- water - 1/4 cup
- Soufflé
- egg yolks - 3
- sugar - 2 tbs
- white chocolate flavored with orange - 7 ounces
- unsalted butter - 3 1/2 ounces
- egg whites - 2
- unsifted flour - 1/2 cup
- Garnish
- mango - 1
- Cocoa powder - dusting
- Orange or vanilla gelato or ice cream
- trawberries, cut lengthwise into narrow strips up to the hull, then fanned - 8
- kiwi, peeled, cut in two lengthwise, and cut into thin slices - 1
- small inner pineapple leaves - 12
Instructions
To prepare the sauce: Place three fourths of the fruit in a bowl and mash well. Put in a saucepan with the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the syrup is clear and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the remaining fruit. Set aside to cool.
To prepare the soufflé: Preheat the oven to 450 F. Lightly butter four 5-ounce individual soufflé dishes or ramekins. In a deep bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until light in color. In the top of a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter over barely simmering water. Stir to blend, then remove from heat and let cool to 100 F. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold the egg yolk-sugar mixture and the chocolate-butter mixture together, then stir in the flour until thick and smooth. Fold a large spoonful of whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Spoon the mixture into the prepared soufflé dishes and bake 8 minutes.
To serve: Cut the mango from the pit in quarters. Score the flesh down to the rind on each quarter, then turn the pieces inside out, creating curved surfaces studded with opened-out cubes. Remove the molds from the oven and place one on each dessert plate. Lightly dust the soufflés and plates with cocoa powder. Place a scoop of gelato or ice cream beside the soufflé on each plate. Spoon fruit sauce over the gelato and around the plates. Garnish with a mango quarter, fanned strawberry, and kiwi slices. Stand the pineapple leaves in the gelato.
To infuse chocolate with orange flavor: Melt 1/2 pound of chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water; keep the temperature of the chocolate under 112 F. Stir in 1/2 cup orange zest, either grated or in strips. Remove the chocolate from the heat and let cool to 90 F. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve and discard the zest. Proceed with the recipe above.
