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A berry berry big heart
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Let the love continue even after Valentine’s Day, recommends the chef
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Photo: Shanker Chakravarty
Sweet heart Dance your way into someone special’s heart with this dish
While Valentine’s Day might be over, love is very much still in the air. Considering the great weather it’s hard not to be in love, actually!
This is a busy time for all pastry shops and hotels since chocolates and candy are the demand of the day. Most hotels do use a lot of chocolate and strawberry at this time of the year. Strawberries dipped in chocolate are all the rage. They build a chocolate fountain and people can dip strawberries in it. But that gets repetitive after a while. I am not very impressed by that.
We are doing a variation on that basic idea. Why are strawberries and chocolate associated with Valentine’s Day? That’s because according to romantic lore chocolate is an aphrodisiac. But it has more to do with the pleasure of eating it than the chemicals of it! Recently it has been found that some chemicals in it do act as sexual stimulants. Finally, chocolates always make good gifts.
Also, the taste and appearance of strawberries makes it a celebration kind of fruit. It looks good and tastes even better. Strawberries are great to indulge in or to pamper your loved one with. Strawberries are generally accessory fruits but with chocolates they go excellently.
This dish is the perfect way to impress that someone special. It is not that difficult to prepare. It looks great and tastes even better.
Romancing strawberry chocolate heart
Ingredients
200 gms dark chocolate
200 gms fresh strawberry
150 gms breakfast sugar
Method
Melt 100 gms dark cooking chocolate using a double boiler. Pour all the chocolate on the silpat sheet and let it settle.
Using all your artistic skills cut it in to a heart shape. Melt the remaining chocolate and again pour it over the silpat sheet.
Cut the walls of the heat shape box.
Make a heart box with the cut outs and stick them together using melted chocolate.
Arrange the strawberries in the box in any attractive way.
For garnish
Put breakfast sugar on silpat sheet. Slice strawberries and put them on top of sugar. Bake them in oven. Remove when the sugar caramelises. Cool it and then remove the strawberries along with caramel crust. Decorate on the heart shaped box.
RAKESH KUMAR
(Rakesh Kumar, the Executive Chef of the Crowne Plaza, spoke to Nandini Nair. He can be reached at chefrk@crowneplazadelhi.com)
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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