Good Night Kiss

One of the most important days in a chef’s year is Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day, Christmas, New Years, Mother’s Day, etc. Aka all the days normal people have off and feel as though they must book reservations so that (fill in the blank) doesn’t kill them.

The obligation to please a special someone(s) on these such days comes with the territory, BUT this is one thing a chef doesn’t have to worry about. They’ll be too busy working. Oh, and making money. Because just like the candy companies, the card sellers, and the florists, chefs make bank on sentimental holidays.

Valentine’s Days (and restaurant week, in my opinion) are great opportunities to bring people into a restaurant that don’t dine out often, and feel as though they must to adhere to some status quo set by pop-culture American standards. Menus are reduced, chefs get rid of overstock, and people flood in and end up spending more money than what they bargain for.

Boys have to buy flowers, husbands make reservations, wives buy sexy lingerie, and people exchange chocolates. Ah, the last blip in that sentence is where I come in.

Hand made chocolates are labor intensive and fine delicacies. These chocolates aren’t your cheap Hersey’s chocolate sugar gorged creations that make your teeth hurt just biting into them. No, these chocolate bon-bons are works of art. Works of art, and a lot of time.

Over the last few days we’ve learned how to make bon-bons. Molded bon bons in contrast to our hand rolled ones from level two. We use tempered chocolate, plastic molds, and lots of patience. Once you get the hang of it though, the possibilities are endless. Any flavor combination from coconut curry, to balsamic strawberry are possible (these were two class examples).

They’re not always good flavor combinations, but with the right ratios you can create any medley you wish.

Oh, and we had to come up with a clever (corny) name for our bon-bon.

Mine was, Midnight Kiss. The idea behind it was to create an after dinner treat that would act as a breath mint, thus, leading to a first (or thousandth) after dinner kiss. The thrill!

The recipe goes as follows:

Midnight Kiss

Zest of 1 Lemon

Juice of 2 Lemons (reduced)

20 mint leaves (chopped to release aromatics)

290 g heavy cream

250 g bittersweet dark chocolate

15 g butter (soft or room temp.)

30 g Creme de Menthe

Reduce lemon juice to about half. Place cream, zest, and mint leaves over the stove and allow to boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, take off heat and allow the mixture to seep for 30 minutes.

In the meantime temper chocolate for bon-bon molds and line the trays with tempered chocolate. Allow to dry.

Reheat the seeped mixture and have it reach a boil. Pour the hot mixture through a sieve over the bowl of chopped chocolate and softened butter. Allow the mixture to sit for a minute before stirring. Gently begin to stir so that all the chocolate is combined. Stir in lemon juice and Creme de Menthe.

Allow to cool and pipe into molds. Cover the molds again with bottom layer of tempered chocolate.

Allow to harden and remove from molds!

This sounds complicated, and honestly it is, but its beautiful and delicious. Best bet, buy a couple at a local chocolate shop, its expensive to make at home if you’re not experience or possess molds.

The flavor is strong for this bon-bon. As my friend Vanessa says, “It’s like brushing your teeth but with chocolate.” That sounds bad, but if you want the sexiness of dessert AND a kiss, you’ll love them. The lemon cuts the bite. Think gourmet Andes Mints.

Eat one and maybe you’ll get a good night kiss, I sure hope I do!

As a side note, after the first couple days in level one I’ve begun to learn a few things:

1. There’s much more homework, showpieces, and artistic expression.

2. We have windows and sometimes sunlight. Having been trapped in a windowless kitchen for the last four months this is quite a lovely thing.

3. It’s four long floors up. So my tushy is getting tight from all those stairs.

4. The chef is foreign, and in my experience harder to read (so far), but smart and incredibly talented.

5. Quiet, more room, and definitely less chit-chat. Suffice to say, we’ve all got our serious pants on.

I’ll keep you posted!