Cocoa-dusted pommes frites
Recipe by Edwina Gadsby, MT
4 to 6 servings
Ingredients:
Pommes Frites:
- 2 tablespoons Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder
- 1-1/2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons smoked sea salt - to taste
- 5 large baking potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold), peeled
- 1 quart peanut oil or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano or cilantro, optional
- 1 cup good-quality mayonnaise (homemade or purchased)
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cumin
For Pommes Frites:
- Combine Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and sea salt; set aside.
- Cut potatoes into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then cut each slice into 1/4-inch-thick fries. Place in large bowl of cold (ice) water.
- Heat oil in large saucepan to 325 degrees. Drain fries, in batches, on paper towels. Fry in batches until a pale golden color, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.
- Increase oil temperature to 375 degrees. Working in batches, fry the potatoes again, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Liberally season with the cocoa mixture. Sprinkle with oregano (or cilantro), if desired.
- Whisk together mayonnaise, peanut butter, honey, lemon juice, and cumin.
- Paper cones filled with the fries and individual dipping bowls make for a fun presentation.
About the contest:
Two talented home cooks were awarded the Grand Prize of $10,000 each in the third annual Chocolate Adventure Contest® by Scharffen Berger® and tuttifoodie.com.
As part of the contest, daring cooks-amateur or professional-were invited to develop original and creative recipes combining Scharffen Berger chocolate products with one or more of 16 enticing "adventure ingredients." New York's Karin Lazarus and Edwina Gadsby from Great Falls, Montana beat out 15 other finalists with their imaginative and delicious uses of Scharffen Berger chocolate and the adventure ingredients.
Judged in two categories, sweet and savory, Lazarus' Chocolate-Filled Pandan Dumplings and Gadsby's Smoky Cocoa-Dusted Pommes Frites with Peanut-Cumin Dipping Sauce came out on top.In addition to the $10,000 grand prize, the two winners won a custom selection of Scharffen Berger chocolate.
The two runners up-Mary Shivers of Oklahoma for her Tropical Pandan Coconut Ice Cream with Raspberries and Thai Noir Sauce and Carolyn Kumpe of California with her Muscovy Duck Mesopotamia Moderne- are receiving a custom selection of Scharffen Berger chocolate, as well as signed copies of The Essence of Chocolate, the 2007 James Beard award-winning cookbook by co-founders John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg; Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts and Bittersweet, by Alice Medrich.
You can learn more about the Third annual Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest at www.chocolateadventurecontest.com
About Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker:
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker was established in 1997 in San Francisco, California, and first earned national recognition for its artisan-quality chocolate in 1998.
Producing bean to bar premium chocolates, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is one of the world's finest chocolate makers. All Scharffen Berger chocolate is composed of proprietary bean blends from up to nine different cacao-growing regions throughout the world.
Scharffen Berger chocolate has received recognition throughout the U.S. for its high quality chocolate. Scharffen Berger products are sold by retailers nationwide, at Scharffen Berger chocolate's own retail location in San Francisco and through its website www.scharffenberger.com.
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is part of the Artisan Confections Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hershey Company.
About TuttiFoodie:
TuttiFoodie is the guide for adventurous food and drink lovers nationwide who care about a sustainable world. Each week, the site emails a brief, informative and witty tribute to an off-the-beaten-path food, drink, food-related book or blog, or culinary travel adventure.
TuttiFoodie has been featured on NPR's Splendid Table, on popular foodie sites such as epicurious.com, chow.com, yumsugar and elsewhere. The blogosphere tipped its hat to the site early on, with one San Francisco food blogger naming TuttiFoodie, "the Daily Candy of food."
For more information please visit tuttifoodie.com
About Elizabeth Falkner:
With her spiky platinum hair and unstoppable creativity, Elizabeth Falkner has become one of the most recognizable faces of the Bay Area culinary world on the Food Network, Bravo and beyond.
She has been a frequent contestant, judge, and guest on Top Chef Masters, Top Chef, Iron Chef America, Sugar Rush, Tyler's Ultimate with Tyler Florence, Rachael Ray's $40 a Day, Martha Stewart Living and more.
Orson, her second restaurant, follows her Hayes Valley's hit, Citizen Cake, a restaurant with and patisserie. Awarded a recommendation by Michelin in 2007, Citizen Cake has scooped up numerous commendations from both local and national media, including Best Dessert for the past three years from 7x7 magazine.
As executive chef of Orson, Falkner explores familiar and iconic dishes with personal flair. After three busy years, Falkner moved Citizen Cake to Hayes Valley, on the corner of Grove and Gough Streets, in 2000, and expanded it into an elegant restaurant, bar, and patisserie. Citizen Cake helped spearhead the development of Hayes Valley into a citywide destination for fine dining, shopping, and socializing.
Before starting her own business, Falkner was an acclaimed pastry chef at Rubicon, working with chef Traci Des Jardins. Prior to Rubicon, she honed her craft in the kitchens of Masa's and Elka.
Throughout her career, Falkner has been both a leader and a mentor to many other chefs, working closely with Les Dames d'Escoffier and Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, who awarded her their Golden Bowl for Pastry in 2003.
She has been named the city's "Best Pastry Chef" by San Francisco magazine and a Rising Star Chef by the San Francisco Chronicle. Bon Appetit magazine hailed her as one of America's 10 top pastry chefs in 2003, and named her Pastry Chef of the Year in 2006.
In 2005, she was nominated for the pastry chef of the year award by the James Beard Foundation (JBF) and has been a featured guest chef for JBF hosting dinners for the foundation in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Falkner's dramatically architectural "cakescapes" and whimsically deconstructed desserts have been featured in dozens of magazines, including Pastry Art and Design, Conde Nast Traveler, Gourmet, Food and Wine, Travel and Leisure and Epica, Japan's travel magazine.
Demolition Desserts her first cookbook, was published by Ten Speed Press in 2007. Using vivid manga-inspired graphics, Demolition Desserts lays out the elements of Falkner's multi-part contemporary desserts to make even the most inventive combinations easily accessible to home chefs.
Falkner is also noted for her savory creations including her Citizen Steak with Blue Cheese Ice Cream featured on Martha Stewart Living.
>> Buy this book on Amazon: Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts: Recipes from Citizen Cake
*Citizen Cake
2125 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 861-2228
Website: www.citizencake.com
Follow Citizen Cake on Twitter
*Fillmore location to open in 2010
Orson
508 4th Street (between Bryant and Brannan Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: (415) 777-1508
Website: www.orsonsf.com
Follow Orson on Twitter
