It's a big week for the chocolate-obsessed among us.  Although I am obsessive about chocolate all year round, my interest was reignited last week at a "Chocolate Lab" class given by Shooting Star's pastry chef Amy Oldis. 

Amy has a special touch with all things chocolate, from white to milk to semisweet to the very dark.  Trained at the Culinary Institute of America in California, and schooled at the pastry station at the Snake River Grill, Amy buzzes around the kitchen in perpetual motion whisking and stirring with such speed and accuracy that it makes your head spin.  

And her chocolate desserts are both classic and unique, with a touch of whimsy.  First we made homemade Tootsie Rolls, which are both easy and irrestitible.  Semisweet chocolate is melted and mixed with light corn syrup and the secret ingredient that makes a Tootsie Roll taste like a Tootsie Roll...orange blossom water.  Imagine how much fun it would be to make these with your kids, or surprise them with their very own box on Valentine's Day.

When Amy raved about the flavor of her Caramelized White Chocolate Whipped Ganache, I must admit I was skeptical.  Having never been a fan of white chocolate--technically, it's not even chocolate--I was completely surprised by how much I fell in love with her concoction.  White chocolate is spread on silicon baking mat-lined pan, and placed in a 200ºF oven until it is done.  How will you know it is done?  It will smell like the most delicious dulce de leche, or imagine a toasty fresh caramel aroma wafting from your oven.  

As the white chocolate bakes, Amy pulls it out of the oven and spreads it this way and that so that it cooks evenly.  Once the white chocolate is sufficiently caramelized, it is folded into hot cream to make a ganache, then cooled to room temperature and chilled overnight.  It is whipped to the consistency of a thick frosting just before using, as a cupcake topping, a brownie embellishment, or a decadent straight-up-with-a-spoon treat.  

Vegan chocolate mousse, anyone?  The perfect edible valentine for a vegan sweetheart, Amy makes dark chocolate mousse with water instead of cream.  Another revelation:  without the cream, the flavor of the chocolate comes through even more.  It's more intense, somehow.  Less muted.  More chocolatey.  

I was so inspired by this new-to-me concept of dairy-less chocolate cream that I created a vegan Chocolate Fondue with olive oil in lieu of cream.  My Sicilian Superfood Fondue contains just 3 ingredients:  Valrhona 66% chocolate, extra virgin olive oil, and fiori di sicilia (an extract that is like Sicily in a bottle, think bitter almonds, blood oranges, jasmine blossoms and vanilla).  But the number of dipping ingredients is infinitesimal:  blood oranges, apples and pears, cubes of French baguette or 460Bread walnut cranberry bread, amaretti cookies, Marcona almonds and pistachios, or figs, fresh or dried.   

Back in the kitchen with Amy, we made the most adorable little "Fudgesicles".  Semisweet (54%) chocolate is mixed with cream, milk, egg yolks, sugar and salt. This involves some tempering of the hot cream and milk with the eggs, but don't let that scare you.  Amy makes it look easy.  The result is a rich and creamy chocolate pudding that can be eaten straight up in a bowl, or frozen into fudgesicles.  At home, I made these with Dixie cups and wooden skewers.  There's nothing like a frozen chocolate treat in the middle of a frigid February!

As Amy's Chocolate Lab was coming to an end, she had one more chocolate indulgence planned for us:  Hot Milk Chocolate.  Now, if you are a dark chocolate lover like me, you may not get too excited about a hot milk chocolate.  I wasn't.  But Amy's Hot Milk Chocolate was so creamy, so smooth, but with a salty edge, that I finished every last drop, even though I was getting a bit full from noshing on the Tootsie Rolls.  This hot chocolate is based on the classic French cooking technique of making a créme anglaise, which is hot cream and milk tempered with eggs, and cooked just long enough to make a thick sauce.  The créme anglaise is then strained and stirred into chocolate, to be drunken immediately, or frozen in an ice cream. 

Edible valentines:  the best valentines of all.

Amy Oldis, pastry chef extraordinaire, swears by Alice Medrich's Bittersweet as her chocolate bible.  This recipe for Tootsie Rolls, however, comes from  Gail Gand.  

Orange blossom water can be found locally at Jackson Whole Grocer.  If you can't find it, substitute orange extract instead. 

This fondue is incredibly quick and easy; you only need 3 ingredients for the fondue, and you can raid your cupboards for dipping inspiration.  Be sure to use a high quality chocolate that is at least 54% cocoa solids, and a good fruity and flavorful olive oil.

If you prefer to use even darker chocolate, such as a bittersweet one with over 70% cocoa solids, you may want to add a tablespoon of good honey (Sicilian honey!) to keep the fondue a tad sweet. 


Fiori di Sicilia is an extract that can be found locally at Jackson Whole Grocer.  It is my secret ingredient in biscotti, olive oil cake, and risotto rice pudding.  But its orange-lemon-vanilla-jasmine essence pairs best with pure chocolate.

A new collection of Asian salad dressings has resuscitated my winter cooking routine.  Although I adore the hearty and rich comfort foods of winter,  lately I've been craving a bit more yin and a lot less yang.  Crunchy, fresh, and healthy, one-bowl salad meals with just a touch of spice are my new mid-winter mantra. 

The secret to these big beautiful salad bowls is in the creamy dressings.   Spicy Sesame Sake Dressing and Gado Gado Sauce get their lusciousness from nut butters and their kick from sombel olek, crushed red peppers or good old Sriracha sauce.  Creamy miso dressing is more subtle, with an earthy umaminess from sweet white miso paste, which is low in sodium and calories. 

Stocking your Asian salad pantry should be easy; all ingredients are available at the grocery store, and you probably already have many of these Asian staples. These dressings are meant to be made in big batches; they will keep for up to a month, tightly sealed in the coldest part of your refrigerator.

Rice vinegar (unseasoned), mirin (sweet rice wine), low sodium soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil are some of the pantry staples you will need.  Tahini (sesame paste), creamy peanut butter, coconut milk, and sweet white miso paste give the dressings their body.  Sriracha hot chili sauce, sambal olek (chili paste) or red pepper flakes add heat.  Fresh lime juice, cilantro, fresh ginger and garlic brighten up the Asian salad bowls, and pickled ginger, diced scallions, and nori make nice condiments.

Once your salad dressings are mixed up and spiced to your liking, the rest of the salads need no recipe at all.  Use your imagination and create hundreds of different Asian salad bowls, depending on what's in your fridge and freezer.  

Protein plays a supporting role in these salad creations, but even small servings of meat, chicken, tofu or fish can give your salad the oomph it needs to fill you up when you come in from the cold. Try sushi-grade fish, tofu squeezed dry and browned in a pan, or slices of chicken, pork or beef.  

Even better, forage your freezer for odds and ends of wild game meat; wild game tenderloins, cut into 1-inch thick medallions and seared in a hot pan coated in grapeseed oil and a few drops of sesame oil, are the perfect pairing for the Spicy Sesame Sake Dressing.  Season with salt and pepper, slice against the grain, and drape them over your veggies, for an East meets Wild West salad. 

The Gado Gado Sauce is perhaps the most rich and addicting of the dressings; like the peanut sauce served beside chicken sate, it will make you want to lick the bowl.  It would be perfect on a salad bowl of grilled chicken, cucumber slices, shredded carrot, butter lettuce and brown rice. 

For last minute weeknight meals, I like to cook big batches of brown rice and stash Ziploc bags of it in the freezer.  With a luscious Asian salad dressing (and some good leftover meat and vegetables) in the fridge, and brown rice in the freezer, I am just minutes away from an Asian salad bowl meal.

All of these recipes were adapted from Simple Asian Meals by Nina Simonds. 

Use to dress a salad bowl, or make your own Dan Dan Noodles by tossing it into warm rice noodles with grilled chicken, carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts and toasted sesame seeds. 

Yields about 1 cup

Sweet white miso paste gives this dressing its creamy, savory flavor.  Miso paste is low in calories and sodium, and this is by far the healthiest of the dressings.  It is perfect for drizzling over seared tofu, sushi rice and vegetables topped with pickled ginger and crispy nori.

Yields about 1 cup

Also known as Sate Dressing, or just Peanut Lime Sauce, this addicting dressing makes everything it touches taste better.

Yields about 2 cups