For our November 2018 “Feast Around the World” feature, we asked five of the state’s top chefs to create festive meals to serve this season. What we got was a cornucopia of global flavors.
For her sophisticated feast, Denise Shavandy, the executive chef at Café Modern—the restaurant at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth—was inspired by the Persian and Turkish dishes expertly prepared by her mother-in-law. Below, find the dessert for Shavandy’s “East Meets West” menu.
Chocolate Affogato
Serves 6 to 8
White Chocolate Mousse
4 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 ½ cups heavy cream, divided use
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon hazelnut extract, optional
In a bowl, beat yolks with sugar until pale and creamy. Meanwhile, heat 1 ½ cups of the cream in a small saucepan until hot but not boiling. Remove from heat. Temper yolks by adding a little of the hot cream to them while whisking vigorously. Then add the tempered yolks to the remaining hot cream and cook over low heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Remove the custard from heat, add white chocolate chips and hazelnut extract, and stir until melted and thoroughly combined. Pour custard into a small casserole dish and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. When cool, whip the remaining heavy cream until soft peaks form and fold it into the custard. Spoon about an inch of the mousse into rocks glasses and chill to set.
Chocolate Sorbet
1 cup sugar
¾ cup good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts, for garnish
espresso, 1 shot per guest, made your preferred way
Put 1 ½ cups water in a medium saucepan, add sugar, cocoa powder, and salt, and bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil, whisking frequently, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the bittersweet chocolate, stirring until melted. Then stir in the vanilla extract and ¾ cup water. Using a handheld immersion blender, blend for about 1 minute to thoroughly combine. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
To make the affogati, put scoops of the chocolate sorbet on top of the white chocolate mousse in individual rocks glasses and sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on top. Serve with shots of hot espresso for guests to pour over the sorbet. Devour immediately!
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