Marble Chocolate Torte

Assalamualaikum!

Hello people. It had been a crazy freezing week. Your nose dropping freezes on your face, the need to thaw your fingers when you are outside for a bit too long, your face freezes etc. This Malaysian tropical baby, do not like extreme chilliness.No. For some reason my balcony door is not as well insulated as it was before making my apartment a frozen kingdom. Gah! The beauty of winter in Montréal =P

Anyways, I have seen people posting pictures of tortes right, left and centre! What exactly is torte you may ask? I, to be honest, think that it is somewhat a firm ganache with a crust! So I finally made tried making this bad boy! Woot-woot. It wasn’t hard to make at all! And of course, like cheesecakes, you can be extremely creative with the recipe. You can add shredded ginger in the crust, use different kind of flavoured chocolates, put some biscuit/cookie/brownie chunks...ahh the list is endless!  I was thinking of making a white chocolate torte but I was afraid that it may be too creamy so I decided to make a marble chocolate torte instead. I wasn’t too sure about using a ginger flavoured crust with milk chocolate thus I made some salty coconut topping to give it extra texture. In my book, coconut works well with EVERYTHING. So here is the super duper easy recipe. Warning: if calories scare you, this dessert may not be the best for you.

Marble Chocolate Torte

100g unsalted butter

250g digestive biscuits crumbs

500g chocolate (250g white chocolate/250g milk chocolate)

400ml double cream/whip cream

1. Melt the butter using the microwave and add the biscuit crumbs. Mix well.
2. Spread the butter and biscuit mixture at the bottom of a 6 inch cake pan or small moulds. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, pour 100ml of the cream and heat it up in the microwave until it is hot (30 seconds)
4. Stir the milk chocolates in. Set aside to cool slightly.
5. Repeat the same process for the white chocolate.
6. In another bowl, whip the remaining cream until soft peaks form.
7. Divide the whipped cream into the two bowls of chocolate mixtures.
8. Pour the batter into the moulds or cake pan. Using a skewer make a marble pattern.
9. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight

Pardon my DIY mould 

Such a simple recipe. No oven or stove needed! But I wouldn’t recommend making this often. I mean come on, you are practically eating chocolate and cream together on a bed of buttered buiscuits. That definitely screams healthy. I wish!

I made this dessert at Trisha, Abir and Jihad's new crib.LOVE THEIR APARTMENT TO BITS! Beautiful walls, fantastic kitchen and amazing location. It's a home for sure. Most importantly, their place is warm.I might as well pack my bags and move in. I wonder if I can pay rent using desserts...hurm..

Stay warm peeps.

Wasalam.

Till then,

Love,

Sofhan Hasni

Salmon with Tarragon Butter Sauce

Assalamualaikum!

During the exam season, I ate crap. Well, that's not really nice of me to say that since that is my rezk! However,I was pressed for time so I made fried rice with hot dogs. Very NUTRITIOUS and HEALTHY. I wish. I had four exams in one week which was crazy! After I finished my exams, I didn't really feel like eating rice so decided to pan fry some Salmon. I can't remember the measurements exactly but my dear friend wanted a recipe, so why not...

Salmon with Tarragon Butter Sauce

300g of salmon fillet

salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoon of butter
2 sprigs of tarragon

1. Season the salmon with salt and pepper on both side.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan. 
3. Once the oil is hot, put the salmon on the pan, skin side down.
4. Once the flesh near the skin turns opaque,flip the salmon and fry for a minute or so. 
5. Remove from heat and pat dry using a paper towel.
6. In the same pan, melt the butter using medium heat.
7. Add sprigs of tarragon and let butter brown for about 3 minutes.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Pour onto salmon and enjoy.

From watching numerous cooking shows, I learnt that the best way to cook salmon is to leave the middle part translucent. In other words, cooking it half way. Usually while you let your fish rest, it will cook further on its own. But hey,I LOVE SASHIMI. So I wouldn't mind if my fish is raw.The butter that i used is semi salted.Feel free to add more salt or skip it altogether. It would've been lovely if this dish is served with perhaps some watercress salad on the side to wash the creaminess down.

Wasalam.
Till then,

Love,
Sofhan Hasni