Plum and Blueberry Galette

[Delicious and easy to make, recipe and photo sent in by Tobi L, from Silver Springs, MD. CS]

Serves 12

Ingredients:

Filling

• 1 1/4 lb red or black plums, pitted and cut into 1/2″ wedges
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

Crust

• Box (11 ounces) piecrust mix
• tablespoons granulated sugar
• Pinch of ground ginger
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. line a large baking a large baking sheet with nonstick foil.
2. In a medium sized bowl prepare the filling. Toss together plums, blueberries, granulated sugar and cornstarch. Set aside until needed.
3. In a large bowl combine piecrust mix, granulated sugar, ginger and 1/2 cup water. Stir until mixture begins to come together, then roll out to a 13″ circle on a lengthy floured surface. Carefully roll up onto rolling pin and transfer to baking sheet.
4. Spoon filling onto crust, leaving a 3″ border all around. Fold edge part way over plum filling. Brush with beaten egg.
5. Bake for 35 minutes at 375 F. until crust is browned and center is bubbly – a small amount of juices may leak out of crust. Put a thin spatula under galette and carefully transfer to a serving platter, using 2 spatulas to keep it balanced.
6. In a small bowl, mix together the confectioners’ sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Drizzle over galette and serve.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

Vegetable Cheese Rollups

[Reader Elisheva R. from Miami, Florida, sent us the following recipe and photo. I always liked cooking with beer and this is truly mouthwatering. It makes a great Shavuot recipe! CS]

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 8 ounces refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper, stir for about three minutes until tender. Add mushrooms, broccoli, beer, salt and black pepper. Cook for 5 minutes or so until liquid evaporates. Remove from heat and let it cool a bit.
2. Separate crescent roll dough into 8 pieces. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon cheese on wide end of each piece. Top with 1 tablespoon of the filling that has been cooling. Roll dough over filling, seal point closed and bend roll into crescent shape. Place on un-greased baking sheet.
3. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until rolls are golden brown. Serve warm.

Easy and fun to make, delicious to taste, I know, I prepared and ate it last evening.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Chocolate Fruit Tartlets

Anyone who’s been reading this blog for any length of time knows I’m an unrepentant chocaholic, as it’s been a while since we posted a good recipe made with chocolate. Once again, I adopted one of my favorites from Jacqueline Bellefontaine‘s What’s Cooking, Chocolate:

Photo by: St John Asprey

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3 cups margarine
• 3 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 2 – 3 tablespoons water
• 1 3/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup mixed nuts toasted
• 12 ounces prepared fruit.
• 3 tablespoons apricot reserve or red currant jelly

Directions

1. Sift together the flour and unsweetened cocoa into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
2. Stir the sugar. Add just enough of the water to mix to a soft dough, approximately 1-2 tablespoons. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and use to line 4″ tartlet pans. Prick the dough with a fork and line the pie shells with a little crumpled foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F, for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the foil and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until the pastry is crisp. Place the pans on a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Melt the chocolate. Spread out the chopped nuts on a plate. Remove the the pie shells from the tin pans. Spread melted chocolate on the rims, then dip in the nuts. Let set.
6. Arrange the fruits in thye tartlet shells. Melt the apricot preserve or red currant jelly with the remaining 1 tablespoon of water and brush it over the fruit. Chill the tartlets until needed.

— VARIATION —

If desired, you can fill the cases with a little custard cream
before topping with the fruit. For a chocolate-flavored filling,
blend 8 ounces chocolate hazelnut  spread with 5 tablespoons of Rich  Whip

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Meyer Lemon Cheese Pie Cheesecake

A great variation on the theme of cheesecakes, from none other than Marye Audet‘s Restless Chipotle blog:

Photo by: Restless Chipotle

Go to Marye’s blog for the recipe…

By the way, we’ve reposted one of Marye’s recipes before, Roast Chicken with Citrus and Aromatics. Everytime we make it, the taste and the aroma get better and better!

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!
CS

Donuts, Donuts, Donuts – It’s Chanuka!

Tonight we lit the second Chanuka candle and what better way to celebrate than with our dear friend Geila Hocherman‘s (kosherrevolution.net) recipe for doughnuts?

© 2012 Geila Hocherman. All Rights Reserved
It’s Chanuka and Jewish tradition calls for oil fried dishes, such as latkes – potato pancakes; sufganyot – jelly-filled doughnuts and more. Jelly filled doughnuts never appealed to me, so here is my version of doughnuts.

(Videos to follow)

Makes 36 small donuts

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 packet of yeast
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• ¼ cup warm water
• ¾ cup milk – cow, soy, almond, and cashew…warmed
• 2 ½ tbsp. shortening- softened
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup sugar
• oil for frying

1.Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mix well until there are no lumps, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
2.In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. ,(You can also put in in the refrigerator for a slow overnight rise. Just bring the dough to room temperature before continuing.) Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains. About 1 hour.
3.Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a floured 3-inch cutter. * (See note) Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.
4.Heat oil in a deep fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F. Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

Optional glaze

• 2 cups
• Confectioner’s sugar
• 1-tablespoon corn syrup
• 2-4 tablespoons of water

1. Place sugar. Corn syrup and vanilla in a bowl and mix well. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Continue until you reach desired consistency.  It should be liquid but not runny.
2. Submerge doughnut half way, turn over, and place on a cooling rack to set

NOTE: At this point the formed doughnuts can be refrigerated overnight, brought to room temperature the next day, and then rise before baking.  You can also freeze them on a cookie sheet.

Geila

When we taped the video for this recipe at Geila’s kitchen I had the pleasure of tasting these doughnuts, I made them myself and served them this evening. I found them easy to make and utterly delicious!

CS

Sufganyot! – Part 2

Chanukah may be a minor festival, but the concepts it embodies are major. Jews, that stiff-necked people, were living under the control of Seleucide Greeks. While the conquerors were generally tolerant of other religions, provided the conquered people accepted the ostensibly superior culture, the Jews – for the most part – refused to bend, to compromise, to accept “progress.” They stuck to their beliefs, even when threatened with death. What prompted these people to follow an invisible God, a God they were proscribed from making statutes of, a God who placed so many positive and negative commandments upon them?

A German Menorah, from the late 19th or early 20th century.
Photo from the LA Times.

For generations, the Jews were witnesses to the Almighty’s open and not so open miracles, they had no need of wood, stone or metal statutes to feel His presence. His presence surrounded them constantly! Their ragtag army, now fought the world’s mightiest power and won. Was that not enough of a miracle? Yet we do not celebrate Chanukah as a merely nationalistic day of independence. No, we celebrate instead the rekindling of the Temple Menorah, the rebirth of our faith.

We celebrate the fact that the Temple in Jerusalem had been purified of foreign idolatrous contamination. We celebrate the fact that just as it seemed that we would have to wait eight days for new consecrated olive oil to be prepared, miraculously a small flask just enough for one day’s kindling was found and yet it lasted a full eight days. The Greeks had combed through the Temple to loot its treasures, to take away anything that could be used by the stubborn Jews to worship that God, and yet throughout the years this small flask had gone unnoticed until truly committed Jews found it. Was it merely that they looked harder, or was that itself a miracle?

As a result of olive oil’s power in restoring us a nation, His nation, we traditionally eat fried foods on Chanukah, here is a recipe for traditional “Sufganyot,” jelly filled donuts:

Sufganyot

(Adapted from Perfect Jewish, page 241)

Traditional sufganyot. – jelly filled doughnuts. — Photo from: Perfect Jewish, page 240

Makes 24 doughnuts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon easy-blend dry yeast
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for rolling
• 1 1/4 cup warm milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons very soft margarine or vegetable oil (for a dairy version you may use sour cream)
• vegetable oil for frying
• plum, apricot, red currants or black currant jelly
• 1/2 cup sugar

Directions

1. Stir the yeast, flour, salt and sugar together in the bowl of a standard electric, mixer fitted with a dough hook. Make a well in the center. Add the milk, egg, yolk, and margarine (or sour cream for dairy sufganyot). Beat on low speed for 2 minutes, or until combined. Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic and leaves the side of the bowl. Cover with a dish towel and leave in a warm place for 1 1/2 – 2 hours until doubled in volume.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly to deflate adding a little more flour if the dough is sticky. Divide the dough in half and roll out each piece to 3/4″ thick.
3. Working with one dough half at a time, using a 2″ cutter, stamp out as many rounds as pssible. Knead the scraps together, reroll and stamp out more rounds, you should form at lease 24. Cover with the dish towel and leave for 20 minutes, or until puffed and slightly risen.
4. Heat at least 3″ of oil in a deep-fat fryer, wok or large pan to 375 F. or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Working in batches, fry the doughnits, covered for 3 – 4 minutes, or until golden. Turn and fry on the other side for 3 minutes or until well colored. Using a skimmer, or slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.
5. Fit a small pastry bag, with a 1/2″ plain tip, and fill with jelly. Put the sugar into a bowl. When the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, make a small slit in the side of each, insert the tip into the center, and squeeze about 1 teaspoon of jelly. Drop each filled doughnut into the sugar and turn to coat completely. Transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy, gentle reader, Enjoy!

CS

 

Chag Chanukah same’ach!!

RELATED POSTS

Bayamim Ha’em, Bazman Hazeh

Latkes, Latkes, Latkes

Jeff Nathan’s Rosemary Potato Latkes with Honey Drizzle

A Freilachen Chanukkah – Chag Chanuka Sameach

Sufganyot – Hanuka Doughnuts — Part 1

Rekindling the Soul

Jayne Cohen’s Jewish Holiday Cooking

Cherry Heering and Chanuka

Apple Tart

[Gloria Kobrin, who graced our internet broadcast on August 15th – just a few weeks ago – graciously agreed to share one of the recipes from her Kosher Cookbook app for iPhone and iPod. Gloria shares her recipes and cooking tips on her Kosher Cookbook page on Twitter.com/Koshercookbook, on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/KosherCookbookApp?ref=nf, and on her blog at: www.koshercookbook.blogspot.com. While this dessert can be enjoyed at any time, it acquires special significance during Rosh Hashana. CS]

Photo by: Gloria Kobrin

Serves 10-12

The sweetness of the apples and vanilla contrasted with the tart marmalade and Grand Marnier baked in a rich crust is spectacular. The extra hand work is worth it.

Ingredients

Crust

• ¼  pound pareve margarine
• ½  cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons  ice water
• 1 ¼ cups flour

Apple Filling

• 8 large Golden Delicious apples
• ¼ pound pareve margarine
• One inch piece of fresh Vanilla bean
• ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
• ½ cup tart orange marmalade
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (see comment and substitute)
• 1 tablespoon water
• Optional: 3 ounces toasted sliced almonds

Equipment

• 11 inch flan ring (or quiche pan with removable bottom)
• Cookie sheet
• Baking parchment
• Electric food processor
• Large skillet
• Fine sieve
• Pastry brush

Directions

1. Line cookie sheet with baking parchment and place flan ring on top of it. Set aside.
2. Put flour and ½ cup sugar in bowl of processor with steel knife attached. Pulse a few seconds.
3. Cut ¼ pound margarine into slices and add them to bowl. Pulse again until mixture resembles crumbs.
4. Beat yolks with water.  Pour this mixture through feeding tube while the processor is running . Turn off processor when a ball of dough has formed. It will be quite soft.  Scrape all dough into the center of flan ring and press it around the ring and up the sides until you have formed a tart shell. Chill for one hour at least.
5. Prepare apples while crust is chilling. Peel, quarter and core 3 apples. Slice them paper thin by hand or in the processor.
6. Melt ¼ pound margarine in skillet. Slice the Vanilla bean in half but leave its spine intact. Add vanilla bean to melted margarine. Add sliced apples to pan and stir constantly until apples have browned. Press down on the vanilla bean to make sure that it has released all its seeds onto the apples. Remove vanilla bean.
7. Remove tart shell from refrigerator. Arrange sautéed apples in an even layer on the bottom of shell.
8. Preheat oven to: 400 F.
9. Peel, quarter, core and slice remaining apples thinly. Place these apples in consecutive layers on top of the sautéed ones. Keep layering apples until they are all used up.
10. Sift ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar over top of tart. Place tart in oven and bake for 45-60 minutes. Watch it carefully to be sure crust doesn’t burn. It will darken considerably.
11. Place apple tart on cooling rack. Melt marmalade with one tablespoon water (can be done in microwave).  Stir in Grand Marnier. Brush glaze gently over the top of the tart. Sprinkle with toasted almonds if desired.  Chill. Serve tart at room temperature.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Triple Chocolate Financiers

Hardly anything beats these “Financiers” as my idea of a coffee accompaniment, Ive adapted the following from François Payard‘s Chocolate Epiphany:

Yield: 40 financiers

If you can not get financier molds, you can make this recipe in mini muffin pans, lining them with paper baking cups before pouring the batter in the molds. The resulting financiers will be a bit larger, so you’ll have fewer, but they’ll taste just as good.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely ground blanched almonds
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons  Dutch processed cocoa powder
• 4 large egg whites, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon dark rum
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 4 tablespoons unsalted margarine **
• Vegetable cooking spray, for the molds
• 3 tablespoons semisweet mini chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons cocoa nibs

Directions

Make the Batter: Sift together the confectioners’ sugar, finely ground blanched almonds, all-purpose flour,cocoa powder, and baking powder over a large bowl.Whisk in the egg whites, rum, and vanilla extract, until just combined.

Whisk the honey into the margarine and whisk the mixture into the batter until everything is combined, and lump free. Cover the batter and refrigerate it overnight or up to 4 days. This allows the flour to relax.

Bake the Financiers: Place a rack and preheat the oven  to 375 F. Spray to 20 count financier molds with vegetable cooking spray. If using silicone molds, arrange them on a baking sheet.

Sprinkler 8 to 10 mini chocolate chips in each cup. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag, and cut a 1/4 inch opening in the tip or corner of the bag. Pipe the batter almost to the top of each cup, and sprinkle cocoa nibs on the top.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until the financiers spring back when you lightly press on them and the sides slightly pull back from the edges of the molds. Remove the molds from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet. Let the financiers cool in the molds. They can be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry environment for up to 2 days.

–OoOX0XOoO–

Browned Margarine

Put the quantity of margarine required by the recipe in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Let it bubble and cook until it turns light golden brown. Whisk a couple of times during the process to ensure that all the butter melts and browns evenly. Once it reachers the desired color, immediately remove the butter from the heat and transfer to a bowl to stop the cooking process. Use immediately, or let cool until just warm to the touch but still melted, as directed in the recipe. [They taste great as parve cookies, but will taste far better as dairy ones. Use butter instead of margarine; browned butter has a nutty taste that goes fantastically well in desserts.]

Chef Geila Hocherman’s Hamentashen With Four Fillings

As featured in her brand new cookbook, Kosher Revolution, Geila Hocherman teaches us how to make hamentashen in print and on video:

Hamentashen with Four Fillings

Crust

• 2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for flouring work surface
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon orange juice (optional)

Poppy filling

• One 2-ounce jar poppy seeds
• One 12-ounce jar black currant jam
• 1/2 cup raisins, soaked in boiling water until soft, drained
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Raspberry filling

• One 12-ounce jar raspberry jam
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Apricot Filling

• One 12-ounce jar apricot jam
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, soaked in boiling water until soft, drained.
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Coconut -Chocolate- Hazelnut Filling

• One 13-ounce jar Nutella, or other
• chocolate-hazelnut spread

Photo by: Antonis Achilleous - Kosher Revolution, page 181

1. First make the crust. Sift the flour and baking powder onto parchment paper. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the oil, sugar and vanilla, and blend at medium speed. One at a time, add the eggs, incorporating the first before the adding the second, and blend. Add the orange juice, if using and blend. Reduce the speed and add the flour mixture, gradually to make a dough.
2. Divide the dough into 2 parts and flatten each to make a disk. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap, stack the discs on a plate, and refrigerate until the stiff enough to work easily, at least 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile make the filling(s). For the poppy, raspberry-and/or apricot fillings, combine the ingredients in small bowls, stir to blend, and refrigerate for 1 hour. For the chocolate combine the ingredients in a small bowl. Transfer half the filling to the centerof an 18 inch piece of plastic wrap, fold the wrap over the filling to enclose it, and squeeze the mixture to create a log 1-inch in diameter. Repeat with the remaining filling and freeze the logs.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Flour a work surface well and roll 1 of the discs out on it. Using a 3-inch glass or round cookie cutter, cut out rounds. Pipe about 1 tablespoon of the poppy seed, raspberry and/or apricot filling(s) in the center of each round, wet the edges with water and bring up the dough together to seal. Alternatively, drop the filling onto the dough by heaping tablespoons. For the chocolate filling, cut the frozen logs onto 1/2 inch discs. Fill the rounds by placing a disc in the center of each form and seal.
5. Transfer the hamentashen to 1 or more cookie sheets and bake, in batches if necessary, until pale gold 12 or 14 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Flourless Milk Chocolate Cake with Grapefruit and Hazelnuts

François Payard is a third generation pâtissier (French pastry chef), born in Nice (France), he lives and works in New York since 1990. His pattisseries are in such varied locales as New York, Las Vegas, Brasil, Japan and Korea, he’s authored three books – all on chocolate desserts and more. In 1995 he earned a James Beard Association “Pastry Chef of the Year” award, honoring him for his unique pastry designs and high attention to flavor.

In his Chocolate Epiphany – Exceptional Cookies, Cakes and Confections for Everyone, published in 2008, he has many delightful recipes that can be made kosher with hardly a change. It is hard to go through the book without salivating as one looks at the superb photography by Rogerio Volcan, or as one reads the recipes and envisions the results.

Here is one, which I can’t wait to try:

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Candied Grapefruit

• 1 grapefruit, scrubbed thoroughly
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Make the Candied Grapefruit Peel

1. Cut the grapefruit into quarters. Remove the pulp and as much of the white pith as possible. Place the peels in a medium saucepan , fill it with water and bring to a boil. Drain the water, then fill the pot with fresh water and bring to a boil again . Repeat this this process a third time. Drain the water completely.
2. Combine the peels, granulated sugar, and corn syrup with 1/2 cup water in the saucepan, and place over low heat. Simmer for about 1 hour, until the peels become slightly translucent.  Remove from the heat, and let them seat in the syrup until cool. You can keep the the peels in the syrup, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. Darin and and finely chop 1/2 cup of the peel to add to the cake batter.

Milk Chocolate Cake

• Vegetable cooking spray, for the pan
• 4 1/2 oz milk chocolate chopped
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup hazelnut flour or finely ground blanched hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Make the Cake

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Spray the sides and bottom of a round 9-inch cake pan with vegetable cooking spray. Cut a 9-inch round piece of parchment paper and place it at the bottom of the pan.
2. Fill a medium pot one-third full with water and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl that will fit snuggly on top of the pot but not touch the water. Reduce the heat to low and place in the bowl over the pot. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat.
   
3. Place the eggs, egg yolks, and brown sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until the mixture turns a pale yellow and increases in volume. With a silicone spatula, fold in the chocolate until it is well incorporated . Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 40 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and the sides slightly pull back from the edges of the pan.
4. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife along the sides of the cake to release it from pan, unmold the cake, and let it cool to room temperature on a wire rack. You can make the cake 1 or 2 days ahead. Keep it tightly wrapped in a cool, dry environment.

Milk Chocolate Sauce

• 1 lb milk chocolate chopped
• 2 cups whole milk

Make the Milk Chocolate Sauce

1. Put the chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour the milk over the chocolate and let the heat melt the chocolate. Stir gently, then strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. Let it cool until it is lukewarm or at room temperature. You can make the sauce up to 3 days ahead. Keep it covered  and refrigerated , and let it come back to room temperature before serving.

Serve the Cake – Cut the cake into slices and serve with the chocolate sauce.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS