Off-Day cooking...Alla Italiano!!! :D

Perhaps, by now you know my long drawn romance with Italian. Its with the cuisine only..nothing else. Never met any Italian women as of now..but met few Italian Chefs--one from Mainland...from Genoa in Ligure to one from the mafia main island...Sardinia & Sicily!!One has been too good..other one...well!!!Let it be a mystery....
I was planning to cook fish for my lunch today, since I didn't have fish for a while[I love fish...especially, if it is without a bone!!!] & secondly, wanted to cook fish alla Italiano.So for fish its Branzino al Forno[description & notes below]
Dessert???I remember, when I joined Grand Hyatt, I had this dessert. What do you call it??Chocolate Fondant cake. But I used to forget the name. What is it??Molten Chocolate Cake??Lava Cake? Numerous names...Tortina di Cioccolato is what you call in Italian. I have asked numerous people for recipes ...but all told me....& I was fool enough to forget. Now..I am trying it for the first time...hope the recipe works out..& my process!!!It will be accompanied by a sweet & sour compote...made of strawberries & cherries. I badly wanted to buy one ice-cream maker & make my own ricotta ice-cream or mascarpone ice-cream. Well, now I am desperate to buy one...perhaps after Panna Cotta, this is the luscious dessert that I can fall for...Tiramisu is too sweet sometimes!!!
So today's menu

Branzino al forno

Roasted Sea Bass

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Tortina di Cioccolato

Chocolate fondant with strawberry & sour-cherry compote

Branzino al Forno
In Italian, sea bass is a very common fish. Advantage of this fish--doesn't get overcooked. Branzino, which means Sea Bass in English[the former being in italian], is a saltwater fish, abundant in Mediterranean, Eastern Atlantic ocean & Black sea.
Secondly, it is a perfect Summer meal in Italy--even here in Dubai too..its the wild heat..chasing us!!The white flesh is aromatic & valuable flesh. The flavours can be accentuated with herbs, white wine & a perfect meal!!
For aromatics, I am using onion, some fennel, a garlic crushed, little vinegar, since I dont have white wine, & some dried herbs like thyme, some lemon & its juice & Voila...no sauce, as the drippings will be an integral part of its sauce. Here is the recipe
Ingredients:
Sea-bass[scaled, cleaned & gutted. Preferably, one fillet whole off the bone]- 200 gm
Seasoning- As required
Lemon- 1 no.
Dried thyme- a pinch
Fennel bulb- 50 gm[medium dices]

Onion, diced- 50 gm
Extra virgin olive oil- 25ml
Garlic- 1 clove
Sundried tomato, chopped- 10 gm
Method:
1. Heat all but 15 ml olive oil in a pan & saute onion & fennel till lightly coloured.Take of from the heat & allow to cool.
2. Season the fish fillet with salt, pepper, herbs etc. Put a few slices of lemon on top. Squeeze the juice & mix with remaining olive oil & pour over the fish. Scatter the chopped sundried tomato on top, crushed garlic. Wrap it in aluminium foil & cook at 200 Deg C for 20-15 minutes.
3. Once done, open the wrap & serve immediately.




Tortina di Cioccolato
The specialty of this dessert is that, it looks like a simple cup cake or a muffin, up-side-down, if you serve it without a mould. But when you cut it with your knife or dessert spoon, all the melted chocolate oozes out. Reason being it has high amount of chocolate in the mixture & very less amount of flour, so you get an ultimate souffle like texture!!There are recipes which doesn't use flour at all, while recipes with very little amount of flour also thrives well. The recipe I am following used flour, which helps in giving it a stable body-else there are chances for it to deflate, once you put it in the plate.
I am serving this luscious dessert with some homemade marinated strawberries & cherries compote, which will balance the sweetness of the dessert. Here is the recipe

Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate,with at least 60% cocoa- 60gm, broken into pieces
Butter-40 gm
Eggs- 1 no.
Flour- 30 gm
Sugar-60 gm
Vanilla Essence- few drops
For the Compote

Strawberries- 75 gm, washed & hulled
Aged,Balsamic Vinegar- 25 ml
Sugar, granulated- 1 pinch
Cherries in syrup- 25 gm
Sugar- 2 tbsp
Lemon juice- 1/2 of a lemon
Method:
For the chocolate fondant
1.Preheat oven to 200 deg C.
2.Grease 2 muffin moulds.
3.Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water.
4.Beat the eggs with sugar and mix with flour.
5.Slowly fold in the melted butter and chocolate.
6.Bake at 200 degrees C for only 8-12 minutes; the outer part should be cooked and the inner part liquid.
For the marinated Strawberries
1.Put the hulled strawberries in a bowl & drizzle the balsamic vinegar on top. Dust with sugar & allow to settle for 3-4 hours.
2. Heat the cherries in a syrup with sugar, if required. Cook until the syrup thickens. Finish off with lime juice.


Buon Apetito!!!