Rich, Sinful Chocolat Puddings(makes six individual puddings)
THE MOVIE
This chocolate-centred romance is based on a novel by Joanne Harris. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 2000, it stars Juliette Binoche as chocolatier Vianne Rocher. She moves to the fictional, conservative French village of Lansquenet- sous-Tannes and opens La Chocolatier Maya to equal amounts of excitement and outrage throughout the village people. Vianne helps others around her in the village fall in love but she too finds herself falling love, this time with a travelling gypsy, Roux, played by Johnny Depp.
THE SCENE
The town’s mixed feelings about Vianne’s influence on the town is summed up during three of the residents’ confessional conversation. Luc Clairmont explains how he can not resist Vianne’s hot chocolate, hard as he tries, while Madame Audel and Yvette Marceau also share tales of their own shameful wickedness. “Seashells. Chocolate seashells, so small, so plain, so innocent. I thought, oh, just one little taste, it can’t do any harm. But it turned out they were filled with rich, sinful . . .” Madame Audel trails off. Yvette continues, “And it melts, God forgive me, it melts ever so slowly on your tongue, and tortures you with pleasure.”
THE FOOD
This is a tale of indulgence and freedom, full of characters who ultimately rid themselves of the shackles of conservatism by giving in to the individual temptations that surround them. When it comes to chocolate, perhaps you can relate to the inner battles of hedonism and abstinence that occur when looking upon a rich, gooey chocolate pudding? It’s not for every day but when the time is right, let yourself go and enjoy.
INGREDIENTS
* 150g self-raising flour
* 4 tbsp of good-quality cocoa powder
* 50g of ground almonds
* 100g of good-quality dark chocolate
* 200g caster sugar
* 50g butter
* 175ml full-fat milk
* 1 free-range egg
* Icing sugar, to serve
METHOD
Pre-heat your oven to 180C/fan 160C/Gas Mark4. In a large bowl, mix the 150g of self- raising flour with the cocoa powder and ground almonds. Now roughly chop the dark chocolate and add to the mix. Mix in the caster sugar.
Now melt the butter in a small frying pan. Meanwhile, mix together 175ml of full-fat milk and the free-range egg. Once melted, add the butter and combine. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients, blend well using a spoon. Divide the mixture into six ramekins (you can make one large cake using a regular sized tin. Just bake at 180C/ fan 160C/Gas Mark 4 for 30 to 35 minutes).
Bake the puddings for 20 minutes. Then lower the temperature for to 170C/150C/Gas Mark 3 and cook for further 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with a dusting of icing sugar and perhaps a dollop of your favourite ice-cream to sweeten the deal.
* Aoife McElwain is a film fan and food writer. Her blog can be found at icanhascook.wordpress.com. Join Aoife via Twitter (@thetwicket) tomorrow at 6pm for the Movie Bites cookalong. And have your Cholocat DVD ready for a 7pm start
