Chocolate³ | Riccardo Bassetti

“A simple dessert that is easy to replicate at home. A tribute to my mother, Elisabetta, the soul of our restaurant but also, and above all, the beating heart of our family. I created this dish last year because I wanted to make something different from the usual chocolate brownies, which I served with herb jelly and cocoa meringue. I assume that everyone likes chocolate. There's frozen praline, mousse, ginger."

For the chocolate gavotte

• 35 ml lukewarm water
• 5 g butter
• 20 g sugar
• 8 g cocoa powder
• 20 g egg white

Procedure

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Blend with an immersion blender and spread thinly on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat (food-grade silicone mat). Bake in the oven at 350°F for 8 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.

For the chocolate mousse

• 100 ml milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 20 g sugar
• 135 g milk chocolate 33%
• 100 g whipped cream

Procedure

Bring 100 g of milk to the boil, pour it over the egg yolks beaten with the sugar. Transfer everything to a small saucepan and heat the mixture to 82°C (just before it starts to boil). Pour over the milk chocolate and mix to emulsify. Then fold in the whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator for 24 hours. When ready to serve, fill a piping bag with a striped nozzle.

For the puffed praline

• 25 g milk chocolate 33%
• 25 g coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts
• 25 g feuilletine

Procedure

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. When melted, mix in the hazelnuts and feuilletine. Leave to cool so that you can make small nuggets. Store in the freezer in an airtight container.

For the caramelized hazelnuts

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 60 g hazelnuts

Procedure

Caramelize the sugar in a pan, add the water and then the hazelnuts. Cool once lightly caramelized and break the hazelnuts into small pieces in a mortar.

For the chocolate and ginger sauce

• 25 g sugar
• 5 ml water
• 25 ml milk
• One scraped vanilla pod
• 5 g sliced ginger
• 5 g cocoa powder

Procedure

Bring all the ingredients to the boil and cook for 20 minutes over a low heat. Add the cocoa powder and mix off the heat.

Plating

Place a swirl of mousse in the center of a flat plate, add a long piece of gavotte on top, then more mousse and caramelized hazelnuts. Repeat this process twice more. Arrange the praline nuggets around the edge and pour the chocolate and ginger sauce over the top as a finishing touch.

Photo by Davide Dutto