Truffles

Our good neighbor Samuel recently returned from Paris where he maintains a second home. We chatted briefly, caught up with the local news and tentatively planned a dinner. Then, as an afterthought, Samuel told me to wait a second while he went into his house. He returned with a huge box of truffles from La Maison du Chocolat. “Here, I brought this back for you guys,” he said.

Samuel is a worldly, artistic, gifted and generous individual. I’m not just saying that because he gave us the truffles. Once, we invited him to dinner and he showed up with two bottles of Chateau Lafitte Rothschild – “I had these down in the basement and I’m not sure they’re any good,” he said. If you’ve never had the experience of drinking this altitude of bordeaux with steaks and pommes frites….. well – it didn’t need any breathing, ok?

Samuel once had a gallery showing in Chile. During his visit, he so impressed a local baron/politico/cartel head with his related charitable work– we really never understood the story or relationship – that Samuel now has a house and several acres of land on the coast of Chile. So between trips down to Chile or flights to Paris, we don’t get to see a lot of Sam.

This is one of those extraordinary individuals nestled among us normal folk. If you saw him walking down the street you’d probably never register the memory. In any event, we’re fortunate to have his acquaintance.

Chocolate Truffles

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 8 oz. chopped, semi-sweet chocolate + 6 oz. for dipping
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted

Method:

In a saucepan over moderate flame, heat the cream, butter and corn syrup until it comes to a full boil. Turn it off before you burn it. Ass 8 oz. of the chocolate and swirl it together. Let the chocolate melt in without stirring the pot. After about 5 minutes, whisk carefully to combine the chocolate with the other ingredients. Pour it into a bowl and throw it into the ice box to cool. Stir it every once and a while. It will take about an hour to cool off enough to make the truffles. Don’t let it get too hard or your family will make terrible comments about you behind your back.

When ready, pull the bowl out of the fridge and form your truffles with any instrument you have that will cause truffle shapes. I use an old Mepps trout lure and a toy airplane fuselage. When done, you should have a silpat lined baking pan covered with little one inch chocolate balls. Back into the fridge.

Melt the rest of the chocolate in the microwave until it’s just workable. Let it cool enough so that you don’t require a trip to the ER when you dip your pudgy little fingers into the mosh.

You’ll need to use some skill to now dunk each truffle into the chocolate then roll it around in the cocoa powder before returning it to the baking sheet. Let me know if you figure out how to do this without getting more chocolate onto your hands than onto the food.

When you’re done, place the baking sheet in the ice box until the heroes are set.

Sneak discretely after family goes to sleep.