A Journey of a Thousand Li

About midway through my holiday in Singapore, I was pleasantly reminded of the adage -"Necessity is the mother of all invention". Or was it "Inside every spoilt husband is a man who can cook"? When I agreed to marry Nathan, I had no illusions of him performing any culinary feats beyond barbecuing, reheating frozen pies and assembling a toasted tomato and cheese sandwich. So imagine my surprise when I received the above photo of a gourmet dinner he had single-handedly conjured up! Ok, so "single-handed" may be stretching it a fraction. The pesto on the aubergines was store-bought. But the steak was lavished with a home-made marinade, the salad doused with a perfect balance of balsamic and olive oil, and the basil you see accentuating the aubergines were freshly-picked from our plant. And this, my dear readers, was what Nathan made me as a welcome-home dinner, bless his apron-wearing soul. That may be the only dish he cooked the entire time I was away, but as Lao Tzu said, "The journey of a thousand li begins with one step".

Some days back, I recalled my very first rejection from a publisher. The editor of said (very large and reputable) publishing house indicated in her feedback that the chapters submitted were "well-written. And with constructive editing, I am sure that the book as a whole would be a good read". Unfortunately, as the publisher of one of the best selling YA Urban Fantasy books of all time, they have been inundated with books of this genre, and hence I've come to the party too late. Fair enough.

"Well-written"! "Good read"! Did you hear that? And by that, I'm sure she did not mean they've discovered the next Margaret Atwood.Yes, so I sound like I've been in a literary review desert, starved for accolades. My agent was pleased with this rejection, and I was... determined.

Thanks to man's best friend, a certain Mr. OCD, I've finished and am working on the 3rd draft of a new Fantasy book that boasts a theme far removed from the first novel and hopefully the manuscript will see the light of day before this proverbial boat sails too.

In the meantime, to all publishers, if there are any of you out there reading my blog (because you've woken up one morning and every other bit of reading material's dried up and this is all you've got between you and insanity)- listen up! Got imagination, can write. Will dance for my supper, just don't ask me to sing.

Here's a hazelnut and chocolate mousse cake masquerading as a hazelnut tart. I used double cream, thinking it was heavy cream (see what happens when the Brits colonize the US but don't bother enforcing the rules of the english language??). The cream sort of didn't double in size and curdled instead, plus I used a cake tin that was an inch larger than indicated, so the cake turned out quite flat, but tastes pretty good, nonetheless.

Hazelnut and Chocolate Mousse Cake (adapted from Epicurious)

For shortbread base

• 2 tablespoons hazelnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For mousse

• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-oz envelope)
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella (5 oz)
• 1/2 cup mascarpone (1/4 lb)
• 1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar

For ganache

• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 3 1/2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

• Special equipment: an 8-inch (20-cm) springform pan; parchment paper

preparation

Make shortbread base:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of springform pan (to make it easier to slide shortbread base off bottom), then lock on side of pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Pulse hazelnuts with sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add flour, butter, cocoa, and salt and pulse just until a dough forms.

Press dough evenly onto bottom of springform pan with your fingers. Prick all over with a fork, then bake until just dry to the touch, about 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer base in pan to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Remove side of pan and carefully slide out parchment from under shortbread, then reattach side of pan around shortbread base.

Make mousse while shortbread cools:
Sprinkle gelatin over water in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Heat gelatin mixture over low heat, stirring, just until gelatin is melted, about 2 minutes. Whisk in chocolate hazelnut spread until combined and remove from heat.

Whisk together mascarpone and chocolate hazelnut mixture in a large bowl. Beat together cream, cocoa powder, and sugar in another large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until just combined, then increase speed to high and beat until cream just holds soft peaks. Whisk one third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream until well combined. Spoon filling onto shortbread base in pan, gently smoothing top, then chill, covered, at least 3 hours.