Chocolate dipped fruit

After a very successful event at last week’s Spanish Sunday lunch party, where we cooked the Sunday meal instead of having to settle for paella – yet again. Our seafood and rice salad, main course meat salad with pasta, potatoes Ana and slow cooked loin of pork with Spanish tomato salsa, disappeared faster that a magicians rabbit into the hat. The rhubarb cheesecake and chocolate strawberry cake all went down very well indeed, and for once, they were very appreciative for the change – all except for one. He stated quite clearly that if it wasn’t paella, he wasn’t eating anything. That was, until his wife pointed out the ingredients – rice, chicken, pork, prawns, mussels, all of which were the same things he obtained with his paella! “Oh, Ok” he said, and tucked in – and thoroughly enjoyed it. A perfect example of the locals not willing to change from their peasant food style of eating.

We are invited back next week – for paella! (Our classic tale about paella was the Christmas paella we were invited to – it was the same as all the rest, but with a sprig of holly in the middle.) However, it is a children’s birthday party as well. (I wonder if the paella will have birthday candles on it?) On these occasions we normally bake chocolate cakes. But at the last birthday event, the mother had bought a large Spanish birthday cake. It was crap. No cake – just a fudgy cream like most of the cakes here in Spain.

So what can we do this time that will be different? We don’t want to bake a cake in case they think we are undermining them – (which we try to do all the time of course in an attempt to show them that there is more to life than just paella)- even though all our cakes are gobbled up within minutes.

The answer lay in a little surprise that we made last week for the ladies. We had a dozen giant strawberries left after making the chocolate cake, so I dipped them in chocolate and gave one to each of the ladies. They went down a treat. It upset the men of course, because they didn’t get any.

So, instead of a cake, we are going to make a mixture of chocolate coated fruit especially for the kids and the ladies. We have selected the following fruits for dipping: banana, strawberry, pineapple, dates, grapes, tangerine and apple. If that doesn’t impress I will be very surprised and learn to live with the dreaded paella!

If you want to give it a try yourself, it’s easy. Here are a few simple recipes for you to try, they should be great for any type of party.

Chocolate covered strawberries

Ingredients
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 1 pound strawberries with stems (about 20), washed and dried very well

Directions

Put the semisweet and white chocolates into 2 separate heatproof medium bowls. Fill 2 medium saucepans with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat; set the bowls of chocolate over the water to melt. Stir until smooth. (Alternatively, melt the chocolates in a microwave at half power, for 1 minute, stir and then heat for another minute or until melted.)

Once the chocolates are melted and smooth, remove from the heat. Line a sheet pan with parchment or waxed paper. Holding the strawberry by the stem, dip the fruit into the dark chocolate, lift and twist slightly, letting any excess chocolate fall back into the bowl. Set strawberries on the parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the strawberries. Dip a fork in the white chocolate and drizzle the white chocolate over the dipped strawberries. Set the strawberries aside until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

Chocolate coated fruit

Ingredients

• 1 pint Cape gooseberries
• 1 pint fresh strawberries or cherries
• 1 pint fresh figs
• 1 box prepared biscotti
• 1/4-pound white chocolate, melted
• 1/4-pound milk chocolate, melted
• 1/4-pound dark chocolate, melted
• Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions

Dip fruit in any of the melted chocolates, using a variety for each fruit. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with waxed or parchment paper and let harden. Dip biscotti in chocolate and let harden. When chocolate has hardened, transfer to a platter and garnish with mint sprigs.
Chocolate with Bill & Sheila
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