A few passing clouds. Low 46F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

A few passing clouds. Low 46F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

Even if you’re not a big fan of V-Day celebratory fetes, as I am not, it’s fun to have a little excuse for chocolate and maybe something else slightly unusual.  My suggestions are a great simple roasted artichoke recipe I found online and, for chocolate, the chocolate mousse Craig Claiborne swore was the best he’d ever found.

The artichoke seems appropriate as the first-of-spring vegetable to reach us, and the slightly primitive way you have to eat the base of the leaves, one by one by scraping them over your teeth, gradually exposes the glorious heart at the center of its lovely anatomy.

The recipe—titled “The Most Amazing Roasted Artichokes”—comes from Barclay, the husband of Ali, who has a blog devoted to lovely, healthy food.  This charming American couple with no apparent last name lives in Barcelona, where the steady supply of artichokes inspired him to drop the steamers and Instant Pot methods for this much earthier, much more exciting version.  I’m listing it as an online recipe because they have really good photos instructing you on how to clean the chokes and what it all looks like. Once you get your artichoke skills up to speed, it’s really quick, too. Look for medium or large artichokes; mine were a bit small and roasted faster than I would have guessed (which was half an hour total). Use good olive oil—mine was the lovely Bramasole oil from Tuscany that comes right from the pressing in Tuscany to your house. For salt I used Mexican sea salt, but kosher salt would be fine.

And now for the chocolate mousse; what could be more voluptuous?

ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (recipe by Craig Claiborne)

Mousse means foam, and Claiborne claims this is the foamiest, most ethereal mousse he’s ever tasted.  Quality chocolate is essential here, such as Valrhona or Trader Joe’s 72% cacao Belgian chocolate.  I love the fact that the mousse is served in a big bowl, as it traditionally is in Paris restaurants.  In case you don’t have eight sweethearts, you can cut the recipe in half and have mousse for breakfast too….

8 ounces semisweet dark chocolate, broken into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 cup sweet liqueur (such as Chartreuse, amaretto, mandarin, or Grand Marnier)

Whipped cream and grated chocolate, for garnish

Place chocolate in top of a double boiler over simmering water, and cook over low, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place egg yolks and 3 tablespoons water in a heavy saucepan; cook over very low heat, whisking vigorously and constantly, until yolks begin to foam and thicken, about 6 minutes. Whisk in liqueur and cook, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. (The sauce should achieve the consistency of a hollandaise or sabayon.) Remove from heat. Pour through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl; discard solids.

Fold melted chocolate into sauce. Transfer chocolate mixture to a large bowl and set aside.

Beat cream with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes, beating in 2 tablespoons sugar toward the end. Fold into chocolate mixture.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks start to form, about 1 minute. Beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold into chocolate-cream mixture.

Spoon mousse into a bowl and chill until ready to serve, 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Garnish servings with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Fran McCullough is a James Beard Award-winning editor who has also authored several books on food. She lives in Hillsborough.

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