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Chocolate Pasta

Chef Joanna


I’ve just been feeling chocolate lately. This one was a real stretch. After coming across an novel pasta store, I was convinced into buying dark chocolate fettucine. Sounds crazy I know, but my love for pasta and innovation overwhelmed me. I bought the pasta and featured here is an invention of a dish that may have a voice in my restaurant someday. Of course, there will have to be some minor adjustments but this is the raw dish, right here, you saw it first, sorry you couldn’t taste it.

First, I must credit this original pasta to Pappardelle’s Pasta Co. Their contact is http://www.pappardellespasta.com/content/locations.php
In California, they can be found in San Diego and Alameda but are also found nation-wide. Their website is informative and you can even buy gift certificates for friends or family if they enjoy buying artisanal pastas.

The dish I made is dark chocolate fettucine tossed with raspberries, fresh mint, and Hersey’s syrup served on a scoop of vanilla ice cream and topped with white chocolate curls. The inspiration for this dish is probably overlooked by many but it is intended to be a take on “Capellini Pomodoro” which is angel hair pasta with roma tomatoes, sweet basil, fresh garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. If you can see it the raspberries are intended to be the cherry tomatoes, the mint as the basil, and the white chocolate curls as the Parmesan cheese. See it? I know the dark chocolate pasta probably throws most people off so I will try to work on making white chocolate pasta instead.

I didn’t realize until after just the humor of the dish’s aphrodisiac nature. Chocolate, mint, vanilla, and raspberries are all foods mythed to stir certain desires but it is up for interpretation. In any case the dish is tasty enough to stir up some sleeping taste buds.

I came across this poem recently that captures the essence of cocoa and it’s proposed “benefits.” It was written by the British, Stanley J. Sharpless, who won a competition in the magazine, The New Statesman, in 1953 for a poem on cocoa as an aphordisiac. At the very least, the poem is humorous and worth a laugh.

Cupid’s Nightcap

Half-past nine- high time for supper
“Cocoa, love?,” “Of course, my dear.”
Helen thinks it quite delicious,
John now prefers it now to beer.
Knocking back the sepia potion,
Hubby winks, says, “Who’s for bed?”
“Shan’t be long,” says Helen softly,
Cheeks a faintly flushing red.
For they’ve stumbled on the secret
Of a love that never wanes.
Rapt beneath the tumbled bed clothes,
Cocoa coursing through their veins.

-Stanley J. Sharpless

Ingredients:

  • Chocolate Pasta
  • 1/2 package raspberries
  • Couple leaves of mint
  • 1/8 white chocolate bar
  • 1 Tablespoon Hershey’s syrup or other chocolate sauce
  • 1 scoop vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1. Boil Chocolate pasta. Do not overcook. Strain and then toss with raspberries, (mint) and chocolate sauce.
*Do not use as much mint as I did because the fresh flavor can be over powering. In fact, I would wait to simply top the dessert with some mint at the end.


2. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a dish. Immediately top ice cream with tossed pasta.
3. Shave the white chocolate with a vegetable peel so curls form. You may be able to use a cheese grater if you don’t have a peeler on hand. Add the mint at this stage if you didn’t before.
The flavor of the pasta was not overpowering in chocolate. What really made the dish was the white chocolate curls because it added a different sweetness and goes well with dark chocolate. Also, I know some people do not prefer raspberries. If you are not crazy about raspberries you can substitute strawberries.

Next on the list is to create a chocolate-berry sauce for the linguine because linguini go best with thick sauces while angel hair pastas go well just tossed like this recipe intends for.
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