Food is one of my passions!
food is such a reality.
Sink into this decadent, moist and gooey dark chocolate, serrano, pumpkin and ginger dessert, drizzled with a creamy mint sauce made with love.
One thing I feel is amazing about this photo, is that this is the beauty and freshness of the love we infuse in our food everyday. This is not a set-up for the camera, but a tasty bite from our everyday life.
This dessert was baked in a cobb oven, we created out of clay we dug from our land with our own hands. It is also fired with scrap wood that was destined for the landfill.
Baking in an oven that is fired by wood is truly an art and takes great skill in fire building, temperature regulation, experience and faith.
How big, hot and fast certain wood burns is a big factor in cooking with fire. One must build a fire hot enough to create the ideal temperature that will not burn the delicate batter, but that will also retain the heat throughout the duration of baking. The oven must be hot enough that should the door need to be opened to check for doneness, it can still generate enough heat to raise the temperature of the oven cavity and continue baking. Oven temperature and timing depends on the fire you build. The success of the baking overall also depends upon the food’s proximity to the fire, moisture retention, bricks and other heat generating mass as well. It’s not just a matter of turning the dial to 350 degrees, the timer for 30 minutes, then returning to stick a knife in the center to test for doneness.
So not only is this decadent, gooey, beautiful, rich with pumpkin and chocolate!!—it is also sustainably made, reducing our carbon footprint and made with love.
Win-win-win-win-win-win!