baked beets on Himalayan salt & gluten free chocolate chili lava cake

There is something magical about Johnny Depp. In or out of character, his mesmerizing persona seems to exude an allusive promise of romance and adventure. What if he was your dinner guest? A little Jack Sparrow, some Willy Wonka or Mad Hatter. Maybe a touch of Roux, J. M. Barrie and Paul Kemp. Who would show up? What would you make? Would some earthy ingredients, sparkling colors and a suggested spice of France be appropriate? Would the need for chocolate and rum even be questioned?

If he was my dinner guest I would start the meal with these candy looking, rustic tasting, Baked Beets on Himalayan Salt with Hazelnut Lime Butter. The beets would be followed by a big juicy steak and an endless supply of red wine. Dessert would have to be this luscious Chocolate Lava Cake with a Hint of Chili and at some point during the night I would bring out a simple version of a strong rum beverage… 

Yes, I realize Johnny Depp is not going to show up at my door anytime soon, but for any charismatic, life loving bohemian with an intriguing imagination, this feature a robust, yet elegant concoction of colorful and sensual elements that are sure to tickle the senses. Not only will the whimsical and colorful presentation stand out as a magical experience, but both beets and chocolate have been considered aphrodisiacs for centuries.

baked beets on Himalayan salt with hazelnut lime butter

Don’t be fooled by the sweet candy appearance of this colorful dish. Made from only a few natural ingredients and inspired by simple boiled beets with salt and butter, it’s a nutty and buttery smooth combination. The butter will naturally melt when placed on the warm beets. For an instantly glossy and melted butter top, use a cooking torch for a couple of seconds.

salt baked beets

ingredients

1 regular size or 2 small beets per person

pink Himalayan coarse crystal salt

directions

Cover the bottom of an oven safe dish with coarse salt.

Scrub the beets clean and arrange them on top of the salt.

Bake at 350F/175C for 45 minutes or until tender.

Peel and keep warm until serving.

hazelnut lime butter

ingredients

2 TBS beet juice (1 small beet and water)

2 TBS lime juice

100 g butter

¼ cup chopped hazelnuts

directions

To make the beet juice, peel and cut the beet into small cubes, cover with water, boil until about half the liquid is gone and discard the cubes.

Stir butter with lime and beet juice until smooth.

Transfer the butter onto parchment or wax paper, shape into a roll and cool.

When the butter has hardened, roll in chopped hazelnuts to cover and slice.

Serves 4

beets – an aphrodisiac

An aphrodisiac by definition is a substance that intensifies sexual desire or performance. The word and its meaning derives from Aphrodite, Greek Mythology’s Goddess of love, beauty and sexuality. Her parents were Uranus, father of the sky, and Gaia, mother of the earth. To preserve her beauty, Aphrodite is said to have feasted upon delicious beets.

Pliny the Elder, the natural philosopher once active in the city of Pompeii, considered beets the “smoothest of all the garden plants — held in the highest of esteem”. In 79CE, the flourishing Roman city was buried alive in the two-day volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When the city was rediscovered in 1748, the still standing, oldest known brothel in the world, The Lupanare, rose from the ashes exposing provocative wall paintings incorporating beets.

The deep fuchsia pigment has been used as a natural dye since the Middle Ages. Not only is the pigment delightfully brilliant, it contains powerful phytonutrients used as an anti-inflammatory, to prevent aging, protect against heart disease, promote liver detoxification and fight cancer.

Beets are loaded with nutrients; fiber, foliate, iron, vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium, manganese, and the mineral boron. Boron is believed to impact the levels of natural sex hormones in the body, rapidly increasing the sex drive. In addition, beets contain the natural chemical nitrate, which studies show converts to nitric acid within the body. The body uses the nitric acid to dilate blood vessels, much like the effects of Viagra.

gluten free chocolate lava cake with a hint of chili

Perfectly firm and slightly crisp and chewy on the outside, yet still pouring from the center, this gluten free cake is best served lukewarm with cold whipped cream. Palm sugar showed to work particularly well for this cake, but if unavailable, it can be replaced with honey, raw sugar or other sweetener of choice.

 ingredients

2 eggs

1 cup palm sugar

100 g butter

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 TBL chili powder

¾ cup white rice flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

½ tsp salt

 directions

Melt butter and set aside to cool.

Beat eggs and palm sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add butter and dry ingredients to the fluffy eggs and mix delicately.

Fill 6 lightly buttered ramekins with the batter.

Bake at 350F/175C for 7-9 minutes.

Serves 6

chocolate – an aphrodisiac

Legend says Montezuma, the emperor of the Aztecs from 1502–1520CE, drank 50 cups of chocolate daily to intensify his amorous capabilities. He supposedly enjoyed his golden goblets right before marching into his harem of 600 women.

In the 17th century Johan Franciscus Rauch, a theologian in Vienna, was so concerned about the love triggering effects of chocolate he urged monks not to drink it and tried to ban it from monasteries.

But who better to trust than Casanova himself, who considered chocolate more arousing than champagne, and referred to it as “the elixir of love”. He praised chocolate’s effects on women and encouraged his ladies to devour it.

Chocolate is known as one of the most complex foods in the world, containing hundreds of chemical compounds. One of those is anandamide, a chemical compound acting like THC, the active chemical in marijuana. Presumably, like the cannabinoid drug, anandamide stimulates dopamine production in the brain resulting in increased sensuality, enhanced libido, and a general sense of well-being. Theobromine, a stimulant found in chocolate sometimes confused with caffeine, has capabilities to energize and heal the human body. Theobromine can lower blood pressure and a study showed it to be close to a third more effective than codeine as a cough suppressant.

Chocolate contains mood enhancers such as phenylethylamine and serotonin, which naturally release in the brain when someone is experiencing pleasure, love and happiness. When chocolate is consumed, the two chemicals react within the nervous system in the same way they do when naturally released in the brain. Phenylethylamine is said to typically reach ultimate heights during orgasm.

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Illustration by Pim Pauline Overgaard. Photography by Philip Blankenship.