Le Dauphin au Chocolat (Cocoa flavored Semi-freddo)

This recipe is for my dear (and occasionally patient) friend, Lis, who has been bugging me to post it on my blog ever since I made it for her more than a year ago. Well, next week is her anniversary, so I intend to count this as her present. Now, if she's really nice to me, maybe I'll even make it for her.
You'll notice in the title that this recipe says "semi-freddo". Not ice cream, not gelato. This is a completely different item, and if you're Jonesing for a serious chocolate hit, then this will almost certainly do the trick.
Semi-freddo, in Italian, means half-cold, or more loosely translated, half-frozen. In this case, that's the perfect name for this sweet. The semi-freddo will not freeze up hard. The massive amount of sugar prevents it from doing so, or even from forming large ice crystals. The result is therefore a smooth, velvety chocolate ice cream that’s better (and far, far richer) than any soft-serve ice cream you’ve ever dreamed of.
My wife loves this stuff, but she can't eat more than about a quarter cup at a time, so it lasts a looong time on our house. It's so rich that most people can't eat a lot at once, so don't stress that your final product doesn't make buckets and buckets of the stuff. Even the amount in this recipe is enough to last awhile.

INGREDIENTS:

5 Large Egg Whites (or 6 medium)
1½ cups Superfine Sugar
¼ t. Cream of Tartar
½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1 cup Heavy Cream
½ cup Powdered Sugar
1 t. Vanilla Extract

PREPARATION:

1. Place the Egg Whites and Sugar in a large mixing bowl and place over a large pan of boiling water. Don’t let the mixing bowl touch the boiling water.
2. Stir continually with a whisk until the mixture is warm, but not hot. Remove form the heat.
3. Add the Cream of Tartar, and beat with the whisk attachment of your mixer until the meringue is stiff, white, and shiny.
4. In a large, chilled mixing bowl, beat the Heavy Cream and Powdered Sugar until soft, gentle mounds form when you lift out the beaters. Add in the Vanilla just at the end and beat for 30 more seconds.
5. Using a large whisk, or a clean spatula, fold the meringue into the cream until completely incorporated.
6. Pour the mixture into a large, fancy serving dish, or individual fluted glasses, and cover with Saran Wrap.
7. Freeze for at least 4 hours, or up to 5 days, before serving.

Second Recipe - Enchilada Sauce

Well, here's the second recipe. I love this enchilada sauce. I made it by trying a dozen or so other recipes, and putting together all of the things that I liked best about all of them. I think it works wonderfully with cheese enchiladas, but if you stew some chicken or beef with Mexican seasonings, and use that as a filling, you can get marvelous results.
I like using the larger flour tortillas, and they are wonderful when you first cook them. If you don't eat them right away, though, they can get soggy upon reheating, especially if you cheat and do it in the microwave. Corn tortillas have a wonderful flavor too, though. Whichever you use, heat them up in the microwave before filling and rolling them, to make them easier to work with.
Before filling the tortillas, either dip them in the sauce, (which I prefer to do), or include some of the sauce with the filling.


INGREDIENTS:

½ cup ground red chilies* (See note below.)
2 cups beef stock
¼ cup oil
½ onion, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Flour mixture:
3 Tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. salt

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
Tapatillo sauce

PREPARATION:

1. Heat ½ cup ground red chili in 2 cups beef stock in saucepan until hot.

2. Place oil in saucepan and sauté onion. When transparent, add garlic and sauté for one minute.

3. Add flour mixture, and cook while stirring for 1 minute.

4. Slowly add chili/beef stock purée and cook and stir for 2 minutes.

5. Add tomato sauce. Simmer for at least 10 minutes, or while you prepare the other ingredients for enchiladas.

6. Add a few shakes of Tapatillo sauce to taste.

Will keep in refrigerator for 1 week or may be frozen.

*Note:

For the Red Chilies, don't use Chili Powder. I use "guajillo" chilies. They are the large, dark red, dried chilies that you can find in Mexican food stores. Just get a bag and grind them into a powder using a food processor.

Once again, please let me know what you think. I love hearing about other people's experiences.

Enjoy.