in the kitchen x chocolate, chestnut, and butternut squash

I feel like you've reached a certain level as a chef when you start to improve on your dishes from the year before. Last fall, I perfected this butternut squash sorbet (3 months of tweaks!) to be paired with chocolate. This year, I perfected the chocolate components. The second fall dessert to go on the menu is chocolate chiboust, chocolate sauce, chocolate ganache, caramelized cocoa nib crumble, spice cake (with a hint of cocoa), butternut squash sorbet, and bruleed chestnuts. The chocolate chiboust, sauce, ganache, and cocoa nib crumble are my typical foundation for a plated chocolate dessert. The chestnuts are packed in vanilla syrup and so they are very tender and sweet. I like to drain them and pat them dry before sprinkling sugar and torching them for a caramelized crunch. This spice cake is delicate, airy and soft, a nice texture to go along with the bruleed chestnuts and rich chocolate flavor. The star is the butternut squash sorbet. It is decadent with a good blend of fall spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and cardamom. I have to really credit the PacoJet for its texture, as it really helps  aerate and create such a smooth flavor without dairy and added ingredients. 

in the kitchen x pumpkin please

Naturally, the first fall dessert to debut on the menu has to include pumpkin! Pictured are pumpkin white chocolate ganache, pumpkin seed oil semifreddo, caramelized pumpkin seeds, splatters of pumpkin seed oil, fraises de bois (while they are still available at the market!), and sunflower sprouts. The acidity of the strawberries add a nice contrast to the richness of the ganache and semifreddo. Most people use pumpkin puree exclusively in a dessert, and while there's nothing wrong with that, I wanted to do something different. Lucky for me, working for a German pastry chef introduced me to the wonders that is pumpkin seed oil. The pumpkin seed oil is delicious, rich and nutty, with the flavors further enhanced by vanilla in a semifreddo. Sunflower sprouts usually show up in salads, but I just adore them in a dessert. They are so delicious, crunchy, and nutty. It adds an interesting vegetal element to the dessert, with the nuttiness from the sprouts echoing the pumpkin seed oil.