in the kitchen x pistachio ³

Finally, a Spring dessert! I call this, pistachio ³ (actually it's just pistachio parfait on the menu lol). I adore pistachios, especially the bright green Sicilian variety and decided to add it as part of the Spring & Summer dessert menu. This dessert is a pistachio parfait, a frozen dessert made with cream, eggs, and sugar. To get a rich pistachio flavor, we use a combination of ground pistachio paste, including one made in house. On the bottom is a very thin dacquoise, made with pistachio flour which acts as a base. The entire parfait is then sprayed with a Valrhona Opalys white chocolate spray for a neat finish (and a nice cocoa butter snap). It is paired with a steamed pistachio cake and lime yogurt. The crumble is flavored with fresh lime zest, chopped sicilian pistachios, and green tea. The crumble is sweet, acidic, and earthy thanks to the green tea. So far in the season, the most beautiful things at the market is rhubarb, which we use for the sorbet. All of these components are combined with a strawberry and rhubarb sorbet. On top is a crunchy pistachio honey tuile and it is finished with red-veined sorrel, a lovely acidic addition.

in the kitchen x lime, date, & toffee

This is a dish of mistakes. The meringue wasn't suppose to crack, the sauce should be thicker, and does lime even go with dates?! Mistakes happen, but this is a trifecta of nothing turning out right. Out of the entire batch, I had one meringue kiss that wasn't cracked and honestly it was not that appealing. I loved the cracked meringues. They were imperfectly gorgeous and resembled something The Flintstones would eat. While I should have thickened the sauce, I didn't want the texture to compete with the thick toffee. And dates and lime? Yes, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. This dessert is composed of meringue filled with lime curd, moist brown sugar date cake, a decadent toffee sauce, and blueberry compote. It's not your typical flavor pairings, but sometimes, things work out. Mistakes can be a blessing in disguise.