in the kitchen x pistachio & plum

At the market this week, the last of the stone fruits could be seen in the abundance of peaches, plums, and nectarines piled high at the market stalls. With that in mind, I decided to take a couple of plums and use them for the last time. This dessert was a quick concoction of the best available fruits I could find. This is a microwave pistachio sponge cake, pistachio ice cream, strawberry sauce, poached plums, fraises de bois, lakewood green grapes, and a bit of fennel flowers. Very simple and light. The pistachio is a great flavor to pair with fruits as it contrasts nicely with the wild strawberries, plums, and grapes. Im obsessed with the lakewood green grapes, as they are crunchy, sweet, tart, and so addictive. The plums were poached in a mixture of sugar, water, and Maker's Mark. Sweet and bit boozy. The microwaveable cake is great, as it is served warm and fluffy. Basically, a mixture of eggs, egg whites, sugar and pistachio paste are mixed in the blender and poured in a whipped cream dispenser. Put batter in a paper cup and microwave. Fresh cake! The texture is fluffy due to the aeration and it's ready in less than 30 seconds. Warm cake, ripe fruits, and creamy ice cream, what more can you ask for? 

in the kitchen x september clafoutis

Fall has come quickly. Breezy days and brisk summer nights require a sweater. Shorts are no longer an option. September is here and so are beautiful fall days. I find September always a chaotic season in terms of it being a big change from the lazy days of Summer. Suddenly you're preparing for the busiest time of the year and there's always a bit of chaos. It feels too early for Fall, but too late for all things Summer. My menu reflects this transitional period in terms of offerings. I find it too early for pumpkin and pears. The first fruits of the season are not always the best. Grapes are king now. Nothing taste better than a bunch of cold grapes, the crunch of tart grape skin, the jelly inside, the sweet and tangy flavor that elicits you to eat more. This is a brown butter clafoutis, concord grapes, anise hyssop greek yogurt, elderberry sauce, orange jelly, red currants, and lemongrass ginger ice cream. I love the licorice-like flavor of anise hyssop and the contrast to concord grapes. Clafoutis is a rustic cake usually studded with fruit, but I love the plain cake itself with fresh fruit. This brown butter clafoutis is floral, and pairs well with the lemongrass and ginger ice cream, my current obsession. Elderberries are interesting, as they are sweet with a bitter finish, not at all unpleasant. I added quite a bit of St. Germain to the sauce just to pair elderflower with elderberry. 

in the kitchen x tomato, balsamic, & prosciutto

The title makes it sound like a summer salad, but rest assure, this is a bona fide dessert. For my last dessert of the summer, I decided on using the season's amazing tomatoes. I made a tomato curd, tomato meringue, balsamic reduction, hazelnut crumble, and prosciutto ice cream. The tomato curd was made using a black pear variety, smokey, dark, and with a hint of sweet. The curd needed more acid so I added lemon juice to bump up the flavor. I re-purposed the tomato pulp in the meringue, which gave it a slight acidity. Good balsamic vinegar is necessary in the reduction, quality makes all the difference. Cherry tomatoes garnished the dish and they were the star. I picked them up from the Windfall Farms stand at Union Square greenmarket and were labeled as Matt's tomatoes. Whoever Matt is, a round of applause. These cherry tomatoes were so sweet and succulent that they didn't need anything else. No need to get fancy, the best way to eat them is whole, like a grape. Nature doesn't need any garnishes.

in the kitchen x petit fours

Petit fours can make or break a person's restaurant experience. When VIP's, friends, and guests come to eat, the last impression is dessert. I like to leave a big impression with a small bite, and I do that with petit fours. After a large meal and many courses, people tend to want a small bite to satiate their sweet tooth. Usually guests can look forward to chocolates, macarons, or pate de fruit as an ending, but I thought it would be nice to try something different. Why not mini tarts and cream puffs? While not exactly ground breaking, I like playing with familiar flavors and making them bite-sized. First is a smores tart with a graham cracker crust, chocolate ganache, and toasted meringue. After is a lemon meringue tart with a vanilla crust, lemon curd, toasted meringue, and citrus tuile. Next is all chocolate with a chocolate crust, chocolate ganache, cocoa nib streusel, and Valrhona crunchy pearls. Last but not least is a salted caramel cream puff topped with a generous pour of chocolate sauce and a sprinkling of caramelized hazelnuts. Small bites with a bang.

in the kitchen x tomato inspiration

This generation of chefs are extremely lucky. We have all the knowledge of previous chefs who have been generous enough to share, and lightning fast technology so the speed of trends and ideas spread quickly. I cannot take credit for this absolutely genius preparation of tomato as a dessert. Alain Passard, chef of L'Arpege (3 Michelin Stars, on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, who has been cooking longer than I have been ALIVE), is famed for his tomate confite aux douzes saveurs, basically a candied tomato that is stuffed with 12 different types of dried and fresh fruits and nuts. My version uses the same technique and is filled with pineapple, apples, pistachios, slivered almonds, golden raisins, nutmeg, cardamom, and lemon zest. I used heirloom cherry tomatoes, which I had just bought from the market. Underneath each tomato is chopped candied peanuts. It is paired with prosciutto ice cream, a salty and creamy accompaniment to the sweet and tart tomato bundle. It is also garnished with micro basil and flowers. Cherry tomatoes are tiny, so this took some time, patience, and lots of gentleness. The tomatoes are scored, blanched, and the skins removed. Then with a gentle hand, I cut a small flap on the bottom of the tomato to fill it with the caramelized fruit and nut mixture. It took a couple of tries to find the best technique at filling a tomato the size of my thumb without breaking the thin skin. After, it is continuously glazed and baked in a 150F oven. Ninety minutes later, they were done. The results are worth it. Each little tomato is a bundle of sweet, tart, crunchy, juicy, and a tad bitter from the dark caramel glaze. The caramelized peanuts add another dimension of crunch and caramel. The prosciutto ice cream is sweet and salty, highlighting all the flavors previously mentioned. A perfect dessert package.