in the kitchen x green tea, lime, & pineapple

I didn't start out with this dessert in mind. Actually, a lot of my desserts never end up being what I originally imagined. I had thought of a lime white chocolate hazelnut cake and wondering what other vanilla, buttery flavor I could pair with it. As I worked more and more on the dish, I was drawn to stronger flavors, such as green tea and different acidic notes, like yogurt and pineapple. In this dish is a hazelnut cake, topped with a lime white chocolate mousse. I paired it with a green tea lime crumble, made with almond flour, for a depth of flavor. Pineapple chips would add a great texture and would complement the lime. Of course, there is green tea and yogurt ice cream to finish it all up. It's refreshing and light for the summer days ahead. I think this is why I am always excited when thinking of new and different desserts. No matter what you start out with, the end product is always a bit of a surprise. I always wonder what the end result will be, or even if there is a kind of end result to a dish. Even when I revisit a previous dessert, it never ends up exactly the way I made it the first time. There are always new tweaks or something different to be done. That's what makes it exciting. Food should never be stagnant, there should always be something different. Because the ingredients we use come from nature, and nature is never a carbon copy, it evolves.

in the kitchen x pine nut caramel, rosemary cream, & red wine

My next dessert is Italian-inspired. I'm planning my trip to Italy, so let's just say Italy is on the brain. I love rosemary in dessert more than I do savory dishes, it pairs so beautifully with sugar. It is such a strong flavor profile that it can get a bit tricky to balance. Shown is a pine nut salted caramel tart, red wine sauce, blueberry compote, rosemary cream, & crumble. The caramel tart is chewy, crunchy & gooey. I love the rich & buttery taste of pine nuts paired with salted caramel. Honestly the filling is addictive. The red wine sauce adds acidity to cut all the richness. The blueberries are lightly poached, until the outside is cooked but the fruit is still firm. It adds a burst of freshness. The rosemary cream adds an edge to the dish, one that makes it interesting and memorable. 

in the kitchen x cheesecake cloud

With the arrival of warm weather, desserts become lighter and more refreshing. To showcase some of the amazing fruit in store, I like to simplify my desserts to showcase the produce. I love cheesecake and I wanted to make one that was lighter than the traditional NY cheesecake that's popular. I love cream cheese, but sometimes it's a bit too rich for my taste. I opted for fromage blanc for that reason. It's also a great base to compliment fruit. Folded with whipped cream, this cake is airy and light. Pictured is a fromage blanc cheesecake mousse, blueberry compote, vanilla compote, vanilla cake, & sesame seed tuile. The cheesecake is tangy and light, with a spongy vanilla cake base. Topped with juicy blueberries, crunchy crumble, and nutty tuile, its a simple but satisfying end to a spring meal. 

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. 

in the kitchen x the first bundle of rhubarb

This dessert was made out of the desire for the warm weather to just arrive. And arrive it has. The first of shipment of rhubarb is here and they are beautiful. I wanted something simple to showcase the rhubarb, and went with a cheesecake/baked crumble approach. This dessert consist of a quark cloud cheesecake, vanilla cake, white wine poached rhubarb, rhubarb raspberry sauce, and crushed crumble. I like adding crushed raspberries to poached rhubarb as a natural food coloring, as sometimes the green stalks can turn the final product a muddy brown. When the warm weather arrives, desserts tend to become simpler. The fruits that are coming into season are delicious alone, and they need a light hand to really showcase their true flavors. If you're wondering what quark is, it's a fresh dairy product that is similar in taste to a cream cheese, or sour cream although with more tang. It can be considered a fresh cheese, although some methods in producing it do not contain rennet. Alone, it's a delicious snack (and cheesy spread when strained in cheesecloth overnight), but like any other fresh dairy product, can really be delicious when paired with seasonal fruits. I probably would have never heard of it if it wasn't for working for a German chef as it is common in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.