To the Point

This site is usually a way for me to spill on about some deep connection that I have with the food that I make, or an inspirational point from which an idea was spawned. This post will not be that, it will be utilitarian and to the point. I will be posting on the past two menus that we have done "Indian Summer" and "Autumn Sketchbook". I will give some brief but descriptive dialog on each dish. I will then go have a glass of wine with my wife, and watch my cat do stupid things with a twist tie. Every now and then we should all do the same.

Autumn Sketchbook

Pre-dessert: Goat Yogurt Panna Cotta, Caramelized Holmquist Hazelnuts, Elephant Heart Plum.

This dessert was drawn from the plum and how damn pretty the puree was. Sometimes when someone goes to the trouble of growing something well, I feel it best to just present it with humility.

Dessert: Roasted Eggplant and Prune Cake, Bartlett Pear Sorbet, Pear Fritter, Rosemary Caramel Sauce

Playing with temperatures is something we as pastry chefs love to do, and that's exactly what I did here. Warm cake and fritter with frosty sorbet. The eggplant is an iconic summer ingredient and paired up with the dried plum, I thought it fit the idea of an Indian Summer quite nicely.

Autumn Sketchbook

Pre-Dessert: "Green Apple & Garden Sorrel" Sorbet, Foam, Salad, Chip, with a touch of Marigold

Bold, bright, straight forward, easy to understand, and dynamic. My favorite characteristics rolled into one. Once asked to describe my style of desserts I responded, "Simplicity through complexity". This dessert might finally back that up.

Dessert: Roasted and Glazed Sugar Pie Pumpkin, Butter Fried Cedar Bough Ice Cream, Butterscotch Pudding, Prosciutto Chips, and Virgin Pumpkin Oil

Frying cedar boughs in butter to release their aroma is something I learned while cooking salmon while I was camping. It seemed to tone down the resin and release a floral aroma. The pumpkins were from our farm and perfect. I am so damn tired of pumpkin tasting like clove, ginger, and cinnamon. So we went a different route, roasting, chilling, portioning, and glazing with brown sugar and butter to order (although the one in the picture is caramelised with a blow torch, we later changed it to glazing in a pan). I ate a couple pieces of pumpkin each night, and yes nostalgia was there.

I promise to be more indepth with the next menu, we are making two desserts based on mushroom for Christ sake.