one spoon quenelle

here is the filled praline profiterole. filled to order and warmed in the oven for 4 minutes. the "cream" doesn't break or run because it is basically a fluid gel. i really like this idea.
it is almost like a coulant. crispy exterior with a warm creamy interior.

300g milk
100g water
10g gellan F
200g Valrhona praline
pinch of salt

blend gellan in water, add to milk, bring to boil, emulsify with praline and salt. pour into tray and leave to set.
blend to make a smooth puree.

memory serves

i did this peach dessert last year. interesting how it is somewhat similar to the one this year. slice thin, compress. maybe i haven't moved forward very much, or maybe it is just a great way to serve ripe peaches at the height of their season.
mimicking a carpaccio.
yellow peaches, lemon verbena ice cream, raspberries, raspberry meringue, dried black olives.

tears on fresh fruit (sparklehorse)

i really wish the diner would appreciate a dish like this as much as i do. aside from the olive oil sherbet, there are no pastry techniques, merely a compressed stone fruit salad (peach, plum, nectarine; compressed, some pickled). small pearl tapioca infused with vanilla, various herbs, santa chiara olive oil.
not shown is the peach consomme (gelatin filtration) that is poured tableside.

sensations

of all the books in french that i own, this is the one that i wish i understood more of. i don't speak much french, but i could get through most cookbooks with enough understanding that there aren't too many recipes or instructions lost in my meager translation.
Philippe Conticini Sensations is a wonderful book with so many great recipes that i know i am only using this to about 15% of its true potential. when i was in paris this past spring i stumbled upon his shop La Patisserie des Reves. within the shop i found an amazing interpretation of a paris-brest.
going through the book i found his pate a choux recipe and thought how could i interpret the famed paris-brest. the recipe works like a charm.

a beautiful profiterole with a crunchy exterior.

now to turn it into a paris-brest for the restaurant...in spirit at least.

that's just peachy

finally got these peach chicharrones to work. peach juice with tapioca starch, steamed, dried, fried.

tossed in powdered sugar and dried ground peach skins.

gonna bag'em and sell'em.

the color purple

i have been getting great blueberries at the farmers market. everyone knows that blueberries stain and give such a vibrant purple color. i want to do a dish that is "stained" in purple with blueberries. so far i have braised blueberries, blueberry microwave cake, and blueberry croquant.

anyone have any other suggestions on how to get more purple in the dish (without food coloring)?
how many techniques/textures can we get?
i am reminded of oriol balaguer's textures of chocolate dish.

tried/failed

loveage macaron

i have been wanting to try to make macarons with a flavored meringue for a long time now. using egg white powder and juice of some sort. finally i mustered up an attempt. rummaging through items on hand, i found in the freezer some loveage puree sealed away. thinned with a little water and blended with egg white powder (using the ratio on the manufactures label) i left the vibrant green meringue to rehydrate overnight.

the next day i began whipping while doing the rest of the mise en place for my future macarons. unfortunately this meringue just didn't have enough stability (even with the cooked syrup method) to hold stiff enough peaks to complete the recipe.

the hopeful loveage meringue just didn't hold up. maybe the ratio was off, maybe it wasn't thought out enough.

actually, the remainder of the day didn't fare much better, with many failed recipes and even a broken glass. not the best day in the kitchen.

still thinking about how to get the most flavor out of a simple macaron, i will come back to this fight another day...here are some other macarons to view