it is now mid July and summer is at its best. so much amazing produce to pick from that there seems to be too much amazing produce to pick from. i am generally not one to cram a drastic amount of disparate flavors together into a dish. most recently i believe it stems from Chef Thomas Keller's aesthetic of bringing out the most flavor from a single item and letting it shine. not that he personally told me to do this but that is what seems to happen to all the food coming out of the kitchen there. how does a carrot taste best? probably cooked sous vide in carrot juice with some salt and finished with a carrot juice beurre monte. so when coming up with desserts i usually pick a fruit to take center stage and find some other flavors(players) to help elevate it's performance. well now there's just too much damn fruit. as i still don't feel that i am much of a pastry chef in the "classic" terms i will act as a chef de partie in the garde manger station and make a salad....with fruit. i am gathering as many stone fruits as i can at the market and throwing them together. yellow peach, white peach, donut peach, w. nectarine, pluot, plum, apricot, maybe even some cherries. the back-up band consists of a yogurt m-cake(albert adria got me so excited about those), a gel made of the trim and cores of the fruits, as many herbs as i can find, lemon verbena ice cream, apricot croquant, and some local olive oil. let's keep it simple and not feel like a pastry chef but someone who simply makes the final dish on the menu.
