candied chanterelle in apricot, bruleed goat cheese, hazelnuts and salted hazelnut ice cream

Watermelon Souffle

I had the most incredible watermelon a few weeks ago that tasted so flavorful and sweet it was almost fake tasting....but in a good way. Watermelons are about 92 percent water and the small 7 percent is what carries all of the flavor. Basically there is alot of water you have to deal with to get that bit of watermelon flavor, which is fine eating fresh but in order to make something it is a bit tricky. Watermelon is one of those things that rarely tastes better in any other form than fresh. I think this souffle definitely isn't trying to be fresh watermelon or compete with it, but still leaves you satisfied with that fluffy souffle texture and watermelon flavor. I was researching the flavor profile of watermelon and the flavors that "make-up" the flavor as a whole are violet, prickly pear, guava and cucumber. This got my brain going as to how I wanted to enhance the flavor of watermelon. Thenn I started thinking about the boozey melon. That little barbeque trick where you poke a hole in a watermelon and fill er up with vodka and sometimes a little pernod. I love love love liquorice and pernod is a liquorie flavored liquer. Partially inspired by the chocolate flecks in the old school Friendly's watermelon sherbet, and the pernod boozey watermelon, I decided to fold in some soft New Zealand black liquorice into the souffle. Some people absolutley gag at the thought of black liquorice, but I LOOVE it so into my souffle it went, with some fresh watermelon and lemon sorbet on the side to brighten and round out the flavors.

I have been eating watermelon all week, since they are so large, and I have yet to get sick of the juice running all down my face. I suggest you go buy yourslef a watermelon if you are not inspired by the souffle...it will get you in watermelon loving mode.

*Left out of the pictures were some candied violets on the lemon sorbet. The sweet violets are deliciouss with the tart lemony sorbet.

*I allsso pickled/candied some watermelon rinds....an old southern condiment that makes great tasty use of all of the leftover rind.

Watermelon Souffle Base

300 g Watermelon squeezed**
20 g Watermelon liquer (or tequila if you don't want to buy a bottle)
5g lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
25g pectin
125 g granulated sugar

1. Squeeze out the liquid from the 300g of watermelon, placing the liquid in a small saucepan and the meat set aside in a bowl.
2. Add the lemon juice, liquer and salt to the juice bring to a boil.
3. Mix the sugar and pectin together and sprinkle into the hot liquid whisking constantly.
4. Bring the mixture back to a boil and cook until it reaches 190 degrees or after approximately 4 minutes of boiling.
5. Pour the liquid over the watermelon meat.
***This will bring the color back as watermelon gets ugly when cooked.
cool the base.

To Make The Souffle

4 egg whites (120 grams)
150 g souffle base
10 g watermelon liquer
100g sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
50 g watermelon chopped
50 g soft black liquorice (I exclusively use JB's) chopped
ramekins buttered with upward strokes and coated with additional sugar

1. Place the whites in a kitchen aid mixer fitted with the whip attatchment.
2. Place the sugar in a saucepan and add enough water to create wet sand. Place on medium heat.
3. When the sugar comes to a boil begin whipping the whites on medium speed. When they are foamy add the cream of tartar.
4. When the sugar reaches 235 degrees stream into the whites. Whip the whites until they reach medium stiff peaks.
5. Whisk together the souffle base and liquer. Sacrifice a bit of the whites to lighten the base.
6. Add the rest of the whites and fold together. Fold in the watermelon and the liquorice.
7. Fill the ramekins and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Souffles don't last so serve immediately!


Pickled Watermelon Rind

1 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup agave syrup
1 cup water
1 T salt
1 tsp lemon zest
chopped watermelon rind

1. Bring the above ingredients to a boil. Cook until the rind has softened.
2. Cool. Add some diced liquorice when ready to use.

A Hamilton Wedding

In January I met my cousin Peter's fiancee Meghan for the first time. She is/was wonderful and after a few glasses of wine I told her I wanted to make their wedding cake. Well it wasn't just the wine that influenced my decision, I had secretly wanted to make their cake....I just thought I couldn't possibly be able to make a proper cake as I live in California and I would have to fly across the country to get it done and down on the Cape safe and sound. That's where the wine came in....it gave me that boost of liquid confidence that I could, should, and would pull it off. The months went by and I had a general idea of what I was doing, but well I had other things on my mind like moving to London! Meghan was very patient with me, maybe she had confidence in me, or maybe she was trying to be nice. If it were my wedding cake, I would want to know exactly what it was going to look like waay in advance....but I could pull the "I'm the artist/family" card. Upon returning from London I went into cake mode, ordering all of my chocolate molds, fondant, boards, boxes, luster dust the works. All was neatly packed labeled and shipped to my Mom's house.....this is the most organized I think I have ever been. I was determined to not fail!!! I baked the sheet cakes in California, packed them in my suitcase and checked them. GASP!! I totally took a chance but hey, Chef Sherry has made me a packing pro. So off I went to MA buttercream and cake in tow straight to my old home, Bement Camp and Conference Center in Charlton, MA. BOY was it humid...I forgot how humid the East Coast is, not to mention we have been having major thunderstorms for two weeks straight. Needless to say from Wednesday morning on, it was quite the adventure dealing with the humidity and driving back and forth from Camp. Fondant doesn't like moisture, and walking through my house was like walking through a swamp. The fondant melted on the cake, was scraped off recovered and a prayer was said. The day of the rehearsal dinner proved to be just as interesting. The cake was perfectly packed and secure in the trunk of my Sister's car and we were on our way to pick up the sheet cakes from the freezer in Charlton when I heard a wheezing sound. Yup, my sister's tire completely blew and here I was in a Wendy's parking lot with the cake layers on the roof of the car in the heat (the spare tire just had to be directly under all of my cakes) trying to remain calm. I WILL NOT FAIL! Mother saved the day and we made it to the Cape safe and sound. I was told I was calm and collected but inside I had one word going through my head 24/7 until it was standing assembled at the reception CAKE CAKE CAKE was all I thought about. I am sure plenty of people make hundreds of cakes, but this one was quite the adventure. The story has a happy ending which is the most important. Peter married a wonderful woman and a wonderful family...let them eat cake.

French Women Don't Get Fat

The world and more specifically Los Angeles is FULL of diets, food rituals, food plans etc. Now when I want to "watch what I eat" (I refuse to use the word diets, it sets one up for failure), I just choose to eat things that are fresh, colorful and not messed with. Purchasing a book that gives me a list of things that I can eat and only that to attain a perfect figure are limiting and really for gods sake they don't work. Ten atkins bars because they are on your list of safe foods does not a healthy body make. The point I am trying to make is healthy is healthy. If it looks fresh and fills you and there is some protein that is lightly cooked, it most likely will help you attain a pretty little figure...as long as you watch your PORTION. I went into a macrobiotic cafe yesterday, not knowing what the hell a macrobiotic diet was, except for that Gwenny eats her delivered macro meals to keep her fab figure. Come to find out macrobiotic is really just regular food. Okay minus the poultry, meat, dairy and eggs. One can eat too much macrobiotic and not loose an inch. One can eat too much at their local taqueiria and not loose an inch. Do you see my point? I went in there thinking I was eating ultra light miracle food and I left having consumed a overly oiled salad(it still was good though), soup, "macrobiotic" french fries (they were your standard fries people) and a giant slice of chocolate cake. I don't think I am going to loose a gram eating like that...but I was surrounded by a sea of people that thought the miracle could happen. Use your brain world. You know what is healthy and what is not and really just eat sensibly. BAH!

....maybe I should write a book titled "Tiny Tush" and make bank pretending that I have magic skinny dust....

Summertime Apricot Baba Au Rhum

or savarin......whatever you choose. Although technically a baba au rhum is filled with cream in the center doughnut hole whereas a savarin, well, is "hole less."

I realize that I am in London, and I should be gracing you with an uber British dessert. We have just experienced a bit of a heat wave, rare I know, and I was overcome with a desire to be in New York drinking a mohito at Public. Mohitos are amazing, if done right. Lime, mint, a hit of sugar and rum.....if that doesn't sound good to you then well that is your problem. I am not one to drink the sugary concoctions, that is my sister Rebecca's shtick, but Mohitos are in their own beat-the-heat league. Now the Baba. How has a Baba collided with a mohito in a non-offensive way? Via the apricot, which has acted as a bridge between this bready boozey treat and crisp and equally boozey refreshment. I have taken a fairly classic baba and made an addition of almond meal for texture and flavor, as well as some plumped up dried aprictos for a little bit of chewy apricotness throughout. The baba is soaked in of course a mohito-ish mixture rather than a plain rum syrup. Always a loyal fan of Lyle's, the sugar has been replaced with golden syrup. The apricots have been poached in the soaking syrup, for efficiency and of course flavor. Sour cream ( I wanted that easy flavor over the flavor of creme fraiche) and an apricot orange sauce balance out all of the mint lime and rum action. I would of course love some gelato and maybe some granite, but I have a lot of sightseeing to do!

Baba Au Rhum

4 oz milk, scaled

1 package active dry yeast

3 eggs

1/4c raw can sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp lime zest

2oz melted butter

3/4c almond meal

1.5c ap flour

1/2tsp salt

2 oz dried apricots chopped

1. Cool the scaled milk until warm and pour over the yeast. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the sifted all purpose flour. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile whip room temp eggs with the sugar until ribbon stage.

3. Melt the butter and pour over the apricots to soften. Gently fold into the eggs.

4. Fold the eggs into the yeast mixture followed by the sifted almond, salt, and AP flour.

5. Allow to sit covered until doubled in size approximately 1 hour. Punch down and refrigerate dough for 4 hours or overnight.

6. You can either put the batter into cupcake molds, tart tins, or roll individual balls. Allow shaped baba to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown approximately 15-20 minutes.

**you don't have to send the babas swimming right away. I prefer to re warm and crisp them before serving and then dunking them into the warm liquid. The almond meal gives them a more tender fragile crumb.

Mohito Syrup
8 oz San Pellegrino

1/3c lime juice

2T Lyle's golden syrup

1/2 vanilla bean split and scraped

1 kaffir lime leaf torn and rubbed to release oils

7 mint leaves torn

zest of one lime

1. Bring pellegrino, lime juice and golden syrup to a simmer. Add remainder of ingredients and allow to infuse.

To poach apricots

halve apricots and remove the pit. Pour hot mohito syrup over the apricots and allow to infuse for a maximum of one overnight. Rewarm to serve. You can poach the apricots in simmering syrup to use immediately,but be careful these babies are fragile.

To Serve the Baba

Either dunk the baba in the syrup straight out of the oven and serve immediately or you can heat the baba in the oven and dunk into warm syrup. I prefer not to leave my babas soaking, I know this is against principle, but I like them to have a little bit of structure left.

I hope you all appreciate that sprig of mint....I couldn't help myself!!!

off to london

All of my pastry tools and have left the building. They arrived safely across the pond and are awaiting my arrival. I leave on Friday for London and I am so excited! The past few months have been busy preparing myself physically and mentally. A lot of recipe organizing has been going on, and the tinkering in the kitchen has mostly taken place at work, so it is up to your imagination what I have been making! In a few short days I will be in a new place with new things to inspire me. I can't complain about the weather her though, as it is sunny, hot and the flowers are in bloom. Wish me luck!! A bientot.

Baked Alaska(on a stick) Banana Coconut Takoyaki(waffle balls)

County fair food, but not really.

Baked Alaska is quite simply, meringue and ice cream, but something about it tastes so magical. I file baked alaska under the category of sickeningly sweet and damn tasty...Carvel ice cream cake is also cataloged similarly. Decadent chocolate ice cream skewered and dipped in glossy swiss meringue hits a high note when it passes through the flame of a handy dandy blowtorch.

Takoyaki?!!! you say......essentially these are spherical waffles with the banana on the inside, and the coconut in the batter. I learned about Takoyaki at Gotham Bar and Grill in New York and revisited the idea when Tetsu brought me back a plug in version of this street food from Japan last year. Takoyaki is a Japanese street food generally filled with a savory filling of octopus and vegetables. Since I live on the sweet side, the takoyaki pan was a great reason for me to create and perfect my own buttermilk waffle recipe. Homemade waffle batters very often taste....battery....like a pancake, rather than a crisp waffle. Just giving up and buying waffle mix(there are actually some great mixes out there) is definitely not my style, so into the test kitchen I went. Don't be defeated if you don't have a takoyaki pan just "lying" around. You can easily you a belgian waffle iron with equally delicious results.(the banana will just have to come out of hiding and be on top.)