October 12, 2007

Sweet and Salty


Oh this was awesome and it was a nice break from eating sugary sweets. The tart was layered with figs and goat cheese (which I love!) on top of puff pastry (which I also love!). It was served with hazelnut creme anglaise and a red wine reduction and then topped with hazelnut fiq swirl ice cream. The goat cheese adds a nice hint of savory to this sweet dish. Talk about yuuuu-may!

October 07, 2007

A Fish Out of Water


Is it a little masochistic that I like the feeling of pulling hot sugar with my naked hands? If you love the look of poured sugar you will love pulled sugar. Pulling sugar creates this iridescent opaque color. It is thin and very fragile. I really love how the scales came out on my fish. I added orange color to it but after I pulled the scales it turned a lovely shiny copper color.

October 06, 2007

Meet My Fish Azul


I love working with sugar. It was little scary having hot molten sugar lava so close to my hands. Once the sugar hardens it is translucent, shiny, and smooth. The light makes the vibrant jewel tones look like stained glass. Tomorrow I'll be adding on some pulled sugar scales so stay tuned folks!

October 05, 2007

When Life Gives You Lemons or Limes....


Juice them and freeze it!

Lemon and lime juice is the secret to adding life and dimension to a savory or sweet dish. It really adds that wow factor! Adding a little lemon juice to a fruit compote or even uncooked fruit adds vibrance and freshness to the flavor. I also love sour in my savory food because it makes me more hungry. It's great to have a little acid in marinades because it makes meat tender. I like to spritz a little in my soup, especially thai soups! I try to always have lemon and limes around but sometimes they go bad and I have to throw them away. What a shame. Just recently I made two loaves of lemon pound cake and I had a bunch of leftover lemons so I juiced them and froze the juice in ice cube trays. It's perfect because now I always have lemon/lime juice on hand for an impromptu sauce or marinade and I can use as little or much as I want without wasting a whole lemon/lime. It's also perfect when you need the zest for something but don't need the juice. I feel bad when I zest my citrus fruit and they sit on the counter all naked. In the above picture I used the zest to brighten up pineapple chunks that I was using in a coconut mousse cake. The juice is waiting in the freezer ready to add some zing to my next dish!