eggbeater

Royal Blenheim Apricots. buy & eat me now. Northern California & beyond.

Now is the time.
The time is Right Now.
If you live in California, USA or anywhere close by, and you love apricots

{photo by Anita Crotty of Married ...with Dinner}

The Royal Blenheim Apricot is in season right this minute.

AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEM GO EXTINCT IN YOUR LIFE TIME

support the few farmers left growing them.

All this information just in from my favorite group, Bakers Dozen.

Dear Bakers Dozen Members:
The Blenheims are Here!  If you’d like to organize a carpool to pick some up, here are some sources:

 ♦Apricot King—Patty Gonzales’ orchard
Email:  info@apricotking.com
Phone:  831/637-1938

Visit their farm in Hollister, or check them out at these local farmer's markets:

Santa Cruz
2:30 to 6:30 Wednesdays – Lincoln & Cedar, one block off Pacific in downtown Santa Cruz
Los Altos
4 to 8 p.m. – Thursdays, downtown Los Altos
Palo Alto
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Sundays (California & El Camino)
Mountain View
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Sundays (Hope & Evelyn Streets)

 
♦Andy's Orchard
1615 Half Road
Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Store Hours:
10:00am - 5:00pm Weekdays
10:00am - 4:00pm Weekends
(408) 782-7600 and ask for Lorene

or
•    Sigonona's Market (Palo Alto)
•    Cosentino's (San Jose) carries Andy's fruit
•    Local Farmers Market @ Garden Accent
•    11155 Lena Ave, Gilroy, CA 408/846-4555 Thur  2-7 pm
or look on the local harvest website.

More lovely photos can be found on Flickr of Royal Blenheim Apricots on the branch, taken by Spidra Webster.

summer fruit desserts, in London.

I'm back working in a restaurant after what feels like many years. Moving thousands of miles can do that-- separate you from what you know, and remove the ground from beneath your feet. What was a recent experience can feel far away in lieu of disorientation.

For the last 11 years, the ground beneath my chef feet has been seasonal, local, mostly organic fruit; and my moniker, 'fruit-inspired pastry chef,' has been my guiding force. I have picked fruit, worked for farmers at favorite farmer's markets and eaten my weight in citrus and stone fruit many times over. I said for years anad years that I stayed in California for its gratuitous fruit array.

But here in London, fruit is an afterthought. Besides apples and pears in autumn, and gooseberries, elderflowers and strawberries in summer, which few do better than Britain, fruit comes from very far away and few people know when to buy it at its peak. Most fruit and vegetables are here year round, but flown in from various countries and continents catchers-catch can style, making fruit buying confusing at best.

And because few fruits are grown in British soil, they arrive with a high price tag. Using fruit as a primary focus for a plated dessert, here in London, is a bad idea, cost-wise. But also flavour-wise, because seasonal fruit in South Africa or Spain, or even a country as close as France, is probably not picked and shipped as ripe as one would hope.

All this said, I have found trusted places to buy UK seasonal fruit. And the restaurant I work for is produce-centric and we use an amazing produce purveyor, so I feel infinitely grateful/lucky to have well-chosen product close by.

That said, what desserts are on the horizon?

I'm thinking about tahini, white chocolate, bananas, tamarind, black sesame seeds, grapefruit; Thai coconut soup sorbet; manouri, strawberries & pink peppercorns; gooseberries, mint, rosemary, elderflowers & corn; mango inspired gazpacho; buckwheat & chocolate; brown butter, raw sugar, frangipane & nectarines; young coconut, black rice, caramel. For our retail shop I'm contemplating sandwich cookies, chocolate bouchons, Lamingtons, real graham crackers, verbena profiteroles, tart lemon drizzle cakes, peanut financiers, and rich bread & butter puddings.

Moving to a new place means thinking different. Cooking and baking professionally for a new public means learning about their collective palates and historical connections to food, fruit, baked goods, salt. I can still bring me to the table, but I have to compromise too. I can't move forward: careerwise, dessertwise, bakingwise; if I do not take into consideration new soil, new people, new fruit, new seasons, new pace, new price-point, new retail environment, new attitudes about communication/confrontation, new communication styles, new everything, really.

I look forward to changing styles a bit. While I will always be a fruit-inspired pastry chef, I look forward to thinking differently, in a new way, to meet my new surroundings and continue to grow. One can get too comfortable/ too ghetto-ized/ too smug in one's niche/ geographical area/ style. Stuck.

If nothing else, it should be interesting.

underground restaurant above ground menu {ideas}

On Saturday June 13, Shuna fish Lydon is a guest chef at @MsMarmitelover's Underground Restaurant Extra Ordinaire!

Here are our ideas for what it will look like, although everything is subject to change because of availability

or whim.

bread
seeded crackers

starter
chunky gazpacho
goat yogurt granite + basil jelly
chilled fresh tomato soup, croutons

main
eggplant parmesan

salad
rocket + chicory + lemon + pinenuts

dessert
strawberry bavarois + strawberry & herb salad
rosemary shortbread, strawberry relish, ricotta mousse
strawberry granita, sheeps yogurt lebne, pistachio salad
carneroli-bay laurel pudding, strawberry salad, pistachio & rose petal shortbread

Menus are ideas, thoughts, musings, concepts, theory, themes, tradition, revolution, albums, one-offs, off the cuff, pre-meditated, conjecture, psychotic breaks, dreams, stolen kisses, drunk black outs, cock walks, demure courtship, powerplay, negotiation, vanilla lovely dovey rool arounds, theater, dance, Be Ins, walkouts, strikes, community efforts, and...

They grow in the ground, near the sea's edge, in our hearts.

I'll let you know via photos and musings how the day and night went once all is told, fed, washed, minced, chilled, forked, spooned, quenelled, poached, whisked, baked, tasted, nibbled, imbibed,

satiated.

Until next time.

Tamarillo! my new favorite fruit.

TAMARILLO !

The Mystery Fruit is Solved.
Thank you to all who participated! Many of you were spot on. The rest of you were close or had great guesses.

The lovely Tamarillo is sweet & savoury
tomatoey & melony
elusive like a papaya,
enigmatic fruit like cucumber,
gorgeous to look at
deeply scented like a handsome farmer,
"rich in vitamin E but low in carbohydrates,"
photogenic
sexy



Tamarillo. Tamarillo. O Tamarillo!



Tamarillos are
edible
raw
or cooked



seedy, crunchy, jelly-like
voluptuous
strong
quirky
strange

Tamarillos straddle many fences.
Not everyone will like them.

Tamarillos will keep you on your toes.
And tease you
taunt
with their
je ne sais quoi
flavour.

What is the Tamarillo flavour?
Sun ripened tomato  melon  papaya  guava  red beet.



Tamarillos are the pride of New Zealand.
Yet another reason to go there.

*


This post is dedicated to Keith, who first introduced me to the Tamarillo with his poetic words about Tamarillo Jelly (jelly is something very different outside of the States) and then brought me to The Modern Pantry where I experienced poached tamarillo in Greek yogurt, garnished with New Zealand's famous Manuka honey. After that I was never the same. Obsessed.

So, thank you Anna Hansen for introducing London, and me, to this magnificent fruit!

This post is also dedicated to Bea Vo of her eponymous bakery, Bea's of Bloomsbury. Last week I had the honour of playing in her illustrious kitchen and she sent me home with a flat of raw tamarillos!

And you? Do you have a fondness for this fruit? What do you love about it? What do you do with it?

dessert poems. IV

black sesame dacquoise
roasted banana mousse
macadamia praline
peach & apricot matchsticks; quick saute
tahina foam

lemon gelee
lemon sherbet
lemon confit slice
water caramel
grapefruit supremes
dots of lemon cream
black pepper-vanilla-rosemary shortbread halfcircles; baked until deep golden

very thin layer chocolate souffle-cake
peanut-feuillitine-milk chocolate-vanilla salt crunch
cocoa nib dentelle
milk chocolate-butter caramel cremeaux
another very thin layer chocolate souffle-cake
cocoa powder
slow roasted peanuts

dessert poems. III

buckwheat sable grissini
kasha pot de creme
toasted pumpkin seed-comice pear salad

raw almond milk gelee
toasted israeli cous cous
vanilla salt, long pepper, one caraway seed toasted & crushed
green almonds & cucumber seeds
peeled, sliced and halved green seedless grapes

pink grapefruit
yuzu marmalade
citrus blossom souffle
goat butter shortbread

dessert poems. II

warmed pinenuts, minced golden raisins, moroccan lemon
fromage frais
mint chiffonade
white balsamic gelee

butter caramel
milk chocolate cream
grilled croissant
peanut hot milk
maldon

brunoise lime
roast pineapple
sheep yogurt granite sprinkled over soft yogurt
pistachio-macadamia honey brittle crunch
smoked salt

dessert poems

sucre
genoise
peach leaf syrup
sesame seed mousse
peach slivers layered like peonie petals
peach poach miroir

brioche
goat curd, minced rosemary, sel gris, orange blossom honey
caramelized blood oranges, raspberries
brunoise of raw rhubarb, nicoise olive oil
demerrera sugar

alphonso mango slivers
coconut toasted jasmine rice
vanilla bean sugar
coconut water caramel
fried taro
stolen kiss of fresh lime

Valentine's Day Baking.

For Pastry Chefs, Valentine's Day begins months in advance. We test doughs, write down endless ideas, try and get to our suppliers early to buy out-of-season ingredients or sparkly edible baubles.

We order heart shaped cookie/biscuit cutters, buy silicone molds in various depths, and make hundreds of parchment paper coronets for writing romantic sayings on cakes, plates, chocolates, everything.

Valentine's Day in restaurants is the biggest day of the year for ordering dessert. It's when a pastry chef can really shine.

This year I'm making heart shaped cakes & cookies and will cut and wrap hundreds of handmade caramels. The onslaught began last night. We have a week to make and ship hundreds of items and then, whoosh, it will be over.

It's a hard time for restaurants right now. Pastry chefs continue to be a luxury item for payrolls everywhere. Pastry cooks are a luxury for pastry chefs and creativity in kitchens is at an all time low. If no one can afford trained staff and whimsical ingredients, Valentine's Day, a day to celebrate sweet nothings, becomes a factory output of same same same.

If you love baking, desserts, pastry chefs, decorating cookies, and stealing kisses as much as I do, support restaurants and bakeries in your area by verbally and financially appreciating our efforts.

 

   ~ Remember, flattery will get you everywhere...

Puff Pastry. Otherwise Known As Pate Feuilletee

O Queen of all doughs! O Daunting dough! O dough of great expectation!

Puff Pastry. Pâte Feuilletée

Thousand Layer Dough.

It even sounds impossible.

Two amazing women can help you figure out how to make Puff Pastry at home should you wish to embark on such an expedition as this.

Ashley E. Rodriguez has an intriguingly photographed step-by-step Puff Pastry demo complete with a video on Artisan Sweets.

And the too cute Fanny of Foodbeam created a hand drawn-photography tutorial for what she dubs pâte feuilletée 101.

Both blogs will put your fears at ease, and also remind you of something I try to pass on here at eggbeater: recipes are guides and inherent in them are methods for which; if you can grasp, open your baking repertoire beyond your wildest dreams and expectations.

In London I saw and worked with a puff pastry the likes of which Fred Flinstone could have created. It was called Rough Puff and massive chunks of butter the size of my fists were interspersed within massive sidewalk-size slabs of glutinous dough. The puff I was sheeting weighed more than me and we created hundreds of pastries with it when all was said and done.

Puff pastry has endless applications. One of my favourite personality traits of puff is that it grows into what you've placed on top of it. Hence tarte tâtin and vol-au-vents. Once puff is made it can be frozen for quite a long time, wrapped tight. You may even roll it out, cut out shapes and freeze those quirky pieces for a later date.

Puff pastry can also be re-rolled once. (Although the roll out of scraps will always produce a less puffy, slightly tougher end result.) There are a lot of doughs that cannot be re-rolled, depending on their flour to fat ratio. In professional kitchens we love any product/ component we can get as much we can from it. For every department pays for every gram of food, whether it goes on the garbage or on a plate.

This is why certain pastries are round and some are square or rectangular. Some "waste" can be re-absorbed into the department but some can not. For example cake crumbs can become a garnish for another cake or be added to the dough of a dry cookie or be creamed with butter to make a crumb/streusel topping... Thinking like this is the difference between a basic baker and a great pastry chef.

I have always revered puff pastry. All laminated doughs, but especially feuilletee. It can quadruple its size in the oven. It shatters upon contact with your teeth. it can do its thing rolled thick or very very thin. It can be stretched and pulled and punded and flattened and caramelized and dried and smeared with creams or blanket a soup bowl.

Puff pastry is form and function, craft and art.

I hope both Fanny & Ashley can inspire you to make puff pastry soon. If nothing else think of it as the next great pastry adventure!

peeling tomatoes. yes, it's worth it.

For every person who has ever peeled a tomato, there are millions who would never dream of such a thing.

I learned how to peel tomatoes at, you guessed it, The French Laundry.

Tiny tomatoes.

Sweet 100's. Sungolds. Tomato-ettes.

Tomato skin is like pantyhose. Sheer, almost transparent, and yet truly in the way of what you really want. You want to run your hand up someone's leg. But now your hand is touching some form of plastic turned mock clothing. As the person wearing pantyhose you feel locked in, constricted. Yet proper, ladylike. Even in the bottom of summer? Really? Can you say, honestly, that wearing pantyhose is worth it?

People tell me all the time that peeling a tomato isn't worth it. "Look at that tiny fucking tomato! You're telling me I have to peel it?! Are you out of your mind?!"

And than I peel one for them. Not as erotically charged as peeling someone a grape, but close.

"Put that in your mouth. Look me in the eye. Now tell me it's not worth it."

Recipe for peeling tiny tomatoes:

With a razor sharp knife, make a teency tiny x at the bottom (not the stem end) of your little orbs.

Bring cold water to boil.

Put together a freezing cold ice water bath. More water than ice.

Using a basket strainer or slotted spoon, lower X'ed tomatoes, a very few at a time, into boiling water and count to 5.

Lift tomato out and place it in ice water.

Be very careful. Think of yourself as a heli-ambulance pilot.

Peel away from the x.

Voila! Tiny tomato, peeled.

If you must store them-- make sure they are not sitting atop one another. Single layer only for these beauties. Mustn't muss them once you've worked so hard.

Peeled tomatoes should be savored right away. Store no longer than 8 hours refrigerated.

Favorite quote from the dinner I did the other night with Leif:

Cook: "You peeled these tomatoes?! You really are a pastry chef."

shuna desserts.

p.s. if you live in the area and are thinking about going to the Slow Dinner with Serpentine & The SF Green Schoolyard Alliance on Monday September 1st, where I will be creating the dessert for Chef Leif Hedendal's menu, it is almost sold out.

Pie Off 2008! Mad Pie Skillz, yo.

It's not every day you get an email whose Subject line reads, PIELEBRITY.

You say yes. Yes to Pielebrity status. Even it means eating more than your weight in pie, while attempting to judge... oy.

But you think to yourself, "Zow, that's Pielific. Muy Pietriguing."

You scratch your head and remember that a certain kooky friend of yours did, in fact, tell you about PIE OFF once, in a galaxy far far away, when he first appeared in your life.

But because PIE OFF never came to Pieition, you passed PIE OFF as Piesay.

Lucky for you, and you, and you and you and you and even YOU, yes YOU, over there, with your face to the wall--

PIE OFF

is back.
Coming to the East Bay, California USA this
Sunday August 10th 2 - 9 pm.

Pie Mayhem, yo.

Think you can bake a pie?
Roll a mean crust?
Fire shoot from your fingertips as that rolling pin is guided by g-d? See voices and hear snakes when held by the power of flaky crustiness?

Press your suit. Shine your shoes. Find your phat laces. Pick out your 'fro. Floss. Paint your nails. Sharpen the straight razor and tilt your neck back extra. Get a few more winks. Do your push ups. Tighten those suspenders. Slowly garters into perfect thigh position. Tighten your belt. Take an extra swig. Splash on a lil' extra Bay Rum. Take all the time you need with black eyeliner. Stand up straight.

Get Ready.

Because PIE OFF is a serious affair. Word.

I can only share a few details with you. If I share more I fear you may never see me again.
---->If you are serious about attending Sunday email me and I'll share the secret location...<---

Wanna Judge?
CHECK IT:
the committee has issued an RFQ for judges.  please direct any and all candidates to pieoff@gmail.com

Here's what you need to know:

Two people (a team) may enter one pie. Teams or individuals may enter more than one pie.

FOR A FEW APPLES MORE: Fruit-based dessert pies only
Entries must arrive in a pie plate, at least 9 inches in diameter, and must have a bottom, homemade crust.

There are five kinds of pie in this world...
1. stone fruit (peach, nectarine, cherry, plum, apricot)
2. Tree fruit (apple, pear)
3. berry (strawberry, blueberry, cranberry)
4. Caneberry (raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, marionberry)
5. citrus/tropical (lemon, key lime, banana, mango, etc.)

- two dollar entry fee per pie
- each pie must be accompanied by a placard, A PIE SERVER AND a completed entry form.

Pies will be judged on integrity of crust, creativity of filling, and overall effectiveness and tastiness of the entire baked good.

1st, 2nd & 3rd prizes will be awarded. Each participant will also be allowed to cast one bakers choice ballot.

* sunday, august 10 * doors open at 2pm * judging begins at 3:30pm *

kids romper room will be open from 2:15 to 5:00pm.

kids cranky-time, sugar-crash, how-do-i-unstick-my-face-from-the-rug room open from 5:05 to 6:30pm

a word about multiple-fruit filling combinations...

"the combo rule is one of preponderance. bakers/teams are allowed to enter combo pies. the choice of category should be based on whichever fruit is the preponderant ingredient in the filling. if different fruits share equal representation in the filling, then bakers/teams are allowed to make a game-time decision, submitting their pie into one of the appropriate categories."

pie off does not provide any beverages or food other than pie.  draw your own conclusions.

***********************

Dear Bakers,

As you have no doubt heard, the Pie Off Steering Committee and International Sisterhood/ Brotherhood/ Sockpuppethood of Pie Bakers, Iron Ship Builders and Boilermakers, PIE-TCB have been embroiled in a summer-long dispute over banned substances appearing in award-winning filling throughout the ten-year lifespan of Pie Off, Pie Off East, and all related Pie Off events.

I am happy to report that these disputes and allegations have been resolved in their entirety, and thankfully without much media fanfare. And while I am not at liberty to discuss any settlement terms or amounts, suffice it to say that you will most likely see the value of gourds, tomatoes, and lamb suffer a rather steep decline in the coming months.

Pie Off 2008 specs and entry form attached.   

************ NEEDED FORMS ***************
PIE ENTRY FORM PIE OFF 2008
Name of the Baker(s):

Name of the Pie:

Category (preponderant fruit in filling):

Describe your pie (list the ingredients that you feel
comfortable revealing to the public; explain your
inspiration, the history of the recipe, etc.):

********************************************

Bring the ruckus.

The Last Course, by Claudia Fleming, Has Been Reprinted!

It appears to be my year for exciting emails. You never know what little notes will be tucked away and unfurled as the days and months progress.

This one just in today:

Claudia Fleming: pastry chef extraordinaire, ex boss, mentor, friend, colleague, author and now owner, has done something one might only wish for with eyes clenched tight and hope pressed into elixir by will and might:

she has re-printed {<---- that link , if you click on it, will let you know how to get one} her incredible, hard to find out-of-print book, The Last Course.

And now,

you can buy it. Again.

-----> Want to tell her how you feel about this amazing hope of hope she's pulled off? Leave your comments here-- I'll be directing her to our words in a few days.

Today's NY Times Sunday Magazine: Shuna, Raspberries & Labne

A number of months ago I received an email I thought was a practical joke. It wasn't funny. Amanda Hesser was right there, in my inbox. Plain as day, scary as all get out.

I had no idea what she was asking of me but I said yes like a sobbing future bride looking down at her soul mate.

There ensued much talking on the telephone, (secret ) recipe testing, sleepless nights, comparative labne tastings, note scribbling and brow furrowing.

Today, right now, by the power vested in technology via this mysterious box I write to you from, you may see the formulation of a collaborative effort by two people living a few thousand miles apart, who have never met in person. Amanda Hesser has long been a heroine of mine. To have had the opportunity to talk about food and recipe testing and the crazy minutiae that I get off on when it comes to flavor and texture and the alchemy of baking, makes me tingly all over.

If you're not able to buy the Sunday NY Times in paper form, here you go. From the Magazine ~

Food: Recipe Redux
1980: Raspberry Flummery

Labne & Ricotta Cheesecake with Rice-Nut-Raspberry Relish.

Thank you for all your amazing words on the piece, my work and and eggbeater. I am on an amazing journey and I thank you for allowing me to put you all in my pocket.

 

Sunday New York Times: July 20, 2008 {!}

This coming Sunday you may want to pick up the NY Times. Look for something written by the inimitable Amanda Hesser.
July 20, 2008.
It will be a special day indeed.
Well, for me, at any rate.

See you soon?

 

The Caramel Cake Has Made A Comeback

I have made some adjustments to the recipe based on the challenges of the current kitchen where it is being produced. We are using a still oven that is also the service oven for The Line in the restaurant, during service!

Caramel Cake.

Yes. Nearby, if you live in Northern California. I'm a gonna get me some today...

Coconut Cream Pie!

This was so delicious I might have to share the recipe with you. I'll give you a hint: First I used Food Blog Search. Then I wrote out my standard pastry cream recipe and compared it to Nicole's. I used the basic premise of Baking Bite's recipe,

and then, I finessed like crazy.

It is my belief that white sugar interrupts the subtle flavour of coconut. Now I know coconut is not a shy flavour, but it takes a bit of sweet nothings, patience, and much listening, to get to the root of coconut's true soul. There are few ingredients which do not compete to win when it comes to playing with coconut.

Instead of using all white sugar, I also used raw. I also substituted vanilla sugar for some of the white sugar. (I take dried vanilla beans and their empty brittle sheaths and I break them up in a spice grinder with raw or white sugar until all is pulverized and highly aromatic.)

I didn't have 1/2 & 1/2 so I "made my own" with Manufacturer's cream and whole milk. And although I liked the idea of using whole eggs for pastry cream, (the whites help the custard "set up" a little harder: which is what you need when you're not going to bake the pie again), but I also wanted to enrich the custard with a few extra egg yolks.

Also, I love infusing dairy for pastry cream with whatever flavour I am looking to achieve. So I toasted a bunch of sweetened shredded coconut and did a long infusion. But I passed the liquid through a fine meshed sieve (= chinois) because I didn't want those bits floating around in my smooth custard.

And because this coconut cream pie filling wasn't rich enough yet (ha!), I mounted in some butter at the end, throwing in a dash of browned butter for added kick/ boost.

And of course I seasoned with Kosher salt to taste.

Can you say goddamn?

I have never made coconut cream pie before. But in the last few days I feel I can now say,

I have done this fine American standard, a service.

xo