Pumpkin

Pumpkin Bavarian

Brown Butter / Espresso churro / Strega / Mascarpone Sorbet

Ok,  I love pumpkin spiced coffee..... So having said that, I had to create a dessert that embraces pumpkin and coffee. The main flavors of the dessert are pumpkin, espresso, Strega, and mascarpone. To me pumpkins are one of the most "New England" ingredients and espresso, obviously, very italian. So being an Italian-New Englander, I naturally love the two. We are in between Halloween and Thanksgiving so it is now the height of pumpkin season. I truly love pumpkins but I didn't want to cop out and just roast them and puree them. I wanted to showcase the pumpkin first and foremost. We get beautiful CT sugar pumpkins and I decided to sous-vide them in a spiced brown butter-brown sugar liquid. I cook the raw pumpkin at 187 degrees F for 40 minutes. I then dice some of the pumpkin and puree the rest with the brown butter liquid. I wanted to serve actual pumpkin pieces on the plate to ensure the diner that we utilize beautiful local pumpkins and not a canned pumpkin puree. The puree is transformed into a dense mousse, or a bavarian, the barely spiced puree is also warmed slightly and dolloped onto the plate, and the base of the dish is a torched milk meringue. I wanted to replicate the foam on a cappuccino for example, so instead of frothed milk, I made a frothy milk meringue. I then wanted to create an espresso component that was crispy but at the same time can be served warm. I settled on a churro, which has a natural organic look, that ties in nicely with the overall concept of the dish.

The churro is a pate a choux made with espresso and milk instead of water. It has a nice bittersweet flavor with nice toasted milk / caramel notes. The mascarpone sorbet provides creaminess to dish without being overpowering. The sorbet also works better than an ice cream because the mascarpone flavor isn't lost with the rest of the components. The sorbet essentially just tastes like sweetened mascarpone that is very soft when frozen. The Strega or "witch" liquor is an interesting blend of herbs and aromatics that produce a very funky aperitif. The anise and herbaceous flavors of the liquor bring out the earthy pumpkin flavor and bittersweet flavors of the coffee and mascarpone. It was also a perfect fit in that a. its italian and b. it means witch! And pumpkins and witches surely go hand and hand.

Strega!