Do you know what nougat means...?

At Arrows we have an ongoing funny inside joke. I asked my pastry sous chef if he knew what nougat means a few time without even realizing and now the entire kitchen staff is always asking each other "Do you know what nougat means?" I was looking through an old french cook book and it stated that the word "nougat" was derived from the french saying "Tu nous Gates!", meaning "you are spoiling us!". Children would say it to their old french grandmothers after receiving this treat made from honey, fruit and nuts. I personally love this candy. It pays tribute to the old world cooking of Provence and it really is a classic candy. I try to perfect it everyday and I am very happy every time I make it, even though I have to dedicate 30 minutes of my life to doing it.

Some kitchen stuff....

S'more (revisited)

So..... I love enjoying nostalgic flavors and refining them. I love sherbets, sour patch kids, chunky bars, push pops etc.  So what is more nostalgic than a s'more. So here I was able to develop this dish.  It is a chocolate brownie (extremely nostalgic) topped with a milk chocolate cremeux (pudding). The puree is liquified graham crackers and yes the torched quenelle is marshmallow ice cream. It is inspired by Malcolm's meringue ice cream that was being developed when I was at wd-50. It is made up of egg whites, milk, cream, and various sugars. To keep it from being too "sweet", it has about 10 percent dextrose, as well as glucose. The whites are cooked like a swiss meringue, cooked to 150 degrees F. It is kept emulsified and stabilized by the use of xanthan gum, which also gives ice creams an undesirable "gummy" texture. Thiis "gummy" texture ended up being perfect for this ice cream. The texture is airing yet gummy, exactly like a marshmallow. I tried to get that signature flavor using vanilla extract and salt, but now I just use an artificial marshmallow flavor which is also perfect for the nostalgic feel. It gets aerated by the churning of the ice cream machine. It is churned for about 30 minutes and until it is a very glossy white. And yes! I can torch it!!!

Arrows Garden

So I have been crazy busy raising a family and working so I have been slacking on blogging..... Here are some great pictures of the gardens I walk through every day at work.  Great inspiration.  Instead of buying local just go outside and grow some stuff!

New Dessert - New Menu

So I am very excited to change the menu at Arrows next week.  Right now we have three tasting menus and this dessert is the 7th and final course (before mignardises) on the "Farm and Forage" 7 course menu.   

Chocolate Beet Cake / Dark Chocolate Cremeux / Clove Shortbread / 

Beet-Raspberry Puree / Mascarpone Sorbet

The sixth course is a Tangerine Sherbet served with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Cake, Tarragon, Meringue, and Tangerine many different textures.

The other desserts in the works are:

Warm Lemon Beignets

Wild Maine Blueberries / Wood Sorrel / Wildflower Honey / Frozen Yogurt

"German Chocolate" Gateau

Dark Chocolate Mousse / Gianduja Ganache / Pecan Coulis / Aerated Coconut Ice Cream 

Check out the website for the full menus!!  arrowsrestaurant.com

Bistro Dessert

"S'more"

Toasted Marshmallow / Liquid Graham Cracker / Cocoa Cracker Crumbs / Jivara Milk Chocolate Ganache / Caramelized Milk Chocolate /

Happy Mom's Day

Took a little experimenting (a.k.a troubleshooting) but these tasty little Hibiscus Macarons made a nice addition to our large selection of mignardises for Mother's Day.  The other mignardises or "give aways" were Matcha Green Tea-Chocolate Truffles, Trail Mix Cookies, Blueberry Sour Patch Kids, Pomelo Confit, Cherry-Kirsch Chocolate Truffles,  Blood Orange Pate-de Fruit, and Almond Brittle.  Happy Mom's Day.