Buttermilk Cheesecake

So this is my newest dessert being served at ON20.

 Buttermilk Cheesecake
concord grape | St. George gin | wood sorrel | yuzu ice cream

This dish showcases all the flavors and aromas of ingredients that grow wild in my home state of Connecticut. The main flavor components are buttermilk, concord grape, wood sorrel, pine, and juniper. Fall is my favorite season and there is nothing better than fall in New England. I love concord grapes and no other fruit represents fall better to me. My wife and I were looking at a house in CT and I wanted to move there immediately because of the yard. It was somewhat secluded in the woods and there were concord grapes growing wild all over the property. I was eating them right off of the tree and tasting them with the aromas of the pine, the huge juniper bush, and the smell of the woods and it was incredible. That inspired this dish. To compliment these flavor notes I use yuzu (which is very pine-y) and buttermilk which is naturally sour. The sour, sweet, and rich cheesecake is made with buttermilk, cream cheese, and cream and is very smooth. I bring the juniper and Douglas fir into the dish by utilizing the St George Gin. It is a truly incredible product made right here in the U S of A. It is very intense and also has notes of sage and citrus. It makes a mean Negroni as well.  I cook the alcohol out and with it make a sweetened foam that is super aromatic and tastes like a "walk in the woods". The concord grape is transformed into a bright purple cake and a puree that sets instantly when placed on the plate. Many pastry chefs use concord grape in desserts and it ends up tasting like welches jam. I wanted to avoid this so the underwhelming sweet cake and the puree bring out the natural musky, sour notes of the amazingly aromatic grape. The wild wood sorrel grows wild in CT and is by far my favorite herb. It's sourness brings the dish to a new level. Buckwheat, which is also in the sorrel family, is utilized in a streusel.  The streusel is intensified by the use of dehydrated concord grape skins that are pulverized and incorporated into the streusel recipe. The dish is finally rounded out by the sweet, sour and creamy yuzu ice cream. The concord grapes are a stunning color so I tried to replicate that in the plating. Enjoy!

I will post the recipe of the cheesecake shortly!

Zagat Photo Shoot

We had a photo shoot for Zagat/Google today at ON20 and this is one of my dishes for the shoot.... It is the Pear Mousse with lychee / acacia honey / elderflower sorbet. I must say the natural lighting in the restaurant is in incredible. We are on the 20th floor and the dining room is surrounded by windows over looking the Connecticut River and Downtown Hartford. I am very excited to to see the actual photos!

ON20

I am pleased to announce that I am now the pastry chef at ON20 in Hartford CT. I am more than honored to be part of the team and excited to be working with chef Jeffrey Lizotte. Chef Jeff is competing nationally in Paris in October and has competed in the US Bocuse D'Or!

This picture is of the stunning view of the Connecticut River from our prep kitchen. The food is just as outstanding as the view! Come check it out!

Brioche (with recipe)

I have been working diligently on developing my brioche. I have been obsessing over getting the perfect brioche (in my mind of course). I love having a brioche dessert on the menu. Right now its, Brioche doughnuts / yuzu curd / wild blueberries / bee pollen / buttermilk ice cream. I am lucky enough to get to work with bread guru and author, Charlie Van Over. I have taken various recipes, Charlie's advice and the advice of my good friend Matt (the baker at Arrows) to develop this recipe I have posted below.  After much experimentation, I am very happy with this recipe. It is great for baking, but it is amazing for doughnuts.


Yield: 2000 g approximately

1078 g all purpose flour
36 g salt
162 g sugar
13 g dry-active yeast

250 g milk (room temperature)
405 g whole eggs (room temperature)
540 g diced butter (room temperature)

- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the milk and eggs. Place the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt on top.
- Mix on speed 1 until the dough comes together. Mix for another 4 minutes.
- Turn machine up to speed two and add one third of the butter
- Continue mixing while adding the diced butter a few pieces at a time.
- Once all the butter is added, mix until full gluten development - about 20 minutes
- Place the dough in a floured bowl, cover, and bulk ferment the dough in a warm place for an hour
- When the dough has doubled in size, relax the dough in the fridge for another hour or two
- Roll the dough, cut, proof and cook accordingly!


Enjoy!

Strawberry Popsicles

My daughter Dyl has been OBSESSED with popsicles lately, so my wife and I decided to start making our own for her. These are made with strawberries picked from Bishop Orchards today. We lightly macerated them with sugar and balsamic vinegar, and them we slow roasted them at 200 for about an hour. They made a great popsicle and Dyl couldn't have been happier.

Apricot Cake

Apricot Cake

I am very excited about my new dessert. It is apricot cake, marzipan, chamomile, lemon balm ice cream. It is pretty much summer and one of my favorite summer ingredients are apricots. I love all stone fruits, cherries, peaches, etc.  The focal point of the dish is the apricot. The cake is a pound cake, but made with about 40 % apricot puree. The outside of the cake is an intense apricot gel. I learned a great technique from chef Alex Stupak when I was working on the wd-50 kitchen. He made a cheesecake covered in a pineapple gel. The gelling agent in the pineapple gel was pectin NH. Unlike regular pectin, pectin NH only gels in the presence of calcium. The cheesecake contained a high ratio of calcium. Small dollops of the cheesecake would be dropped in the pectin liquid and a thin gel would set on the outside of the cheesecake. I really wanted to try this technique with a cake. I was able to add a ratio of calcium lactate to the cake batter and then soak them in an apricot bath that contained the pectin NH. Even after the cake was baked, it worked beautifully. A very thin, intensely flavored apricot gel set, very thinly, completely around the cake. Not only does it taste great, but the gel actually keeps the inside of the cake very moist. I was very happy with the results.

One of my favorite flavor combinations is stone fruit and almonds, especially apricots. I really enjoy pairing apricots with almonds but also with amaretto. Amaretto is often described as tasting like almond but in reality is made from the pits of stone fruits. (almonds also technically come from the pit of a fruit) Marzipan and artificial almond flavor have a strange synthetic flavor but they trigger a flavor memory of amaretto. I hate the texture of marzipan. It reminds me of play-dough and marzipan based confection never taste that great. In this dish I decided to make a marzipan gel and dehydrate it to achieve a very delicate, crunchy texture (like a potato chip). It is paper thin but packed full of intense almond, amaretto flavor. The dish also has a caramel made with amaretto. To accent the floral notes of the apricot I added chamomile to the dish. I pulsed dried chamomile flowers and made a shortbread-esque streusel, that is very buttery but also very floral. I love chamomile and lemon balm so a lemon balm ice cream was only fitting. Lemon balm is in the mint family but it has a "pine-sol" smell to it. When steeped in cream, it gives the cream mild floral, lemon flavor notes that rounds out the entire dish. The dish is garnished with some flowers and some compressed apricots as well.

Here is the recipe for the Apricot Cake

Apricot Cake

Yield: 1 half sheet tray

226 g butter (melted but cool)
202 g whole eggs (room temperature)

500 g apricot puree (strained and room temperature)
100 g creme de peche (or any onther apricot/ peach liquor)

500 g sugar
450 g cake flour
20 g baking powder
4 g salt


- In a blender, blend the apricot puree, liquor, melted butter, and eggs until emulsified. Transfer to a bowl
- Sift all the dry ingredients and fold into the liquids
- Pour batter into prepared half sheet tray and bake at 350 in a convection for 22 minutes

Brioche!

Worked on my brioche today and I was very happy with the results. Here is a photo of the cell structure. It was part of my new dessert - Brioche, macerated blackberries, yuzu curd, rosemary, and buttermilk ice cream. I will post the recipe soon.