More of the Summer's Bounty

After processing the massive amount of apricots that I got from my neighbor's tree, my attention turned to the other summer produce--white peaches.

They were being sold for $0.50 a pound at Sprouts (one of my fav grocery stores) which was a great deal.  The growing/harvest season for white peaches are apparently pretty narrow compared to yellow peaches, so I couldn't resist buying some after seeing these guys on sale.

I bought just 2 pounds--we were running out of room in our freezer, so I didn't want a whole lot of fruit that I had to process.  At home, I halved and pitted them, then poached them in sugar syrup with Amaretto til they were just tender.  Poaching preserves them and enhances their flavor.

Now what to do with these (other than eating them straight out of the jar)?  Probably a dessert that will highlight the white peach's rather delicate flavor.  A pie or a tart would be perfect for that!
I decided to make a frangipane tart;  there is a 1-lb slab of almond paste sitting in my freezer that I've been wanting to use for something, but haven't had the chance to.

After making a tart dough and lining tartlet pans with it, I let it chill in the fridge while I prepped the frangipane.  It sounds like a fancy French word, but it's super simple to make:

Almond Paste	8 oz
Sugar	1 oz
Butter, softened	3.5 oz
Eggs	2
Vanilla extract	½ tablespoon
Flour	0.75 oz

1.  In a bowl of a stand mixer (hand held mixer will work also) blend almond paste with the sugar on low speed til creamy.

2.  Gradually add the softened butter in small amounts at a time, to prevent lumps.

3.  Add eggs one at a time, and mix on medium speed til fluffy.

4.  Mix in the vanilla and the flour.

It should have the consistency of a very smooth, soft pudding.

I piped an even layer of the frangipane into the tart shells.  After cutting up the fruit--they can be cut any way as desired--I laid them carefully on the frangipane.

The fruits don't need to be pushed in.  The filling will puff up around them, making them sink a bit.
Bake them at 375F for about 20~25 minutes...

...until they are a lovely golden hue.  Once cooled, they were brushed with a bit of the apricot syrup to keep them moist, and also shine and color.

A simple dusting of powder sugar gives them an elegant look.  The fruity tang of the apricot and the peaches are enhanced with the creamy, almond-y frangipane, which matches beautifully with the buttery tart crust.

Summer's Bounty

Geez, I can't believe summer is half over.  Heck, the year is half over!

I must say that this is my favorite season;  I love the variety and the abundance of fresh produce, the hallmark of summer.

The abundance and availability of crops differ each year.  For example, corn may be plentiful in one year and be scarce (i.e. due to a drought) the next.  This summer, it was apparently a superb year for the apricot crop.

Now, for the past several years, I remember the apricot tree in my parent's yard producing only a mere handful--if even that--of fruit every year.  It would flower magnificently, its robust blossoms turning the branches into white pom pom chains. But alas, right after the bloom, something would always happen to thwart the pretty flowers from ever developing into golden fruits.  Sometimes it would be a violent wind storm that stripped the flowers off the branches before the bees got the chance to pollinate them.  Sometimes it would be an unexpected blizzard that froze the delicate blooms off.  And other times, the blossoms would develop into fruits, but again, a strong wind or a hail storm caused many of them to drop before they're ripe, littering the ground.

But this year, the apricot tree everywhere has succeeded in producing a good crop.  So much, so that several of my neighbors are asking people to please take the fruits that their trees produced--for free, because there's just so much of it.  Wow, I think it's been like, a decade since I've seen such good harvest!

One of my neighbor has an apricot tree, its branches heavy with fruit.  Not only that, the driveway was covered with the fruits that had fallen;  a pretty sad sight to behold.  Day after day, I passed his house during my morning walks, expecting him to at least clean up the driveway.  But it seemed as though he had no intention of picking the fruits whatsoever.  On a few occasions, I summed up the courage to knock on his door (I've never met this guy btw) and ask if I could pick some, but he was never home.  Finally, after a few days during my walk, I was just about to meander over to his door when he, by sheer coincidence, drove up and parked in the garage.  I went up to him to ask for his permission to pick the apricots.  His response?

"YEEEESSS!  Please take as many as you want!"

...Hell yes.

So I stuffed the plastic bags I had with the fruits as much as I can carry.

When I got home, I weighed my stash...

Wow...5.9 kilos.  That's about 13 lbs of apricot right here, which is heavier than my 2-month old baby (she's about 8 lbs). 

Now what's a pastry chef to do with all these apricots??  Well, we have quite a few options here.

First up, jam/preserves and compote.

I ended up with five jars of jam and three quarts of compote, two of which I froze and the one of which I used to make this lovely coffee cake...

Studded with apricot compote, drizzled with amaretto sugar glaze.  I served these for after worship treats at my church.

For the compote, you would want to use a fairly firm fruit that's not too ripe.  Otherwise they won't be able to tolerate the hot sugar syrup and potentially disintegrate during the cooking process.  The ripe ones are perfect for purees and just eating it straight.  Most of the fruit I picked were pretty ripe, so I ended up pureeing and freezing a lot of them, flattened in freezer bags.  I didn't add any sugar to the purees, since I plan on feeding them to the baby once she get started on solid foods in a few months.

...And the last thing I made with the apricots?  Sorbet, of course.  To my knowledge, there is no manufacturer that sells apricot sorbet, which means that the only way to have it, is to make it.

There are definitely ups and downs, but I plan on making the most out of my maternity leave!

New Pastries at La Bonne Vie: Royaltines & Big Macs

One criteria for being a good manager/supervisor is his/her proficiency in the field.  

A good supervisor should be able to give technical guidance, as well as train employees in new skills and expand their knowledge.  Having a supervisor/boss who has several decades of training and experience in the field makes the job exponentially more enjoyable and worthwhile.  I definitely learn something new everyday (pretty much).

One of the pastries that my boss showed me how to make is Royaltine.  Simply put, it's a pastry that has crispy feuilletine in some form or another as one of its components.

Dark Royaltine: crispy praline feuilletine bottom with chocolate cremeux top layer.  Finished with mascarpone cream.  There's also the White Royaltine, where white chocolate mousse is used instead of the cremeux.  It's a very decadent dessert.

  

La Bonne Vie pastry lineup (from the back): Brest, Dark Royaltine, Caramel Mousse Bars, and Flourless Chocolate Pave.

The Chocolate Pave is also one of the pastries my boss introduced to the menu as a gluten-free option.  Flourless chocolate cake is layered with chocolate mousse for a not-too-sweet but decadent dessert.

Ispahan Macaron: Lychee ganache, raspberry confit, and fresh raspberries in macaron shells.  I refer to these types of pastries as "Big Macs" because...well, the main component is a pair of large (about 3" in diameter) macaron shells.  My boss tends to do "copycat" items from various pastry chefs in France.  This particular one is by Chef Pierre Herme.

Spring-Fling Macs: My own creation.  Lemon curd, blueberry confit, fresh blackberries.  The shells were leftovers from a banquet tasting.  We like to use random extra pastry components, which cuts down waste and allows us to experiment.

New Pastries at La Bonne Vie: Tarts

I love tarts.  To be exact, I love making tarts/tartlets.  Just throwing that out there.

Not gonna lie, I've never liked pies as much as I do tarts, both in making them and eating them.

There's just something about tarts that I adore.  Maybe it's their sophisticated, sharp lines.  Maybe it's the vastness of their possible designs, shapes, and flavor combos that are limited only by one's imagination.  Or maybe it's just because they're so darn cute and pretty.

So not surprisingly, when Chef told me to come up with new pastries for La Bonne Vie, I ended up making tarts.

There are a few more, but these are our most popular ones so far.

Nutella Pyramid: Nutella mousse with salted caramel cremeux insert, on chocolate tart shell filled with crispy praline feuilletine.  This is actually a tart version of the Whiskey Hazelnut Dome I made in school and for my Chef de Partie tasting.  Nutella fans, rejoice.

Blueberry Tart: Tart shell filled with vanilla pastry cream, topped with generous mound of blueberries. Finishing with apricot glaze and edible blue luster powder gave it a metallic sheen, making them look like a mound of black pearls.  So pretty!

Hazelnut-Raspberry Tart: Chocolate tart shell filled with Nutella cream, topped with fresh raspberries and hazelnuts.  I thought that the Nutella and raspberries seem like an odd pairing;  until I worked the crepe station at a banquet one day.  While there, I've noticed that more than half the guests asked to have their crepes filled with Nutella and raspberries, a combination which I found weird.  Turns out that it's actually quite tasty.

Tiramisu Tart (on the left): This is our most popular tart.  Tiramisu mousse (mascarpone mousse spiked with Kahlua and rum), with a thin sponge soaked in coffee syrup inside, on tart shell filled with chocolate cremeux.  One of the sales girls commented that this one is her favorite, because she LOVES anything coffee.

Culinary field is an extremely demanding career, both physically and mentally.  The hours are mercilessly long, all of which, for the most part, is spent standing up, while doing rigorous tasks that can potentially cause joint damage.  We are under the constant scrutiny of health inspectors, food critics, and guests/customers, who are more than happy to criticize the smallest mistakes or flaws in our product.  But it's positive comments like these that gives those working in the culinary the strength to keep going, that make working in such conditions worth it.

New Pastries at La Bonne Vie: Eclair

Spring is here!!

...Well, it WAS here.  The months flew by (again) and before I knew it, the spring had sprung and gone, and now it's like the summer just showed up at my door on a very short notice.

Sometime around early March, my boss had ordered a !@#$ ton of spring-themed chocolate decorations for me and my partner to use  at (pretty much) our disposal.  Some of these decors include white chocolate daisies, ladybugs, honey bees, sticks with flower designs, etc.

We needed to replace the outdated winter dessert items--because by the time March rolls around, most people are pretty sick of pumpkin-flavored items (although there are a few exceptions).  So I came up with a few spring-themed eclairs and tarts. 

I did eclairs because my boss wanted to expand our line of eclairs.  Which, to be honest, I think is due to his own infatuation with L'eclair de Genie, a famous and very popular eclair boutique in Paris.

Unfortunately, while the eclairs may be the rave right now in Paris, Utah tends to be pretty behind (approx. five years is what I've heard) when it comes to the hottest food trends. Since the majority of the customers who come to shop at La Bonne Vie are after the macarons, other pastries tend to get ignored.  It may take a few more years before the eclair rage sets in.

But I digress.  Here are the new spring line of eclairs at La Bonne Vie.

 Cherry Eclairs: Chopped Amarena cherries in rich syrup on the bottom of the eclair shell, topped with a tornado of creamy cherry mousse.  The plum and cherry blossom decors I made myself, using cookie cutter.

Raspberry-Nutella Eclairs: Raspberry confit on the bottom, topped with uber rich Nutella cream.  Surprisingly, the raspberry goes well with the nutty, chocolatey goodness of the cream.

Bienenstich Eclair (or more commonly known as Stinger Bee Eclair): Honey drizzled on the bottom, topped with almond diplomat cream, finished with mascarpone cream and almond florentine wafer.  The minimally sweetened mascarpone cream tones down the intense almond florentine.

 Raspberry Mousse Eclair: Raspberry confit on the bottom, topped with luscious raspberry mousse.

In my next post, I shall introduce the new tarts available at La Bonne Vie...

New Macaron flavors at La Bonne Vie

Starting this year (which was already 3 1/2 months ago...), I've been introducing new macaron flavors each month....so-called "flavor of the month".  I'm hoping this will encourage customers to stop by more often (at least once a month) to check out our new macaron flavor and other new pastry items.

...And also prevent my partner and I from getting bored making the same old pastries and mac flavors all the time.  Trust me, making several batches of the same flavors every single day gets old pretty quickly.

For January's flavor of the month...

Rose macaron.  Dusty rose-colored shells filled with rose mousseline, which is a mixture of pastry cream and buttercream, flavored with rose water.  I've always wanted to create a rose-flavored macaron at some point, so am pretty happy with this one.  It also got rave reviews, and (supposedly) flew off the shelves, with the store manager demanding that I keep the flavor and not discontinue it for the next month.

But of course, I ignored her. ;)

For February, visions of chocolates, hearts, cupids, and everything in shades of red and pink comes to mind...

Red Velvet macarons.  Red cocoa shells filled with chocolate buttercream (or ganache, whichever was available).  We actually made these last year during the month of February, except they had cream cheese filling instead of the chocolate.

For March, in honor of St. Paddy's Day, the shell needed to be in the shade of green.  I was planning on doing either a chocolate-mint or key lime...then chef got into my face and (pretty much) demanded that I make jasmine macarons.  Cuz, you know, jasmine is green... (...wtf????)

So I had to come up with a filling that tasted like jasmine.  At first, I thought about infusing yuzu cremeux with jasmine tea bags, but that would require an ungodly amount of jasmine tea, which can be a bit expensive.  So I bought an imitation jasmine flavoring (very cheap stuff) at a local Chinese market, and used the rose mousseline recipe.  Unfortunately, by itself, the cream tasted too much like hand cream, so I had to add another flavor to balance it out....

...And discovered that mango and jasmine meld very well together.  The sweet, fruity flavor of the mango mellows the intense floral note of the jasmine.  The jasmine-mango macs don't seem to be as popular as the rose, but we'll be switching out the flavor in a couple of weeks, so I'm not too worried.

Work has been busy, and pregnancy is definitely sapping me of whatever energy I have left after work...but hopefully, I can update my blog a bit more often than, say, every few months. :P

Chef de Partie Tasting

Way back in August, my boss (the Exec Pastry Chef) told me and two of my coworkers that he needed two Chef de Partie to replace the former sous chef (who had been fired...apparently he blew up on one of the banquet staff in front of our guests), to help him run the kitchen.  There were three candidates, but he could only pick two--so we were to have a tasting (basically a culinary competition) to decide the two people who will get the position.

We were all pretty stoked!  But I didn't want to this be like a "competition" of any sorts.  To me, it was a fun challenge that allows us to utilize EVERY skill that we have learned so far.

Our agenda--prep and make a tiered cake, a plated dessert, and and a banquet dessert.

He let us know about a month in advance, so all of us had plenty of time to think and come up with whatever we wanted.

I first started by making a list of flavors that I wanted to incorporate: chocolates, nuts, fruits, etc.

Then I consulted the Flavor Bible (pretty much my go-to reference book for flavor combos) and grouped the flavors that go well together.

For the tiered cake, I wanted to pay respect to my heritage by incorporating Japanese flavors and elements to the cake:  green tea and yuzu.  I came up with a sakura cherry blossom design for the cake--pink, flowery, and very Japanese.  This is the result...

Three-tier fondant cake.  Top tier is vanilla cake with green tea bavarian cream filling, bottom tier is vanilla cake with yuzu cremeux filling. I made origami fondant cranes and isomalt sugar heart decor for the cake topper.  Everything is made by hand.

For the banquet dessert, I made a miniature version of the Whiskey Hazelnut Dome that I made way, way back in culinary school.  That was an entremet that I actually liked...and so did most people that sampled it.

The actual dome itself consisted of chocolate biscuit base with crispy praline feuilletine, and milk chocolate-hazelnut mousse spiked with whiskey, with layers of salted dark chocolate discs inside.  I tweaked mine a bit, by substituting hazelnut dacquoise for the biscuit and caramelized hazelnut for the feuilletine.  I omitted the chocolate discs, instead making a salted caramel cremeux insert inside the mousse. I wanted sort of this "galactic" feel to the dessert, so I molded it in a silicone cone mold.

Here is the "Galaxy", in all its glory.  Finished with dark chocolate glaze, gold and silver edible glitter sprayed on for the "milky way" effect.  Caramel sauce, almond-cream filled cherry and fresh fruits for garnish.  

And that's right...because I substituted the biscuit with dacquoise and feuilletine with hazelnuts, this very decadent beauty is gluten-free!

For my plated dessert, I wanted a contrasting flavor to the Galaxy.  Something a little lighter, something fruity.  Also, I knew that my boss will be one of the judges for the tasting, so I figured using a flavor that he likes will definitely get his attention :)  His favorite flavor?  Blood orange.  Or anything citrus really.  I also wanted to use this bag of Valrhona Dulcey, the blonde chocolate, that has been sitting in the dry storage, ignored, for quite some time.  Blood orange and the caramel-y flavor profile of Dulcey goes very well together.  With these flavors, an almond-flavor base will bring them both together.

So this is what I came up with...

 "Sanguine".  Valrhone Dulcey chocolate mousse with red cocoa butter spray for that velvety texture, with a pool of salted blood orange cremeux adorning its crown, all atop a disc of moist almond financier.  Coconut sorbet added a refreshing accent to the desserts...along with four different kinds of sauce.  Yep, four kinds of sauce.  Caramel, basil-lime, yuzu, and lychee.  It was very fruity indeed.

All of us prepped the entire for the big presentation day.  On the day, we plated everything we had prepped, and took them to the Oak Room, a dining hall usually reserved for VIP guests and special events.  We were told that there will be three judges--the Exec Pastry Chef, Executive Chef, and the Director of Food and Beverage.  So we were quite surprised when, after we set the plates down, the Chef de Cuisine, his sous chef, and several other food and beverage managers showed up!  Granted, they were probably just there to sample the desserts, not judge/make any decisions on who gets the Chef de Partie position.  But all in all, there were maybe about eight people (instead of the original three) tasting our desserts...
Everyone did an awesome job!  Unfortunately, one of my coworker's mousse cake dessert apparently didn't have enough gelatin in it...and started melting even before the tasting started.

As for the result? Well...

...pretty much five out of the six plates that I prepared had been licked clean.
And I ended up getting the position!  :D

As far as the position, I now have a bit more responsibility, to make sure that everything at the pastry shop is stocked (to the best of my ability), everything is prepped for the High tea, and the pastry for the VIP amenities.

Gotta admit, I definitely didn't mind the raise either.