For those who do not know, or need reminding, I’m in Culinary School and in my 2nd semester.
Today, we were tested on our skills by being given a “mystery box” and 3 hours to make a plated dessert (like what you would get at a restaurant, all plated nicely with sauces & stuff). This is sort of like “Iron Chef”–the “mystery box” has a few secret ingredients that we must use in the dish, only we just get more time to make our dish.
What did we get? An orange, pistachios, and a Thai chile. We got an extra point if we used either rosemary or lavender in the dessert, too. We do get to use whatever else we need, such as sugar, flour, eggs, other fruits, chocolate–as long as the original ingredients are a part of the dessert.
I have to say that I was mightily impressed with the group–some extremely beautiful & delicious desserts came out tonight.
What did I make?
Mango-Orange Napoleons:
Fresh slices of mango and orange soaked in a Thai-chile-sugar-syrup, and layered with crisp, caramel-pistachio cookies and lightly sweetened rosemary whipped cream. On the side, a little kiwi-lime sauce to add some color.
Question is, would you eat it? (btw–it sounds wierd, but it turned out surprisingly good)
I would gladly eat the cookies, whipped cream and lime kiwi sauce. For some reason mangoes have always made me violently ill, but that is no reflection on you.
I’m so impressed. I’ve never seen the Iron Chef, but we do get the British Ready, Steady, Cook and I’m addicted to it. I’ve always wanted to be the person who brought the bag of groceries, it’s fun thinking of the evil combinations I could bring.
BTW, do you think you could post a recipe for those cookies? Pretty please?
It sounds delicious! I would certainly give it a try. I bet it was presented in a beautiful and creative way, too. I’m much impressed, Java. I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without burning it, and I think I’m James Freakin’ Beard.
I think if I opened the box and found what you found in it, I would have made trail mix with orange slices.
Most certainly. The measurements for the flour & brown sugar are by weight–I can’t find my book of yields right now, so I can’t translate them to “cup” measurements at the moment. If you still need it, let me know.
Nut Lace Cookies
2 cups Chopped Nuts (pistachios, pecans, almonds)
5 oz All-Purpose flour
5 oz (1 1/4 sticks) Butter
10 3/4 oz Brown sugar
3 fl. oz (6 Tablespoons) Corn Syrup
1 T Extract (vanilla, almond, I personally like to use Triple Sec or Brandy)
1 T Water
Zest of one orange or lemon
Mix together nuts and flour, set aside.
In saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, extract, water, and zest. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and add to dry ingredients.
Heat your oven to 325°
You will need parchment paper to bake these–silpat is even better, if you have it. Line your sheet pan with parchment paper, and spray with non-stick spray (don’t spray the silpat). For small cookies, use about a teaspoon of the batter, spread the batter out to about 1/4" thick, and leave a few inches space, because they spread.
The cool thing about these is the fact that they are very pliable when they come out of the oven. While hot, you can easily shape them, making all kinds of shapes. Make large (6"-7" wide) and while hot, have some small bowls on the side–take the cookie off the sheet and place into the bowl and press the cookie down into the bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes, and take out of the bowl–you now have edible ice cream bowls (just serve them on a plate–the cookies have small holes in them).
Well, I would need to know all my prices for every ingredient I used, and I can price it out the proper way. But, since it’s Saturday, and I’m not in school, I’m just going to guess and say I’d charge about $6.50-$6.95 for it.
Not to totally tip off my completely ignorant and retarded pallette, but smother that whole thing in Triple Cheese Hamburger Helper and I’m all over it. Yum.
