The Incomparable Lemon Tart

Forget foams.  Forget powders.  Forget spheres & caviared juices.  Can you, fellow pastry chef, execute the perfect lemon tart?  And when I say perfect, I mean a precision lined sucree shell, with the sublime balance of sturdy yet tender pastry.  I'm talking about a filling with just the right proportion of tart lemony-ness, creaminess, egginess, & sweetnees.  And don't forget the filling to crust ratio.. too much filling can be overwhelmingly sharp, and too much crust is, well, a cookie with some lemon on top.  And of course it has to look good... screaming of sunshine, happiness, and just plain "EAT ME!". 

I think the last time I made a large, slice & serve lemon tart was in my Gordon Ramsay days around '03ish.  Kinda sad, no?  I've been so caught up in the mini, individual portions, or the plate-sprawling, deconstructed recreations, that I realized I might have lost grasp of the things that really make people swoon over food.  In my next fine-dining, tweezer food venture, I hope I can bring back "the slice" and make it "haute" again.

Liz Loves Carrot Cake

Garnishing a cake with its own ingredients carries the theme inside and out, and makes for easy inspiration when trying to find ideas to decorate it.
Carrot cake is a much loved classic.  The moist cake sandwiches layers of sweet cream cheese and roasted pineapple dice.  The exterior gets a nice thick  layer of the same cream cheese.
When decorating, I wanted to stay away from the ubiquitous homey icing swirls found in shops across town, so the first thing I did was smooth everything out and make a clean canvas.  There's much to appreciate when seeing a clean and slickly iced cake.  For decorating, candied carrot is a must.  Using a peeler, I shaved thin ribbons of large horse carrots and lightly poached them in syrup. The kitchen is getting in great baby carrots from the market, so I borrowed a couple and treated them the same way. A round of crumbs from leftover cake scraps creates a "patch" on which my carrots can rest.  And no, there is no parsley inside the cake, but the visuals were screaming for something green, and there were no micro carrot tops in sight.  Anyway, carrot and parsley are always good flavor partners.
For the inscription, I took inspiration from our typewriter font used on the menu to tie everything together.

Glazed Peach

Summer!! I always have, and I always will, feature the mighty peach on my summer menu.  This season's version is light, refreshing, and allows the peach to really shine.
Simply blanched and sliced, the fruit is blanketed with a soft Prosseco sabayon, which is then torched to charred to perfection.  Crunchy and toasty amaretti biscuits lend a perfect texture contrast to the soft and juicy fruit.  Tiny bush basil leaves finish the dish with that herb-y, peppery kick.

Cookie Porn

Something about being back home in my mom's kitchen just makes me want to whip up a batch of cookies (and I just had to go with the classic choc chip!).  No digital scales or professional cookware to be had here, so it's cup measures,  hand mixing, and a lot of love!

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

Another rustic endeavor.  Many cobbler recipes call for a slack batter that is spooned atop the fruit.  I've also seen recipes that call for sturdier biscuits to cover the filling.  I wanted to try the latter.  I made a simple brown sugar biscuit dough, and rolled it to about 1/2" thick.  I could've just cut out one large round to cover all the fruit, which would have given this cobbler a cleaner look, but I was going for a bumpier, nubbier effect.  So I cut the biscuit dough into 1" squares and dipped each one in a little butter and vanilla sugar (monkey bread style) before scattering and lightly layering them over the fruit.  This method also introduces a lot more texture to the topping because all those mini biscuit corners get a chance to crisp up and brown a little more.  Can't wait to dig in!!