Here is the beginning and end of our most recent dinner...
"Clear Mary." We have made tomato water in a variety of ways, but the simplicity, freshness, and purity of this method from Frederic Bau's "Fusion Chocolat" book was the best yet. It was so simple. Just take ripe heirloom tomatoes and cut them in half, freeze them solid for 24 hours, and let them thaw over cheesecloth in a cooler. There is no breakdown of fresh tomato flavor at all, and the resulting liquid has amazing intensity. We dropped a little golden caviar at the bottom along with a squeeze of vodka. The celery cream on top was made by placing chopped celery into heavy cream, bringing it to a boil, removing from heat, and allowing the entire mix to infuse overnight. It is then strained and whipped softly. The celery has a nice natural saltiness that blends well with the cream.
Now for dessert...
This picture doesn't do justice for the clean structure of Fabian's first dish. A green tea matcha cake encapsulates a rice pudding mousse. We actually served a version of this mousse to an Argentinian family last night in our restaurant. The rice pudding phenomenon, although lost on myself, is always a huge hit with the various Latin populations around Miami. Tangerine rounds off the flavor profile here... rice, tea, and citrus.
Chocolate 'Manjari' Crema. Valrhona's Manjari chocolate is a 64% cocoa mixture with both bitter and orange overtones. It is produced from the best beans of Madagascar. A touch of caramel, orange, and a yoghurt espuma are added.
I want to add a couple of links here that have peaked my interest lately. Martin's recent post looks at the misnomer of modern cuisine with some intriguing new links. Whether or not the 'plateau of productivity' has been reached or not shows that a dead horse can still be beat. Can't we all just cook and eat? I always find Hervé This' commentary to be truly worthwhile in the early morning hours.
Once again, I would like to point out the very informative Obamafoodorama blog which offers mulitple daily posts on all things in the interesection of our current presidential administration and our favorite subject of food. Everyone in the food industry should bookmark this site and read it daily. I found the entire Walter Sheib/Alice Waters controversy amusing. Even more amusing was the 'calling out' of Alice Waters' comments without fact-checking. It's something I'm sure to get flack for, but I've never ever understood the whole Waters phenomenon and labelling as the foundation of American cuisine. It must have been a massive publicity campaign to get so many people to buy into this. For someone who grew up in the bayous of south Louisiana thirty years ago, it's really hard for me to believe that the idea of eating fresh in this country came from a little hippie restaurant in California. Maybe it's just me. But seriously, I feel it's very important for all of us to keep close tabs on new food policies from Obama since he has thus far managed to completely avoid any mention of food or the American foodways. It's boderline ridiculous to stress energy conform in an inaugural speech without citing the USA agricultural system which is so intertwined with our environment and 'green' status. Well, I am glad that he gave a nod to the Hurrican Katrina disaster, but I'm going to keep it all about food here so I won't mention that.