in the kitchen x prosciutto & melon

Recently, I have been working on a dessert version of a popular summer snack, prosciutto & melon. There's nothing quite like a cold, sweet juicy slice of melon wrapped in salty prosciutto while dining al fresco and sipping a chilled glass of prosecco. This idea occurred to me when, half-joking, a cook gave me prosciutto scraps and suggested I make ice cream out of it. Someone mentioned prosciutto and melon and BAM, I was taking them up on their offer of prosciutto scraps. I decided on a prosciutto ice cream, fresh honeydew melon, olive oil cake, balsamic reduction, and ricotta, yogurt, and mint sauce.The addition of balsamic, olive oil, and mint are reminiscent of the original prosciutto and melon. I fried the prosciutto until crispy, before infusing it in milk and heavy cream mixture overnight. The resulting liquid end up making a delicious sweet, salty, and bacon-esque eggy ice cream. I didn't want to put actual prosciutto pieces in the dessert, since those slivers of salty goodness can overpower all the other subtle flavors at work. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for really amazing honeydew melon to pop up at the market before making it part of the dessert repertoire. Now everyone in the kitchen are offering me scraps chicken skin and pork blood and challenging me to make ice cream with them. Take note future pastry chefs, savory cooks will do this quite often. Sigh.

in the kitchen x spring garden

My official first Spring dessert is on the menu! Featuring an all veggie dessert (don't be scared!), it's become one of my favorites. Whenever I describe this dessert, people usually look confused. While the idea of a vegetable dessert does not have the same mouth inducing result of something like a warm brownie, chocolate sauce, and vanilla ice cream, this is delicious. Not to fear, this dessert is a crowd pleaser. White asparagus, sweet pea and mint ice cream, and lemon meringue is an intriguing and delicious combination. Add on the rest and it's a bona fide dessert.

These are cape gooseberries, also known as golden berry. Funny enough, these are not related to berries, but to vegetables such as tomatillo and tomatoes. The taste is similar to a sweet and tart mini tomato.