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.

finding your bliss x La Casita Blanca

Our last day in Puerto Rico, and the boyfriend and I were trekking to find our last meal. We were looking for a restaurant called, La Casita Blanca, which happened to be in a very residential area. A neighborhood gem? Gosh I hope so! Parked blocks away, we had no choice but to walk in the sweltering mid-day sun to reach our destination. The best part of our walk was seeing the neighborhood. The houses were colorful, with blooming flowers tumbling over fences. We even interrupted a cat and a chicken sharing a meal. For the first time, this felt like the real Puerto Rico and miles away from the pastel perfect city of San Juan. La Casita Blanca ended up being better than we would have imagined. The location is comfortable and filled with eclectic knick-knacks. The staff friendly. The food, no question but the best meal of our trip. Simple, rustic, and just so good. No touristy mofongo (even though I had one everyday...), generic burger, or bad pizza. Sometimes you just want some good home cooking, and this is what you get.

in the kitchen x rhubarb, yay or nay

We're in the midst of rhubarb season and I'm ready to call it quits. Sure, it's got great acidity, but so do lemons. Otherwise, I can't seem to get on the rhubarb fan bandwagon. I have been known to call it the pink celery (my lack of enthusiasm regarding celery is quite known at work). My feelings are neither love or hate, just meh, which is how it becomes when you overcook it. I decided to update one of my menu dessert staples with some rhubarb, since it is in season. Sometimes, playing with an ingredient is enough to get you started. Now, I currently have it as a garnish and sorbet in the restaurant and a whole week of rhubarb & strawberry crumble piping hot and bubbly with a side of luscious whipped cream coming next week at the cafe. I'm easily won over.

in the kitchen x hello, blackberries

There are some staple fruits that we always keep on hand in the kitchen, such as blueberries, strawberries, lemons, limes, oranges, and pineapple (weird, I know) and the like. Somehow, I started munching on some blackberries and stopped. They were good! We've hit blackberry season?! I assumed berries would not come into season until the height of summer, yet here I was eating some delicious blackberries. After munching on a few juicy berries, I paired it with some dark chocolate ganache, green tea diplomat, and whipped cream. Sometimes simple is best.

in the kitchen x breakfast inspiration & mochi

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals, except I tend to eat "breakfast" at all hours except morning. This idea of a breakfast inspired dessert started when I decided to make mochi again. My first attempt at mochi dumplings resulted in two dumplings out of who knows how many. Mochi is a japanese rice cake made with rice flour. I specifically used Mochiko flour. I chose to roll out the dough(paste?) and punch out circles, and add flavor in the actual mochi as oppose to putting it in the filling. One day I will master mochi dumplings, but for now these are just as yummy. Dried yogurt powder in the mochi gives a nice tang that balances nicely with the naturally sweet flavor and glutinous texture. The other flavors in this dessert are yogurt, rhubarb, granola and blueberry. There is a greek yogurt sorbet, yogurt tuile, and a greek yogurt. The key is to use good quality greek yogurt. I used Argyle Cheese Farmers, and I cannot stop singing it's praises. Its fluffy, thick, and tangy. The rhubarb is poached with some white wine and raspberries, while the blueberry is made into a compote. The granola is a delicious crunchy snack, made with cashews, maple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oats. I'd consider this one healthy dessert.