Category — Drinks
Tiramisu
Your coffee service this evening may look terribly conventional. Indeed it is a cup of coffee with whipped cream and an Italian cookie. But in what forms are all these elements?
The coffee is actually an espresso créme brulée. Espresso combined with a velvety baked custard create a delightful hot and cold, creamy and crunchy version of the classic latté. The “foam” or “whipped cream” on top is a lightly sweetened mascarpone mousse with a touch of shaved dark chocolate.
The cookie is a cookie…but it’s also not a cookie: it’s lady finger ice cream. The ice cream is made and flavored with the classic Italian pastry. After freezing the lady finger ice cream, I used a homemade mold to reform it into the shape of the cookie to which it owes its flavor and inspiration. I made the molds using Silicone Plastique from Make Your Own Molds, a great online source for culinary mold-making.
Silicone molds of lady finger cookies freeze the ice cream into perfect cookie shapes
Beneath the ice cream cookie is a sprinkling of chocolate lady finger crumbs. These crumbs bear a striking resemblance to coffee grounds (a very happy coincidence considering I did not plan this at all), bringing the flavor and concept of this dish full circle.
Do all these flavor elements sound familiar? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your cup of coffee is tiramisu.
How do you make this classic yet modern dessert? Well, I’m happy to share my secrets! Simply sign up for the Garrett’s Table E-mail newsletter by clicking the link below and entering your e-mail address. I’ll include the recipe, including instructions on how to make your own ice cream molds, in my next mailing (March 1, 2010). All emails are confidential and you can un-subscribe at any time.
These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.
Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!
February 22, 2010 4 Comments
Addicted to Coffee Beans
The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee tree, which are a group of trees belonging to the genus Coffea. The most commonly grown and cultivated is Coffea arabica, from which we get our beloved Arabica coffee. The fruits of the coffee tree are commonly called coffee “cherries” or “berries” and within each fruit is two coffee beans, with the flat sides in contact with each other. The endosperm of each seed contains 0.8-2.5 percent caffeine…and this is a very good thing indeed.
Cultivation of the coffee tree began in Ethiopa in approximately 850 AD. The word “coffee” comes from the Ethiopian region of Kaffa. When the coffee beans are harvested they are initially a dull green color. To develop the flavor, and maximize caffeine extractions, the beans must be roasted, and this can be done to a variety of levels:
Coffee berries (left) contains the green coffee beans (right) which are then roasted to develop flavor and extract caffeine
A light roast is often called a New England Roast and these beans have a very light brown hue with no visible oily residue. Moving up the chain is the American Roast, Espresso, and then the double roast French Roast. At the French roast stage, the beans begin to smoke slightly and some of the sugars turn to carbon. The result in an intensely (but delightfully) bitter coffee with slight smokiness.
The French mastered the roast for a cup of brewed coffee but the ultimate coffee award must go to Italians for sheer ingenuity. Yes, of course, I’m speaking of espresso. No other drink is so ubiquitous in this modern world of double foam mocha caffe latte whip caramel-chinos than espresso. This intense drink is fantastic on it’s own and can create a myriad of other classic drinks including the latte (espresso and steamed milk), the cappuccino (espresso and foamed milk), and the cafe Americano (espresso and hot water). To make espresso, the beans are roasted dark then ground fine. The grounds are then pressed into a puck in a special espresso maker. Hot water is then pressed through the espresso puck, creating an intensely rich coffee drink with a thin layer of foam called the crema.
Not only is espresso great for creating coffee drinks, but it’s a major inspiration for a classic Italian dessert: Tiramisu. Please stay tuned to Garrett’s Table this week for a unique take on one of the world’s favorite desserts!
As a side note, coffee is indeed a cash crop and has resulted in the exploitation of workers in numerous countries, especially Central and South America. Coffee that is labeled as “fair trade” means that the operation of the coffee plantation is sustainable and humane both for workers and the environment. Fair trade coffee is more expensive, but the small increase in price assures the support of the movement and a trend toward revolutionizing the coffee industry.
February 21, 2010 4 Comments
Egg, Nog
Egg nog is a classic and delicious cold-weather drink. Unfortunately in today’s consumer society it has been relegated to the flabby, un-compelling, pre-packaged versions available next to the half and half and only during the holiday season. The original classic is incredibly simple to make and tastes infinitely better than any store-bought nog. Usually spiced heavily with nutmeg and cinnamon and combined with cognac, bourbon, or rum, egg nog is certainly a heavy drink. However, it’s delightful weight matches perfectly with the cold winter.
I knew I wanted to make some eggnog and share it with my internet audience, but every audience needs a show. I needed to finesse the presentation to make egg nog even more exciting. In the glass is a bit of cognac that is deeply infused with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. The egg is nested on some toasted pine branches, which provide a delightful and apropriate egg nog-drinking aroma. “But what’s with the egg?” you ask. Well it’s filled with egg nog of course! What better way to surprise your guests than to crack what appears to be an egg into their fine cognac, only to reveal your sleight of hand when luscious egg nog spills from the cracked shell!
Want to know how to create this stunning presentation? This recipe is exclusively for Garrett’s Table newsletter subscribers. Signing up couldn’t be easier though! Simply click the link below and enter your email address to sign up for the free monthly newsletter. I will include the recipe and procedure for this egg nog in the next email newsletter (February 1, 2010). All email addresses are confidential and you can unsubscribe at any time.
These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.
Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!
January 9, 2010 No Comments
Wild Rice Horchata
A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for horchata. I thought about how I can modify this sweet, spiced, rice milk drink and wanted to play around with the rice component. Here I made a rice milk from both white rice and wild rice. Wild rice is actually not rice, but rather a water-dwelling grass native to Minnesota. In this horchata, wild rice adds a nice bitterness to the sweet rice milk and makes this a truly American version of the Latin drink. To make it, simply substitute 1/4 c. white rice for wild rice in the original recipe.
Photo byJustin Kern.
July 14, 2009 97 Comments
Cucumber Hibiscus Cocktail
Contrary to popular belief, cucumbers are not vegetables but rather fruits. Cucumbers belong to the squash family and are in the same genus as the common muskmelon. Their fragrant sweetness is notoriously good with gin. Many gin connoisseurs add a slice of cucumber to their gin to compliment the subtle juniper flavor. In America cucumbers have, for the most part, been demoted to a salad topping, but let’s try something a little different.
Since it’s such a close relative of the muskmelon, I decided to make a sweet cocktail from the humble cucumber, which is where our second character comes in: Hibiscus. What we call hibiscus includes a group of over 200 species of plants in the Malvaceae family of flowers native to warm regions such as Mexico. The flower of the plant itself is dark red. It’s flavor is best described as a combination of a lemon and a rose. Just a couple dried flowers steeped in warm water results in a deep crimson tea with a pleasantly tart flavor.
This is a refreshing cucumber and hibiscus cocktail. It’s a combination of sweet hibiscus tea and a lightly carbonated cucumber and gin soda. The hibiscus tea is simply sweetened with honey and the cucumber and gin soda is made from cucumber juice and gin steeped with a few juniper berries to accentuate the gin. The cucumber mixture is charged in a siphon and poured over the hibiscus tea. The effervescent bitterness of the cucumber and gin immediately refreshes and gives way to the sweet and tart hibiscus tea.
Photo by Justin Kern.
July 10, 2009 90 Comments
